Multilayer and conformal antennas using synthetic dielectric substrates

Multilayer antennas - for example, stacked patches - often employ low permittivity substrates, such as foams. These foams, however, tend to be fragile, difficult to glue, and difficult to bend. In a previous contribution, the authors described how a Duroid substrate may be drilled in order to obtain a low permittivity synthetic dielectric. This paper shows, by means of both practical and numerical experiments, the results of using such a substrate in a range of multilayer antennas.