Applications in mobile and satellite systems

Mobile communications often require antennas having small size, light weight, low profile and low cost. Microstrip antennas (MSA) are a type of antenna which can meet these requirements, and various MSAs have so far been developed and used for mobile communication systems. The practical applications for mobile systems are in portable or pocket-size equipment and in vehicles. UHF pagers, manpack radars, and car telephones are typical of those. Base stations for mobile communications need antennas with sector radiation patterns. Small, simple antennas are also favoured, since the antenna tower built for the base station can then be smaller and need less support for the weight. In satellite communications, circularly polarised radiation patterns are required and MSAs of either square or circular patches with one or two feeding points can be used for generating the circular polarisation. In this chapter, various types of MSAs which have been developed and applied in mobile and satellite systems are described.