Fast Beam Steering and High Gain 1 X 4 End-Fired Phased-Array Antenna Based on Liquid Crystal

An end-fired phased-array antenna with millisecond fast beam steering is proposed based on liquid crystal (LC). The proposed phased-array antenna is constructed by a feeding network, transition structures, LC-based phase shifters, and Yagi-Uda antennas. Distinguished from the reported LCbased phased-arrays, the proposed one incorporates the LC display technology-implemented phase shifter with a waveguide feeding network. To achieve millisecond fast beam steering, the LC thickness in the phase shifter is configured as 4 µm since the beam steering time of the antenna is proportional to the square of the LC thickness. The air-filled waveguide benefits from low losses, leading to reduced insertion loss in the feeding network. The reflection coefficients remain below -10 dB within the frequency range of 13.8 GHz to 15.4 GHz, and the maximum gain is 5.56 dBi at 14.25 GHz.