A TE₀₁-Mode Groove-Gap-Waveguide-Based Wideband Fixed-Frequency Beam-Scanning Leaky-Wave Antenna for Millimeter-Wave Applications

A wideband fixed-frequency beam-scanning leaky-wave antenna (LWA) operating at the millimeter-waveband is presented in this article. A groove gap waveguide (GGW) supporting base is introduced as a transmission structure of the antenna with a TE
₀₁
-mode excitation, and two rows of longitudinal slots etched on top of the superstrate act as the radiating structures. Two rows of PIN diodes are soldered below the longitudinal slots, so that the long slots can be cut into a group of short slots. By controlling the PIN diodes, the working states of the slots can be switched between “ON” and “OFF.” Then, by selecting proper activation states, the fixed-frequency beam scanning can be obtained. In addition, the developed antenna is verified in practical fabrication and experiment. The experimental results have good agreements with that in simulations. The measured peak gain reaches at 16.8 dBi, and the beam-scanning range more than 70° from 23 to 29 GHz is realized.