An $X$ -Band 48-Way Leaky Waveguide Antenna With High Aperture Efficiency and High Power Capacity

An X-band leaky waveguide antenna (LWA) with high aperture efficiency and high power capacity is investigated in this paper. The antenna is mainly composed of two parts: a sectorial waveguide power divider and an LWA array. First, in the design of the power divider, the magnitude uniformity and phase consistency are ensured by adjusting the channel central angles and introducing phase adjusting structures, respectively. Then, the analysis and design of the LWA array are carried out. New formulas and conditions have been proposed for realizing uniform radiation distribution and maximum aperture efficiency. Five supporting beams are introduced to increase the antenna gain and power capacity. An LWA array as a prototype is fabricated and tested to verify the analysis and simulation. Experimental results agree well with the simulation. The return loss is better than 17 dB at the center frequency 9.7 GHz, the gain is 38.75 dB, and the corresponding aperture efficiency is 80.7%. The power capacity of the LWA array reaches 1.5 GW. These characteristics demonstrate that the proposed LWA array is suitable for radiating high power microwaves. The analysis and design method proposed in this paper is a useful guide for designing the high-aperture efficiency antenna in the future.