No abstract

According to the two-dimensional aperture principle, directivity and gain are expected to be proportional to the aperture area of an antenna or antenna array. Our simulations and measurements of an end-fire radiation antenna array overturn this conventional wisdom. The gain of an end-fire antenna array is found to be much higher than that calculated by the two-dimensional aperture principle. We introduce a length component into the two-dimensional aperture principle and propose a three-dimensional aperture principle. A four-element end-fire antenna array is designed and measured to verify the correctness of this new principle. The three-dimensional aperture principle opens a pathway to novel types of aperture utilization.