Efficient Leaky-Lens Antenna at 60 GHz Based on a Substrate-Integrated-Holey Metasurface

We propose a low-cost implementation of a low-dispersive leaky-wave antenna (LWA) at 60 GHz for point-to-point 5G communications. The LWA is implemented with glide-symmetric holes in gap-waveguide technology. The radiation is produced through a slit and controlled with glide-symmetric holes. The low dispersion is achieved thanks to the use of a dispersive prism that compensates the frequency dependence of the radiation through the slit. The main innovation of our proposed design is the use of substrate integrated holes (SIHs) to implement the dispersive prism. This implementation significantly enhances the bandwidth and improves the robustness to manufacturing tolerances. Also, this implementation reduces the cost of the antenna while maintaining low losses since the majority of the propagation inside the prism is in air. Additionally, we demonstrate that the use of glide-symmetric holes in the slit allows for a better control of the amount of radiation (attenuation constant) when compared with conventional holes. The differences in the attenuation constant between conventional and glide-symmetric holes have been studied with a multimodal analysis. Apart from giving a convenient physical insight, this method also expedites the design process.