13th European Conference on Antennas and Propagation (EuCAP 2019)

2-Dimensional Beam Scanning Gap Waveguide

Leaky Wave Antenna Array Based on Butler Matrix
in Metallic 3D Printed Technology
Jianyin Cao1, Hao Wang1, Rong Gao 1, Yan Wang1, Shanxiang Mou 1
1
School of Electronic and Optical Engineering, Nanjing University of Science & Technology, Nanjing, China,
haowang@njust.edu.cn

Abstract—In this work, a novel 2-dimensional beam

scanning antenna array working at 30 GHz is proposed. The
array is composed of four leaky wave antennas and a butler
Impedance
matrix in gap waveguide technology. The beam scanning in x- matching
Butler matrix
o-y plane is realized by moving one row of pins around the terminals
groove based on gap waveguide concept. The butler matrix is
designed to give additional beam scanning capability in
Port 1
orthogonal direction. The structure is simplified, since both the
butler matrix and the antennas are realized in groove gap GGW Leaky
waveguide technology. In addition, the whole antenna is Port 2 wave antennas

designed based on metallic 3D printed technology with high

integration.
Port 3
Index Terms—beam scanning, leaky wave antenna, gap Port 4
waveguide technology, butler matrix, metallic 3D printed
technology.

I. INTRODUCTION Fig. 1. Topology of the proposed 2-dimensional beam scanning

Recently, millimeter wave frequency band has been antenna array.
proposed for fifth generation (5G) communications systems,
guide the waves in the desired direction. In this way, there is
especially the 28 GHz frequency band has been exploited for
a possibility to guide most of the electromagnetic energy
the mobile cellular communications. There are many
along the groove with a minimum leakage of energy. Based
challenges to the mm-wave antennas, especially the
on this concept, the groove gap waveguide (GGW) is firstly
propagation losses due to the atmosphere absorption. Hence,
introduced in [5]. This GWG leaky wave antenna has the
the smart antenna with multi-beam works more effectively
advantage of simplicity and low transmission loss. Following
for 5G systems [1].
this work, a low side-lobe leaky wave antenna is designed by
Owing to the simplicity and low cost of implementation,
our team in [6].
the Butler matrix received lots of attractions as the beam
For planar structures, GGW is preferred with no strict
forming network for multi-beam antennas. The butler matrix
electric contact and low fabrication tolerance compared to
is made up of three main components: 3-dB couplers,
rectangular waveguide. However, it is difficult to implement
crossovers and phase shifters. The 2×2 butler matrix is the
a multi-layer structure with high integration in GGW.
simplest with just 1-D beam switching [2]. The 4×4 butler
Locating holes and screws are essential for the multi-layer
matrix is also dedicated with more beams in [3]. However,
structures, the assembly error increases as well. The rise of
these antennas just works for one dimension, and limited the
3D printed technology gives the possibility for integrated
beam scanning ability in another dimension.
GGW. Besides, the new adaptation of 3D printed plastic
The gap waveguide (GWG) technology was introduced
technology with metal coating is tested and proved the
with excellent low transmission losses and achieved lots of
possibility for antenna design. The 3D printed plastic
attractions since 2009s [4]. The undesired propagation of
technology provides great advantages over traditional metal
electromagnetic waves along the EBG surfaces will be
machining technology, especially reduced weight and
stopped in one or two directions. Surrounded by the periodic
increased design flexibility [7].
EBG structures, a ridge, strip, or groove is introduced to
 13th European Conference on Antennas and Propagation (EuCAP 2019)

-5

coupler

S-parameters (dB)
-10

-15

crossover -20 S11

S21
-25 S31
S41
-30
24 26 28 30 32 34 36 38
Phase Frequency(GHz)
shifter
(a)
Fig. 2. Topology of the proposed 4×4 butler matrix.
180

120

ang(S(3,1))-ang(S(2,1))(deg)
Port 3
60

0
Port 2

Coupling -60
holes
-120

-180
Port 4

-240
Port 1

-300
(a) (b)
-360
Fig. 3. The GGW multi-hole coupler. (a) 3D view; (b) Top view. 24 26 28 30 32 34 36 38

Frequency (GHz)
In this paper, a 2-dimensional beam scanning antenna (b)
array in 3D printed technology is designed. The whole Fig. 4. The performance of the coupler. (a) Reflection coefficient; (b)
antenna array is composed of two parts. One dimension of Output phase performance.
beam scanning is realized by the GGW leaky wave antenna
with frequency scanning performance. Another dimension is Port 3
realized by the 4×4 butler matrix. The topology of the
proposed 2-dimensional beam scanning antenna array is
Port 2
shown in Fig.1. Detailed configuration and performance of
both the butler matrix and the leaky wave antenna arrays are
Coupling
presented in the following sections. slots
This paper is organized as follows. Section II presents the
configuration and the working mechanism of the proposed Port 4
butler matrix. Detailed components of the butler matrix is Port 1
shown in Section II-A and B. Section III presents the
performance of the whole antenna array. The conclusion is (a)
shown in Section IV.
0

II. 4×4 BUTLER MATRIX -5

The topology of the proposed 4×4 butler matrix in GGW -10

S-parameters (dB)

is shown in Fig.2. There are four layers of GGWs for the

-15
butler matrix, and the butler matrix is composed of four 3-dB
couplers, two crossovers, and two 45°phase shifters. Each -20
S11
components are composed of two layers’ GGWs.
-25 S21
S31
A. Multi-hole coupler in GGW -30
S41
The multi-hole coupler is designed in GGW with wide -35
24 26 28 30 32 34 36 38
band performance in 30 GHz. As shown in Fig.3, there are
Frequency(GHz)
two layers of GGW, with a shared ground. Rectangular holes
(b)
are etched on the shared ground to increase the coupling Fig. 5. The GGW crossover. (a) Geometry of the crossover; (b)
between two GGWs. By properly setting the size and performance of the crossover.
 13th European Conference on Antennas and Propagation (EuCAP 2019)
-5
-10
S-parameters (dB)
-15
-20
-25 S11
-30 S21
S31
-35
S41
-40
26 28 30 32 34
Frequency(GHz)
Fig. 6. Performance of the butler matrix.
distance between rectangular holes, the reflection coefficient
is lower than -15 dB from 26 to 36 GHz. The phase
difference of the coupling port and pass-through port is
around ±90° in frequency band. The performance of the
coupler is shown in Fig.4.
B. Crossover in GGW
The crossover is designed based on the multi-hole
coupler. By adding more coupling slots, most of the
electromagnetic field from exciting port transmit through the
rectangular holes to the corresponding output port. The
reflection coefficient from 26 to 35 GHz is lower than -10
dB, and the output phases for two input ports keep the same.
Fig. 5(a) shows the detailed geometry of the proposed
crossover, and the reflection coefficient performance is
presented in Fig. 5(b).
The butler matrix is composed by the proposed
components and the phase shifter is designed by changing
the width of transmission line. The reflection coefficient
performance is shown in Fig.6. The working frequency band
for S11 < -10 dB is from 26 to 35 GHz. The phase differences
of output ports are -45°, 135°, -135°, and 45°, when input
ports from 1 to 4 are excited.
III. ANTENNA ARRAY DESIGN AND PERFORMANCE
The antenna array is designed by combining the butler
matrix and the leaky wave antenna arrays together. Detailed
design process for the GGW leaky wave antenna can take
reference to [5] [6]. The low side-lobe performance is also
designed for this leaky wave antenna with adjusted pin
heights. The whole structure is under fabrication by using
3D-printed technology. Since two rows of pins are enough
for the GWG boundary, in 3D-printed process, each layers
are supported by the third row of pins with extended height
in the outside. This antenna has the frequency scanning
ability in the frequency band from 26 to 35 GHz, and the
corresponding fixed beam scanning angle is from 116° to
140°. Each output port of the butler matrix is connected to a
row of leaky wave antenna. By exciting each input port of
the butler matrix, the beam direction in y-o-z plane will shift
from -135°to 135°, with a footstep of 90°.
(a) (b)
36
(c) (d)
Fig. 7. Simulated radiation patterns of the proposed antenna array with
each port excited. (a) Port 1 excited; (b) Port 2 excited; (c) Port 3
excited; (d) Port 4 excited.
The radiation patterns of the whole antenna array with
each port excited at 30 GHz are shown in Fig.7. The
radiation patterns are symmetric when port 1 and 4 are
excited, so do the radiation patterns for port 2 and 3.
IV. CONCLUSION
In this paper, a 2-dimensional beam scanning antenna
array is proposed. Taking advantage of the 3D printed
technology, the array is designed and fabricated with high
integration. The beam scanning performance is composed of
one dimension of frequency scanning and the other
dimension of fixed beam switching performance. In the
frequency band from 26 to 35 GHz, the beam scanning of the
proposed antenna array is 116°to 140°in the x-o-y plane and
-135°to 135°in the y-o-z plane.
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