Mitigation of the Antenna Carrier Impact in Dual-Polarized Phased Arrays with Electromagnetic Bandgaps for Airborne SAR Sensors

Abstract

In this work, the impact of the antenna carrier, an aerodynamic attachment structure that allows the antenna installment on the aircraft, is analyzed. The resulting polarization-dependent edge diffraction effects of a flight-model L-band phased array antenna, embedded in the antenna carrier, is experimentally validated. Further analysis is performed increasing the electrical size of the antenna carrier diameter. A low-profile and planar solution, based on Electromagnetic Bandgaps is presented, by which the induced surface currents on the antenna carrier for the horizontal polarization are mitigated, thus reducing the impact of edge diffraction effects without interfering in the performance of the vertical polarization. Thereby, the desired radiation characteristics can be fulfilled regardless of the antenna carrier structure for both polarizations.