Design and Analysis of Microstrip Patch Antenna Array and Electronic Beam Steering Linear Phased Antenna Array with High Directivity for Space Applications

This study proposes an E-shaped microstrip patch antenna array (MSPAA). The substrate is RT/Duroid5880. Its 2.2 dielectric constant gives it a larger bandwidth than substrate materials with higher dielectric constants. The periphery dimension of a single E patch is 50 × 41 mm2. The areas of 2 × 2 and 3 × 3 MSPAAs are 120 × 96 and 180 × 144 mm2, respectively. Array members are 10 and 7 mm apart horizontally and vertically, respectively. MTM technology builds the projected MSPAA. This work looks at the effects of gain, reflection coefficient (return loss), directivity, bandwidth, and VSWR on proposed 2 × 2 and 3 × 3 MSPAAs with different patch lengths of 30, 40, and 60 mm, patch widths of 40, 50, and 60 mm, and substrate thicknesses of 0.8 and 1.6 mm. Also, this study compares the performance of existing E-shaped MSPAAs with proposed 2 × 2 and 3 × 3 MSPAAs. The suggested MSPAA performs better than the existing E-shaped MSPAA. The series network analyzer measures the prototype MSPAA’s experimental outcomes. The polynomial is recommended for estimating the antenna array area with odd and even rows and columns. CST Studio Suite software analyzes and designs antenna arrays, and simulation findings are compared with hardware results. The main benefit of the proposed 2 × 2 MSPAA is that it reduces sidelobes. It has a gain of 8.9 dBi, a directivity of 8.95 dBi, a VSWR of 1.02, a return loss of −32.91 dB, and a bandwidth of 0.1 GHz at both 1.6 and 0.8 mm substrate material thicknesses. Across its operating range of 3.8–4.2 GHz, the recommended array antenna has a radiation gain of 7.01–7.81 dB and an efficiency of 68.51–71.11%. At 4 GHz, this study looks at how electronic steering affects the phase angle of the excitation signal, the number of elements, and the distance between elements in the beam steering linear phased antenna array (BSLPAA) using MATLAB.