A mmWave rod antenna array compatible with a PCB prototyping technology

A mmWave communication is becoming a reality. Nowadays, 5G networks are at the stage of commercial implementation while numerous studies around the world are devoted to investigating practical issues of switching to the 6G standard. Next generation communication systems should rely on highly directive transceivers, which potentially suffer from a micromobility issue. In this paper, we report on the design of a mmWave rod antenna array compatible with a PCB prototyping technology. The array makes use of a dielectric multimode interference power splitter integrated with four weakly coupled dielectric rod antennas at its output. It is cheap to fabricate and has a half-power  beamwidth of 11° with a corresponding side lobe level of -11 dB at 135 GHz. Thus, the proposed design seems suitable for prototyping mmWave transceivers within lab studies of a micromobility issue in 6G networks. The design
is adaptable for high permittivity PCB laminates and, therefore, is potentially compatible with Si platform. All together suggests efficient operation of dielectric rod antenna arrays in the mmWave band and beyond.