Design of wideband patch radiator phased arrays

A design methodology that has been successfully used to obtain probe-fed patch radiator phased-array bandwidths of approximately 15% is reported. This methodology is based on the use of an accurate numerical design code to synthesize the patch radiator architecture. A second design step mathematically couples this numerical design with double-tuned matching networks, which have been previously used in matching patches. In this procedure all probes are treated as independent input ports of the patch, and the patch radiator's scattering matrix is explicitly calculated. The resulting patch radiator/matching network system is predicted to achieve 2:1 voltage standing wave ratio frequency bandwidths that are over a factor of 2 greater than that of a simple patch alone. These analytical predictions have been verified through tests of wideband patch arrays synthesized using this procedure.<<ETX>>