Wide-Angle Scanning Microstrip Patch Antenna Array for mmWave Applications with High Gain

This paper presents a modified rectangular microstrip patch antenna (MRMPA) array conforming to the hemisphere for wide-angle beam scanning. Two different conformal antenna array designs are presented in this work. The first of these designs, a 13-element MRMPA array conformal to the surface of a circular arc, and the second one, a 9-element array conformal to the surface of a hemisphere, are designed and optimized. The geometrical approach of calculating the phase value is used to calculate the phase value of each antenna. The simulated results show that the 13-element conformal MRMPA array is achieving a beam scanning angle of & PLUSMN;84 & DEG; with a gain of 13.89 dBi with low side lobe levels, and further, the gain of the array is enhanced by a dielectric superstrate that improved the gain by & SIM;2 dBi at all the scanning angles. Second, an MRMPA array conformal to a hemisphere with nine elements is designed with beam scanning ability from & phi; = 0 & DEG;-360 & DEG; and & theta; = & PLUSMN;30 & DEG; with a gain of 15.69 dBi, and further, the gain is enhanced by & SIM;3 dBi with the dielectric superstrate. Full-wave simulations have proven both designs to be accurate and aligned with theoretical calculations.