Hybrid topology optimization of dual‐polarized wide‐beam antenna and its application in wide‐angle scanning array

A dual‐polarized wide‐beam (DPWB) antenna is optimized by a hybrid topology optimization (HTO) method, which combines the scalar isotropic material with penalization and the level set method. The HTO method has high optimization freedom degree, strong topology‐searching ability and fast convergence speed. The initial model of the antenna is designed as a dual‐feeding square microstrip patch antenna with short‐circuit metal walls around the patch. By optimizing the metal patch on the upper side of the model, the DPWB antenna is obtained. The DPWB antenna is symmetric with respect to both ports. When fed to either port, the half‐power beamwidth of the DPWB antenna can reach 166° (−82° ~ 84°) in the E‐plane and 124° (−62° ~ 62°) in the H‐plane. The performance is verified by both simulation and measurement. The DPWB antenna is further applied to a linear phased array, reaching an E‐plane scanning angle range of 160° (−80° ~ 80°) and an H‐plane scanning angle range of 122° (−61° ~ 61°), with the gain fluctuation less than 3 dB and the sidelobe level less than −10.1 dB.