Low-Cost Electrical Beam-Scanning Leaky-Wave Antenna Based on Bent Corrugated Substrate Integrated Waveguide

This letter presents a novel low-cost leaky-wave antenna (LWA) with the fixed-frequency beam-scanning capability. An improved half-mode corrugated substrate integrated waveguide structure is proposed as the guiding wave structure to reduce the transverse size of the antenna. A novel electronic phase-shifting structure, composed of fan-shaped open stubs with different sizes and PIN diodes, is proposed for beam scanning. This LWA uses interdigital slots as radiating elements, and the phase-shifting structure is placed between the adjacent radiating elements. By changing the switching states of these PIN diodes, the phase difference between the adjacent radiating elements can be controlled. To verify the concept, one prototype of the 2 × 6 array antenna at C-band is designed, simulated, fabricated, and measured. The antenna demonstrates a beam-scanning range of 25° (34°–59°) at fixed frequency, a peak gain of 12.4 dBi with the gain variation less than 2.3 dB. The antenna has low cost and can be easily fabricated using standard printed circuit board process.