Key Laboratory of Specialty Fiber Optics and Optical Access Networks, School of Communication and Information Engineering, Shanghai University, Shanghai 200444, China.
Wuhan Marine Communication Institute, Wuhan 430205, China.
Sensors (Basel). 2023 May 25;23(11):5070. doi: 10.3390/s23115070.
A fixed-frequency beam-scanning leaky-wave antenna (LWA) array with three switchable dual-polarized beams is proposed and experimentally demonstrated. The proposed LWA array consists of three groups of spoof surface plasmon polaritons (SPPs) LWAs with different modulation period lengths and a control circuit. Each group of SPPs LWAs can independently control the beam steering at a fixed frequency by loading varactor diodes. The proposed antenna can be configured in both multi-beam mode and single-beam mode, where the multi-beam mode with optional two or three dual-polarized beams. The beam width can be flexibly adjusted from narrow to wide by switching between multi-beam and single-beam states. The prototype of the proposed LWA array is fabricated and measured, and both simulation and experimental results show that the antenna can accomplish a fixed frequency beam scanning at an operating frequency of 3.3 to 3.8 GHz with a maximum scanning range of about 35° in multi-beam mode and about 55° in single-beam mode. It could be a promising candidate for application in the space-air-ground integrated network scenario in satellite communication and future 6G communication systems.
提出并实验验证了一种具有三个可切换双极化波束的固定频率波束扫描漏波天线（LWA）阵列。所提出的 LWA 阵列由三组具有不同调制周期长度的赝表面等离子体激元（SPP）LWA 和一个控制电路组成。每组 SPPs LWA 可以通过加载变容二极管独立控制固定频率的波束转向。该天线可以配置为多波束模式和单波束模式，其中多波束模式具有可选的两个或三个双极化波束。通过在多波束和单波束状态之间切换，可以灵活地将波束宽度从窄调整到宽。所提出的 LWA 阵列的原型已被制造和测量，仿真和实验结果均表明，该天线可以在 3.3GHz 至 3.8GHz 的工作频率下实现固定频率波束扫描，在多波束模式下最大扫描范围约为 35°，在单波束模式下最大扫描范围约为 55°。它有望成为卫星通信中空间-空气-地面综合网络场景以及未来 6G 通信系统中的应用的候选者。
