1510

IEEE TRANSACTIONS ON ANTENNAS AND PROPAGATION, VOL. 37, NO. 12, DECEMBER 1989

A Feasibility Study of Stripline-Fed Slots Arranged

as a Planar Array with Circular Grid and Circular
Boundary
Abstmct- An experimental study of the self-impedance of striplinefed slots has been undertaken, with slot length and slot offset relative
to the strip as parameters. The slot is cut in one wall of a parallel plate
waveguide and locally a cylindrical cavity is created around the slot by
two p = constant walls and two 6 = constant walls. Such cavities can
be used as modules to build a circular grid planar array. Anticipating
a corporate feed, it is demonstrated that sufficient dynamic range in
the self-impedance is achievable to overcome the effects of mutual coupling, thereby opening up the prospect of an efficient circular grid array
for seeker antenna applications that require good sum and difference
patterns.

INTRODUCTION
ANAR ARRAYS possessing quadrantal symmetry and

pconfined within a circular boundary find wide application

as seeker antennas in radar systems, particularly those that
are airborne. The most commonly encountered type of such
array is shown in Fig. l(a) and consists of a family of rectangular waveguides into which sequences of longitudinal slots
have been cut. The design of these waveguide-fed slot arrays
has advanced to such a stage that no input experimental data
are needed [l]. Self-admittance, including the effect of wall
thickness, and mutual coupling are both determined theoretically with the aid of efficient, affordable computer programs
121
Despite this high state of development, waveguide-fed slot
arrays suffer from several shortcomings. First, they do not
use the real estate along the circular periphery optimally,
resulting in some loss in aperture efficiency. Second, they
are narrow-band for two reasons: 1) the slots are inherently
frequency sensitive, and 2) the slots are typically resonantly
spaced along each waveguide, so the feeding structure is also
frequency sensitive. Also, the rectangular grid arrangement of
the slots is not the natural one if a &symmetric sum pattern
is desired, as is usually the case [3].
(b)
These shortcomings can be alleviated if one adopts a circu- Fig. 1. Planar arrays of collinear slots. Circular boundary. (Onlyone quadrant shown.) (a) Rectangular grid. @) Circular grid.
lar grid arrangement for the slots, as shown in Fig.
and
also a corporate feed arrangement to provide the excitation.
There is no wasted real estate at the periphery, the pattern
In 1981, Stem reported on a successful design of a
can be improved, and the bandwidth is better because of the
microstrip-fed collinear dipole array, arranged in a circiular
frequency insensitivity of the feeding structure.
grid and employing a corporate feed [4]. The design had been
made difficult by the need to measure both self- and mutual
Manuscript received November 12, 1987; revised June 30, 1988.
R. I. Barnett, Jr. is with the Department of Electrical and Computer Engi- impedance as functions Of dipole length and Offset (the latter
neering, California State University, Los Angeles, CA 90032.
also as a function of relative dipole position). Later, these difR. S. Elliott is with the Department of Electrical Engineering. University
ficulties were overcome by Katehi, who first obtained accurate
of California, Los Angeles, CA 90024.
IEEE Log Number 8929325.
theoretical results for the self-impedance [5] and then the muf

le),

0018-926X/89/1200-1510$01.00 0 1989 IEEE

1511

BARNETT, JR. AND ELLIOTT: STUDY OF STRIPLINE-FED SLOTS

tual impedance [ 6 ] . It is now feasible to design a microstripfed dipole array without the need to acquire any input data
experimentally. These are attractive antennas because of their
low profile, high-precision fabrication, and low manufacturing cost. However, the dielectric contributes loss and weight.
Also, the presence of the microstrip corporate feed scatters
surface waves, an effect not included in Katehi's theory. This
causes some pattern degradation and input mismatch.
If slots in a ground plane are substituted for the dipoles, the
microstrip becomes stripline and we obtain the dual of Stern's
dipole array. This has some inherent advantages. External mutual coupling can be calculated easily by using the half-space
Green's function, as was done in [I]. The slots need to be isolated from each other internally by pin curtains, to insure that
only the transverse electromagnetic (TEM) mode propagates,
but this affords the opportunity to eliminate the dielectric (except for small stanchions to hold the strips in place). Thus the
losses and weight become comparable to those of waveguidefed slot arrays, with the potential advantages of better aperture
efficiency, better patterns, and an increased bandwidth.
Because of the lure of these advantages, a series of preliminary studies of stripline-fed slots has been pursued in recent
years. Park [7] investigated an array of nonoffset longitudinal broadwall slots in a rectangular waveguide, made into a
boxed stripline by the addition of an internal meandering strip.
Park's strip passed centrally under each slot at angles that controlled the amounts of coupling. Shavit [8] studied arrays of
transverse slots in the broadwall of a rectangular waveguide,
once again made into a boxed stripline by the inclusion of
an internal strip. For Shavit, the strip was straight and longitudinal, but closer to one side wall. The degree of coupling
was controlled by transverse displacement of each slot. Shavit
needed transverse pin curtains to enclose each slot in a cavity
in order to prevent propagation of the TElo mode. Robertson [9] varied Shavit's geometry by using a meandering strip
that passed centrally under each transverse slot at angles that
controlled the couplings.
A common conclusion was reached in these three studies:
to lower the amount of coupling to a single slot to a value that
would permit use of a linear array of even a modest number
of slots, and still provide an input match, pushed one into the
region of light coupling where tolerances became critical. In
other words, slots excited by a centered inclined strip, or by a
transverse off-center strip were well suited for unity coupling
but not for light coupling. But this means that a corporate
stripline feed is ideal for the excitation of the slots, with the
proper level of coupling achieved by strip inclination, or offset, or a combination of the two.
We have not yet mentioned mutual coupling. If 2 0 ,is~the
characteristic impedance of the TEM mode associated with
the stripline exciting the nth slot, what we desire is that
Z i = Zo,", where Z i is the active impedance of the nth
slot. In other words, 2; is the self-impedance of the nth slot
plus the weighted sum of its mutual impedances with all other
slots in the array, these weights being related to the aperture distribution. In order to satisfy 2; = Z O , ~the
, latter
being a pure real number (neglecting losses), we must have
X;lf = -1m (MC,) and RS,If +Re (MCn) = 20,n , where MCn

1-17/

B',

I '

1 - - - - 1 L I'- -

Pm+,-+j

Fig. 2. The mth ring of stripline-fed slots. (Only one quadrant shown.)

is the complex mutual coupling term. This means that one requires the dynamic range of both the real and imaginary parts
of PEtfto be sufficient to compensate for the effects of mutual
coupling. It has been the purpose of the present investigation
to determine experimentally, for a typical practical case, the
extent of the dynamic range of Pelffor a single slot in various cylindrical-section cavities, as functions of slot length and
stripline offset with a 90" crossing angle. A sufficient dynamic
range would permit use of the design procedure used in [ 2 ] .
THEDESIGN
FUNCTIONS
Imagine a circular grid array of collinear stripline-fed slots
for which part of one quadrant is depicted in Fig. 2 . We observe that a cavity has been constructed underneath each slot
by using pin curtains at the radii Pm and Pm+l and along the
angular directions 4,, = n/2 . (n - l ) / N m ,with 4Nm the
number slots on the mth circle. One branch of the corporate stripline feed enters each cavity at a place where a pin
has been removed and crosses transversely under the slot, of
dimensions 21 by w , at a distance s from the end of the slot.
If the fields of the TEM mode are negligible at the four
pin curtain walls of the cavity, compared to their values in the
region between the strip and the upper ground plane, the slot
will scatter TEM modes asymmetrically in the two directions
along the strip, as a result of which the slot can be viewed
as a series impedance load on the TEM line. For this reason,
proper termination requires that the strip end (approximating
an open circuit) one quarter wavelength beyond the slot. This
is suggested in Fig. 2.
Let us define an input port at some convenient cross section
of the branch stripline which excites the mnth slot. Then we
can write
M 4N,
p=l q=l

1512

IEEE TRANSACTIONS ON ANTENNAS AND PROPAGATION, VOL. 37, NO. 12, DECEMBER 1989

where V,, ,I,, are the TEM mode voltage and mode current
at the mnth port, with 2;: the mutual impedance between the
mnth andpqth ports. It has been assumed in (1) that the array
consists of M concentric rings. The active impedance at the
mnth port is given by

1
Bmn = ZZmnz:,

(6)

with I,, the TEM mode current and Zkn the active
impedance of the mnth slot, both referenced at the slot center,
combining (4) and (6), one obtains an alternate form for the
first design equation, viz.,

where Z z : is the impedance seen at the mnth port when all

other ports are open circuited and Zb,, is the mode-current- We shall assume a common characteristic impedance ZOfor
weighted sum of the mutual impedances. The prime on the all branch striplines and write (7) in ratio form for the mnth
double summation means the term p = m, q = n is deleted. and pqth slots:
If 2;: is negligibly affected by removal of all other slots
(usually a good assumption), then the first design equation
/ZO- f mn VLnZpq
-(8)
can be written in the form

z;,

z;q /ZO f p q V&Zmn

z;, = 2:: + zb,,

(3)

This form of the first design equation is seen to be analogous

to
[l, eq. (lo)] when that equation is also written in ratio
where Zk, is the characteristic impedance of the branch
stripline feeding the mnth slot and 2;; is the isolated form.
The second design equation can be derived in a manner
impedance of that slot. Equation (3) imposes a match and
precisely
analogous to what was done in [l] for waveguiderequires that the mnth slot be detuned so that XR5f = - X i , , ,
RZ5f R i , = Zk,. Equations (2) and (3) are useful because, fed slots. The details will not be repeated here, but if one uses
if all characteristic impedances are the same (the commonly (4)-(7) in conjunction with the reciprocity theorem, it can be
encountered case), then Zk,/Ziq is the ratio of the powers established that3
being fed to the mnth and pqth slots, which is necessary information when designing the power splitters in the corporate
feed.
However, there is another equally useful form to the first
design equation. If the E-field distribution in a slot, induced
by a wave traveling externally across the ground plane from in which
another slot, is similar to the E-field distribution caused by a
TEM mode crossing under the slot internally,' then

Bmn

=fmn(smn,

1mn)V;n

(4)

where B,, is the total backscattering in the TEM mode, composed of the linear sum of three parts: 1) one due to the TEM
mode passing under the slot, traveling from the port to the
open circuit, 2) one due to the TEM mode passing under the
slot, traveling from the open circuit to the port, and 3) one
due to the composite of waves traveling externally across the
ground plane, originating at the other slots. Also in (4), Vk,
is the slot voltage, defined such that E,, = V&,/W is the average value of the transverse electric field in the central cross
section of the slot. In parallel with the decomposition of Bm,
we can write

VL, = V&n,1 + G

n . 2

+ VLn,3-

(5)

In (4), the function fmn(smn,

l,,) indicates that the relation between slot voltage and TEM backscatter depends on
strip offset and slot length. This function can be determined
experimentally.2

'This has already been found to be a good assumption for waveguide-fed

ho/2, (see [lo]) and should be equally valid
slots when w << 21 and Z
here.
'See [8] for how this was done for the case of identical rectangular cavities.
Here, the function depends on which cavity one is considering because the
slot orientation relative to the pin curtain walls varies from cavity to cavity.

with K a geometric constant. MC,, is called the mutual coupling term and gmnpq is a complex quantity resulting from a
double integration over points in the apertures of the mnth
and pqth slots. Its precise form appears (in single subscript
notation) as [I, eq. (30)]. It is an easily programmed function
that can be computed at low cost.
One uses the design equations (8) and (9) in the following way: 1) MC,, is calculated for every slot in the array,
using the desired slot voltage ratios Viq,Vk,, these being
determined from pattern considerations. Since the slots never
move, but their lengths change, one needs to assume starting
lengths in the gmnpq calcualtions. It should be adequate to
assume U,, = X0/2, all m , n . 2) Next, one searches for a
couplet (s,,,, ),,/
that makes
Im

(L)
ZZjf/Z,
-Im(MC,,)
=

(1 1)

and that also makes Z:, / Z O= 1. This process needs to be iterated because the length changes require updated calculations
'A similar derivation can also be found in [8].

1513

BARNETT. JR. AND ELLIOTT: STUDY OF STRIPLINE-FED SLOTS

Fig. 3 .

Test module. Top plate removed.

of MC,,. Finally, (8) is used to determine the necessary ratio

of I,, / I , , , thus providing information needed in the design
of the power splitters.
It can now be appreciated what is crucial to the success of
this design procedure. An adequate dynamic range of ZEl,f/Zo
must be available to insure satisfaction of (1 1). Experience
with waveguide-fed slot arrays, and with the studies by Park,
Shavit, and Robertson of slots fed by boxed stripline, suggest
that if XEl,f/Z, is found to vary in the range 4=0.4 as strip
offset and slot length are varied, (1 1) can be satisfied. Before
attempting a full design of the circular grid, stripline-fed slot
array shown in Fig. l(b), it seems prudent to undertake first a
feasibility study of Zself(s,I)/Zo. This has been done for the
four cavity arrangements shown in Fig. 2.
EXPERIMENTAL
STUDY
In order to determine the dynamic range of P e l f for each
of the four modules shown in Fig. 2 we constructed one basic
cavity with interchangeable top plates. All parts were brass,
and on a solid bottom plate, we erected one solid radial wall
and two solid azimuthal walls, one at p = 6.200 in and the
other at p = 10.335 in. The second radial wall, 22.5
distant, consisted of seven pins, composed of 0.185-in rod
stock, 112-in on centers. For each module, two of these rods
would be removed to permit entry of the strip. The upper
and lower plates were 114-in apart and the strip, composed
of 1132-in flat stock 0.279-in wide, was positioned halfway
between the plates. This gave a TEM characteristic impedance
of 50 ohms, a figure for which theory and experiment were
in agreement.4 The only support for the strip inside the cavity
was a slitted 1/4-in cube of lucite, slipped onto the openThe experiment was conducted with the slot absent.

circuited end of the strip. This lucite cube can be represented

by a small reactance that becomes part of P e l f .
The external coaxial transition to the strip utilized an SMA
male fitting and a time-domain reflectometer measurement
verified that we had a well-matched transition at the design
frequency of 2.5 GHz.
All four top plates were 6-in by 7.5-in and 1132-in thick.
Each contained a slot of width 1/4 in whose central point lay
on the p = 8.268-in circle, but the slot orientations differed,
in conformance with Fig. 2. In all cases the slot ends were
square, and in the course of the experiments, the lengths were
steadily increased by filing out both ends.
The place where the strip crossed under the slot was controlled by changing where the strip entered the cavity. This
required changing the strip length in order to maintain exactly
one-quarter wavelength of strip beyond the slot. A photograph
of the test module, without an upper plate, is shown in Fig.
3.
Input impedance data was recorded for all four modules as
the slot length 21 and strip offset s were varied. A reference
plane was established by shorting the coax-strip transition,
measuring the distance along the strip from the transition to
the slot, and rereferencing the impedance data to the slot center line. For the modules labeled A, B, C, and D in Fig.
2 , smoothed curves through the experimental data points are
shown in Figs. 4-7.
DISCUSSION
Not surprisingly, the grid of lines for which U = constant
or s = constant that one sees in Figs. 4-7 are quite similar to
what Stern obtained for the microstrip dipole case, as can be
appreciated by studying [4, fig. 21. The dynamic ranges are
similar, which is encouraging. However, it should be pointed
out the Sterns results apply for any microstrip dipole in the

1514

IEEE TRANSACTIONS ON ANTENNAS AND PROPAGATION, VOL. 31, NO. 12, DECEMBER 1989

RIZ,

-1.0

-0.8

-0.6

-0.4

-0.2

0.2

Fig. 7.

Zself(s,[)/ZOfor module B.

RIZ,

1
1

XIZ,

Fig. 6.

i
I

.Pelf@,

/,V&

I
0.6

I
0.8

1.0

X/Z,

XIZ,

Fig. 5.

I
0.4

for module C.

PIf@,

O/Z, for module D.

data taking. This would seem to be a fruitful area for further

research.
The most notable feature of the data represented in Figs.
4-7 is that an adequate dynamic range for Xself is obtainable
through modest variations of s and 21. It seems reasonable
to assume that this would also be true for other modules on
different rings in a circular grid array.
CONCLUSION

A theory has been described which provides the design

equations for a circular grid array of stripline-fed collinear
slots. The theory indicates that a dynamic range of the selfimpedance of a slot, as a function of slot length 21 and strip
offsets, is needed to compensate for external mutual coupling.
An experimental study of Zself(s,1) has been undertaken for
four typical modules in such an array. The experimental data
strongly suggest that an adequate dynamic range exists, clearing the way for the design, fabrication, and testing of an actual
array of this type.

1.0

array, whereas our results for a stripline-fed slot differ somewhat from module to module, since the orientation of the slot
changes incrementally as one moves from module A to module
D. This implies that, in designing a stripline-fed circular grid
array, one would need to measure Zself(s,1) for each module
in a quadrant. For a small array, such as the one depicted in
Fig. 1, this is not too demanding a task. For very large arrays, however, it could become a problem. One can hope that
ultimately ZseIf(s, 1 ) will be obtainable via theory and
computations, thus eliminating the need for experimental input

REFERENCES

[l]
[2]
[3]

[4]
[SI

R. S. Elliott, An improved design procedure for arrays of shunt

slots, IEEE Trans. Antennas Propagat., vol. AP-31, pp. 48-53,
Jan. 1983.
G. J. Stem and R. S. Elliott, Resonant length of longitudinal slots
and validity of circuit representation: Theory and experiment, IEEE
Tmns. Antennas Propagat., vol. AP-33, pp. 1264-1271, Nov. 1985.
For a case study comparing the sum patterns produced by a 20 by
20 array (lopped comers) with the elements in a rectangular grid versus a circular grid, see R. S . Elliott, Antenna Theory and Design.
Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice-Hall, 1981, pp. 225-237.
G. J. Stem and R. S. Elliott, The design of microstrip dipole arrays including mutual coupling, Part 11: Experiment, IEEE Trans.
Antennas Propagat., vol. AP-29, pp. 761-765, Sept. 1981.
P. B. Katehi and N. G. Alexopoulos, On the modeling of electromagnetically coupled microstrip antennas-the printed dipole, IEEE
Tm-ns. Antenna; Propagat., vol. AP-32, pp. 1179-1188, Nov. 1984.

BARNETT. JR. AND ELLIOTT: STUDY OF STRIPLINE-FED SLOTS

P. B. Katehi, A generalized method for the evaluation of mutual

coupling in microstrip arrays, IEEE Trans. Antennas Propagat.,
vol. AP-35, pp. 125-133, Feb. 1987.
P. K. Park and R. S. Elliott, Design of collinear longitudinal slot
arrays fed by boxed stripline, IEEE Trans. Antennas Propagat.,
vol. AP-29, pp. 135-140, Jan. 1981.
R. Shavit and R. S. Elliott, Design of transverse slot arrays fed by
boxed stripline, IEEE Trans. Antennas Propagat., vol. AP-31, pp.
545-552, July 1983.
R. S. Robertson and R. S. Elliott, The design of transverse slot
arrays fed by the meandering strip of a boxed stripline, IEEE Trans.
Antennas Propagat., vol. AP-35, pp. 252-257, Mar. 1987.
S. Hashemi-Yeganeh, External excitation of a slot in the broadwall of
a rectangular waveguide, M.S. thesis, Univ. California, Los Angeles,
Aug. 1983.

1515
Roy I. Barnett, Jr. (S85-M87) received the B.S.
degree in electrical engineering and the B.S. degree in engineering physics from Lehigh University,
Bethlehem, and the M.S. and Ph.D. degrees from
The Ohio State University, Columbus, in electrical
engineering, in 1953 and 1963, respectively.
He is an Associate Professor of Electrical Engineering at the California State University, Los Angeles.
Dr. Barnett is a member of Eta Kappa Nu.

Robert S. Elliott (S46-A52-SM54-F6l-LF87),

for a photograph and
biography please see page 1271 of the November 1985 issue of this
TRANSACTIONS.