Shaped coverage of elongated cells at millimetrewaves using a dielectric lens antennas

A reasonably uniform coverage with significant ground reflection discrimination can be obtained at 60 GHz over an elongated cell like a section of a street a few hundred meters long, or like a long indoor corridor by using a conveniently designed dielectric lens antenna. The lens is fed directly by the waveguide open-end, and its 3D surface is shaped so that the antenna gain ideally compensates the free space attenuation at each direction wihin the cell limits, and falls-off outside this region. This lens antenna was developed in the framework of the European RACE II R2067-MBS project, to equip its Demonstrator. In this communication, the actual yielded coverage in a long indoor corridor and the fading of the received signal are compared with the performances of conventional rectangular horns when used in the same type of cells, showing a significant improvement.