A novel printed-circuit antenna is described which has the potential of drastically reducing the cost of microwave antennas. Use of printed-circuit dipole antenna arrays is not new, however existing methods require complex and precise interconnecting transmission lines. The antenna comprises a guided wave substrate that is coupled, by proximity, to dipole elements. The structure is relatively thin in cross-section, and readily adaptable to many different antenna applications. It does not require any protrusions, such as the feed-horn needed with parabolic dishes. The radiation patterns may be of essentially arbitrary form. Bandwidth and aperture efficiency of the antenna is essentially identical to any traveling-wave structure; such as planar waveguide slotted arrays. These waveguide array antennas, although expensive to manufacture, represent state-of-the-art electrical performance and are used in many applications. An example is the F16 aircraft multi-mode radar. The proposed antenna is electrically analogous, the difference being in the excitation mode. Experimental results are given which confirm the electrical efficiency and directionality properties of the antenna.
