Microstrip Yagi Antenna with Dual Aperture-Coupled Feed

A proposed microstrip Yagi antenna would operate at a frequency of 8.4 GHz (which is in the X band) and would feature a mechanically simpler, more elegant design, relative to a prior L-band microstrip Yagi antenna. In general, the purpose of designing a microstrip Yagi antenna is to combine features of a Yagi antenna with those of a microstrip patch to obtain an antenna that can be manufactured at low cost, has a low profile, and radiates a directive beam that, as plotted on an elevation plane perpendicular to the antenna plane, appears tilted away from the broadside. Such antennas are suitable for flush mounting on surfaces of diverse objects, including spacecraft, aircraft, land vehicles, and computers. Stated somewhat more precisely, what has been proposed is a microstrip antenna comprising an array of three Yagi elements. Each element would include four microstrip-patch Yagi subelements: one reflector patch, one driven patch, and two director patches. To obtain circular polarization, each driven patch would be fed by use of a dual offset aperture-coupled feed featuring bow-tie-shaped apertures. The selection of the dual offset bow-tie aperture geometry is supported by results found in published literature that show that this geometry would enable matching of the impedances of the driven patches to the 50-Omega impedance of the microstrip feedline while maintaining a desirably large front-to-back lobe ratio

Microstrip Patch Antennas Fed by Substrate Integrated Waveguide

Dizertační práce je zaměřena na výzkum mikropáskových flíčkových antén a anténních řad napájených vlnovodem integrovaným do substrátu (SIW). Využitím vlnovodu integrovaného do substrátu pro napájení mikropáskové flíčkové antény dochází ke kombinaci výhodných vlastností obou struktur. Výsledkem je kompaktní anténní struktura, jejíž napájecí vedení neprodukuje parazitní záření a neovlivňuje tak vyzařovací charakteristiku antény. Práci lze z věcného hlediska rozdělit do dvou částí. První část práce (kapitola 2) je zaměřena na návrh flíčkových antén a jejich navázání na vlnovod integrovaný do substrátu. První dvě navržené flíčkové antény využívají vlnovod integrovaný do substrátu a štěrbinu nebo koaxiální sondu pro buzení lineárně polarizované vlny. Napájení koaxiální sondou je dále použito pro buzení kruhově polarizované flíčkové antény. Za účelem získání širšího pásma osového poměru je navrženo napájení flíčkové antény ve dvou bodech. Funkčnost všech anténních struktur je popsána pomocí parametrických simulací a ověřena realizací a měřením vyrobených prototypů antén. Prezentované napájecí metody představují nový způsob napájení pro mikropáskové antény využívající technologii SIW. Ve druhé části práce (kapitola 3) je pojednáno o implementaci štěrbinou napájené mikropáskové anténní struktury do malých anténních polí o velikosti 2x2 a 1x4. V případě lineární řady je uvažováno amplitudové rozložení pro optimální potlačení postranních laloků. Obě navržené anténní řady jsou ověřeny měřením a v porovnání s podobnými anténními řadami dostupnými v literatuře dosahují širšího pracovního pásma kmitočtů a vyššího zisku.The thesis deals with the research of microstrip patch antennas and antenna arrays fed by a substrate integrated waveguide (SIW). Exploiting an SIW structure for microstrip patch antenna feeding combines the benefits of both structures. The result is a compact antenna structure retaining advantageous properties of microstrip patch antennas and having a radiation characteristic non-effected by spurious radiation which is usually produced by a conventional feeding line. The thesis consists of two factual parts. The first one (Chapter 2) deals with the design of microstrip patch antennas and exploiting a substrate integrated waveguide for their feeding. The first two microstrip patch antennas exploit an SIW and a slot or a coaxial probe in order to excite a linearly-polarized wave. SIW-based probe feeding is further utilized for exciting a single- and dual-fed circularly-polarized microstrip patch. The functionality of the proposed antenna structures is described using parametric analyses and verified by measuring of fabricated prototypes. The proposed feeding methods represent a novel feeding approach for microstrip patch antennas exploiting SIW technology. The second part of the thesis (Chapter 3) deals with implementing the linearly-polarized aperture-coupled microstrip patch antenna structure fed by SIW into two small antenna arrays consisting of 2x2 and 1x4 radiators. An amplitude distribution is considered in the case of the linear antenna array for optimum suppression of side lobes. Both proposed antenna arrays are verified by measurements. Compared to similar antenna arrays available in the literature, they reach a wider operating frequency band and a higher gain.

High-Isolation Dual-Polarized Microstrip Antenna via Substrate Integrated Waveguide Technology

A dual-polarized microstrip antenna with high-isolation is proposed by the utilization of the substrate-integrated waveguide (SIW) technology. According to the SIW technology, the metalized holes (MHs) are inserted into the substrate for the proposed antenna and the electric fields of the feeding parts are enclosed, so the isolation of the antenna is enhanced. The bandwidth is improved due to the MHs in the four sides of the antenna. A prototype of the proposed antenna has been fabricated and measured. Experimental results indicate that the antenna obtains the isolation more than 40 dB and achieves the impedance bandwidth of 21.9% and 23.8%(11.8-14.6 GHz and 11.65-14.8 GHz for two ports) of the reflection coefficients less than -20 dB. The cross polarization with the main lobe remains less than -30 dB and the half-power beam width is about 70° for the proposed antenna. Meanwhile, the front-to-back ratio remains to be better than 20 dB. A good agreement between the measured and simulated results validates the proposed design

DESIGN AND MEASURED PERFORMANCE OF DUAL POLARISED APERTURE-COUPLED MICRO STRIP PATCH ANTENNAS

The paper discusses the design of aperture-coupled microstrip patch antennas for dual linear polarisation with special emphasis on achieving a wide bandwidth and a high polar- isation isolation. The coupling behaviour of crossed slot and offset slot designs is discussed and compared to each other. Several design examples for aperture-coupled antenna ele- ments illustrate how the polarisation isolation decreases as the bandwidth of the antenna elements is increasing. A design example for an 8xl element subarray for a frequency in X- band (9.6 G Hz) shows a standing wave ratio of VSWR< 1..5 and a polarisation isolation of better than 2.5 dB within a bandwidth of 470 MHz

Aperture-coupled patch antenna for integration into wearable textile systems

A

Reconfigurable Reflectarrays and Array Lenses for Dynamic Antenna Beam Control: A Review

Advances in reflectarrays and array lenses with electronic beam-forming capabilities are enabling a host of new possibilities for these high-performance, low-cost antenna architectures. This paper reviews enabling technologies and topologies of reconfigurable reflectarray and array lens designs, and surveys a range of experimental implementations and achievements that have been made in this area in recent years. The paper describes the fundamental design approaches employed in realizing reconfigurable designs, and explores advanced capabilities of these nascent architectures, such as multi-band operation, polarization manipulation, frequency agility, and amplification. Finally, the paper concludes by discussing future challenges and possibilities for these antennas.Comment: 16 pages, 12 figure

Dual-polarized 28-GHz air-filled SIW phased antenna array for next-generation cellular systems

A high-performance dual-polarized eight-element air-filled substrate-integrated-waveguide (AFSIW) cavity-backed patch antenna array is presented. The antenna operates in the [26.5-29.5] GHz band and provides a stable high data-rate wireless communication link between end-user terminals and access points in next-generation cellular systems. Its topology is carefully selected to maximize the performance of the array. In addition, by combining the AFSIW technology with a new antenna architecture, a low-profile, low-cost, stable, and high-performance array design is guaranteed. A prototype was fabricated and validated, demonstrating a wide active impedance bandwidth over ±35 o scanning range and low-cross polarization level within the entire frequency band

Optimisation of active microstrip patch antennas

This thesis presents a study of impedance optimisation of active microstrip patch antennas to multiple frequency points. A single layered aperture coupled microstrip patch antenna has been optimised to match the source reflection coefficient of a transistor in designing an active antenna. The active aperture coupled microstrip patch antenna was optimised to satisfy Global Positioning System (GPS) frequency specifications. A rudimentary aperture coupled microstrip patch antenna consists of a rectangular antenna element etched on the top surface of two dielectric substrates. The substrates are separated by a ground plane and a microstrip feed is etched on the bottom surface. A rectangular aperture in the ground plane provides coupling between the feed and the antenna element. This type of antenna, which conveniently isolates any circuit at the feed from the antenna element, is suitable for integrated circuit design and is simple to fabricate. An active antenna design directly couples an antenna to an active device, therefore saving real estate and power. This thesis focuses on designing an aperture coupled patch antenna directly coupled to a low noise amplifier as part of the front end of a GPS receiver. In this work an in-house software package, dubbed ACP by its creator Dr Rod Waterhouse, for calculating aperture coupled microstrip patch antenna performance parameters was linked to HP-EEsof, a microwave computer aided design and simulation package by Hewlett-Packard. An ANSI C module in HP-EEsof was written to bind the two packages. This process affords the client the benefit of powerful analysis tools offered in HP-EEsof and the fast analysis of ACP for seamless system design. Moreover, the optimisation algorithms in HP-EEsof were employed to investigate which algorithms are best suited for optimising patch antennas. The active antenna design presented in this study evades an input matching network, which is accomplished by designing the antenna to represent the desired source termination of a transistor. It has been demonstrated that a dual-band microstrip patch antenna can be successfully designed to match the source reflection coefficient, avoiding the need to insert a matching network. Maximum power transfer in electrical circuits is accomplished by matching the impedance between entities, which is generally acheived with the use of a matching network. Passive matching networks employed in amplifier design generally consist of discrete components up to the low GHz frequency range or distributed elements at greater frequencies. The source termination for a low noise amplifier will greatly influence its noise, gain and linearity which is controlled by designing a suitable input matching network. Ten diverse search methods offered in HP-EEsof were used to optimise an active aperture coupled microstrip patch antenna. This study has shown that the algorithms based on the randomised search techniques and the Genetic algorithm provide the most robust performance. The optimisation results were used to design an active dual-band antenna