Design and Analysis of Microstrip Antenna Arrays in Composite Laminated Substrates

S. M. Yang, C. H. Huang, C. C. Hong

Department of Aeronautics and Astronautics, National Cheng Kung University, Taiwan.

DOI: 10.4236/jemaa.2014.66011                

Abstract

In high performance aerospace systems where weight and aerodynamics are of major concern, fiber reinforced composite laminates can be tailored to achieve desirable mechanical properties and accommodate low-profile microstrip antenna. This work aims at the analysis of microstrip antenna array embedded in composite laminated substrates. The size of a single antenna is first calculated by spectral domain analysis to model the effects of the substrate’s electromagnetic property and the orientation of the laminate layers. The antenna array as well as the feed network, composed of microstrip transmission lines, quarter wave-length impedance transformers, and T-junction power dividers, is then tuned to accommodate the effects of the coupling between the antenna elements and the feed network loss. The performance of the 1 × 2, 1 × 4, and 1 × 8 linear array and 2 × 2 and 2 × 4 planar array are shown to have better directivity when embedded in composite laminated substrate compared with those when attached on isotropic substrate. Both 1 × 2 and 1 × 4 arrays at 2.4 GHz are validated experimentally to achieve better coverage.

Keywords

Microstrip Antenna, Array Antenna, Composite Laminated Substrate

Conflicts of Interest

The authors declare no conflicts of interest.

References

[1]	Pozar, D.M. and Kaufman, B. (1990) Design Considerations for Low Sidelobe Microstrip Arrays. IEEE Transactions on Antennas and Propagation, 38, 1176-1185. http://dx.doi.org/10.1109/8.56953
[2]	Shavit, R. (1994) Dielectric Cover Effect on Rectangular Microstrip Antenna Array. IEEE Transactions on Antennas and Propagation, 42, 1180-1184. http://dx.doi.org/10.1109/8.310012
[3]	Ma, Z. and Vandenbosch, G.A.E. (2012) Low-Cost Wideband Microstrip Arrays with High Aperture Efficiency. IEEE Transactions on Antennas and Propagation, 60, 3028-3034. http://dx.doi.org/10.1109/TAP.2012.2194685
[4]	Han, L. and Wu, K. (2012) 24-GHz Bandwidth-Enhanced Microstrip Array Printed on a Single-Layer Electrically-Thin Substrate for Automotive Applications. IEEE Transactions on Antennas and Propagation, 60, 2555-2558.
[5]	Karabey, O.H., Gaebler, A., Strunck, S. and Jakoby, R. (2012) A 2-D Electronically Steered Phased-Array Antenna with 2 × 2 Elements in LC Display Technology. IEEE Microwave Theory and Techniques, 60, 1297-1306. http://dx.doi.org/10.1109/TMTT.2012.2187919
[6]	Zhao, X.L., Qian, T., Mei, G., Kwan, C., Zane, R., Walsh, C., Paing, T. and Popovic, Z. (2007) Active Health Monitoring of an Aircraft Wing with an Embedded Piezoelectric Sensor/Actuator Network: II. Wireless Approaches. Smart Materials and Structures, 16, 1218-1225. http://dx.doi.org/10.1088/0964-1726/16/4/033
[7]	Yang, S.M. and Bian, J.J. (1996) Vibration Suppression Experiment of Composite Laminated Plates by Embedded Piezoelectric Sensor and Actuator. Smart Materials and Structures, 5, 501-507. http://dx.doi.org/10.1088/0964-1726/5/4/014
[8]	Yang, S.M. and Jeng, C.A. (1996) Structural Vibration Suppression by Concurrent Piezoelectric Sensor and Actuator. Smart Materials and Structures, 5, 806-813. http://dx.doi.org/10.1088/0964-1726/5/6/011
[9]	Yang, S.M., Hung, C.C. and Chen, K.H. (2005) Design and Fabrication of a Smart Layer Module in Composite Laminated Structures. Smart Materials and Structures, 14, 315-320. http://dx.doi.org/10.1088/0964-1726/14/2/003
[10]	You, C.S., Hwang, W. and Eom, S.Y. (2005) Design and Fabrication of Composite Smart Structures for Communication using Structural Resonance of Radiated Field. Smart Materials and Structures, 14, 441-448. http://dx.doi.org/10.1088/0964-1726/14/2/019
[11]	Zhao, W.J., Li, L.W., Li, E.P. and Xiao, K. (2012) Analysis of Radiation Characteristics of Conformal Microstrip Arrays Using Adaptive Integral Method. IEEE Transactions on Antennas and Propagation, 60, 1176-1181. http://dx.doi.org/10.1109/TAP.2011.2173135
[12]	Ramesh, P. and Washington, G. (2009) Analysis and Design of Smart Electromagnetic Structures. Smart Materials and Structures, 18.
[13]	Son, S.H., Eom, S.Y. and Hwang, W. (2008) Development of a Smart-Skin Phased Array System with a Honeycomb Sandwich Microstrip Antenna. Smart Materials and Structures, 17, 1-9. http://dx.doi.org/10.1088/0964-1726/17/3/035012
[14]	Jang, H.K., Lee, W.J. and Kim, C.G. (2011) Design and Fabrication of a Microstrip Patch Antenna with a Low Radar Cross Section in the X-Band. Smart Materials and Structures, 20.
[15]	Yao, K., Jiang, M., Zhou, D., Xu, F., Zhao, D., Zhang, W., Zhou, N., Jiang, Q. and Qiu, Y. (2011) Fabrication and Characterization of Microstrip Array Antennas Integrated in the Three Dimensional Orthogonal Woven Composite. Composites Part B: Engineering, 42, 885-890. http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.compositesb.2011.01.006
[16]	Yang, S.M. and Hung, C.C. (2009) Modal Analysis of Microstrip Antenna on Fiber Reinforced Anisotropic Substrates. IEEE Transactions on Antennas and Propagation, 57, 792-796. http://dx.doi.org/10.1109/TAP.2009.2013443