Abstract
Antenna beam tilting or steering requires multiple antenna elements to be phase shifted and arranged in the form of an array. This article presents a novel method to tilt the main beam of a microstrip patch by partially covering it with a high dielectric-constant superstrate. The beam tilting is possible because of the dual-slot radiation mechanism of the microstrip antenna. In effect, the electromagnetic radiation from the covered radiating slot reaches the far-field with an additional phase with respect to the uncovered slot, resulting in an inclined beam whose angle depends on the superstrate's refractive index. Experimentally and numerically, a beam deflection of 25 degrees is achieved when a microstrip patch is partially covered with a superstrate having a dielectric constant of 10. Moreover, the proposed structure provides gain enhancement of about 3 dB. (c) 2013 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Microwave Opt Technol Lett 55:16571661, 2013; View this article online at wileyonlinelibrary.com. DOI 10.1002/mop.27659