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In this letter, a wideband two-dimensional (2-D) scanning multibeam array antenna is proposed using a novel beamforming network (BFN). First, a novel three-beam Butler matrix (BM) network, as the core of the BFN, is proposed and described. The BM network comprises a directional coupler, T-shaped power dividers, and coupling baluns, which avoids using crossovers and lossy lumped elements as in a conventional BM network. In addition, a dual-stripline structure is employed to combine multiple components, which considerably reduces the BM network aperture. Then, six three-beam BMs are stacked and interconnected to form a complete 2-D BFN, whose scanning features of two orthogonal planes are controlled by two sets of BMs. Finally, to verify the working principle of the BFN, a 3 × 3 all-metal antenna array is designed and combined with the BFN. Notably, the low-profile antenna element achieves a wide operating bandwidth of 34.5%. Furthermore, a prototype is fabricated and tested, which shows that the antenna realizes switched beams in nine directions, indicating that an excellent 2-D scanning function is realized. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: A planar Rotman lens antenna that generates multiple beams is presented over a wide angular range. The proposed multi‐beam antenna consists of a Rotman lens and a ten‐element printed Yagi antenna array. By properly comparing optical aberrations, expressing as the normalized path length errors Δl, the suitable ratio of on‐axis to off‐axis focal length (g = G/F) is acquired so as to minimize phase errors for the array elements. Ten dummy ports are employed to reduce the performance deterioration caused by energy reflection. A prototype with seven input ports was fabricated and measured, covering a wide scanning angle of 60° (–30°, 30°). The measured beam patterns show that the seven beam gains are distributed from 11.9 to 13.6 dBi under operating of 8.15 GHz. Both the simulated and measured results are used to verify the design approach. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A novel wideband circularly polarized (CP) antenna is presented in this article. The proposed antenna consists of a four-leaf clover patch, four L-probes, and wideband networks. Based on the tightly coupled mechanism, the four L-probes are formed as a ring with the adjacent ones kept close for strong mutual coupling. Consequently, the proposed antenna realizes a wideband impedance matching. Meanwhile, the four-leaf clover patch is put closely inside of the ring for further improving the impedance bandwidth, which is proximity-coupled fed by the four sequential-rotation L-probes with phase of 0°, 90°, 180°, and 270°. The four L-probes are connected to the respective ports of a wideband feeding network by a two-stage impedance transforming network. The measured results indicate that the proposed design has an impedance bandwidth of 66.7% from 1.0 to 2.0 GHz for VSWR ≤ 2 and a 3-dB axial ratio bandwidth of 56.5% from 1.08 to 1.93 GHz. Furthermore, in the operating bandwidth, stable and symmetry radiation patterns and high gain are obtained. The design has a 3-dB gain bandwidth of 38% from 1.3 to 1.9 GHz with a peak gain of 8.5 dBic. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The paper proposes a wideband bowtie antenna for indoor base station applications. By using the inverted L-shaped coupling feed structure, the impedance bandwidth of the lower band is improved; while using the four tuning stubs, the upper band is enhanced. Thus, a wide impedance bandwidth of about 77.8% (VSWR les; 2) ranging from 1.38 to 3.14 GHz is obtained. In addition, by connecting two folded elements to the patches of the bowtie dipole, the compact dimensions of the antenna can be achieved. It also provides stable peak gain, unidirectional radiation patterns and low cross-polarization over the whole operating band. Owing to these good performances, the proposed antenna is very suitable for the recent indoor base station wireless communication services such as 3G, WiFi, WiMax, Bluetooth and LTE applications, etc. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]