Investigation of low dielectric and surface-wave losses in a microstrip antenna array

A 2 × 2 microstrip array antenna supported by a dielectric grid is proposed. The proposed design decreases the amount of dielectric material needed to support the elements by about a half, compared to a similar conventional array. Moreover, the amount of dielectric material located below each element is about a tenth of that in a similar conventional array. Thus dielectric losses and surface-wave losses are reduced in the proposed antenna. Good agreement was achieved between the simulations and the measurements.