Microstrip-Franklin Antenna

Phasing stubs are employed to achieve a cophase current distribution in microstrip rectangular patch arrays. This technique, originally proposed for resonant long wire antennas by Franklin, avoids spurious radiation from half-wavelength connecting transmission lines as used in conventional patch antenna arrays. A slot-radiator model is derived to describe the basic radiation mechanism of the resultant new type of antenna and experimental results for the slot radiation resistance are given. The design of a 13-element resonant array for 12 GHz is presented together with measured radiation patterns.