Design of a Full Solid Angle Scanning Cylindrical-and-Conical Phased Array Antennas

In this paper, a full solid angle scanning cylindrical- and-conical (CYLCON) conformal phased array antenna (PAA) is designed. First, a microstrip Yagi antenna with low profile and small size is proposed and discussed. Second, a cylindrical conformal Yagi antenna array consisting of 24 aforementioned 8-element Yagi antennas is designed and optimized. Simulation results show that the Yagi antenna array can realize low-elevation beam scanning in the region of 0° ≤ θ ≤ 30°, 30° ≤ φ ≤ 150° with low sidelobe levels and sharp beams. Third, CYLCON conformal microstrip antenna arrays are developed to realize the broadside beam scanning. Afterwards, an integrated PAA by combining the aforementioned conformal arrays along with feeding networks is constructed to achieve full solid angle scanning. Finally, a prototype is fabricated, the measured results show that it can realize beam scanning in the regions of 0° ≤ θ ≤30°, 30° ≤ φ ≤ 150°, and 30° ≤ θ ≤ 180°, 60° ≤ φ ≤ 120°, which meet well with those of the simulated. By arranging proper number of arrays along the perimeter accompanied with the switchable feeding configurations, a full solid angle scanning can be achieved.