Compact Fixed-Beam Leaky-Wave Antenna for 5G Millimeter-Wave Applications

A planar, compact, fixed-beam leaky-wave antenna operating at 26 GHz is proposed, that consists of a periodic arrangement of series-fed microstrip patches. The antenna consists of two oppositely-directed branches of the same periodic structure, and it is center fed through a 50 Ohm transmission line. The two branches of the antenna radiate their beam in opposite directions, and the combination of the two beams results in a broadside beam. To reduce the longitudinal size of the antenna, a 180-degree bend is introduced at the center of each branch. This maintains the fixed-beam operation of the antenna for a wide bandwidth of 1.1 GHz, with a gain in excess of 14 dBi and a radiation efficiency of 65%, while reducing the overall longitudinal size by a half.