New Beamwidth Formulas for 1-D Leaky-wave Antennas: A Review

In this work, we comprehensively review the recent developments made in the context of the beamwidth evaluation in finite-aperture one-dimensional (1-D) leaky-wave antennas (LWAs). Indeed, the beam properties of 1-D LWAs are commonly evaluated assuming an infinite aperture, and only very recently the effect of the aperture truncation has been accounted for. However, the effects of the aperture truncation on 1-D unidirectional LWAs are different from those on endfire 1-D LWAs, and even more different from those on 1-D bidirectional LWAs. Each case deserves its own analysis, and this paper provides general formulas for the evaluation of such effects.