Beam steering with high front-to-back ratio and high directivity on small platforms using decoupled antenna pairs

Abstract

Beam steering with high front-to-back ratio and high directivity on a small platform is presented. Two closely spaced antenna pairs with eigenmode port decoupling are used as the basic radiating elements. Two orthogonal radiation patterns are obtained for each antenna pair. High front-to-back ratio and high directivity are achieved by combining the two orthogonal radiation patterns. With an infinite ground plane, a simulated front-to-back ratio of 21 dB and a directivity of 9.8 dB can be achieved. Beam steering, at the expense of a slight decrease in directivity, is achieved by placing the two antenna pairs 0.5λ apart. The simulated half power beamwidth is 58°. A prototype is designed and the 2-D radiation patterns are measured. The realized prototype with one-bit phase shifter supports three directions of beam steering. The measured half power beamwidth is 46°, 48°, and 50° for the three respective beam directions. The measured front-to-back ratio in azimuth plane is 8.5 dB, 8.0 dB and 7.6 dB, respectively. © 2011 Engineers Australia.