Using optimized eccentricity Rexolite lens for electrical beam steering with integrated aperture coupled patch array

Design and measurement results of a beam-steering integrated lens antenna at 77GHz are presented. An 8-element LTCC aperture coupled patch antenna feed array with a switching network is used to electrically steer the main beam in H-plane. A 100-mm diameter Rexolite ("r = 2:53) lens is simulated and tested. The eccentricity of the lens is optimized in an earlier work with ray-tracing simulations for improved beam-steering properties compared to the conventional extended hemispherical and elliptical lenses. The beam- steering properties including scan loss, main-beam width and direction, side-lobe levels, directivity, and cross-polarization are analyzed in detail with both simulations and radiation pattern measurements. As expected, the results show that the side-lobe and cross-polarization levels are not predicted accurately with large feed ofisets using the ray-tracing simulations. Nevertheless, it is shown that the lens shape can be successfully optimized with the simple and fast ray-tracing simulations. The measured half-power beam-width at 77GHz is 2:5 - § 0:2 - up to the largest tested beam-steering angle of 30 - . The optimized eccentricity low permittivity lens results in smaller scan loss than the conventional lenses.

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