Integrated image-line steerable active antennas

This paper reports a varactor-tuned Gunn oscillator constructed in an image-line circuit and integrated with a grating antenna. The combined circuit exhibited a 2 percent electronic tuning range corresponding to a frequency steerable range of 4 degrees. The active antenna demonstrated a clean spectrum with low side lobes. The beam angles agree very well with the prediction. The circuit can be produced at low cost and should have many applications at millimeter-wave frequencies