Millimeter-Wave Steerable Composite Right/Left-Handed Leaky Wave Antenna for Automotive Applications

摘要

A novel structure for a frequency-independent steerable composite right/left-handed (CRLH) leaky wave (LW) antenna in the millimeter-wave band is proposed. This has the advantages of wide beam scanning, and low profile, and is a suitable structure for mass-production. The proposed antenna has features wherein a movable dielectric slab is placed above the CRLH LW antenna, and the radiation angle can be steered by changing the distance between the slab and the antenna using compact actuators. A prototype CRLH LW antenna has been fabricated, and backward-to-forward beam scanning characteristics at 76 GHz have been demonstrated successfully by measurement. A wide scanning angle from 73 to 114 deg. has been achieved experimentally.