A Millimetre-Wave Stacked Patch Antenna with Circular Polarization

This paper discusses the development of a novel compact stacked patch antenna with circular polarization (CP) covering 34 to 38GHz. The proposed antenna can be supplied in amplitude and/or phase tracking sets of typical airborne electronic reconnaissance or surveillance systems for wideband direction finding (DF) applications. Due to the limited installation locations, the antenna design employs stacked design to effectively reduce aperture and extend frequency bandwidth. The final configuration is optimized by using FDTD based 3D electromagnetic analysis software with overall size Ø10mm×1.1mm (without coaxial connector). Simulation results demonstrate gain ranging from 6.8 to 7.8dBic, VSWR≤2, broadside axial ratio≤4dB and half-power beamwidth (HPBW) between 75° and 90° over the entire operational frequency band which fulfill all system requirements.