Dual-Circularly Polarized Microstrip Flat Panel Antenna Array for SATCOM Applications

A Compact Flat Panel 8× 8 antenna array for dual-circular polarization at S-band with highly portable characteristics is presented in this paper. A 4-layer microstrip antenna configuration is proposed to achieve dual-circular polarization. The design uses a circular patch antenna that resonates at the S-band, where the aperture coupling excites the antenna element. Dual-excitation technique employed to achieve dual-circular polarization and a parasitic patch used to improve the axial ratio bandwidth. A tile of 4× 4 array configuration designed with an integrated power divider. A 4-tile configuration proposed to achieve a gain of 21 dBic, while restricting the axial ratio less than 2 dB, the Side Lobe Level (SLL) at nearly 12.5 dBic for both Left Hand Circular Polarization (LHCP) and Right Hand Circular Polarization (RHCP). The dual-circular polarization configuration achieves high isolation of -60dB. The proposed antenna fabricated and validated through measurements. The measured results shows a good agreement with simulated results.