Design of a planar array of parasitic microstrip patch antennas

The antenna design for the Orbital Debris Radar System is described. It has been demonstrated by experimental fabrication and testing that a three-patch parasitically coupled arrangement, with the center patch directly fed, can obtain higher gain and narrower beamwidth results when compared to a single patch element. Other benefits realized with this structure include a 3:1 increase in impedance bandwidth and an increase in backplate circuit area, which can be directly configured to MMIC (monolithic microwave integrated circuit) integration. Three of these parasitic elements have been configured as a subarray building block to be used in a larger active array system.<>