A design for an electronically-steerable holographic antenna with polarization control

We present a design for an electronic-steerable holographic antenna with polarization control composed of a radial array of Ku-band, electronically-steerable, surface-wave waveguide (SWG) artificial-impedance-surface antennas (AISA). The antenna operates by launching surface waves into each of the SWGs via a central feed network. The surface-wave impedance is electronically controlled with varactor-tuned impedance patches. The impedance is adjusted to scan the antenna in elevation, azimuth and polarization. The radial symmetry allows for 360° azimuthal steering. If constructed with previously-demonstrated SWG AISAs, it is capable of scanning in elevation from −75° to 75° with gain variation of less than 3 dB. The polarization can be switched among V-Pol, H-Pol, LHCP and RHCP at will.