Design of a Radiation Pattern Reconfigurable Leaky Wave

Antenna
RuchiAgarwal1,a), Ranjana Kumari1,b), 1,c), 1,d)
1
Department of Electronics and Communication Engineering, Galgotias College of Engineering and Technology,
Greater Noida, Uttar Pradesh, India

Abstract: This study presents a novel single-layer reconfigurable half-width microstrip leaky-wave antenna (HW-
MLWA). Operating at a fixed frequency of 4.4 GHz, the radiation pattern of this antenna structure can be digitally
controlled by using bias voltage. Hence obtaining high impedance and less gain variations. This periodic HW-MLWA is
comprised of seven control unit cells (CUC), containing double patches with two diodes which act as switches and
connects the patch to the ground. Switching the states of CUC changes the orientation of the major lobe. A double gap
capacitor is either connected or disconnected with the help of switch to control the radiation without varying the
frequency. Analyzed, presented, and built is are configurable HW-MLWA prototype. The beam scanning angle of the
planned antenna is 8° to 46°. This antenna has a peak gain of 12.47dBi at 4.4GHz and a92.4 percent efficiency.

1. INTRODUCTION
Modern day wireless communication depends on antenna frameworks that convey high performance in
engineering applications. Leaky Wave Antenna is one such example (LWA). Because of its excellent efficiency,
limited elevation bandwidth, and beam scanning capacity, LWAs have been employed for a long time. Depending
on the type of guiding structures, leaky-wave antennas may be divided into two distinct classes: uniform and
periodic [1]. In scanning beams, a variety of LWAs have been employed. In most cases, these antennas scan beam
only in forward direction, radiating through a slot at broadside [2,3].

The author applied a substrate integrated waveguide (SIW) innovation in [4, 5] to address an emerging technique
for the execution of smaller, low-loss, and low-cost components, circuits, antennas, and complete frameworks at
microwave and millimeter-wave frequencies. Study utilizes, a forward beam-scanning SIW-based LWA antenna, to
radiate through an aperture on main side [6].

Author in paper [7] uses more than one composite left and right-handed (CRLH) properties to handle antenna
wave signals. Antenna subsystems and wireless communication leverage these features. with the help of CRLH
properties circular polarization in large bandwidths are used for designing patch antennas and arrays [8, 9]. Thus,
meeting the requirements for radiation pattern and antennas impedance matching.

One of the most essential reasons for introducing reconfigurable antennas is to improve spectrum efficiency. The
reconfigurability of an antenna is accomplished by modifying the radiation field of in it aperture [11]. While in the
paper [12], microstrip patch antenna consisting of a reconfigurable channel is used to accomplish the
reconfigurability. Reconfigurable channel comprises of PIN diodes which act as switches. There are four diodes in
total and one diode is situated on the substrate and the other three are put on the ground plane horizontally.

The scanning of SIW based LWA from forward to backward directions is completely dependent upon the slot
cutting and the bandwidth of the frequency range [13]. Adjusting the shape, size, and spacing of the openings
modifies radiation characteristics, such as main lobe and gain direction [14].While in [15], a half width microstrip
LWA is shown which can be switched in two states and a Reconfigurable unit cell is represented. As a result, a high
impedance bandwidth may be obtained while maintaining a return loss of 10dBi. Linear polarization and circular
polarization is presented with continuous beam scanning by using one DC biasing source [16, 17].
This paper introduces a novel and straight forward method for designing a radiation system in fixed frequency with
minimal gain changes for a HW-MLWA. Extensive Study has been carried out for HW-LWAs, with most studies
focusing on forward-direction beam scanning. Proposed HW-MLWA incorporates a control switch capable of beam
steering from BW to FW direction with employing a Dual-gap capacitor controlled by dual bias voltage states,
enabling the switches to toggle on and off. As a result, a straightforward, One-layer antenna was designed. HW-
MLWA incorporates Control cell arrangement capable of switching between two states. Antenna prototype was
constructed and tested for precise evaluation, utilizing seven CUCs in design.

2. ANTENNA CONFIGURATION
The design presented is an enhanced HW-MLWA which is comprised of seven periodic unit cells. The antenna
was built using a Rogers RT5880 substrate with a dielectric constant of 2.2 and a loss tangent of 0.0009. Hence, it
provides uniform electrical properties over a wide range of frequency and thus making it suitable for high frequency
applications [18, 19]. The structure consists of three layers: ground, substrate and patch. The substrate of microstrip
radiating antenna has a length (la=217 mm), a width (Wb=40 mm), and a height (H=1.575 mm). Meanwhile, the
microstrip line has a length (lb) of 199 mm and a width (Wa) of 11.7 mm. The substrate's permittivity is critical when
choosing a proper feed line impedance for maximal radiation and better impedance matching [19, 20]. The presented
structure of antenna is consisted 105 vias with a distance of v=0.80 mm between them. The length(b) of the slant
patches which are either connected or disconnected by the diodes is 7 mm.

FIGURE 1 : HW-MLWA Reconfigurable Top view of the FIGURE 2Control Unit cell (CUC)
port and periodic slots.

TABLE 1. The values of the parameters for the designed reconfigurable LWA.

Table1. Parameters of the given proposed antenna

Abbreviations Xa Xb a b c Wa Wb la lb Wc
Value [mm] 30 12.45 5 7 1.5 11.7 40 217 199 5

Every via is individually Attached to ground layer via a switch. When diode is on condition then it is FB, then
patch is separated from ground. Conversely, when diode is off condition then it is RB, then patch establishes a
connection to ground plane [20, 21].

Overall input impedance of antenna can be determined when PIN diodes are activated [22]. The following

𝑣>0.2λ0, 𝑣s ≤0.5
equation is used to compute the distance (v) between two neighboring vias (S),

In this paper, are configurable half width microstrip leaky wave antenna is designed with its one side containing
two periodic slant patches that are connected using diodes to the ground. As shown in Figure 1(a), an array of
reconfigurable HW-MLWA antenna is presented with its top view. To eliminate reflection and ensure good
impedance matching, designed half-width microstrip leaky-wave antenna is powered at one end of radiation element
using an SMA feed, while other end is terminated with a 50Ω matched load [23, 24]. The suggested antenna's
impedance is increased via a tapered feed port [25].Figure1(b) shows a unit cell with a double gap capacitor.

To validate concept for existing antennas, design was developed and tested. Simple feed network comprises
coaxial feed cable, Two side-by-side branches with EV1HMC8038LP4C regulating switches as outlined in Product
datasheet, and a SPDT toggle switch housed in a Surface-mount device (SMD). This SPDT switch offers high
isolation and is non-reflective from 0.1 GHz to 6.0 GHz. At 4.0 GHz, it provided up to 62 dB isolation and insertion
loss 0.8 dB, along with input third-order intercept of 60 dBm, making it suitable for cellular infrastructure
applications. SPDT switch has three ports and operates in a single mode, with control circuit functioning as switch.
EV1HMC8038LP4C controlling switch was used to control two ports in LWA.

In this design, PIN diodes are employed as perfect switches. In ON condition, The diode behaves like a
conductor, whereas in OFF condition, it functions as an open switch. From this point onward, the ON state is
represented as "1" and the OFF state as "0." Because each PIN diode can be controlled independently, a diverse
range of switch topologies can be achieved. Radiation pattern of HW-MLWA was examined for five different
switch configuration states, which are outlined in Table 2
TABLE 2: At 4.4 Ghz, Specified Switch States and Dominant Lobe Angles
State Main LO be Direction Switch States
1 8° 11-11-11-00-00-00-00
2 21° 00-01-01-01-01-01-00
3 23° 11-11-11-11-11-11-11
4 44° 00-00-00-00-00-00-00
5 46° 00-00-10-10-10-10-10

3. RESULTS

The magnitudes of input reflection coefficients for the seven primary switch configurations are depicted in Figures 3
and 4. As shown in figures, HW-MLWA demonstrates a return loss (S 11) at 4.4 GHz which is exceeding 10 dB
across specified switch states. Certain low-gain control cell states were eliminated. Although this study focused on
4.4 GHz Operation, antenna beam steering technique can be applied to other frequencies as well. Given fundamental
characteristics of LWAs, it is essential to choose the appropriate control cell states for desired frequency. The
bandwidth of the given antenna extends from 3.8 GHz to 4.8 GHz.

FIGURE 3 S11of all states FIGURE4 S21 of all states

An antenna's efficiency is the ratio of power emitted to power absorbed by the antenna, and antenna gain is the
antenna's capacity to radiate more or less in any direction as compared to a theoretical antenna. Figures 5 and 6
show that the suggested antenna construction has a measured peak gain of12.47dBi and an efficiency of 92.4percent
at a fixed frequency of4.4 GHz.

FIGURE 5 Efficiency of all States. FIGURE 6 Gain of all State

Figure 7 shows the observed radiation pattern of the proposed antenna, which ranges from 8 to 46degrees in all
five states. As a result, a constant beam guiding of 38 degrees is accomplished. The antenna pattern, or radiation
pattern, is a graphical representation of the antenna’s radiating properties as a function of space. In other words, the
antenna's design describes how it radiates energy into space (or how it receives energy).

(a) (b)

(c) (d)
 (e)
FIGURE 7 Radiation pattern of reconfigurable HW-MLWA (a) state1, (b) state2, (c) state3, (d) state 4, (e) state
5

Table 3 presents a comparison with state of reconfigurable LWA antennas from references [4, 5, 14, 15, 16]. The
beam scanning range of our designed antenna exceeds that of [5, 14, 15], and [16]. In contrast, the extensive beam
scanning range in [14] was achieved by arranging transversally slotted SIW LWAs in an array and controlling their
feed using RF switching chips. As a result, the structures described in [14] and [15] are more complex than our
proposed design.

TABLE 3: Comparison with different reconfigurable LW

Ref Band width Dimension Gain(dBi) Efficiency (%) Polarization Beam Scanning
of Array
(mm)
[4] 24.25–27.5 100 x 6 7 35-60 LP 66 Degrees
GHz
[5] 5.15-6.19 250×45 2.5 - LP 12 Degrees
GHz
[14] 27-30 GHz 95 x 24 9 73 LP 25 Degrees
[15] 5.4-7.4 GHz 266 x 76 12 80 29 Degrees
[16] 9-12 GHz 150 x 12.5 10 26 LP 25 Degrees
This work 3.8-4.8 GHz 199 x 40 12.47 92 LP 38 Degrees

Compared to structures reported in [4, 5, 14, 15, 16], positioning the electronic components on the backside of
antenna accelerates the fabrication process. Overall, suggested antenna is an appealing choice for 5G mm-wave
applications due to its appropriate beam-scanning range, relatively high gain, operation in the mm-wave frequency
spectrum, low cost, and simple fabrication method.

4.CONCLUSION
This paper presents the study of a double gap capacitor which helps in controlling the radiation pattern without
changing the frequency of the antenna. The reconfigurable LWA consists of seven-unit cells which are controlled by
two switches on the patch by utilising the different state of bias voltage. The suggested antenna is designed to
provide continuous beam scanning with minimal gain changes. This design is critical for systematic study of
periodic structures. This antenna's observed beam scanning ranges from 8 to 46 degrees, with a peak achieved gain
of 12.47 dBi at a fixed frequency of 4.4 GHz and a 92.4 percent efficiency. The main lobe radiation pattern of there
configurable leaky wave antenna is therefore controlled using a unique technique. Compactness, small variations in
gain, simple design fabrication, and high impedance make the proposed antenna structure best for the 5G beam
scanning application. This design is also appropriate for C-band applications

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