1-D Wide-Angle Scanning Phased Array With Enhanced Gain and Reduced Mutual Coupling Using Thin Dielectric Superstrate

A 1-D wide-angle scanning phased antenna array with enhanced gain and reduced mutual coupling by using a thin dielectric superstrate (DS) is presented. The DS can enlarge the effective aperture in the
${H}$
-plane and improve the directivity without sacrificing the wide scan range in the
${E}$
-plane. The directly coupled waves between the antenna elements can be cancelled out by the partially reflected waves from the DS, giving reduced mutual coupling. To demonstrate the idea, a
$1\times 8$
phased patch antenna array loaded with a 3-D printed DS was designed, fabricated, and measured at 10 GHz. The DS has a small thickness of
$0.16~\lambda _{0}$
, where
$\lambda _{0}$
is the wavelength in free space. The measured realized gain is enhanced by 1.6–3 dB in the scan range of ±48° with the scan loss being less than 3.2 dB. The measured port isolation is improved by 7.4 dB.