A Wideband Dual-Polarized Endfire Antenna Array With Overlapped Apertures and Small Clearance for 5G Millimeter-Wave Applications

Abstract

In this article, an endfire dual-polarized phased antenna array with small ground clearance is proposed for the fifth-generation (5G) millimeter-wave (mmW) applications with a wide bandwidth. In this array, each antenna element consists of a dipole fed by a microstrip line for horizontal polarization and an H-plane horn using substrate-integrated waveguide (SIW) for vertical polarization. To achieve a wide bandwidth for vertical polarization, two metal vias are added at the aperture of the horn antenna. Then, a four-element antenna array is designed by partially overlapping the aperture of each horn element. A prototype has been fabricated using multilayer printed circuit board (PCB) process. The measured results agree well with the simulated ones. The antenna is with an impedance bandwidth of |S11| <; -10 dB from 24.4 to 29.5 GHz for both polarizations. The maximum gains of vertical and horizontal polarizations are 9.16 and 9.27 dBi, with the scanning angle from -34° to 33° for both polarizations with gain deterioration less than 3 dB. The proposed antenna is a promising solution for 5G mmW cellphones or antenna-in-package applications.