The radiation of millimeter waves from the nonradiative dielectric (NRD) leaky wave antennas with the tapered transition and the tuning aperture is investigated. An accurate theory for the leakage constant and the phase constant of the antennas is presented, which is based on the generalized scattering parameters considering the higher-order mode interactions at the discontinuities. The associated transverse equivalent network involves the characterization of the mode couplings at two air-to-dielectric interfaces, the coupled mode analysis of the tapered transition, and the calculation of the radiation fields at the tuning aperture via the extended spectral domain approach. The interesting behavior of the present modified configuration of NRD leaky wave antennas is illustrated by typical examples. The validity of the theory is confirmed by the comparison of the theoretical results with experimental data for the limiting cases.
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