The scanning abilities of the MS and dielectric WAIM systems are compared in Fig. 11 across the E, H, and D (diagonal) planes over a wide bandwidth. The dashed lines represent the dielectric WAIM results and the solid lines represent the MS results. At broadside, the simulated performance characteristics of the TCAA integrated with the dielectric and MS WAIMs are virtually identical. However, the MS system has the added advantage of more degrees of freedom with the potential to provide a better impedance match to the assumed 50-Ω source. Across the E-Plane, both the MS and dielectric WAIMs can scan to 60°, however, the MS can do so with a lower VSWR at wider scan angles. Across the H- and D-Planes, the two systems have very similar performance with the dielectric slab system being slightly better over the lower frequency band while the MS performs better over the higher frequency band. Nevertheless, both the dielectric and MS-based WAIM systems scan well out to 70° across their D-planes. Moreover, it can be observed that the MS system covers a wider bandwidth for all scan angles. The MS-array combination (37.264 mm) is also of a lower profile compared to the dielectric array combination (42.25 mm).Figure 11Scanning of the MS (solid lines) and dielectric WAIM (dashed lines) systems. (a) E-plane. (b) H-plane and (c) D-planes.