Beam scanning array based on Luneburg lens

Based on the high gain beam forming and overall spatial beam scanning properties of Luneburg lens, a phased monopole array mounted on the surface of a Luneburg lens is proposed. With controlled distributions of excitation amplitude and phase on four adjacent monopole elements, this monopole array can form continuously scanned beams instead of the conventional discrete beams. To demonstrate this feature, two feed networks with different current distributions are connected to the monopole array to form beam patterns towards the desired angles. Both beam patterns have fairly low side lobes and similarly high gain, indicating that the proposed design has the ability to achieve a much simplified electronically scanned array with high directivity and unchanged beam shape while scanning in all 360 degree range.