Electronically-Tunable Scanning Antennas by using Slotted Rectangular Waveguides loaded by Reconfigurable Surface Susceptances

In this paper, we present a simple technique to achieve electronically-controlled beam scanning, by properly acting on the exhibited average surface susceptances placed in correspondence of the sidewalls of a slotted rectangular waveguide. Such an approach allows to avoid the surface susceptance spatial modulation, thus it inherently simplifies the active elements biasing-network design. The preliminary results in the case of a 1D traveling-wave array demonstrates the concept and paves the way for the full development of 2D scanning arrays and for surface reactance synthesis by means of active elements, such as PIN diodes.