volume | PIER Journals

Abstract

When a planar microstrip patch antenna is conformed to any non-planar surface (e.g., aircraft, missiles etc.), the curvature of the host surface affects its design parameters, which in turn affects its radiation performance. Therefore, achieving a target radiation performance with a planar antenna on a non planar host surface is always a big challenge for an antenna designer. To address this issue, a report on an electromagnetic simulation-based method to optimize a planar-shaped microstrip antenna array conformed to a cylindrical surface is presented here. HFSS was used to investigate the role of different design parameters of the antenna array in the planar and cylindrical planes (for different radius of curvature). Finally, using these simulation observations, the dimensions of the planar antenna conformed to a cylindrical surface (with a radius of curvature of 110 mm) were optimized to achieve a target output performance (in terms of gain, return loss, and VSWR) while retaining its radiation pattern geometry as well as polarization characteristics. A planar 2×2 circularly polarized antenna array with a conical beam pattern from the published literature was used to carry out the current work. After rigorous optimization, return loss < -19 dB, VSWR of 1.807, and as much as 8.135 dBi gain at 2.45 GHz have been achieved. This report should be a useful guide for mounting any planar antenna array on a non-planar host surface. And it will also be helpful to design conformal microstrip antennas for different practical applications.

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Dr. Probir Kumar Dhar