Analytical Study of 2-D Beam Synthesis in Configurable Multiport Periodic Radiators

This article introduces the concept of a multiport periodic antenna (MPPA) for generic beam synthesis in 2-D apertures. We propose the use of a periodic structure based on a strategically designed unit cell excited at its boundaries forming a multiport traveling wave structure. We introduce an analytical method to predict the large-scale radiation properties of the antenna only based on the S-parameters of the unit cell and by incorporating Bloch eigenmodes of the periodic structure. We first analyze the 1-D configuration based on which we develop the theory for the 2-D MPPA. Next, we demonstrate design examples that can synthesize arbitrary single-beam and multibeam patterns based on the proposed analytical abstraction of the structure. We verify the accuracy of the proposed method by comparing it with full EM-simulation of the structure demonstrating the ability of this method to effectively create configurable patterns suitable for modern antennas in mm-wave wireless systems.