Stacked Patch Configuration Research Articles

A 22–28 GHz Polarization-Reconfigurable Flat-Panel 8 × 8 Tx/Rx Phased Array Antenna With Uniquely Arranged Novel Radiating Elements for CubeSat Communication

In this paper, a wideband (22-28 GHz), polarization reconfigurable, flat panel, 8x8 transmit (Tx)/receive (Rx) phased array antenna (PAA) is proposed. The array offers a realized gain of 22-23 dBi/dBic in the broadside direction and scans to approximately ±50° while maintaining 3dB gain drop/scan loss, low cross-polarized fields, and axial ratio (AR) below 3dB (in case of circular polarization (CP)) over the entire bandwidth within the given scan range. By utilizing the amplitude and phase control mechanism of the Radio Frequency Integrated Circuits (RFICs) employed for the beamforming network (BFN), each single radiating element of the array can work in four polarization cases such as horizontal (X-), vertical (Y-), left-hand circular and right-hand circular polarizations. The single element is a novel stacked patch configuration with L-shaped stubs at the two opposite corners of the driven patch and stubs on radiating edges of both the driven and parasitic patches. The radiator offers a wideband performance in addition to resolving the poor isolation between the two ports, thereby improving the cross-polarized fields and AR over the entire bandwidth. The radiating elements are arranged in a unique way in the array such that the benefit of element mirroring is achieved during the dual linear cases, whereas the benefit of sequential rotation of elements is achieved in dual CP cases, which further improves cross-polarized fields and AR. The simulated results are validated through the measurement results for a fabricated PAA prototype for the scanned radiation patterns for all four polarizations in receive mode, antenna gain-to-noise temperature (G/T) in receive mode, and effective isotropic radiated power (EIRP) in transmit mode.

A Hybrid Integration Strategy for Compact, Broadband, and Highly Efficient Millimeter-Wave On-Chip Antennas

A novel hybrid integration strategy for compact, broadband, and highly efficient millimeter-wave (mmWave) on-chip antennas is demonstrated by realizing a hybrid on-chip antenna, operating in the [27.5–29.5] GHz band. A cavity-backed stacked patch antenna is implemented on a 600 $\mu$ m thick silicon substrate by using air-filled substrate-integrated-waveguide technology. A hybrid on-chip approach is adopted in which the antenna feed and an air-filled cavity are integrated on-chip, and the stacked patch configuration is implemented on a high-frequency printed circuit board (PCB) laminate that supports the chip. A prototype of the hybrid on-chip antenna is validated, demonstrating an impedance bandwidth of 3.7 GHz. In free-space conditions, a boresight gain of 7.3 dBi and a front-to-back ratio of 20.3 dB at 28.5 GHz are achieved. Moreover, the antenna is fabricated using standard silicon fabrication techniques and features a total antenna efficiency above 90% in the targeted frequency band of operation. The high performance, in combination with the compact antenna footprint of $\text{0.49}\,\lambda _{\rm min} \times \text{0.49}\,\lambda _{\rm min}$ , makes it an ideal building block to construct broadband antenna arrays with a broad steering range.

Design and analysis of a wideband circularly polarised perturbed psi‐shaped antenna

The goal of this study is to propose a wideband circularly polarised (CP) psi-shaped antenna of high gain and wide bandwidth as necessitated by intelligent transportation system applications. A wide impedance bandwidth of 2 GHz (40%) centred at 5.3 GHz is achieved through the combination of modified TM 01 , TM 20 , and TM 21 modes with three slots on either radiating edge in the simple rectangular geometry of the antenna. The stacked patch configuration helps to achieve a minimum gain of 7 dBic in the entire bandwidth. The CP psi-shaped antenna has an impressive axial ratio bandwidth of 1 GHz, which is >19% of its centre frequency 5.3 GHz. The proposed antenna can be used for detection of the blind spots of a vehicle at 5.88 GHz (DSRC frequency band), vehicle-to-vehicle communication at 5.2 GHz (WLAN IEEE 802.11a frequency band), and vehicle to roadside communication at 5.5 GHz (WiMAX IEEE 802.16 frequency band).

Development of Microstrip Patch Antenna Design for S-Band Application

Microstrip patch antenna used to send onboard parameters of article to the ground while under operating conditions. The aim of the paper is to design as tacked nearly square microstrip patch antenna design for S band 2 GHz to 4 GHz and study the effect of antenna dimensions Length (L), and substrate parameters relative Dielectric constant (er), substrate thickness (h) on the radiation parameters of Bandwidth and Beam-width. A stacked patch configuration is proposed to increase the narrow bandwidth, radiation efficiency and directivity. The proposed antenna is probe fed on a FR-4 substrate with dielectric constant of 4.4. At resonant frequency 2.42 GHz, antenna parameters like Return Loss, VSWR, Axial Ratio and Radiation pattern are verify and simulated on CST Microwave Studio by CST student edition.

Low-Profile Dual-Band Stacked Microstrip Monopolar Patch Antenna for WLAN and Car-to-Car Communications

In this paper, a low-profile dual-band stacked microstrip monopolar patch antenna is proposed. By utilizing a stacked-patch configuration, a dual-band property is achieved. A coupled annular ring and a set of conductive vias are loaded into the antenna structure to widen the impedance bandwidth. In order to verify the performance of the proposed antenna, a fully functional prototype was fabricated and measured. The measured results demonstrate that the antenna can achieve impedance bandwidths from 2.24 to 2.53 GHz in the low band and from 5.42 to 5.98 GHz in the high band, separately. Within the operating frequency, omnidirectional radiation patterns are also observed. Besides, the proposed antenna possesses a low-profile structure with a height of 4.175 mm or $0.057\lambda _{0}$ (where $\lambda _{0}$ is the free-space wavelength of 4.1 GHz), which can be easily hidden on the top of a vehicle. With these merits, the proposed design is very appropriate for wireless local area network (2.4–2.48 GHz and 5.75–5.825 GHz) and car-to-car (5.85–5.925 GHz) communications.

Compact Perturbed Hexagonal Microstrip Antenna for Dual-Band Circular Polarization

A novel dual-band circularly polarized multi-layer microstrip antenna for 3.5-/5.2-/5.8-GHz applications is presented. A stacked-patch configuration is used for the compact dual-band antenna design, and good circular polarization performance is achieved by adjusting the size of truncated corners and inserted slits of the hexagonal patches. The antenna generates circular polarization radiation at 3.49 and 5.18 GHz with good return loss and broadside radiation patterns. The measured peak gains of the antenna are 3.5 and 5.1 dBi at the lower and upper bands, respectively. In addition, the antenna occupies a small radiating area of 15.6 × 16 mm2.

Design Aspects of an Antenna-MMIC Interface Using a Stacked Patch at 71–86 GHz

A bond-wire-free interconnection between monolithic microwave integrated circuit (MMIC) and antenna using a stacked patch configuration is investigated. An edge-fed patch on a gallium arsenide (GaAs) MMIC chip drives a patch antenna integrated in the lid of the MMIC package. The lid is formed using a liquid crystal polymer (LCP) substrate. The first implementation using a laminated multichip module (MCM-L) process is presented that covers the designated E-band spectrum for long-range wireless communications (71–86 GHz). Electromagnetic simulations and measurements of antenna radiation patterns agree well over the whole frequency range of interest. Important design aspects and manufacturing tolerances specific for the implementation of the interface in MCM-L millimeter-wave front-ends are presented. An alternative design is proposed for improved radiation patterns across the band.

Low-cost dual-polarized printed antenna for multifunction phased-array radar

A novel low-cost element is proposed for S-band multifunction phased-array radars: a compact stacked-patch configuration is fed with a strip-line hybrid-ring network providing the dual polarizations for weather-surveillance applications.Full-wave simulations in a phased-periodic array environment show promising features, in terms of reduced cross-polarization, high isolation between the input ports, scanning capability, and regular radiation patterns. © 2012 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Microwave Opt Technol Lett 54:697–702, 2012; View this article online at wileyonlinelibrary.com. DOI 10.1002/mop.26665

Characterization and Reduction of Mutual Coupling Between Stacked Patches

A rigorous analysis of mutual coupling between stacked patches is proposed in this work. The considered stacked-patch configuration has a dielectric-air-dielectric topology, and the level of mutual coupling has been related to the working region, which is defined depending on the gain and frequency bandwidth of the antenna, as well as on the shape of the radiation pattern. For certain antenna parameters a dip appears in the mutual coupling characteristic, and detailed study of this phenomenon has been carried out. Since this dip in the mutual coupling depends on the resonant frequency of the parasitic patch, it can be used to reduce the mutual coupling in the operational frequency bandwidth of the antenna. We have developed an experimental model that has proven this concept of antenna coupling reduction. Finally, the influence of other antenna parameters on the mutual coupling level has been studied.

Compact LTCC Dual-Band Circularly Polarized Perturbed Hexagonal Microstrip Antenna

A novel dual-band circularly polarized multilayer microstrip antenna for 3.5/5.2-GHz applications is presented. A stacked-patch configuration is used for the compact dual-band antenna design, and good circular polarization (CP) performance is achieved by adjusting the size of truncated corners and inserted slits of the hexagonal patches. The antenna generates CP radiation at 3.5 and 5.18 GHz with broadside radiation patterns and very low axial ratio. The measured peak gains of the antenna are 3.8 and 5.4 dBi at the lower and upper bands, respectively. The antenna occupies a small radiating area of 19.2 × 16.6 mm <sup xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink">2</sup> .

Broadband Stacked Patch Antenna with Low VSWR and Low Cross-Polarization

A low cross-polarization broadband stacked patch antenna is proposed. By means of the stacked patch configuration and probe-fed strip feed technique, the VSWR 1.2:1 bandwidth of the patch antenna is enhanced to 22% from 804 MHz to 1,002 MHz, which outperforms the other available patch antennas (<10%). Furthermore, the antenna has a cross-polarization level of less than −20 dB and a gain level of about 9 dBi across the operating bandwidth. Simulation results are compared with the measurements, and a good agreement is observed.

71–86 GHz antenna–MMIC interface using stacked patch configuration

A stacked patch configuration is used to electromagnetically couple a GaAs MMIC chip to a patch antenna integrated in the lid of the MMIC package. The lid is formed using a liquid crystal polymer substrate. Presented is the first implementation that covers the E-band frequency range from 71–86 GHz for long-range wireless communications. Antenna gain is greater than 8 dBi using a short horn with straight sidewalls.

Single feed wideband circular polarised patch antenna

Based on the air gap and stacked patch configuration, a new wideband circular polarised patch antenna is proposed. Significantly increased impedance and axial ratio bandwidths can be achieved without increasing implementation complexity compared with that of existing patch antennas.

Wideband stacked patch antenna fed by meandering probe

A meandering probe fed stacked patch antenna is presented. The stacked patch configuration can greatly enhance the impedance bandwidth. Bandwidth of up to 37% (SWR<1.5) has been achieved. The cross-polarisation is less than -20 dB across the operating bandwidth. The proposed antenna has symmetric co-polar radiation patterns in both E- and H-plane. The antenna has a gain of 9 dBi.

Stacked H-Shaped Microstrip Patch Antenna

A small H-shaped microstrip patch antenna (MPA) with enhanced bandwidth is presented. The H-shaped antenna is first studied by a transmission line model and then is fully analyzed with a MoM code. A stacked patch configuration is proposed to increase the narrow bandwidth, radiation efficiency and directivity. The stacked H-shaped MPA is studied using Chu's fundamental limit for electrically small antennas.

MMIC compatible printed antennas

A printed antenna that provides a broadband, efficient solution to integrating antennas with MMICs is presented. The antenna is based upon a proximity coupled stacked patch configuration with optimised layers. A prototype was developed with a 10 dB return loss bandwidth of 21% and a gain of 8 dBi across this band.

Broadband matching of stacked patch antennas using a single line‐transformer technique

AbstractThis paper presents a synthesis of simple broadband matching networks consisting of a single line transformer. The procedure uses explicit, measured, or calculated input impedance values and finds characteristic impedance and length of line which match the load to the desired SWR. This kind of matching is especially useful for broadband stacked‐patch configurations, because here microstrip technology provides for arbitrary characteristic impedances of the transformer. The effectiveness of the procedure is demonstrated by examples of two different stacked patch configurations. © 2003 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Microwave Opt Technol Lett 39: 178–183, 2003; Published online in Wiley InterScience (www.interscience.wiley.com). DOI 10.1002/mop.11162

Novel probe‐feeding architectures for stacked microstrip patch antennas

AbstractDual‐band stacked microstrip patch antennas are a popular choice for wireless and other vehicular communication applications. They are also being considered for use in feed arrays for reflector antennas. In this paper, novel center‐feeding schemes to achieve the desired dual‐band response will be presented. Also, novel side‐feeding schemes for a potential application in arrays have been investigated. L‐band frequencies were chosen to test the concept. For the stacked patch configuration, the primary objective was to get the antenna to resonate at two frequencies—1.575 GHz for the upper patch and 1.228 GHz for the lower patch—with a shared aperture and two independent excitations. Return‐loss, isolation, and pattern measurements for several antenna prototypes are presented. The measured results are compared with the simulation results from an FDTD code developed at UCLA. Extension of the concept for dual‐polarization and array configurations has been explored. © 2003 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Microwave Opt Technol Lett 38: 467–475, 2003; Published online in Wiley InterScience (www.interscience.wiley.com). DOI 10.1002/mop.11092

Design and scan performance of large, probe-fed stacked microstrip patch arrays

A strategy is presented on how to design large, direct-contact microstrip patch arrays with broad bandwidths and useful scanning ranges. It is shown that to maximize these characteristics the lower layer of a stacked patch configuration must have a relatively high dielectric constant, greater than 10 and the upper laminate must have a low dielectric constant value. Doing so yields bandwidths in excess of 25% over a scanning range of /spl plusmn/45/spl deg/ in the principle planes. Such arrays may be suitable for millimeter-wave systems such as collision avoidance radars and microcellular mobile communication base stations.

Stacked shorted patch antenna with tilted parasiticradiator

A new compact but wideband patch antenna is presented. Compact dimensions are obtained by using a shorted patch. The antenna bandwidth is increased by using a stacked patch configuration. Further increase in bandwidth is obtained by tilting the parasitic patch. The antenna prototype is fabricated and its input impedance and radiation patterns are measured.