360° Beam Steering with Circular Polarization Based on the Superposition of Circular $\text{TE}_{\mathrm{n}1}$ Modes

This paper presents a new approach to generate a circular polarized radiation with a conical beam which is full
$\boldsymbol{360^{\circ}}$
steerable. In this approach, beam steering is accomplished by exciting multiple circular
$\mathbf{TE}_{\mathbf{n}1}$
modes in conjunction with their degenerate modes for the first time. Unlike phased array antennas where beam steering is achieved by excitation of multiple equally spaced antenna elements, in this approach, beam steering is provided by exciting all the modes within the same region, which allows for saving area. As a proof of concept, an antenna structure realizing the proposed method and its preliminary simulation results are presented.