IEEE TRANSACTIONS ON ANTENNAS AND PROPAGATION, VOL. 59, NO.
11, NOVEMBER 2011
Wide-Angle Scanning Phased Array With
Pattern Reconfigurable Elements
Yan-Ying Bai, Shaoqiu Xiao, Member, IEEE, Ming-Chun Tang, Zhuo-Fu Ding, and
Bing-Zhong Wang, Member, IEEE
Abstract—A novel phased array is presented to extend array
scanning range by using pattern reconfigurable antenna elements
and weighted thinned synthesis technology in this paper. The pat-
tern reconfigurable microstrip Yagi antenna element is used as a
basic element in array and it is capable of reconfiguring its pat-
terns from broadside to quasi-endfire radiation by shifting states
of the PIN diode switches integrated on parasitic strips. A weighted
thinned linear array synthesis technique is analyzed and some in-
teresting conclusions have been made. A linear array composed of
eight pattern reconfigurable antenna elements is manufactured to
demonstrate the excellent performance of the array. The active el-
ement pattern of each element is measured and pre-stored. Based
on active element patterns and weighted thinned linear array syn-
thesis technique, the pattern scanning performance of the novel
array is synthesized. The results indicate that the array can scan
its main beam from to in -plane with
gain fluctuation less than 3 dB while maintaining low side lobes,
and the 3 dB beam width coverage is about from to
. The performance is superior to the traditional phased
array made of wide-beam elements.
Index Terms—Active element pattern, pattern reconfigurable
antenna, thinned array, wide-angle scanning.
I. INTRODUCTION
T HASED array antennas have been widely used in radar
and communications for their unique non-inertial beam
scanning, convenient beam controlling and energy management
advantages, etc. [1]. Microstrip antenna is one of the important
element formats in phased arrays due to its low profile, small
size, light weight, conformal structure and ease of integration
with radio frequency (RF) integrated circuits (ICs). Previous
studies have indicated that, typically, microstrip phased array
can effectively scan its main beam from to with
array gain reductions of 4–5 dB compared with the maximum
gain of the phased array as well as an increase in active reflection
coefficient resulted from element mutual coupling [2]. These
disadvantages limit its commercial and military applications.
Manuscript received April 11, 2010; manuscript revised February 23,
2011; accepted April 14, 2011. Date of publication August 12, 2011; date of
current version November 02, 2011. This work was supported in part by the
New-Century Talent Program of the Education Department of China under
Grant NCET070154, in part by the Hi-Tech Research, Development Program of
China under Grant 2009AA01Z231, and in part by National Defense Research
Funding of China under Grants 08DZ0229 and 09DZ0204.
The authors are with the Institute of Applied Physics, University of Elec-
tronic Science and Technology of China, Chengdu, 610054, China (e-mail:
xiaoshaoqiu@uestc.edu.cn).
Color versions of one or more of the figures in this paper are available online
at http://ieeexplore.ieee.org.
Digital Object Identifier 10.1109/TAP.2011.2164176
0018-926X/$26.00 © 2011 IEEE
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4071
According to phased array theory, the scanning angle and ra-
diation gain of phased array are associated with antenna ele-
ments. Gain decreases by at least 3 dB when scanning angle of
the array increases beyond 3-dB beam angle of the isolated el-
ement. This phenomenon inhibits the extension of the scanning
angle of the phased array. To solve this problem, many tech-
nologies have been developed by enlarging 3-dB beam width of
the isolated element. For example, a wide-beam antenna is de-
signed by combining microstrip antenna and dielectric antenna
in reference [3] and another wide-beam antenna is designed in
[4] and [5] by changing the excitation model of antenna and
loading U-slot on antenna patch. However, in phased array ap-
plication, large beam width of the elements can cause high side
lobes and large grating lobes and decrease the main beam gain
of array when the main beam of phased array scans to the larger
angles.
Aperiodic arrangements of antenna elements are adopted in
arrays in order to reduce side lobes [6], [7], in which element
spacings are optimized by genetic algorithms (GAs) and particle
swarm optimization (PSO) and vary from a few tenths of the
wavelength to several wavelengths. To obtain larger scanning
angles, some element spacings need to be arranged less than
quarter wavelength. Obviously, a traditional microstrip antenna
cannot be applied in this case. In [8], Zhang proposed a weighted
thinned linear array, and the array composed of omni-directional
pattern elements maintains almost the same side lobe level when
the array scans its main beam, but when the number of the array
element is small, the side lobes of the array become higher and
the array cannot scan to a large angle. These attempts imply
that the aperiodic thinned array is one of the potential methods
for phased array application. However, it is difficult for aperi-
odic thinned array to reduce side lobes while extending scanning
angle range simultaneously. Therefore, some new techniques
are still desired eagerly to improve the performances of phased
arrays.
Pattern reconfigurable antenna can reconfigure its radia-
tion beams at certain frequencies by shifting the states of the
switches integrated in the radiation aperture of the element
[9]–[11]. If the pattern reconfigurable antenna element is ap-
plied into the array as a basic element, a novel phased array is
structured and some surprising characteristics may be obtained
because the element provides a new freedom degree besides
excitation amplitude and phase. By using pattern reconfigurable
elements, some attempts have been made to reduce the side
lobes of phased array antenna within interesting angle range
in literature [12], [13], but much work remains to be done to
enhance the performance of the phased array.
 4072
Fig. 1. Structure of pattern reconfigurable microstrip Yagi antenna element.
(a) Antenna geometry. (b) Antenna prototype.
In this paper, a novel phased array is developed. The proposed
array is a weighted thinned microstrip linear array in which the
pattern reconfigurable microstrip Yagi antennas are used as the
radiation elements. The weighted thinned linear array synthesis
technique is analyzed in details. In order to perform the design
concept, a novel phased array of eight pattern reconfigurable
elements arranged with weighted thinned linear distribution is
studied and fabricated. The active pattern of each element is
measured in anechoic chamber and pre-stored. Finally, based
on these active element patterns, the performance of the pro-
posed eight-element phased array is synthesized, and the results
indicate that the proposed array can scan its main beam within
a wide-angle range with gain fluctuation of less than 3 dB while
maintaining low side lobes level.
II. PATTERN RECONFIGURABLE ANTENNA ELEMENT DESIGN
The pattern reconfigurable antenna element IS A microstrip-
Yagi antenna, as shown in Fig. 1(a). The element operates at the
frequency of about 5.8 GHz, and is printed on a dielectric sub-
strate with permittivity of 2.2 and thickness (H) of 8 mm.
Four PIN diode switches SMV2019, i.e., k1, k2, k3, and k4, are
installed in four gaps, respectively. The layout of the DC-bias
circuits of four PIN switches can be found in Fig. 1(a). DC
voltage is applied to PIN diodes through metal pillars at point V
and . ( is the guided-wave wavelength at the opera-
tion frequency) high impedance lines (width: 0.2 mm) are used
to connect the antenna strips to the ground. The inductances,
L1–L6 with 110 nH, are used to block high-frequency currents.
The detailed configuration parameters shown in Fig. 1(a) are:
mm, mm, mm, mm,
mm, mm, and mm, respectively.
The pattern reconfigurable antenna can operate in three states
by shifting states of PIN diodes. In Fig. 1(a), when voltage of
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IEEE TRANSACTIONS ON ANTENNAS AND PROPAGATION, VOL. 59, NO. 11, NOVEMBER 2011
Fig. 2. Measured results of three modes. (a) Reflection coefficients. (b) Patterns
in -plane.
3 V is applied to the point V and , all of the switches are
open and the antenna operates in -mode. The radiation pat-
tern of the antenna directs to broadside and is similar with that
of the conventional microstrip antenna. When voltages of 3 V
and 3 V are applied to the point V and , respectively, the
switches k1 and k2 are open, k3 and k4 are closed, and the an-
tenna operates in -mode. In this mode, effective length of the
left parasitic strip is longer than the right one and the antenna
deflects its radiation pattern in -plane from broadside to the
positive -axis. By symmetry, when the voltage of the point V
and is 3 V and 3 V, respectively, the switch k1 and k2
are closed, k3 and k4 are open, the so called -mode can be
constructed and it deflects radiation pattern in -plane from
broadside to the negative -axis. The antenna scheme has been
presented for microwave application and the ideal switch model
is adopted in reference [14]. However, based on our studies, de-
signing a DC-bias network with good electromagnetic compat-
ibility (EMC) performance is very challenging in the design.
The model of the antenna prototype is displayed in Fig. 1(b).
The measured reflection coefficients are shown in Fig. 2(a),
and the measured patterns of the three modes in -plane
( -plane) are displayed in Fig. 2(b). It can be observed that
the antenna element can work well in three modes around
 BAI et al.: WIDE-ANGLE SCANNING PHASED ARRAY WITH PATTERN RECONFIGURABLE ELEMENTS 4073

Fig. 3. Configuration of the weighted thinned linear phased array.

5.8 GHz. The measured main beam directions and the corre-
sponding half power beam coverage in -plane are: ( -mode,
, 27 -78 ), ( -mode, , - ), and
( -mode, , -48 ), respectively. By shifting the
three modes, the 3 dB beam of the antenna can cover 140
uninterruptedly. The antenna in -mode has wider 3 dB beam
coverage and a lower gain compared with -mode and -mode.
It should be mentioned that the side lobe levels of -mode and
-mode are less 9 dB than their respective main beam, which Fig. 4. Scanned array factors with different maximum radiation angle.
contributes to obtain low side lobes when the antenna element
is used in phased array to extend scanning angle. We study the scanning characteristics of the array factor in de-
tails for its potential appliance. The studied results demonstrate
III. WEIGHTED THINNED LINEAR ARRAY that there exists a zone with ultra-low side lobe level beside the
An N-element linear array formed by isotropic elements is main beam and the width of this zone is denoted by . In this
shown in Fig. 3, and its array factor in plane is described zone, the side lobe level called nearby side lobe (NSL) level is
by the following formula: much less than main beam level. The peak side lobe (PSL) is the
side lobe level out of the zone . Here, is mainly affected
(1) by the average distance between array elements and it decreases
when the average distance increases. The depends on
and it rapidly decreases as increases. The is associated
where is the array factor, , is the with and . When or increases, the increases. How-
maximum radiation angle of the array, is the phase ever, for the fixed and , , and are changeless when
constant and is the wavelength in free space at the operation the array scans its main beam, which has a potential value for
frequency, , and represent the excita- extending antenna array scanning range.
tion amplitude and the position of the th element in the array, To perform intuitively the array factors, , ,
respectively. In uniform array with element spacing , grating , and are chosen and the curves with dif-
lobe (i.e. high side lobes) occurs when array factor scans ferent are shown in Fig. 4. In Fig. 4, it is indicated that the
to the angle level of the weighted thinned linear array with omnidirec-
(2) tional elements is still not low enough compared with the main
beam level when the number of antenna elements is small.
Generally, the physical sizes of practical antenna elements
are not small enough to constitute easily an array with element IV. NOVEL PHASED ARRAY WITH EXTENDED SCANNING
spacing less than half wavelength, but large element spacing ANGLE AND LOW SIDE LOBES
may lead to the appearance of the large grating lobes even if In order to extend the scanning angle range of the phased
the scanning angle is small under proper condition. array and reduce the side lobes, a novel weighted thinned linear
In [8], Zhang proposed a weighted thinned linear array and in phased array is proposed using the pattern reconfigurable an-
this array the location of every element is determined by tenna elements. To perform the novel phased array, we make
a tradeoff between array radiation performance, array size and
(3) mutual coupling between elements. The studied phased array is
composed of eight antenna elements. The array parameters are
chosen as , and , just like the case men-
where
tioned in Fig. 4. All of the elements are arranged along -axis
at respective location of . is determined
according to (3) and listed in Table I.
(4) The proposed phased array is studied and manufactured, and
its photograph and the adopted Cartesian coordinates are shown
is the array length, i.e., , . The excitation in Fig. 5. Active element pattern for each element is measured
amplitude of the th element can be determined by in the anechoic chamber. These active element patterns have
already taken into account the contribution of the mutual cou-
plings between the elements. When the active pattern of one
(5) element is measured, all of the other elements operate in the
where is the weight factor. same mode. For examples, the active gain patterns in -plane

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 4074 IEEE TRANSACTIONS ON ANTENNAS AND PROPAGATION, VOL. 59, NO. 11, NOVEMBER 2011

TABLE I
ELEMENT POSITIONS AND WEIGHTED VALUES IN PROPOSED ARRAY

Fig. 5. Photograph of the weighted thinned linear array.

( -plane) of four elements, named No.02, No.04, No.06, and

No.08, are displayed in Fig. 6. In Fig. 6(a), (b), and (c), all of
the elements operate in -mode, -mode, and -mode, respec-
tively. From this figure, it can be seen that the active element
pattern of each element is different from each other. The differ-
ence comes from the different related position of each element
and the variable mutual couplings between elements. With the
increase of element spacing, such as the elements of No.06 and
No.08, the active element patterns match well with each other. It
implies that when the element spacing is large enough the active
element pattern should be close to that of the isolated element.
The active element patterns are adopted to synthesize the
array pattern. This technique has been validated in [15] and [16].
The pattern for th element is noted as . Then the array
pattern is obtained by a superposition of pattern of each element:

(6)
Fig. 6. -plane active patterns of the elements in the weighted thinned linear
array. (a) -mode. (b) -mode. (c) -mode.
where is the expected main beam direction, the
weighted amplitude coefficient is calculated by (5) and also respectively, when all of the elements operate in -mode, and
shown in Table I. Fig. 7(c) shows the array pattern when all of the elements op-
Fig. 7 shows the synthesized patterns of the proposed phased erate in -mode.
array in -plane. Fig. 7(a) depicts the array patterns whose main The array performances in -plane, including the scanning
beam points to 0 , 20 , 40 , and 60 , respectively, when angles, array gains, levels, and operating modes, are listed
all of the elements operate in -mode and with prospective pro- in Table II. It can be observed that, when all of the elements op-
gressive phases. Similarly, Fig. 7(b) depicts the array patterns erate in -mode, the array can scan its main beam from 7 to
whose main beam points to , , , and , 60 with a gain fluctuation less than 3 dB and the maximum gain

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 BAI et al.: WIDE-ANGLE SCANNING PHASED ARRAY WITH PATTERN RECONFIGURABLE ELEMENTS
Fig. 7. Pattern scanning characteristics of the weighted thinned linear array
in -plane. (a) All elements operate in -mode. (b) All elements operate in
-mode. (c) All elements operate in -mode.
of 13.2 dBi occurs at the scanning angle of . When the
array scans its main beam to , the 3 dB beam coverage
can get to and the side lobe level is low. Based on
symmetry, the array can scan its main beam from to
when all of the elements operate in -mode. When all of the ele-
ments operate in -mode, the array can scan its main beam from
to with an almost invariable gain of about
11 dBi despite the large side lobe levels due to the wide-beam
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4075
TABLE II
PATTERN CHARACTERISTICS OF THE NOVEL PHASED ARRAY
characteristic and the inertial broadside of the element patterns.
These results demonstrate that the array can scan from to
60 by adjusting progressive phase and shifting corresponding
operating state of the elements. The operation guideline of the
array is as follows.
1) When the scanning angle ranges from 7 to 60 , all of
the elements should be in -mode.
2) When the scanning angle ranges from 7 to 7 all of
the elements should be in -mode.
3) When the scanning angle ranges from 60 to 7 all
of the elements should be in -mode.
Based on the results mentioned above, we can draw a con-
clusion that the novel phased array can improve dramatically
its operation performance in two aspects compared with the tra-
ditional microstrip phased array. First, the novel array can scan
its main beam with wider angle coverage and gain fluctuation
less than 3 dB. The second advantage is that the element can
obtain low side lobe level in -mode and -mode, which en-
ables the novel phased array to scan in wide angle with low side
lobe levels.
V. CONCLUSION
A weighted thinned linear phased array with pattern recon-
figurable antenna elements is proposed to extend the scanning
angle coverage in this paper. The studies show that the novel
array can scan its main beam from 60 to 60 in -plane with
the gain fluctuation less than 3 dB and low side lobe level by
shifting states of the elements and adjusting the excitations of
the elements. These performances are superior to those of the
array composed of wide-beam antenna elements.
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Yan-Ying Bai was born in Hunan Province, China,
in 1978. She received the B.S. degree in physics
from Jishou University, Jishou, China, in 2000
and the M.S. degrees in electromagnetic field and
microwave engineering from the University of Elec-
tronic Science and Technology of China (UESTC),
Chengdu, in 2005, where she is currently working
toward the Ph.D. degree in radio engineering.
Her current research interests include antenna ele-
ments, phased arrays, and RF circuits. She is also in-
terested in electromagnetic theory and computational
electromagnetics.
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Shaoqiu Xiao (M’05) received the Ph.D. degree in
electromagnetic field and microwave engineering
from the University of Electronic Science and
Technology of China (UESTC), Chengdu, in 2003.
From January 2004 to June 2004, he was with
UESTC as an Assistant Professor. From July 2004
to March 2006, he was with the Wireless Communi-
cations Laboratory, National Institute of Information
and Communications Technology of Japan (NICT),
Singapore, as a Researcher with a focus on the planar
antenna and smart antenna design and optimization.
From July 2006 to June 2010, he was with UESTC as an Associate Professor.
He is now a Professor with UESTC. His current research interests include
planar antenna and arrays, microwave passive circuits, and electromagnetics
in ultrawide band communication. He has authored/coauthored more than 100
technical journals, conference papers, books, and book chapters.
Ming-Chun Tang received the B.S. degree in
physics from the Neijiang Normal University,
Neijiang, China, in 2005. He is currently working
toward the Ph.D. degree in radio physics at the
University of Electronic Science and Technology of
China (UESTC).
His research interest includes miniature antennas,
RF circuits, and metamaterial design and its appli-
cation. He has authored or coauthored more than 30
international referred journal and conference papers.
Mr. Tang was a recipient of the Best Student Paper
Award at the 2010 International Symposium on Signals, Systems, and Elec-
tronics (ISSSE2010). He serves as a reviewer for the IEEE ANTENNAS AND
WIRELESS PROPAGATION LETTERS.
Zhuo-Fu Ding, photograph and biography not available at the time of
publication.
Bing-Zhong Wang (M’06) received the Ph.D.
degree in electrical engineering from the University
of Electronic Science and Technology of China
(UESTC), Chengdu, China, in 1988.
He joined the UESTC in 1984 and is currently a
Professor there. He has been a Visiting Scholar at
the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee, a Research
Fellow at the City University of Hong Kong, and a
Visiting Professor in the Electromagnetic Commu-
nication Laboratory, Pennsylvania State University,
University Park. His current research interests are in
the areas of computational electromagnetics, antenna theory and techniques,
electromagnetic compatibility analysis, and computer-aided design for passive
microwave integrated circuits.