Abstract

Leaky-Wave Antennas (LWAs) are a cost-effective, efficient solution to the longstanding problem of a simultaneously low-profile and highly directive radiating device. As the name suggests, the working principle of such structures is based on the power leakage during the field propagation in partially open waveguides. This phenomenon can be efficiently described through a fully analytical approach, providing a straightforward yet effective method for characterizing and designing LWAs.
In this contribution, the abovementioned analytical methods are corroborated and supported by computational analysis for investigating diverse, innovative radiators based on leaky waves. Just to name a few, low-profile, single-feeder devices able to generate, in the near-field region, focused, limited-diffraction beams for wireless-power-transfer and imaging applications will be discussed, as well as LWAs, in the far-field region, capable of radiating a pencil beam at broadside over a wide bandwidth or a frequency-scanning, directive conical pattern.
Simulations on CST Microwave Studio are specifically exploited both in the design steps (by characterizing the constituent elements of the radiating devices and by retrieving the dispersion curves of the modes in propagation in the abovementioned partially opened waveguides) and in the validation part of the structure (by observing the far- or near-field radiation pattern, polarization purity, and the antennas’ insertion loss).

Slides

Speaker

Dr. Edoardo Negri received both his B.Sc. and M.Sc. degrees (cum laude) in Electronic Engineering, with honorable mention for his academic achievements, from Sapienza University of Rome in July 2019 and 2021, respectively. In 2025, He received the Ph.D. (cum laude and with the “Doctor Europaeus” label) in Information and Communication Technologies from the same institution. Since July 2024, he has been a Research Assistant at the Institute for Microsystems and Microelectronics of the National Research Council (CNR-IMM) in Italy, where he has pursued research on THz devices, metasurfaces, and leaky-wave antennas. From March to May 2023, he was a Visiting Ph.D. Student with the Institut d’Électronique et de Télécommunications de Rennes (IETR), Université de Rennes 1, Rennes, France. From September to November 2023, he was a Visiting Ph.D. Student in Ferdinand-Braun-Institut (FBH), Berlin, Germany.
Dr. Negri received the “Antonio Ventura” Award as one of the best engineering students at the Sapienza University of Rome in 2022, the IEEE Antennas and Propagation Society (APS) Fellowship Award, the European Microwave Association (EuMA) Internship Award in 2023, the honorary mention for the “Premio Barzilai” award at the “Riunione Nazionale di Elettromagnetismo” (RiNEm) in Viareggio, Italy, and the best student paper Award at the International Symposium on Antennas and Propagation (ISAP) in Incheon, South Korea in 2024.

Edoardo Negri
Postdoctoral Researcher

CNR, IMM