Metamaterial-Based Wide-Beam Dielectric Resonator Antenna for Broadband Wide-Angle Beam-Scanning Phased Array Applications

A novel metamaterial-loaded, miniaturized, broadband, wide-beam dielectric resonator (DR) antenna is presented for low-cost wide-angle beam-scanning applications. The mushroom structure is loaded on the DR structure, so the proposed DR radiator reduces the size reduction (low profile,
$0.09\lambda _{0}$
) and achieves a broadened bandwidth with a dual-mode response. The realized 3 dB beamwidth of the DR radiator is widened from 90° to 194° by introducing a pair of miniaturized equal-amplitude and out-of-phase Huygens sources. Owing to its compact size and wide beamwidth, a five-element low-cost wide-angle beam-scanning phased array is presented by using the proposed wide-beam DR elements. The measured −10 dB impedance bandwidth covers the 5G-78 band well (3.30–3.80 GHz, 14.1%). The realized scanning angle of the fabricated linear array can be extended from ±36° to ±65°, and its 3 dB beamwidth scanning coverage can up to ±90°. In virtue of miniaturized size, wideband, low cost, and good beam-scanning ability, the presented element, and the resulting wide-angle beam-scanning array are promising candidates for wireless communication and low-cost phased array applications.