Slot-wedge multiple-element antennas

A slot along the bend of the finite ground plane forms a slot-wedge antenna, centrally fed directly by 50 Ω coaxial cable. Multiple elements in a circular array share the slot with different feeds, providing multi-beam pattern in the azimuth plane. Such an MEA is feasible for sectored beam scanning or angle diversity for a circular field of view. The results for two such MEAs are presented. From both the simulated and measured data, there is reasonably low mutual coupling caused by the co-located feeds at the slots. The MEAs retain their match to 50 Ω at each port, and their wide bandwidths around the second resonance. The MEAs have embedded element medium gains in the wedge element opening directions, with wide azimuth coverage in each beam. The front-to-back ratio of each beam remains at about -10 dB.