All dielectric conformal Luneburg lens based antenna

A novel all dielectric conformal antenna is analysed and designed using a coordinate transformation of the spherical Luneburg lens. The non-directive beam radiated by a single source is converted to a highly-directive beam in a wide frequency range with low side-lobe level owing to the calculated permittivity map of the transformed lens. The electromagnetic behaviour is examined using a 2-D finite-difference time-domain (FDTD) method and the performance of the 3-D antenna system through numerical simulations based on CST Microwave Studio. Our results also confirm the steering capability of the proposed design. An initial comparison with a conformal Fabry-Perot (FP) cavity-type antenna is presented proving the outperforming capabilities of our antenna.