Development of spaceborne antenna for circularly polarized SAR using Kevlar honeycomb core

Abstract

This paper presents a development of circularly polarized microstrip antenna using Kevlar honeycomb core as the substrates for application of Circularly Polarized Synthetic Aperture Radar (CP-SAR) which signal propagation is not affected by Faraday rotation effect in the ionosphere, as compared to linearly polarized systems especially at the L-band. The reason why Kevlar honeycomb core is used is because it is suitable for space environment in terms of lightweight and resistant to heat and shock. Measurements of the fabricated antenna were performed to confirm the simulation results. The results show good characteristics of the antennas except the axial ratio. The reason of insufficient axial ratio is assumed as fabrication error of the radiator and microstrip line.