High-Gain Millimeter-Wave Patch Array Antenna for Unmanned Aerial Vehicle Application

A high-gain millimeter-wave patch array antenna is presented for unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs). For the large-scale patch array antenna, microstrip lines and higher-mode surface wave radiations contribute enormously to the antenna loss, especially at the millimeter-wave band. Here, the element of...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Sensors (Basel, Switzerland) Switzerland), 2021-06, Vol.21 (11), p.3914
Main Authors: Anim, Kyei, Lee, Jung-Nam, Jung, Young-Bae
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Antenna arrays
Antenna gain
Antennas
aperture-coupled feed
Apertures
cavity backed patch
Communication
Efficiency
Electric fields
gain
Geometry
High gain
lightweight
Metal plates
Microstrip antennas
Microstrip transmission lines
Millimeter waves
millimeter-wave
Patch antennas
Radiation
stripline
Substrate integrated waveguides
Surface waves
Unmanned aerial vehicles
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Description
Summary:A high-gain millimeter-wave patch array antenna is presented for unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs). For the large-scale patch array antenna, microstrip lines and higher-mode surface wave radiations contribute enormously to the antenna loss, especially at the millimeter-wave band. Here, the element of a large patch array antenna is implemented with a substrate integrated waveguide (SIW) cavity-backed patch fed by the aperture-coupled feeding (ACF) structure. However, in this case, a large coupling aperture is used to create strongly bound waves, which maximizes the coupling level between the patch and the feedline. This approach helps to improve antenna gain, but at the same time leads to a significant level of back radiation due to the microstrip feedline and unwanted surface-wave radiation, especially for the large patch arrays. Using the SIW cavity-backed patch and stripline feedline of the ACF in the element design, therefore, provides a solution to this problem. Thus, a full-corporate feed 32 × 32 array antenna achieves realized gain of 30.71–32.8 dBi with radiation efficiency above 52% within the operational band of 25.43–26.91 GHz. The fabricated antenna also retains being lightweight, which is desirable for UAVs, because it has no metal plate at the backside to support the antenna.
ISSN:1424-8220
1424-8220
DOI:10.3390/s21113914