Dual-Band and Dual-Circularly Polarized Shared-Aperture Antenna Based on UAV Communication

Abstract

A dual-band dual-circularly polarized shared-aperture antenna based on unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) communication is proposed in this paper. The design adopts a laminated structure, the upper layer is a microstrip ring antenna, and the lower layer is a circular patch antenna, so that the size of the antenna can be reduced. Through such a design method, it can be ensured that the performance of antenna with different frequencies basically does not affect each other, and the aperture of the antenna is relatively compact, forming a miniaturized dual-band shared-aperture antenna. A prototype is fabricated and measured to verify the effectiveness. Simulation and measurement results show that the antenna has good impedance matching and circular polarization characteristics, in which the impedance bandwidth of the microstrip ring antenna is 8.4% (1400–1520 MHz), the 3 dB axial ratio (AR) bandwidth is 0.7% (1430–1440 MHz), the impedance bandwidth of the circular patch antenna is 4.9% (2390–2510 MHz), and the 3dB AR bandwidth is 1.2% (24102440 MHz). The working bandwidth covers the two commonly used working frequency bands of UAV. The antenna has simple structure and independent performance, which is beneficial to realize miniaturization, multi-function and high integration of shared-aperture antenna, and has potential application prospect in UAV communication system.