Performance Evaluation of Lens Types for Scan and Gain Enhancement

This paper focuses on the design and performance enhancement of a 4 <tex xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink">$\times 4$</tex> Microstrip Patch Antenna Array (MPAA). The antenna array is constructed by replicating a 1 <tex xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink">$\times 4$</tex> configuration using FR4 epoxy material, characterized by a dielectric constant of 4.4 and a loss tangent of 0.02. The primary objective of this paper is to enhance the antenna's gain and maximize its scanning capability from the boresight. To achieve this, two types of configurations are considered, a full dome lens that covers the entire <tex xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink">$4\times 4$</tex> array and an individual dome lens that covers each patch of the array. The performance is evaluated to determine their effectiveness in improving gain and scanning range. The results show that the Individual Lens structure yields the highest gain and provides improved scanning capability with a performance maintained upto <tex xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink">$\pm 45$</tex> degrees.