Wideband broad beamwidth circularly polarized stacked microstrip patch antenna with RF switch for data link application

Abstract

In this paper, wideband circularly polarized stacked microstrip antenna in C-band with broad beam width for ground system of two way data link application has been proposed. This antenna is useful for surface to air communication like aircraft and missile applications. The proposed antenna has been analyzed using the FEM-based HFSS software. It is designed with different layers of dielectric substrates having different heights. The single diagonal feed technique is used to achieve circular polarization. Broad bandwidth is obtained by stacking two rectangular patches, which are electromagnetically coupled. The prototype is fabricated and the measured results are in good agreement with simulated results. The antenna has directive gain of more than 7dBic over the bandwidth. The -10dB return loss bandwidth is around 1200MHz (22%) and 3dB axial ratio bandwidth is around 700 MHz (14%).