In this paper, we have investigated a new structure which combines dielectric cylinders with air-hole cylinders array, and analyzed the guiding problem for periodically dielectric waveguides by arbitrary shape of dielectric constants in the middle layer. In the numerical analysis, we examined an influence of the dielectric circular cylinder along a middle layer by using the energy distribution and complex propagation constants at the first stop band region compared with hollow dielectric cylinder. In addition, we also investigated the influence of dielectric structure with equivalence cross section compared with dielectric cylinders, and clarified an influence of dielectric structures in the middle layer by energy distribution analysis for TE0 mode.

A technique to control the radiation pattern of an NRD-guide-compatible pyramidal horn antenna, which consists of a tapered dielectric rod inserted into the horn, was developed for multiple access LAN applications at 60 GHz. By using this simple technique, the half-power beamwidth can be controlled from 11to 40.

A flexible transmission line, consisting of a thin ceramic-compounding Teflon strip, was devised by using a high permittivity LSE-NRD guide. This transmission line has the advantage of changeable shape. Low-loss performance was confirmed by measuring the transmission loss of the 180 degree bend and the S-shaped curve in the 60 GHz frequency band.

A high permittivity LSE-NRD guide was applied to a planar antenna at 60 GHz. Emphasis was placed on compatibility between the high permittivity LSE-NRD guide and the conventionally used low permittivity LSM-NRD guide. Performance of the transition between two such types of NRD guides was optimized by using an electromagnetic simulator and the validity was experimentally demonstrated. A simple radiator, consisting of a tapered high permittivity LSE-NRD guide was fabricated and evaluated as to radiation characteristics. Since the radiator has a broad radiation pattern, it was employed in a primary radiator of a two-dimensional parabolic reflector to develop a new type of folded planar antenna at 60 GHz. This planar antenna has a double-layered structure. In the upper layer, a metalized dielectric substrate with a slotted array is excited by a rectangular-shaped oversized waveguide, and in the lower layer, an offset parabolic reflector is fed by the radiator. Measurement showed the half-power beam width of the fabricated antenna to be 2.5 degrees in the E and H planes, respectively, and the gain to be 35.3 dBi, thus indicating that a good pencil beam antenna was successfully developed in this manner.