A 2-D Beam-Steering Leaky-Wave Antenna Array in X Band for Non-Terrestrial Networks

This paper presents a low-profile, high-gain beam-steering leaky-wave antenna (LWA) array designed for operation in the X band for non-terrestrial networks. Specifically, the proposed array is based on a co-planar waveguide (CPW) structure with bi-directional radiation patterns in the H-plane as a result of frequency scanning. In addition, the integration of the proposed LWA array with a Butler matrix enabling beam steering in the E-plane at a fixed 8GHz frequency band is introduced. Numerical results are presented for an array of four 22-element LWAs operating at 8.2 GHz. The radiation patterns in both the H-plane and Eplane could be either achieved by scanning the operating frequency or switching between exciting ports, respectively. We envision that the proposed beam steering LWA array may be of great interest for the next-generation wireless communication in emerging applications such as 5G/6G base station, and satellite communication.