A novel dual‐mode patch antenna with pattern diversity and beam‐tilting for aircraft applications

Abstract

A dual‐mode patch antenna with pattern diversity that is beam‐tilted in a specific direction is presented. By placing a rectangular metal cavity below the circular patch and simultaneously shorting one end of the patch, the antenna produces tilted beams for dual‐mode radiation patterns. One pattern is excited using a proximity‐fed L‐shaped probe that generates a beam with a tilt angle of 25° from the broadside direction. The second pattern is excited using a coplanar waveguide (CPW)‐based feeding network that generates two beams with a tilt angle of θmax = ±45° in the directions of ϕmax = 70° and − 70°. The tilt angle can be varied by adjusting the metal cavity's length. A prototype antenna for operation at 2.38 GHz was fabricated and measured. The results indicate that the overlapped bandwidth (|S11| < −10 dB) for the two patterns is 330 MHz (2.22‐2.55 GHz). The measured peak gains for the two patterns are 6.74‐6.94 dBi and 5.82‐6.74 dBi, respectively. The isolation between the two ports is 18 dB.

Low‐profile wideband patch antenna with pattern diversity using custom‐designed feeding schemes

“…With the rapid development of the wireless technology, there are great demands to design antennas with attractive performances and multiple functions, such as multiple operating bands, polarizations, and radiation patterns. Among them, pattern diversity antennas with broadside and conical beams have been extensively investigated and conducted so as to provide a wide communication range, 1,2 especially in aircraft, 3 indoor wireless 4 and satellite communication systems 5 . For example, the proposed antenna can be mounted on the ceiling of a large stadium, as plotted in Figure 1.…”