A lightweight planar antenna element with optimized feed for use onboard spacecraft
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.26636/jtit.2005.2.306Keywords:
microstrip antennas, spaceborne antennas, circularly polarized antennasAbstract
This paper is a report on low gain antennas (LGAs) manufactured with bonded lightweight materials. These antennas can sustain large temperature variations and are capable of functioning in modern miniature spacecraft, mainly in the telemetry, command and ranging (TC&R) links. When made of cheaper materials, the proposed circularly polarized antenna can be widely used in the base stations of short-range wireless systems. The recommended operating frequencies are between 1 and 8 GHz. One major technical consideration is obtaining the required high quality of circular polarization with as low space demands as possible. A lightweight 90o polarizer, printed on a dielectric membrane and operating over a broad bandwidth, is proposed for the antenna feed. Owing to the bandwidth advantage of the polarizer and the use of carefully designed aperture coupled feed, the electrical characteristics maintain good properties over a wide frequency range (15%).
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