Investigations into patch elements developed for use in inflatable antenna arrays

There are vast demands for easily transportable and deployable antennas. Limits of weight minimization approach antennas made with thin dielectric films carrying printed circuits. Particularly when geometry of the support structure is stiffen with pressurized gas (similar as balloons) the ratio of the antenna size to its weight reaches extremely favorable values. Such electromagnetic structures may adopt majority of known antenna concepts, however, among most important are reflector and array antennas [1], [2]. Another interesting approach uses wave guiding structures between conductive surfaces. In this paper we concentrated on quasi-planar and cylindrical patch antennas. Our interest is in frequencies between 400 and 3000 MHz. For the actual structures of quasi-planar inflatable antennas a major technical constraint is the unavoidable geometrical deformations of the pressurized objects - main concerns are the deformations of element surfaces, especially the microstrip patches and feeding networks .