GTD pattern analysis of antennas on a finite ground plane by using modified edge representation

A method of modified edge representation (MER) for flat plates are applied for the pattern analysis of GPS patch antennas mounted on a rectangular ground plane. In the MER, the contribution of FW-EECs (equivalent currents) to total EECs are weighted by the function of the angle between the modified edge and the real edge. The key feature of this approach is that uniform fields are predicted everywhere though only classical diffraction coefficients are used in first-order diffraction. The secondary diffraction is included as well. The ray-tracing is greatly simplified by introducing other fictitious edges for MER. Numerical results for diffraction from the GPS patch antenna mounted on a flat plates demonstrate the potential of MER. The EECs derived are specially refined to MER; the physical meaning of the MER and the weighting of FW-EECs should be validated theoretically in future study