A wideband, low profile P- and Ku-band Dual Polarized shared aperture antenna

Abstract

Dual-band antennas are often used for Remote Sensing [1] to provide for frequency diversity. By sharing the same antenna aperture in the two selected bands can reduce the size and weight of the antenna. Microstrip antenna seems to be most suitable for the shared-aperture array. Therefore, a number of Dual-Band Dual-Polarized (DBDP) shared-aperture antenna arrays have been proposed and studied. The typical configuration of DBDP array includes perforated patches and patches [2,3], interlaced slot/dipole with patch [4-6]. These antennas mentioned above include the frequency combination between L-, S-, C- and X- bands, so the largest frequency ratio is the L/X-band shared aperture array. However, there are certain advantages in operating dual-band applications at lower low-frequencies, such as P-band and higher high frequencies, such as Ku-band [7]. The frequency ratio between P- and Ku-band is so large that the techniques mentioned above may not be suitable. One reason is that elements for higher frequency bands and for lower frequency bands are usually interlaced and this restricts the frequency band ratio. This is because narrow grid spacing required at the higher frequency band antenna elements to achieve grating-lobe free operation is too small for obtaining a lower frequency band antenna element to achieve reasonable bandwidth. This paper focuses on a design that is suitable for wide frequency ratio between the high and low frequencies band. © 2012 IEICE.