IEEE TRANSACTIONS ON ANTENNAS AND PROPAGATION, VOL. 69, NO.

11, NOVEMBER 2021 7593

Coexistence-Mode CRLH SIW Transmission Line

and Its Application for Longitudinal Miniaturized
Butler Matrix and Multibeam Array Antenna
Qiang Sun , Yong-Ling Ban , Yong-Xing Che, and Zaiping Nie , Fellow, IEEE

Abstract— The miniaturization design of the beamforming type multibeam array antenna [7]–[9], the size of the array
network (BFN) is the key to improving the application value of antenna is too large. The fundamental reason is that the
the multibeam array antenna. The traditional miniaturization beamforming network (BFN) is limited by a structure that is
method of the BFN mostly solves the miniaturization of the
transverse width, while the miniaturization of the longitudinal too large. Therefore, the miniaturization of the BFN is the
length is rarely involved. In this article, a coexistence-mode basis for improving the application value of the mm-wave
(Co-mode) composite right-/left-handed (CRLH) substrate- multibeam array antenna.
integrated waveguide (SIW) transmission line technology is To realize the miniaturization of the BFN and maintain the
proposed, and this technology aims to solve the problem of minia- planarization characteristics, some derivatives of the substrate-
turization in the longitudinal length of the Butler matrix (BM).
Its core is to introduce a longitudinally extended interdigital slot integrated waveguide (SIW) have been proposed, such as
(IDS), force the SIW to incorporate an interdigital capacitor, half-mode SIW (HMSIW) [10], ridge SIW (RSIW) [11], and
and realize the phase constants of the TE10 mode and the TE20 folded C-type SIW (FCSIW) [12], [13]. Based on the charac-
mode reverse change. Then, the coupling region length of the teristics of the transmission line, a BFN with miniaturization in
couplers based on the Co-mode CRLH SIW transmission line the transverse dimension [14] and the multibeam array antenna
can be reduced, and the longitudinal miniaturized directional
coupler and the longitudinal miniaturized cross coupler are with miniaturization in transverse dimension [15], [16] are
obtained. Finally, three types of 4 × 4 longitudinal miniaturized realized. However, this type of BFN and multibeam array
BMs based on the Co-mode CRLH SIW transmission line are antenna can only achieve miniaturization of the transverse
designed, whose longitudinal lengths are reduced by 32%, 22.1%, width, but it is difficult to achieve a reduction in the lon-
and 30.7% compared with those of their SIW counterparts. gitudinal length.
In addition, a miniaturized multibeam array antenna based on
the Co-mode CRLH 4 × 4 H-plane SIW BM is fabricated and Given the reduction of the BFN in longitudinal length,
measured, which verifies the applicability of Co-mode CRLH the conventional method is to use interlayer coupling to
SIW transmission line technology. stack the planar single-layer BFNs into a multilayer structure.
Index Terms— Beamforming network (BFN), Butler matrix This method essentially reduces the surface occupied by the
(BM), coexistence-mode (Co-mode), composite right-/left-handed BFNs [17]–[20], not the longitudinal length. In addition,
(CRLH), miniaturization, substrate-integrated waveguide (SIW). the loss caused by the coupling between layers further deteri-
orates the performance of the BFNs and the multibeam array
I. I NTRODUCTION antennas.
Here, by introducing an interdigital slot (IDS) in the
I N RECENT years, with the development of new generation
5G/6G communication technology, the millimeter-wave
(mm-wave) multibeam array antenna has received extensive
SIW transmission line, a TE10 /TE20 dual-mode cooperative
design of composite right-/left-handed (CRLH) SIW trans-
attention and has been extensively researched. Whether it is a mission line technology is proposed and applied to the BFN
matrix type multibeam array antenna [1]–[6] or a quasi-optical of a multibeam array antenna. The longitudinal length of the
BFN is truly reduced, and miniaturization of the multibeam
Manuscript received January 27, 2021; revised April 12, 2021; accepted array antenna is realized. The major contributions of this work
April 20, 2021. Date of publication May 5, 2021; date of current version
October 28, 2021. This work was supported in part by the National Natural are listed as follows.
Science Foundation of China under Grant 61971098 and Grant U19A2055, 1) The coexistence-mode (Co-mode) CRLH SIW trans-
in part by the National Key Research and Development Project under mission line technology is proposed, and its principle is
Grant 2020YFB1805003, and in part by the Fund of Science and Tech-
nology on Electromagnetic Scattering Laboratory under Grant 61424090410. analyzed.
(Corresponding author: Yong-Ling Ban.) 2) The miniaturized H-plane SIW directional coupler and
Qiang Sun, Yong-Ling Ban, and Zaiping Nie are with the School of the cross coupler based on the Co-mode CRLH SIW trans-
Electronic Science and Engineering, University of Electronic Science and
Technology of China, Chengdu 611731, China (e-mail: [email protected]). mission line technology are designed and analyzed.
Yong-Xing Che is with the Science and Technology on Electromagnetic 3) Three types of longitudinal miniaturized BMs are
Scattering Laboratory, Beijing 100039, China. designed, namely, Co-mode CRLH H-plane 4 × 4 SIW BM,
Color versions of one or more figures in this article are available at
https://doi.org/10.1109/TAP.2021.3076677. Co-mode CRLH E-plane 4 × 4 SIW BM, and Co-mode
Digital Object Identifier 10.1109/TAP.2021.3076677 CRLH 4 × 4 FCSIW BM.
0018-926X © 2021 IEEE. Personal use is permitted, but republication/redistribution requires IEEE permission.
See https://www.ieee.org/publications/rights/index.html for more information.

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 7594 IEEE TRANSACTIONS ON ANTENNAS AND PROPAGATION, VOL. 69, NO. 11, NOVEMBER 2021

Fig. 1. Geometry structure of (a) traditional CRLH SIW unit and (b) proposed
Co-mode CRLH SIW transmission line.
Fig. 2. Surface current distribution of the traditional CRLH SIW unit.

4) A multibeam array antenna based on the Co-mode CRLH

H-plane 4 × 4 SIW BM is designed, fabricated, and measured.
This article is structured as follows. The structure and
principle analysis of the Co-mode CRLH SIW transmission
line technology are presented in Section II. The miniatur-
ization Co-mode CRLH H-plane 4 × 4 SIW BM basic
components and miniaturization principle analysis are given
in Section III. Section IV presents three types of 4 × 4 longi-
tudinal miniaturized BMs based on the Co-mode CRLH SIW
transmission line. The fabrication and measurement of the Fig. 3. Equivalent circuit models for (a) TE10 mode and (b) TE20 mode.
miniaturized multibeam array antenna based on the Co-mode
CRLH H-plane 4 × 4 SIW BM are presented in Section V.
antennas [21]–[27]. However, the proposed Co-mode CRLH
II. C O -M ODE CRLH SIW T RANSMISSION L INE SIW unit can be used as a transmission line to control the
phase constant of the electromagnetic wave.
The CRLH SIW transmission line is an artificial metamate-
rial transmission line that constructs unusual electromagnetic
properties by introducing an IDS on the traditional SIW B. Equivalent Circuits and Multimode Dispersion Relation
transmission line. However, to the best of our knowledge, most The electric field modes propagated in the Co-mode CRLH
of the IDSs etched in SIWs are used as a radiation structure SIW transmission line include the TE10 and TE20 modes.
of the leaky-wave antenna [21]–[27], and no published works By changing the size of the IDS, the phase constants of the
report the CRLH SIW transmission lines with Co-modes in TE10 and TE20 modes can be adjusted simultaneously. The
the open literature. Therefore, this section will introduce the equivalent circuits of the Co-mode CRLH SIW transmission
phase constant control mechanism of the Co-mode CRLH SIW line in the TE10 and TE20 modes are shown in Fig. 3. For the
transmission line technology. In addition, the S-parameters and equivalent circuit in the TE10 mode, the IDS is equivalent
the phase differences of all the following simulation models to the interdigital capacitance C L , which is located in the
are obtained using commercial simulation software ANSYS center of Fig. 3(a). The top and bottom conductors of the
HFSS V19.0. SIW are equivalent to two transmission lines with distributed
series inductance L R1 and distributed shunt capacitance C R1 .
In addition, the metal vias on both sides are equivalent to the
A. Configuration
distributed shunt inductance L L1 . The phase constant β10 of
Fig. 1 shows two types of CRLH SIW units with different the TE10 mode can be expressed as following [21]:
structures. The similarity is that the interdigital capacitance  
is constructed by etching periodic slots in the top conductor  1 L R1 C L + L L1 C R1 
β10 = ω2 L R1 C R1 + 2 −  (1)
layer of the SIW transmission line to obtain the unusual ω C L L L1 L L1 C L
electromagnetic properties. Fig. 1(a) shows the traditional
CRLH SIW unit with IDS extending along the transverse The equivalent circuit in the TE20 mode can be approx-
dimension of the SIW. The IDS acts as a radiating structure imately equal to two circuits in the TE10 mode in parallel,
to radiate electromagnetic waves into space. The proposed sharing the interdigital capacitance C L at the center, as shown
Co-mode CRLH SIW transmission line is obtained by rotating in Fig. 3(b). The phase constant β20 of the TE20 mode can be
the IDS on the surface of the traditional CRLH SIW units to expressed as follows:
 
extend along the longitudinal dimension of the SIW, as shown  (1 − ω2 L L2 C R2 )L R2 
in Fig. 1(b). Fig. 2 shows the surface current distribution of the β20 =   (2)
(1 − ω2 L R2 C L )L L2 
traditional CRLH SIW unit, and the IDS cuts off the longitudi-
nal surface current. Therefore, the traditional CRLH SIW unit Notably, the values of the distributed series inductance L R ,
is primarily used as a periodic radiation structure for designing the distributed shunt capacitor C R , and the distributed shunt

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 SUN et al.: CO-MODE CRLH SIW TRANSMISSION LINE AND ITS APPLICATION 7595

Fig. 6. Phase constant curves of the Co-mode CRLH SIW transmission line.
(a) Different a1 ’s with a2 = 0.95 mm. (b) Different a2 ’s with a1 = 1.25 mm.
Fig. 4. E-field amplitude distribution of the SIW transmission line and the
Co-mode CRLH SIW transmission line.

β10 of the Co-mode CRLH SIW transmission line with

a0 = 8.7 mm, a1 = 1.25 mm, a2 = 0.95 mm, a3 =
0.15 mm, and p = 6.4 mm is 1.28-fold larger than that of
the SIW transmission line of the same size at 30 GHz. β20 of
the co-mode CRLH SIW is reduced to 0.75-fold that of the
SIW transmission line. It is obvious that the co-mode CRLH
SIW transmission line can reverse the phase constants of the
TE10 and TE20 modes.
IDSs of different sizes generate different β10 ’s and β20 ’s.
The structure of the IDS primarily consists of three para-
meters: the transverse length a1 , the longitudinal length a2 ,
and the width a3 . Here, fixing the slot width of the IDS,
the effect of different IDS sizes on β10 and β20 is obtained.
Fig. 6 shows β10 and β20 curves under different transverse
Fig. 5. Phase constant curves of the SIW transmission line and the Co-mode and longitudinal lengths. Notably, for the TE10 mode, as the
CRLH SIW transmission line, and leakage energy by the IDS.
size of the transverse and longitudinal lengths increases,
the interdigital capacitance CL , as a set of distributed series
inductance L L in the TE10 mode equivalent circuit are different capacitors, exhibits a linear change. The phase constant of
from the values of the TE20 mode equivalent circuit, but the the TE10 mode increases with the transverse and longitudinal
values of the interdigital capacitance C L are identical. In other lengths.
words, if only the size of the IDS is adjusted, the phase However, for the TE20 mode, the interdigital capacitance CL ,
constants β10 and β20 can be changed at the same time. as a set of distributed series capacitors and distributed shunt
The electric field amplitude distributions of the SIW trans- capacitors, exhibits nonlinear changes. That is, with increas-
mission line and the Co-mode CRLH SIW transmission line ing transverse and longitudinal lengths, the phase constant
at 30 GHz are obtained by commercial simulation software increases or decreases at different frequencies.
ANSYS HFSS, as shown in Fig. 4. The substrate is Rogers In addition, the IDS leaks a small part of the electromagnetic
RT/duroid 5880 with a dielectric constant of 2.2, and the energy into the air space. Fig. 5 shows the electromagnetic
substrate thickness is 0.508 mm. Compared with the electric energy leakage curves in different modes of the Co-mode
field amplitude propagating in the SIW, the phase constant CRLH SIW transmission line. Since the phase constant of
β10 and the phase constant β20 of the Co-mode CRLH SIW the TE10 mode is much larger than the phase constant k0 of
transmission line in the IDS region have changed. From the the air, the TE10 mode is the transmission mode. Therefore,
perspective of the length of the electric field amplitude region the electromagnetic wave of the TE10 mode barely leaks into
in a period, it is obvious that β10 is increasing and β20 is free space from 28 to 32 GHz. The phase constant of the
decreasing. TE20 mode is smaller than k0 , resulting in more leaked energy
than that of the electromagnetic wave in the TE10 mode.
C. IDS Parameters Fig. 7 shows the SIW transmission line unit and the electric
Through the S-parameter simulation from the driven modal, field amplitude distribution of the TE20 mode at different
the relationship between the phase constant and frequency positions. The electric field amplitude at the centerline (line
in the two modes of TE10 /TE20 can be obtained using 2) is the smallest, almost equal to 0 V/m. The IDS of the
formula (3) [28]. The phase constant curve of the Co-mode proposed Co-mode CRLH SIW transmission line is located
CRLH SIW transmission line is drawn in Fig. 5 in the center of the SIW and extends along the longitudinal
   direction of the SIW. Therefore, the proposed Co-mode CRLH
1 1 − S11 S22 + S12 S21 SIW transmission line leaks very little electromagnetic wave
β = Re[γz ] = Re arccos (3)
p 2S21 energy in the TE20 mode.

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 7596 IEEE TRANSACTIONS ON ANTENNAS AND PROPAGATION, VOL. 69, NO. 11, NOVEMBER 2021

TABLE I
D IMENSIONS OF THE C OMPONENTS (U NITS : MM )

Fig. 7. (a) SIW transmission line unit. (b) Electric field amplitude distribution
at different positions for the TE20 mode.
The coupling region of the 90◦ directional coupler has
the TE10 and TE20 modes of electromagnetic waves. The
phase delays of the TE10 and TE20 modes are β10 a5 and
β20 a5 , respectively. The length of the coupling region can be
expressed as follows:

π 2
a5 = (5)
β10 − β20
For traditional directional couplers, as the width of the
coupling region increases or decreases, the phase constants
β10 and β20 also increase or decrease at the same time.
To ensure equal power output and 90◦ phase difference output,
Fig. 8. (a) Traditional directional coupler. (b) Proposed Co-mode CRLH formula (5) should be satisfied. Therefore, the length of the
SIW directional coupler. coupling region is difficult to reduce by changing the width
of the coupling region. In other words, the minimum size of
III. C O -M ODE CRLH C OUPLERS the traditional directional coupler is limited by frequency.
Couplers are indispensable basic components of BFNs, such As shown in Fig. 8(b), the IDS is introduced into the
as the Butler matrix (BM), and can be divided into directional coupling region of the traditional directional coupler, and the
couplers and cross couplers. Next, the design steps of the phase constants of the TE10 and TE20 modes are adjusted
miniaturized couplers based on the Co-mode CRLH SIW by changing the size of the IDS. From Section II, it can
transmission line technology will be introduced in detail. be concluded that the introduction of the IDS can make β10
increase and β20 decrease. Therefore, by properly adjusting
A. Co-Mode CRLH SIW Directional Coupler the size of the IDS to make the electromagnetic wave in the
coupling region meet (β10 − β20 )(a9 /2) = π/4, the energy
The directional coupler, which can achieve equal power of output ports #3 and #4 can be identical, and the phase
output and 90◦ phase difference output, as shown in Fig. 8, difference between the ports is 90◦ . The length of the coupling
is one of the important components of the BM. The traditional region can be shortened, and a miniaturized directional coupler
directional coupler is obtained by juxtaposing two SIWs and can be obtained. The detailed geometric parameters are listed
removing a part of the common metal wall to construct a in Table I.
coupling region with a size of a4 × a5 , which can propa- The length of the coupling region cannot be reduced without
gate the TE10 and TE20 modes at the same time, as shown limitation and is affected by the impedance matching of the
in Fig. 8(a). The detailed size parameters are listed in Table I. waveguide. When the energy flows from port #1 to port #3,
The design equation of the directional coupler can be obtained it is approximately equal to propagating electromagnetic waves
by performing an odd–even mode analysis [29]. Because of in the SIW with a width of a15 . Fig. 9 shows the reflection
the symmetry of the directional coupler, only the matrix of coefficient of the SIW transmission line with its width. When
the directional coupler by port #1 excitation is given, which the width of the SIW decreases, the reflection coefficient
is represented as follows: increases. This result means that the minimum coupling length
 
S11 S31 of the Co-mode CRLH SIW directional coupler is determined
S21 S41 by the acceptable impedance matching between the ports.
  Fig. 10 shows the simulation results of the S-parameters with
0 cos[(β10 − β20 )(a5 /2)]e− j (β10 +β20 )(a5 /2)
= (4) different coupling region lengths. Notably, as the length of
0 − j sin[(β10 − β20 )(a5 /2)]e− j (β10 +β20 )(a5 /2)
the coupling region decreases, the reflection coefficient of the
where β10 = (k 2 − (π/a4 )2 )1/2 , β20 = (k 2 − (2π/a4 )2 )1/2 ; a4 is port gradually increases. When port #1 is excited, the proposed
the width of the coupling region; comma a5 is the length of directional coupler achieves a stable coupling level of −3.2 dB
the coupling region;comma and k is the wavenumber;period at 30 GHz with a coupling region length of a9 = 5.4 mm.

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 SUN et al.: CO-MODE CRLH SIW TRANSMISSION LINE AND ITS APPLICATION 7597

Fig. 9. Reflection coefficient of different SIW widths. Fig. 11. Leakage energy by the IDS with port #1 excitations and surface
current distribution for the TE10 and TE20 modes.

Fig. 12. Proposed Co-mode CRLH SIW cross coupler.

Fig. 10. Simulation results of different coupling lengths.

B. Co-Mode CRLH SIW Cross Coupler and Phase Shifter
Traditional SIW cross couplers are obtained by cascading
The peak-to-peak error of the maximum amplitude is 0.76 dB two identical directional couplers [1]. The size of the cross
from 28 to 32 GHz. The reflection coefficients and coupling coupler is approximately twice the length of the directional
coefficients of the proposed directional coupler are lower than coupler. From the analysis of formula (4), when (β10 − β20 )
−17 dB in the whole frequency band. The phase difference (a17 /2) = π/2, the conditions of |S31 | = 0 and |S41 | = 1 can
between port #3 and coupling port #4 is 90◦ , and there is a 1.5◦ be obtained. In other words, all the energy generated by the
phase difference dispersion. Finally, we select the Co-mode excitation of port #1 flows into port #4. Similarly, the IDS
CRLH SIW directional coupler with a coupling region is introduced into the coupling region of the cross coupler,
length of 5.6 mm to verify the feasibility of miniaturizing the size of the IDS is adjusted, and the phase constants of
the BM. the TE10 and TE20 modes are optimized. The Co-mode CRLH
In addition, the IDS leads to the leakage of the electromag- SIW cross coupler is obtained, as shown in Fig. 12, and its size
netic wave energy in the directional coupler. Here, to obtain the is only 1.14-fold that of the Co-mode CRLH SIW directional
energy leakage curve of the Co-mode CRLH SIW directional coupler. The detailed parameters of the Co-mode CRLH
coupler, the dielectric substrate is set as lossless substrate, and SIW cross coupler are listed in Table I.
the conductor is set as the ideal conductor. Using formula (6), To evaluate the performance of the Co-mode CRLH SIW
the leakage curve of the electromagnetic wave energy is cross coupler, the S-parameters and energy leakage curve are
obtained by calculating the S-parameters shown in Fig. 13. When port #1 is excited, the reflection
coefficient and coupling coefficient are lower than −13.5 dB
from 28 to 32 GHz. The transmission coefficient from port
L = −10 log10 |S11 |2 + |S21 |2 + |S31 |2 + |S41 |2 (6) #1 to port #4 is higher than −0.48 dB at 30 GHz. In addition,
the energy leakage of the electromagnetic wave generated by
Because of the symmetry of the structure, the energy the IDS is less than 0.24 dB in the whole frequency band.
leakage curve of the electromagnetic wave generated by the This result shows that the Co-mode CRLH SIW cross coupler
IDS is shown in Fig. 11 when port #1 is excited. It is obvious achieves good performance.
that the energy leakage from the IDS is less than 0.1 dB from In addition, the phase shifter is an indispensable basic com-
28 to 32 GHz, and the energy leakage is acceptable. ponent of the BM that can achieve specific phase difference

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 7598 IEEE TRANSACTIONS ON ANTENNAS AND PROPAGATION, VOL. 69, NO. 11, NOVEMBER 2021

TABLE II
D IMENSIONS OF THE C OMPONENTS (U NITS : mm)

Fig. 13. S-parameters with port #1 excitations and leakage energy by the IDS.

Fig. 15. Topology of the 4 × 4 BM.

◦ ◦
Fig. 14. −45 phase shifter and 0 phase shifter. (a) Structure. (b) Simulation
results of the phase difference.

output for the array antenna. Fig. 14 shows the structures of

the phase shifters and the simulated phase difference curve,
which shows that the −45◦ and 0◦ phase shifters can provide
Fig. 16. (a) Detailed configuration of the proposed Co-mode CRLH
a phase shift of −45◦ ± 3◦ and 0◦ ± 7.5◦ from 28 to 32 GHz. H-plane 4 × 4 BM. (b) Photograph of the fabricated Co-mode CRLH H-plane
The geometric parameters are listed in Table II. 4 × 4 BM.

IV. T HREE T YPES OF C O -M ODE

CRLH SIW B UTLER M ATRIX A. Co-Mode CRLH H-Plane 4 × 4 SIW BM
The BM, including the 90◦ directional couplers, the cross The proposed Co-mode CRLH H-plane 4 × 4 SIW BM is
couplers, and two types of phase shifters, is a common BFN consists of four 90◦ directional couplers, two cross couplers,
that can provide stable amplitude input and phase difference and four phase shifters, which are shown in Fig. 16. The
input for the multibeam array antenna. Fig. 15 shows the miniaturized Co-mode CRLH H-plane 4 × 4 SIW BM is
traditional 4 × 4 BM structure block diagram. To verify the realized using Co-mode CRLH SIW couplers, and its overall
extensive application of the Co-mode CRLH SIW transmission size is 2.74λ0 × 3.78λ0 ×0.0508λ0. To verify the performance
line technology to realize miniaturized BFNs, three types of of the Co-mode CRLH H-plane 4 × 4 SIW BM, Fig. 17 shows
miniaturized Co-mode CRLH SIW BMs will be designed in the simulated and measured S-parameters and the phase differ-
this section. ences of output ports #5–#8 when port #1 excitation occurs.

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 SUN et al.: CO-MODE CRLH SIW TRANSMISSION LINE AND ITS APPLICATION 7599

Fig. 17. Simulation and measurement results of the Co-mode CRLH H-plane
4 × 4 BM. (a) S-parameters for port #1 excitation. (b) Phase difference for
port #5–port #8.

Fig. 19. Detailed configuration of the Co-mode CRLH 4 × 4 FCSIW BM.

the traditional 4 × 4 BMs can be obtained from [3]. The

Co-mode CRLH E-plane 4 × 4 SIW BM consists of four
E-plane directional couplers and two E-plane cross couplers,
which are stacked to reduce the transverse width. The trans-
verse width is reduced by 75% compared with that of the
traditional H-plane 4 × 4 SIW BM. The Coupling region
of the Co-mode CRLH E-plane SIW coupler propagates
electromagnetic waves in the TE10 and quasi-TEM modes.
By introducing the IDS in the middle conductor layer of the
couplers, the phase constants of the TE10 and quasi-TEM
modes can be controlled. By optimizing the size of the IDS
and increasing the difference between the phase constants of
Fig. 18. Detailed configuration of the Co-mode CRLH E-plane the two types of modes, the coupling region is shortened, and
4 × 4 SIW BM. the miniaturized Co-mode CRLH E-plane 4 × 4 SIW BM is
obtained.
Fig. 19 shows another type of miniaturized BM, namely, the
The coupling coefficient and the isolation coefficient of the
Co-mode CRLH 4 × 4 FCSIW BM. The BM based on the
output ports excited by port #1 are lower than −12.1 dB.
FCSIW transmission line is designed with the miniaturization
The transmission coefficient is −7.81 ± 1 dB at 30 GHz. The
of the FCSIW transmission line. Theoretically, compared
phase difference error from port #5 to port #8 at the center
with that of the traditional H-plane 4 × 4 SIW BM [1],
frequency is ±11◦ at 30 GHz. The simulated results agree well
the transverse width of the traditional 4 × 4 FCSIW BM can
with the measured results. The amplitude performance and the
be reduced by 50%. Similarly, based on the Co-mode CRLH
phase difference performance of the Co-mode CRLH H-plane
SIW transmission line technology, the IDS is introduced on
4 × 4 SIW BM are acceptable.
the surface of the FCSIW couplers to construct the Co-mode
CRLH FCSIW transmission line. Compared with that of the
B. Co-Mode CRLH E-Plane 4 × 4 SIW BM and Co-Mode traditional 4 × 4 FCSIW BM [16], the longitudinal length
CRLH 4 × 4 FCSIW BM of the Co-mode CRLH 4 × 4 FCSIW BM can be reduced
Fig. 18 shows the Co-mode CRLH E-plane 4 × 4 SIW BM, by 31%. The principle of miniaturization is similar to that of
whose principle analysis is similar to that of the Co-mode the Co-mode CRLH H-plane 4 × 4 SIW BM, which will not
CRLH H-plane 4 × 4 SIW BM. The design principles of be described here.

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 7600 IEEE TRANSACTIONS ON ANTENNAS AND PROPAGATION, VOL. 69, NO. 11, NOVEMBER 2021

Fig. 20. (a) E-field distributions of the Co-mode CRLH E-plane 4 × 4 SIW
BM at 30 GHz from the side view. (b) E-field distributions of the Co-mode
CRLH FCSIW 4 × 4 BM at 30 GHz from the top view.

Fig. 22. Proposed multibeam array antenna. (a) Simulation model.

(b) Photographs of the fabricated multibeam array antenna.

Fig. 21. Leakage energy by the IDS with port #1 and port #2 excitations TABLE III
for three types of miniaturized 4 × 4 BMs. C OMPARISONS OF D IFFERENT BM S

The overall sizes of the Co-mode CRLH E-plane 4 × 4 SIW

BM and the Co-mode CRLH 4 × 4 FCSIW BM are 0.76 λ0 ×
2.96 λ0 × 0.2032 λ0 and 1.24 λ0 × 3.84 λ0 × 0.1016 λ0 ,
respectively. To verify the performance of the two types of
miniaturized BMs, Fig. 20 shows the electric field amplitude
distribution when all input ports are excited. In addition,
we evaluated the effect of the IDS on electromagnetic energy
leakage in three types of BMs. Using commercial simulation
software HFSS, all conductors are set as ideal conductors,
and the dielectric substrate is set as a lossless dielectric sub-
strate. The energy leakage curves are shown in Fig. 21 when
port #1 and port #2 are excited using formula (7).
Notably, the energy leakage of the Co-mode CRLH H-plane
4 × 4 SIW BM is the highest, but the energy leakage of the C. Comparison and Discussion
three types of proposed miniaturized BMs is less than 1 dB To make a distinction and comparison, three types of minia-
from 28 to 32 GHz turized BMs based on the Co-mode CRLH SIW transmission
2  2  2  2  2 line technology are compared with their traditional counter-
L = −10 log10 |S1p  +  S2 p  +  S3 p  +  S4 p  +  S5 p 
parts in Table III. Comparing the same type of traditional
 2  2  2  4 × 4 BMs [1], [3], [16], the longitudinal lengths of the
+  S6 p  +  S7 p  +  S8 p  (7)
Co-mode CRLH H-plane 4 × 4 SIW BM, the Co-mode
where P is the excitation port. CRLH E-plane 4 × 4 SIW BM, and the Co-mode CRLH

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 SUN et al.: CO-MODE CRLH SIW TRANSMISSION LINE AND ITS APPLICATION 7601

Fig. 23. Simulation and measurement results. (a) Reflection coefficient. Fig. 24. (a) Radiation patterns of the miniaturized multibeam array antenna
(b) Coupling coefficient. at 30 GHz. (b) Radiation patterns with port #1 and port #2 excitations at 28,
29, 31, and 32 GHz.

4 × 4 FCSIW BM are reduced by 32%, 22.1%, and 30.7%,

respectively. Notably, the miniaturization of multiple types of
BMs in the longitudinal dimension can be realized using the
Co-mode CRLH SIW transmission line technology.

V. FABRICATION , M EASUREMENT, AND D ISCUSSION

In Section II, the Co-mode CRLH SIW transmission line
is proposed and analyzed. Based on the Co-mode CRLH
SIW transmission line technology, two types of miniaturized
couplers and three types of miniaturized BMs are designed.
To verify the effectiveness of the Co-mode CRLH trans-
mission line in miniaturized applications, a multibeam array
antenna based on the Co-mode CRLH H-plane 4 × 4 SIW is
designed, where the simulation model is shown in Fig. 22(a)
and the fabricated prototype is shown in Fig. 22(b). The overall Fig. 25. Simulated and measured gains of the miniaturized multibeam array
structure size of the multibeam array antenna is 4.42 λ0 × antenna.
7.54 λ0 × 0.0508 λ0 . Compared with the traditional multibeam
array antenna of the same type [1], the spatial size of the Analyzer, respectively. The radiation patterns and gains are
multibeam array antenna is reduced by 29%. The substrate is measured in an mm-wave anechoic chamber.
Rogers RT/duroid 5880 with a thickness of 0.508 mm, and
the dielectric constant is 2.2. The design steps and scattering A. Scattering Parameters
coefficients of the multibeam array antenna were obtained Fig. 23 shows the measured and simulated S-parameter
by ANSYS HFSS V19.0 and an Agilent E8363B Network results of the miniaturized multibeam array antenna. The solid

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 SUN et al.: CO-MODE CRLH SIW TRANSMISSION LINE AND ITS APPLICATION 7603

[28] W. Zhou, J. Liu, and Y. Long, “Investigation of shorting vias for Yong-Xing Che received the B.S. degree from
suppressing the open stopband in an SIW periodic leaky-wave structure,” Shanxi University, Taiyuan, China, in 2009, and the
IEEE Trans. Microw. Theory Techn., vol. 66, no. 6, pp. 2936–2945, M.S. degree from the University of Electronic Sci-
Jun. 2018. ence and Technology of China (UESTC), Chengdu,
[29] C.-J. Chen and T.-H. Chu, “Design of a 60-GHz substrate integrated China, in 2012, where he is currently pursuing the
waveguide butler Matrix—A systematic approach,” IEEE Trans. Microw. Ph.D. degree in electronics and information.
Theory Techn., vol. 58, no. 7, pp. 1724–1733, Jul. 2010. He is with the Science and Technology on Electro-
magnetic Scattering Laboratory, Beijing, China. His
Qiang Sun was born in Henan, China, in Septem- current research interests include frequency-selective
ber 1994. He received the B.S. degree in communi- surface and low-RCS radome.
cation engineering from the North China University
of Water Resources and Electric Power, Zhengzhou,
China, in 2017. He is currently pursuing the Ph.D.
degree in electromagnetic field and microwave tech-
nology with the University of Electronic Science and
Technology of China (UESTC), Chengdu, China.
His current research interests include millimeter-
wave antennas and arrays.

Yong-Ling Ban was born in Henan, China.

He received the B.S. degree in mathematics from
Shandong University, Jinan, China, in 2000, the M.S.
degree in electromagnetics from Peking University,
Beijing, China, in 2003, and the Ph.D. degree in
microwave engineering from the University of Elec- Zaiping Nie (Fellow, IEEE) was born in Xi’an,
tronic Science and Technology of China (UESTC), China, in 1946. He received the B.S. degree in radio
Chengdu, China, in 2006. engineering and the M.S. degree from the University
In July 2006, he joined the Xi’an Mechanical of Electronic Science and Technology of China,
and Electric Information Institute, Xi’an, China, Chengdu, China, in 1968 and 1981, respectively.
as a Microwave Engineer. He then joined Huawei From 1987 to 1989, he was a Visiting Scholar
Technologies Company Ltd., Shenzhen, China, where he designed and imple- with the Electromagnetics Laboratory, University of
mented various terminal antennas for 15 data card and mobile phone products Illinois at Urbana–Champaign, Urbana, IL, USA.
customized from leading telecommunication industries, such as Vodafone. He is currently a Professor with the Department
From September 2010 to July 2016, he was an Associate Professor with of Microwave Enginering, University of Electronic
UESTC, where he is currently a Professor. From May 2014 to April 2015, Science and Technology of China. He has authored
he visited the Queen Mary University of London, London, U.K., as a Scholar over 300 journal articles. His current research interests include antenna
Visitor. He holds 20 granted and pending Chinese and overseas patents. His theory and techniques, fields and waves in inhomogeneous media, compu-
research interests include wideband antennas for 5G devices, MIMO antenna, tational electromagnetics, electromagnetic scattering and inverse scattering,
and millimeter-wave antenna array. He is the author of over 110 referred new techniques for the antenna in mobile communications, and transient
journal articles and conference papers on these topics. electromagnetic theory and applications.

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