Comparative study of planar antennas as radiating element for phased array antennas

Selection of a suitable antenna type for a particular application has significance importance in meeting the desired system objectives. This paper investigates various antennas of different types for their suitability as a basic radiating element for a Phased Array application. This comparative study takes into account the radiation characteristics, gain, feeding mechanism, polarization, bandwidth and size of the radiating structures that makes them a good candidate for the phased array radar applications. In order to devise a valid method for selecting antenna element, nine popular antenna elements were identified which exhibit similar gain in planar configuration. A reference criterion is formulated to best describe the characteristics of the desired antenna element for ground based phased array radar. Finally, after an extensive literature review, a comparative performance matrix is generated based on their performance as reported by the researchers in well reputed publications. This matrix can serve as a quick reference guide in selection of appropriate antenna element in developing a high gain antenna array for the given application.