Wideband, phase-stable antenna for navigation applications

In this article the design of an antenna for present and future navigation application is presented. The antenna is able to work with Galileo, GPS, GLONASS, Compass and SBAS systems. The main features of the proposed antenna are good performances in terms of gain at low elevation and a stable phase center that can be calibrated just by using the elevation measurement. The antenna is able to satisfy the imposed specifications thanks to a 3D shape optimization. The antenna has been manufactured using a light weight structure and a compact architecture not making use of a choke ring but guaranteeing at the same time the needed multi-path rejection. The good results achieved via simulation have been confirmed during the measurement campaign.