An Improved SIW Leaky Wave Antenna Based on a Compact CRLH Unit Cell

In this paper, a new composite right/left-handed (CRLH) Leaky Wave Antenna (LWA) based on substrate-integrated waveguide (SIW) structures is proposed. The suggested antenna has a continuous beam scanning from backward to forward versus frequency and can be used for wideband applications. The compact composite right/left-handed (C-CRLH) unit cell for the mentioned antenna is designed by etching two transverse slots and one interdigital slot between them on the upper ground plate of the SIW structure. The C-CRLH unit cell dispersion diagram extracted from the simulation results is compared with the transmission line approach results. The CRLH band is from 12GHz to 24GHz, and the antenna operation frequency band is from 13GHz to 22GHz. The beam scanning angle of the proposed antenna is from ${-53^0}$ to ${+66^0}$. The maximum radiation efficiency is 91.89% and more than 85.7% in 13GHz-19.5GHz. It is worth noting that the maximum gain of the antenna is 12.66dBi, and it is approximately 12 dBi in 13GHz-20GHz. The measurement results of the antenna are compared with simulation results, and a good agreement is observed.