Dual-polarized, wideband, double stacked coplanar patch antenna for array application in C-band

Abstract

Dual-polarized array antennas are of increasing interest, for example in synthetic aperture radar (SAR) imaging, where polarimetric observations improve the detection and classification of targets. The design of dual-polarized array antennas, requires high integrated unit cells. For this purpose, the paper proposes a unit cell design of a double stacked coplanar patch antenna. The stacked patch configuration improves the bandwidth and allows a direct feeding with a 50 Ohm grounded coplanar line. This feeding topology simplifies the use of integrated circuits or lumped components, leading to a high integration density. Based on the simulation results a prototype was manufactured and tested. The antenna is operating at the C-band and has a bandwidth of 550 MHz. The measured gain is 5.3 dBi.