-Mutual coupling between antenna elements of a linear microstrip patch antenna array positioned along the H-plane including the effect of edge reflections is investigated. Simple formulas are presented for the estimation of the grounded dielectric substrate size with minimum mutual coupling. The substrate sizes calculated by these formulas are in good agreement with those obtained by the full-wave simulation and experimental measurement. The substrate size with minimum mutual coupling is a function of the effective dielectric constant for surface waves and the distance between the antenna centers. The substrate size with minimum mutual coupling decreases as the effective dielectric constant for surface waves on a finite grounded dielectric substrate increases.

We propose the mirror active element pattern(AEP) method for the radiation pattern computation of linear array antennas versus scan angles. The computation time for the radiation pattern of linear array antennas using the mirror AEP method is reduced by almost half compared to that using the AEP method because the number of AEPs of elements obtained by the full-wave simulation necessary for the radiation pattern computation of linear array antennas is reduced by almost half. The difference between the radiation patterns of linear array antennas obtained by the full-wave simulation and mirror AEP method is very small for wide scan angle range when the radiation pattern of an antenna element is symmetric.