Improving the radiation and matching characteristics of antenna arrays for satellite communication with moving vehicles

Two techniques for improving the radiation and matching characteristics of antenna arrays used for satellite communications with moving vehicles are presented. Confining the electromagnetic field on and in the vicinity of the radiating patches by using artificial horn structures results in at least 3 dB increase in the gain of the individual patches and a better isolation of the array elements. A compensated T-junction in the feed network of the array improves the wideband matching of the elements by at least 4 dB. Rectangular patches have been designed and implemented using these techniques. Experimental results verify the above mentioned improvements.