On the use of planar EBGs in one dimensional (1D) scanning printed arrays

In a companion paper (N. LLombart et al., 2005) presented in this same conference, the use of planar circularly symmetric (PCS) electromagnetic band-gap (EBG) structures for optimizing the performances of single antenna elements is discussed. A completely planar antenna with 20% of bandwidth which does not suffer from surface wave effects is presented. The key advantage of using this sort of super structures is that they are planar and thus very cheap to manufacture with respect to alternative EBG structures based on vertical pins (P. de Maagt et al., 2003). In this contribution the design efforts are aimed at using planar EBGs to enhance the performances of 1D scanning arrays. This kind of arrays, are becoming increasingly more requested for airborne SAR type of instruments and lower cost naval radars. The purpose of this paper is to provide a step toward the feasibility of fully-integrated planar arrays at very low costs providing a conceptual design. In particular, a design characterized by relatively large bandwidths (BW ap 15%), can be achieved when the arrays are scanned up to 40deg in one dimension only. This design will lead to the manufacture of a phased array demonstrator which do not suffer from surface waves