A Low-Cost Leaky-Wave Antenna With Fixed-Frequency Sum and Difference Beam-Scanning Capabilities

A novel fixed-frequency beam-scanning leaky wave antenna (LWA) capable of generating both sum and difference beams is proposed. This design comprises forty 1-bit magneto-electric dipoles with PIN diodes. The phase compensation principle enables beam scanning and the switching between sum/difference beams. A novel optimization strategy for the initial phase and subarray phase difference is introduced for the first time, thereby decreasing the sidelobe level, deepening the null, and balancing the difference lobes, which results in extended scanning ranges. The optimized performance is comparable to a reported 2-bit design. The prototype can realize sum beam scanning from −57.2° to 57.6° and difference beam scanning from −39° to 37.2° with a lobe imbalance smaller than 0.6 dB at 12 GHz. The deep null below −20 dB and a wide scanning capabilities in 6G FR3 band, enable the proposed LWA to be applied in the integrated sensing and communications.