A Low-Profile, Wide-Scan, Cylindrically Conformal <i>X</i>-Band Phased Array

Abstract

A low-profile, wide-scan antenna array operating in the 6-12 GHz band with planar and conformal variants is reported in this letter. The design comprises capacitively coupled dipoles, integrated with an artificial magnetic conductor layer to achieve a low profile (<; 0.2λ <sub xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink">h</sub> ). A patch with feed via is used as a conventional feed balun. In addition, a via fence is employed for resonance mitigation and improved impedance matching at the lower end of the frequency band. The array exhibits a wide-angle scan capability (±60°) in E-, H-, and D-plane for active voltage standing wave ratio (VSWR) <; 3. A 16 × 3 conformal array, axially mounted onto a cylindrical surface with a radius of 250 mm (10λ <sub xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink">h</sub> ) and 8 × 8 planar array configurations, is simulated and analyzed. The measurement results of the conformal array prototype show good agreement with the simulations in terms of VSWR, radiation pattern, and realized gain. Therefore, the proposed design is an attractive candidate for planar and conformal wireless devices at C, X-band frequencies.