Characterization of an NRD slot for the design of an NRD based slot array

The non-radiating dielectric waveguide (NRD) has been receiving considerable attention due to its low loss nature and the ability to suppress radiation at bends and discontinuities. It is proposed to exploit the above properties to design a NRD based slot array. Previous work relied on measured data for the admittance of a single slot in the ground plane of the NRD. In the present paper, a single slot in the NRD ground plane is characterized using the TLM method. The perfectly matched layer (PML) absorbing boundary condition was used to ensure minimal reflection from the exterior boundaries of the computational domain. It is also shown that an s/sub 11/ less than -40 dB is achieved when the PML is used to terminate the NRD.