Study and Design of a Leaky Wave Antenna Based on Metamaterial Substrate Integrated Wave Guide for 5G Applications

Directive antennas with high gains are highly desired for the fifth-generation networks and beyond; leaky wave antenna can respond to these requirements. In this paper a planar Leaky Wave Antenna (LWA) operating at Ka band is developed. The proposed LWA is based on a Composite Right-Left Handed Transmission Lines (CRLH-TL) concept and a Substrate Integrated Waveguide (SIW). The antenna is composed of N unit cell, each unit cell is a SIW on witch rectangular shapes are slotted to exhibit the CRLH-TL behavior and to permit the ware radiation. The geometry of the unit cell is obtained by using analytical and empirical formulas and optimized using parametric simulations. The model is designed and simulated using CST Microwave Studio software, the LWA is composed of 8-unit cells, fed by first side and loaded with 50 Ω resistance; the feed line and the load are matched to the antenna via tapered lines. Results show that the main lobe direction varies from -8° to 7° when the frequency varies from 26.5 GHz to30 GHz; the antenna exhibit a small variation of the characteristic impedance from 50.78 Ω to 51.17 Ω over the entire band and reach a peak gain of 12 dBi at 26.5 GHz.