Co-Design of Low-Profile Linear Microstrip Arrays with Wide-Band Spatial Filtering Capabilities

TL;DR

This paper introduces a novel low-profile microstrip array design with wide-band spatial filtering, using offset stacked patch radiators to suppress grating lobes and improve gain over a broad angular range.

Contribution

It proposes an innovative array architecture leveraging angular selectivity of OSP radiators and an optimization process for enhanced spatial filtering capabilities.

Findings

Effective grating lobes suppression demonstrated

Enhanced gain within a broad scanning range

Successful experimental validation of the prototype

Abstract

The design of low-profile linear microstrip arrays with wide-band spatial filtering capabilities is dealt with. An innovative architecture, leveraging the angular selectivity of offset stacked patch (OSP) radiators, is proposed to implement phased arrays (PAs) with inter-element spacing larger than half-wavelength that feature remarkable grating lobes (GLs) suppression properties and an enhanced gain within a non-negligible down-looking scanning angular range. The PA layout is then obtained by optimizing the optimal micro-scale geometrical descriptors of the radiating elements so that the macro-scale electromagnetic (EM) features of the arising finite-size PA fulfill the user-defined requirements. A set of numerical test cases, concerned with a variation of the array size and its polarization, is presented to assess the capabilities, the flexibility, and the potentialities of the proposed spatial filtering technique (SFT) also in comparison with competitive state-of-the-art alternatives. The performance of a printed circuit board (PCB)-manufactured prototype are experimentally assessed, as well.