Application of FDTD method to the analysis and design of leaky-wave antennas at microwaves and millimeter waves

The Finite-Difference Time-Domain (FDTD) method, though rather heavy from the computational point of view, allows a complete characterization of a radiating structure, permitting also the accuracy evaluation of the other available solutions. Numerical results have been derived for a broad class of leaky-wave antennas proposed in the literature, always revealing a very good agreement with the methods previously employed. By the FDTD technique it is possible to easily determine the propagation and radiation characteristics of such structures, to obtain the radiation pattern in the far field, and to simulate the longitudinal tapering, necessary to satisfy the design requirements usually imposed to reduce sidelobes in the radiation diagram.