A mechanically steerable array antenna using controllable dielectric phase shifters for 77 GHz automotive radar systems

A mechanically steerable antenna using an adjustable dielectric phase shifter was designed and developed for automotive radar applications. We demonstrated that a movable dielectric slab placed on a coplanar waveguide (CPW) could be used as a phase shifter (J. Cha et al., 2005). The required dielectric constant of epsi_r = 5.6 can be designed using a ceramic composite material. Numerical simulations using Ansoft HFSS and Designer were conducted at 77 GHz. The microstrip transmission line to a WR-12 waveguide transition as the initial feeding point has also been investigated (H. Iizuka et al., 2002)