Rigorous analysis of conformal microstrip patch antennas using the FDTD method

This paper investigates the characteristics of conformal microstrip patch antennas using the rigorous FDTD approach based on a rectangular mesh and a staircase discretization scheme for the curved regions. It is shown that the conformal shape of microstrip patch antennas can be used as another geometrical parameter to allowing their performance to be monitored. Numerical results illustrate the effects of this parameter on the resonant frequencies, return loss, and input impedance of such antennas. © 2003 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Microwave Opt Technol Lett 37: 372–376, 2003; Published online in Wiley InterScience (www.interscience.wiley.com). DOI 10.1002/mop.10922