Analysis and design of a leaky-wave EMC dipole array

An analysis of an electromagnetically coupled (EMC) dipole array is presented, in which a microstrip line is coupled to an infinite periodic linear array of microstrip dipoles, arranged perpendicular to the line. The spectral-domain immittance method is used to obtain the periodic Green´s function for the two-layered structure, and the method of moments with a Galerkin testing procedure is then used to enforce the electric field integral equation (EFIE) on the line and the dipole within a unit cell of the structure to obtain the determinantal equation for the unknown leaky-wave propagation constant. One of the interesting features of this analysis is the path of integration in the complex plane used to compute the moment method reactions, which must be partly on the improper sheet for the m=-1 space harmonic when it radiates in the forward direction. Measured radiation patterns for a 10-element EMC dipole array are presented and compared with the corresponding theoretical ones