A 2x2 Dual-polarization Wideband Microstrip Antenna Array for Ku-band Satellite Applications

In this paper, a design of a dual polarization wideband microstrip antenna array is presented. The proposed antenna array comprises four element structure arranged in 2x2 layout. A corporate feed network is used to feed the input signals to the antenna elements. The array designed to resonates at 11.7 GHz but provides a wide bandwidth around 4 GHz. The antenna array was first theoretically designed, simulated and analyzed to investigate its performance characteristics. The antenna array was then fabricated and measured in order to verify the resulted performance parameters with the proposed simulated design. The array is aimed to be used as a core design sub-unit to form higher order arrays, which can be deployed in satellite applications as its bandwidth covers a considerable fragment of the Ku-band up to 14 GHz. The designed antenna array is easily scalable to provide a reliable performance at other frequency bands to serve numerous applications. An expansion to form higher order arrays is also possible providing that the feed network is redesigned to insure a matched distribution of the feed signals to the new array elements and layout.