A Novel Design of Dual-Band Circularly Polarized Microstrip Patch Antenna for Unmanned Aerial Vehicle Applications

This article presents a new design for a dual-band circular polarization microstrip patch antenna that can be used in unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) applications. The proposed antenna consists of an etched circular shape on the radiator side of the antenna with multiple slots and stubs. The bottom si...

Full description

Saved in:
Bibliographic Details
Main Authors: Abdulaziz S. Almehmadi, Rabah W. Aldhaheri
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: MDPI AG 2025-02-01
Series:Applied Sciences
Subjects:
Online Access:https://www.mdpi.com/2076-3417/15/4/1816
Tags: Add Tag
No Tags, Be the first to tag this record!
_version_ 1850081456788865024
author Abdulaziz S. Almehmadi
Rabah W. Aldhaheri
author_facet Abdulaziz S. Almehmadi
Rabah W. Aldhaheri
author_sort Abdulaziz S. Almehmadi
collection DOAJ
description This article presents a new design for a dual-band circular polarization microstrip patch antenna that can be used in unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) applications. The proposed antenna consists of an etched circular shape on the radiator side of the antenna with multiple slots and stubs. The bottom side comprises a partial ground plane with multiple horizonal, vertical and square slots. These shapes on the front and bottom sides of the antenna are used to keep the resonant frequencies, impedance bandwidth and axial ratio (AR) at the desired values. The antenna operation is within the WiFi frequency bands, achieving maximum gains of 5.01 and 5.27 dBi at 2.4 and 5 GHz, respectively. Circular polarization (CP) is effectively realized through the implementation of opposite truncated corners and intentionally located stubs. The 3 dB axial ratio bandwidth (ARBW) is significantly enhanced, while a defected ground structure (DGS) is utilized to further improve the bandwidth and gain. The optimized antenna has overall dimensions of 40 × 40 × 1.6 mm<sup>3</sup> and demonstrates a wide −10 dB reflection bandwidth of 5.38% (2.396–2.525 GHz) and 9.26% (4.91–5.38 GHz), along with a broad 3 dB axial ratio bandwidth (ARBW) of 380 MHz (2.29–2.67 GHz) and 80 MHz (5–5.08 GHz). The proposed antenna is fabricated using a low-cost FR-4 substrate with a dielectric constant of 4.4 and a loss tangent of 0.02. The fabricated antenna is experimentally characterized to verify the design concept as well as to validate the simulation results. It is found that the experimental measurements correlate very well with the simulation results. A comparison with comparable designs in the literature shows that the proposed antenna provides a higher gain with a relatively reduced size.
format Article
id doaj-art-29789bcb657243ada8bce64e088258bc
institution DOAJ
issn 2076-3417
language English
publishDate 2025-02-01
publisher MDPI AG
record_format Article
series Applied Sciences
spelling doaj-art-29789bcb657243ada8bce64e088258bc2025-08-20T02:44:43ZengMDPI AGApplied Sciences2076-34172025-02-01154181610.3390/app15041816A Novel Design of Dual-Band Circularly Polarized Microstrip Patch Antenna for Unmanned Aerial Vehicle ApplicationsAbdulaziz S. Almehmadi0Rabah W. Aldhaheri1Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering, King Abdulaziz University, Jeddah 21589, Saudi ArabiaDepartment of Electrical and Computer Engineering, King Abdulaziz University, Jeddah 21589, Saudi ArabiaThis article presents a new design for a dual-band circular polarization microstrip patch antenna that can be used in unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) applications. The proposed antenna consists of an etched circular shape on the radiator side of the antenna with multiple slots and stubs. The bottom side comprises a partial ground plane with multiple horizonal, vertical and square slots. These shapes on the front and bottom sides of the antenna are used to keep the resonant frequencies, impedance bandwidth and axial ratio (AR) at the desired values. The antenna operation is within the WiFi frequency bands, achieving maximum gains of 5.01 and 5.27 dBi at 2.4 and 5 GHz, respectively. Circular polarization (CP) is effectively realized through the implementation of opposite truncated corners and intentionally located stubs. The 3 dB axial ratio bandwidth (ARBW) is significantly enhanced, while a defected ground structure (DGS) is utilized to further improve the bandwidth and gain. The optimized antenna has overall dimensions of 40 × 40 × 1.6 mm<sup>3</sup> and demonstrates a wide −10 dB reflection bandwidth of 5.38% (2.396–2.525 GHz) and 9.26% (4.91–5.38 GHz), along with a broad 3 dB axial ratio bandwidth (ARBW) of 380 MHz (2.29–2.67 GHz) and 80 MHz (5–5.08 GHz). The proposed antenna is fabricated using a low-cost FR-4 substrate with a dielectric constant of 4.4 and a loss tangent of 0.02. The fabricated antenna is experimentally characterized to verify the design concept as well as to validate the simulation results. It is found that the experimental measurements correlate very well with the simulation results. A comparison with comparable designs in the literature shows that the proposed antenna provides a higher gain with a relatively reduced size.https://www.mdpi.com/2076-3417/15/4/1816microstrip patch antennaWiFi bandCPUAVARARBW
spellingShingle Abdulaziz S. Almehmadi
Rabah W. Aldhaheri
A Novel Design of Dual-Band Circularly Polarized Microstrip Patch Antenna for Unmanned Aerial Vehicle Applications
Applied Sciences
microstrip patch antenna
WiFi band
CP
UAV
AR
ARBW
title A Novel Design of Dual-Band Circularly Polarized Microstrip Patch Antenna for Unmanned Aerial Vehicle Applications
title_full A Novel Design of Dual-Band Circularly Polarized Microstrip Patch Antenna for Unmanned Aerial Vehicle Applications
title_fullStr A Novel Design of Dual-Band Circularly Polarized Microstrip Patch Antenna for Unmanned Aerial Vehicle Applications
title_full_unstemmed A Novel Design of Dual-Band Circularly Polarized Microstrip Patch Antenna for Unmanned Aerial Vehicle Applications
title_short A Novel Design of Dual-Band Circularly Polarized Microstrip Patch Antenna for Unmanned Aerial Vehicle Applications
title_sort novel design of dual band circularly polarized microstrip patch antenna for unmanned aerial vehicle applications
topic microstrip patch antenna
WiFi band
CP
UAV
AR
ARBW
url https://www.mdpi.com/2076-3417/15/4/1816
work_keys_str_mv AT abdulazizsalmehmadi anoveldesignofdualbandcircularlypolarizedmicrostrippatchantennaforunmannedaerialvehicleapplications
AT rabahwaldhaheri anoveldesignofdualbandcircularlypolarizedmicrostrippatchantennaforunmannedaerialvehicleapplications
AT abdulazizsalmehmadi noveldesignofdualbandcircularlypolarizedmicrostrippatchantennaforunmannedaerialvehicleapplications
AT rabahwaldhaheri noveldesignofdualbandcircularlypolarizedmicrostrippatchantennaforunmannedaerialvehicleapplications