Circularly-polarized (CP) antennas are highly desired for future wireless communications. To advance the development of CP substrate-integrated-waveguide (SIW) leakywave antennas (LWAs) with the intent to meet this demand, a novel benzene-ring-shaped slot-loaded LWA with partially reflecting wall (PRW) vias is investigated and verified to realize wide-angle continuous beam scanning with consistent gain. The dispersion features of slot-loaded SIW LWAs with PRW vias are theoretically explored using an equivalent circuit model. The CP radiation feature is investigated numerically utilizing the E-and H-field distributions of an initial design and its equivalent magnetic currents. The results of these studies are used to demonstrate that improved CP performance over a wideangle scan range can be attained with a change from a standard slot shape to a benzene-ring-shaped slot. The resulting benzenering-shaped slot-loaded CP SIW LWA was optimized, fabricated, and measured. The measured results verify that a CP beam was continuously scanned through a wide angle from backward to forward directions with a consistent gain. The prototype exhibits a continuous 97.1 • CP beam scan with a gain variation between 8 and 11.3 dBic when the source frequency is swept from 9.35-11.75 GHz.
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