High-Gain Millimeter-Wave Patch Array Antenna for Unmanned Aerial Vehicle Application

A high-gain millimeter-wave patch array antenna is presented for unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs). For the large-scale patch array antenna, microstrip lines and higher-mode surface wave radiations contribute enormously to the antenna loss, especially at the millimeter-wave band. Here, the element of a large patch array antenna is implemented with a substrate integrated waveguide (SIW) cavity-backed patch fed by the aperture-coupled feeding (ACF) structure. However, in this case, a large coupling aperture is used to create strongly bound waves, which maximizes the coupling level between the patch and the feedline. This approach helps to improve antenna gain, but at the same time leads to a significant level of back radiation due to the microstrip feedline and unwanted surface-wave radiation, especially for the large patch arrays. Using the SIW cavity-backed patch and stripline feedline of the ACF in the element design, therefore, provides a solution to this problem. Thus, a full-corporate feed 32 × 32 array antenna achieves realized gain of 30.71–32.8 dBi with radiation efficiency above 52% within the operational band of 25.43–26.91 GHz. The fabricated antenna also retains being lightweight, which is desirable for UAVs, because it has no metal plate at the backside to support the antenna.

[1]  Xiaodai Dong,et al.  Multi-Beam Multi-Stream Communications for 5G and beyond Mobile User Equipment and UAV Proof of Concept Designs , 2019, 2019 IEEE 90th Vehicular Technology Conference (VTC2019-Fall).

[2]  Franco Fuschini,et al.  Lightweight Microstrip Patch Array for Broadband UAV Applications over 5G networks , 2019, 2019 Conference on Microwave Techniques (COMITE).

[3]  Wei Hong,et al.  Design of High-Directivity Compact-Size Conical Horn Lens Antenna , 2014, IEEE Antennas and Wireless Propagation Letters.

[4]  A. B. Smolders,et al.  A High-Gain Dielectric Resonator Antenna With Plastic-Based Conical Horn for Millimeter-Wave Applications , 2020, IEEE Antennas and Wireless Propagation Letters.

[5]  K. Itoh,et al.  Behavior of parallel plate mode in a slot-coupled patch antenna with a stripline feed , 1998, IEEE Antennas and Propagation Society International Symposium. 1998 Digest. Antennas: Gateways to the Global Network. Held in conjunction with: USNC/URSI National Radio Science Meeting (Cat. No.98CH36.

[6]  D. Pines,et al.  unmanned aerial Vehicles : an Overview , 2008 .

[7]  R. Gonzalo,et al.  Innovative High-Gain Corrugated Horn Antenna Combining Horizontal and Vertical Corrugations , 2006, IEEE Antennas and Wireless Propagation Letters.

[8]  Shahrina Md Nordin,et al.  Sustainable Interdependent Networks from Smart Autonomous Vehicle to Intelligent Transportation Networks , 2018, Studies in Systems, Decision and Control.

[9]  Archana Bathula,et al.  Aperture Coupled Microstrip Antenna Design and Analysis using MATLAB , 2019 .

[10]  Xiaodai Dong,et al.  Millimeter-Wave for Unmanned Aerial Vehicles Networks: Enabling Multi-Beam Multi-Stream Communications , 2018 .

[11]  Pradip M. Jawandhiya,et al.  Review of Unmanned Aircraft System (UAS) , 2013 .

[12]  Rui Zhang,et al.  Wireless communications with unmanned aerial vehicles: opportunities and challenges , 2016, IEEE Communications Magazine.

[13]  Zarreen Aijaz,et al.  An Introduction of Aperture Coupled Microstrip Slot Antenna , 2010 .