Removal of scan blindness of phased array antenna using fourth-order Hilbert curved EBG structure

It has been shown that the Hilbert curved electromagnetic band gap (HC-EBG) structure effectively reduces the surface wave excitation in the substrate. This paper investigates the performance of HC-EBG structure for probe-fed microstrip patch phased array antenna. The results show that not only the mutual coupling between two elements is reduced about 20 dB, but also the blind angle is removed. Based on the proposed method, a probe-fed microstrip patch antenna phased array 9 x 7 elements are designed and simulated that shows the blind angle has been eliminated without increasing the dimensions of the antenna. Simulation results show improvement in the active reflection coefficient of center element and gain of the array.