Advanced antenna array designs for directional networks

Abstract

With the growing interest in directional wireless communications networks, there has been significant demand for advanced antenna array designs that combine high gain and broadband performance together with low cost and light weight characteristics. This paper analyzes and compares the performance of two new antenna array designs including a 4×8 right hand circularly polarized long slot antenna array and a 4×8 dual fed stacked patch antenna array, over the 4–6 GHz and 4.5–5 GHz band, respectively. The radiation characteristics were compared in terms of bandwidth, beamwidth, gain and axial ratio. Both antenna arrays have favorable axial ratio (<1.8 dB) over their bands with average measured gain of 17 dB and 18 dB. The arrays were combined with a recently developed compact Butler matrix, and measured beam directions were all in well agreement with simulation results.