Electronically steerable millimeter-wave antennas

Vijay K. Varadan; Vasundara V. Varadan; K. A. Jose; James F. Kelly

doi:10.1117/12.174053

1 May 1994 Electronically steerable millimeter-wave antennas

Vijay K. Varadan, Vasundara V. Varadan, K. A. Jose, James F. Kelly

Proceedings Volume 2189, Smart Structures and Materials 1994: Smart Materials; (1994) https://doi.org/10.1117/12.174053
Event: 1994 North American Conference on Smart Structures and Materials, 1994, Orlando, FL, United States

Abstract

In this paper, electronically steerable microstrip and leaky wave antennas using tunable ferroelectric material are proposed. These antennas are lightweight, low volume, low profile, and conformal. They have low fabrication costs and are easily mass produced. They are thin and do not perturb the aerodynamics of a host automobile or aircraft. Linear, circular, and dual polarization are achieved with simple changes in feed position. Beam steering is accomplished by varying the relative phase between radiating elements. In planar array, both horizontal and vertical beam can be combined to provide full scanning capabilities. Tunable ceramic phase shifters are used in these antennas. In microstrip antennas, they are deposited as thin films on the feed lines whereas in the leaky wave antennas they have been used as a traveling waveguide with a ground plane on one side and metallic periodic grating on the opposite side. The dielectric properties of the ferroelectric material are changed by a bias voltage applied to the waveguide which in turn controls the leaky wave direction of the antenna. A simple experiment is presented which shows a good agreement with the theoretical prediction.

Citation Download Citation

Vijay K. Varadan, Vasundara V. Varadan, K. A. Jose, and James F. Kelly "Electronically steerable millimeter-wave antennas", Proc. SPIE 2189, Smart Structures and Materials 1994: Smart Materials, (1 May 1994); https://doi.org/10.1117/12.174053

ACCESS THE FULL ARTICLE

INSTITUTIONAL
Select your institution to access the SPIE Digital Library.

SELECT YOUR INSTITUTION

PERSONAL
Sign in with your SPIE account to access your personal subscriptions or to use specific features such as save to my library, sign up for alerts, save searches, etc.

PERSONAL SIGN IN

No SPIE Account? Create one

PURCHASE THIS CONTENT

SUBSCRIBE TO DIGITAL LIBRARY

50 downloads per 1-year subscription

Members: $195

Non-members: $335 ADD TO CART

25 downloads per 1 - year subscription

Members: $145

Non-members: $250 ADD TO CART

PURCHASE SINGLE ARTICLE

Includes PDF, HTML & Video, when available