Surface Wave Launcher Based Multi-beam Antenna for 5G Applications

This paper presents a novel antenna design wherein multiple beams are achieved using surface wave launcher (SWL) elements, in conjunction with a partially reflecting surface (Bull's eye) structure, to form a planar 2-D leaky-wave antenna (LWA). Simulation results present four narrow beams generated at a broadside tilt angle of ±57° in two different planes with 3 dB beamwidths of 14°. The antenna has a gain of 8.5 dB. The presented leaky wave antenna is useful in 5G base stations and access point applications where multi-beam antenna systems are required.