LAUSR

A novel contactless excitation method for leaky‐wave antennas (LWAs) is proposed based on near‐field coupling between a physically disconnected input feed section and input ports of LWAs. Periodic slot‐pairs in substrate‐integrated waveguides are used to implement a plurality of planar LWAs in the Ka‐band, where contactless excitation allows switching of the input port along an antenna array without any mechanical disconnection and reconnection of coaxial connectors, thereby opening the path for mechanical switching‐based pattern reconfiguration. To demonstrate the proposed principle of contactless excitation, prototypes are shown with detailed reflection characteristics and radiation pattern measurements.