Design of a Dual-Polarized Wide-Angle Scanning Planar Phased Array Antenna

A novel 2-D wide-angle scanning phased array antenna with ±45° dual-slant polarization is presented in this letter. The proposed dual-polarized antenna consists of two wide-beam dipole antennas with bent arms. To improve the active voltage standing-wave ratio (VSWR) of the array antenna at large scanning angles, vertical metallic patches are applied to the four sidewalls of the dual-polarized antenna, which can effectively cancel out the total couplings on the antenna. In addition, metamaterial superstrates are placed on the antenna to further improve the active impedance-matching performance of the proposed antenna. To validate the performance of the proposed antenna array, an 8 × 8 planar dual-polarization wide-angle scanning phased array antenna has been fabricated and measured. Within the operating frequency range of 5 GHz to 6 GHz (18%), the levels of active VSWR are consistently below 2. The ±75° scanning capabilities of the proposed design are yielded in the xoz, yoz, and diagonal planes, with sidelobe levels below -9 dB, respectively. The measured results align well with the simulated. The proposed planar phased array exhibits a 2-D wide-scanning range under dual-polarization excitation, featuring a compact structure that is conducive to integration and suitable for wireless communication systems.