High Gain Fan-Beam Pattern Antenna Based on the Utilization of Diffracted Fields From Dielectric Slabs Edges for IoT and Sensing Applications

A high gain, low-cost antenna structure is designed for a smart car parking system. The antenna uses Printed Ridge Gap Waveguide (PRGW) technology, which is fully shielded, and suppresses any parasitic radiation from the feed, and minimizes back-lobe radiation. The proposed antenna uses a single MSL feed point, which eliminates the need for any complex feeding network design, and allows the antenna to be integrated easily with PCB transceiver circuitry. A novel technique for the design procedure is proposed, the technique provides a generalization of using either electric or magnetic excitations with dielectric or magnetic rectangular slabs. A unique physical insight accompanied with a thorough analysis of the propagation mechanism is provided. The technique has a significant impact on reducing the complexity of the feeding network. The realized structure is compact, low profile, and low cost. The beam pattern of the antenna is a Fan-Beam (Elliptical) pattern which is well suited for various sensing and Internet of Things (IoT) applications.