antenna applications corner
Sudhakar Rao
T
his article details an antenna array
and a single antenna that were
designed in compliance with the
requirements of an international com-
petition for engineering students.
The flush-mounted, circumferential
microstrip array was devised for airborne
operation, and a truncated-corner, cir-
cularly polarized patch ground-station
antenna was designed for the telemetry
link of a sounding rocket. In this article,
special attention is given to the design
and fabrication of the array, present-
ed in a step-by-step procedure, while
experimental results validate the pro-
posed methodology.
THE INTERCOLLEGIATE ROCKET
ENGINEERING COMPETITION
In addition to the regular undergraduate
curriculum, extracurricular practical
activities are an important complement
to engineering education. At the Tech-
nological Institute of Aeronautics (ITA)
in Brazil, one such activity is the de-
sign and manufacture of small sounding
rockets that ITA’s Montenegro Team
takes to the Intercollegiate Rocket
Engineering Competition (IREC) in
Green River, Utah. In 2012, the Mon-
Digital Object Identifier 10.1109/MAP.2017.2686096
Date of publication: 2 June 2017
100 1045-9243/17©2017IEEE
A Telemetry Antenna Design
for a Sounding Rocket Competition
Prêntice C. Ribeiro Filho, Alexis F. Tinoco-S, Daniel C. Nascimento, and J.C. da S. Lacava
editor’s Note
A telemetry antenna design with an omnidirectional pattern in the roll plane for a
sounding rocket competition is presented in this issue’s “Antenna Applications Corner”
column. The rocket is reusable and small with a roughly 3-in diameter, and it carries
an S-band transmit antenna designed using a circumferential patch array with a thin
substrate. The transmit antenna uses an array to minimize the roll-plane pattern
variations. The receive antenna on the ground is a circularly polarized microstrip
antenna with truncated corners in the diagonal plane. The design, fabrication,
and test results are described for both antennas. This development is part of an
international rocket engineering competition, and the work has been carried out at the
Technological Institute of Aeronautics, Brazil.
tenegro Team used a flush-mounted, AIRBORNE ANTENNA
linearly polarized circumferential array SPECIFICATIONS
of rectangular patches as the airborne Consistent with the aerodynamic require-
telemetry antenna and a truncated- ments, the airborne transmitting antenna
corner, circularly polarized patch at the was conceived based on a conformal cav-
ground station. ity-backed microstrip antenna, due to its
low profile [1]. Because the external rocket
MISSION SPECIFICATIONS diameter is only 76.2 mm (i.e., approxi-
IREC consists of two categories: ba- mately 3 in), thin microwave laminates
sic and advanced. ITA’s Montene- (flexible materials) that could be easily
gro Team has competed in the basic conformed onto such a small cylinder di-
category; the requirements are as fol- ameter were used. ­Electrically thin mi-
lows: a 10-lb (4.5-kg) minimum pay- crostrip antennas are known to exhibit a
load weight, and the rocket should narrow bandwidth, typically less than 1%;
reach an altitude of 10,000 ft (3,048 m) however, this is sufficient for the proper
and be reusable. To comply with these operation of the telemetry channel in the
specifications, ITA’s rocket was de- industrial, scientific, and medical band
signed with the dimensions shown (2.4–2.5 GHz). For linear polarization,
in Figure 1. two topologies can be considered for an
june 2017 IEEE Antennas & Propagation Magazine
omnidirectional radiation pattern in the
roll plane of the rocket: a wraparound
.62 cm
radiator and a circumferential array. Al- 10 cm eter 7
Diam
though both are electrically equivalent, 50 cm
40 cm
the array was chosen from a practical point
m
of view for being simpler to assemble. 100 c

PREDESIGN PROCEDURE
Modern electromagnetic simulators
such as CST [2] and a high-frequency Figure 1. The geometry and dimensions of ITA’s rocket.
structural simulator (HFSS) [3] pro-
vide antenna designers with powerful y
tools. However, since their focus is on
analysis, the development process be-
PEC
comes more effective when the geom- φ
etry under study, in this case, a covered Cover
cylindrical-rectangular microstrip an- p L
tenna, is first predesigned before fur- Substrate 2L
x
ther optimization is conducted in the 2B
software environment. Figure 2 shows
z a
the antenna conformed onto a metallic θ
cylinder of the radius a. The thicknesses
of the substrate and the cover layers are
h
denoted as h and hc, respectively. To
hc
start, the dimensions of patch sides 2B
and 2L, and the probe position p are Figure 2. The covered cylindrical-rectangular microstrip antenna.
estimated. Next, using the electric-sur-
face-current model, radiation patterns
of the circumferential array composed
of N  rectangular patches are plotted
in the roll plane (xy plane; Figure 2) of
the rocket to choose the topology that
best complies with the omnidirectional
requirement. Finally, this topology is
optimized in an HFSS.

RECTANGULAR PATCH PREDESIGN 30 MHz

Cylindrical [4], a software devel-
oped at the Laboratory of Antennas
and Propagation (LAP) based on the
cavity model [5], was used for prede-
signing the rectangular patch dimen-
sions. The effect of the cover can
be incorporated into the calculation
through the adoption of an equivalent
electric permittivity ^f req h, as in [1].
Using this procedure for the Arlon
CuClad 250 GX microwave lami- Figure 3. The reflection coefficient magnitude simulated in the Cylindrical
nate (loss tangent = 0.0022, f r = 2.55, interface program represents the inability option of the graphics results [4].
and thickness = 0.762 mm) as both the
substrate and cover, a rectangular the equivalent electric permittivity p = 10.5 mm. The simulated results
patch, fed by a 50-X, 1.3-mm diam- in this case becomes f req = 2.514, show that a single patch exhibits 1.23%
eter coaxial probe, was designed to according to [7]. Thus, for a 0.762-mm- symmetrical bandw idth (30 MH z
operate at 2.4 4 GHz (in the TM 01 thick equivalent cavity, the following at the –10-dB reflection ­c oefficient
mode) under the null reactance condi- antenna dimensions were obtained: ­m agnitude condition, as shown in
tion [6]. Because h = h c = 0.762 mm, 2B = 38.06 mm, 2L = 49.48 mm, and Figure  3) and Z in = 51 + j1 X input

IEEE Antennas & Propagation Magazine june 2017 101

 0 0
0 330 30 330 30
–3 0
–6 300 60 300 60
–9 –10

–12
–20
–15
-15 270 90
270 90
–12 –20
–9
–6 240 120 –10
240 120
–3
0
0 210 150
180 210 150
180
Two Patches Four Patches
Three Long Patches
Three Patches Three Long Patches

Figure 4. The radiation patterns in the roll plane (xy plane) Figure 5. The radiation pattern of the chosen array, plotted in
of the rocket. a z = constant plane.

impedance at the operating frequency. A(n, k z) = X n Z n H (n2) (k 0t d) function of order n (where prime denotes
Once the patch predesign dimensions kt derivative); and E 0 is the maximum of

are obtained, the number of cylindri- - Xn W 0
n
H (n2)l (k 0t d) (3) the electric field inside the equivalent
kt
cal patches required for an omnidirec- cavity. Although developed for nonflush-
tional pattern in the roll plane of the nk z mounted arrays, these expressions are
C(n, k z ) = [(k t ) -2 - (k 0t ) -2 ]
rocket can be determined, following d used here just for estimating the array
the strategy discussed later. X n W n H (n2) (k 0t d) (4) topology before further optimization in
an HFSS because the cover layer in the
CIRCUMFERENTIAL ARRAY PREDESIGN T (n, k z) = ' X n W n ;
nk z
[(k t)-2 - (k 0t ) -2]E
2
present case is electrically thin. The sim-
According to the surface current model d ulated results for the radiation patterns of
- S n Z n ; E 1 #[H (n2) (k 0t d)] 2
2
[8], the far-field expressions for the k the N-element array (for N = 2, 3, and 4),
kt
electric field components radiated plotted in the roll plane of the rocket, are
- X n W n [k 0 /k 0t] 2 [H (n2)l(k 0t d)] 2
by an N-element equa lly spaced shown in Figure 4.
 + H (n2) (k 0t d) H (n2)l(k 0t d) [X n Z n k 20
circumferential array (without a cover It is noted that either four patches
layer, i.e., h c = 0), in the case of rectan- + S n W n k 2] [k t k 0t] -1 (5) with the previous dimensions or three
gular patches excited in the TM01 mode X n = J n (k t d)Yn (k t a) longer (2L = 68.2 mm) patches comply
and in the broadside condition, are  with the omnidirectional requirement.
- J n (k t a)Yn (k t d) (6)
given by S n = Jln (k t d)Yn (k t a) To simplify beamforming, the array of
 three long patches (2B = 38.06 mm and
-i (k 0 r + k z B) cos(k z B) - J n (k t a)Ynl (k t d) (7)
E i = - iE2 0 i 1 N e 2L = 68.2 mm) was chosen for further
2B sin i r (r/2B) 2 - k 2z Wn = J n (k t d)Ynl (k t a) optimization in the HFSS. Figure 5

# / pn in - Jln (k t a)Yn (k t d) (8) presents its radiation pattern plotted in a
n = 0, N,2N,...
Z n = Jln (k t d)Ynl (k t a) z = constant plane, calculated from (1)
A(n, k z) sin (ni 1) 
# cos(nz) (1) - Jln (k t a)Ynl (k t d), (9) and (2). From the radiation patterns of
 D(n, k z) ni 1
the array of the long patches (Figures 4
where i 1 = L/d; d = h + a; a is the radius and 5), its directivity will be close to
-i (k 0 r + k z B) cos(k z B)
E { = - 2iE 0 i 1 N e of an infinite metallic cylinder; p n = 1 0 dB, as specified.
B k 0 sin i r (r/2B) 2 - k 2z
when n = 0 and p n = 2, otherwise,
# / in k 20 = ~ 2 n 0 f 0, k 2 = k 20 f r, k 2t = k 2 - k 2z , CIRCUMFERENTIAL ARRAY
n = N,2N,...

C(n, k z) sin (ni 1)
^ k 0t h2 = k 20 - k 2z , k z = k 0 cos i (stationary DESIGN IN AN HFSS
# sin(nz) , phase points); J n (x) and Yn (x) are, respec- Using the predesigned dimensions
(2) D ( n , k z ) ni 1
tively, the Bessel and Neumann func- (2B = 38.06 mm and 2L = 68.2 mm),
where tions; H (n2) (x) is the second-kind Hankel the circumferential array of three

102 june 2017 IEEE Antennas & Propagation Magazine

cavity-backed long patches was imple-
mented in an HFSS. After the optimi- Zoom of the
zation for operation at 2.44-GHz, 50-X HFSS Mesh
Probe Position
input impedance for each radiator, the z
following dimensions were obtained: Antenna 1 Antenna 2
2B = 37.02 mm, 2L = 68.02 mm, and p
= 6.3 mm. Figure 6(a) shows the array Probe 1 z Probe 2
geometry implemented in the HFSS y
Substrate
and the final aspect of the mesh (on
y Probe 3
the patches) after convergence (the red
circle denotes the probe position). This Antenna 3
figure shows, in an intuitive way, that
a long computational time is necessary Cover
x
to perform the array design. This fact (a) (b)
emphasizes the usefulness of the pre-
design procedures; otherwise, the array
Figure 6. (a) The array geometry implemented in an HFSS. (b) The HFSS rocket
design directly in the HFSS would take model: cut in the roll plane. (Images courtesy of the HFSS interface.)
considerably longer. To illustrate how
the wave ports were used to feed the These results were obtained running
three long patches, a cut in the roll an HFSS in a workstation with two Intel –5
plane of the rocket model is presented Xeon Quadcore 2.5-GHz processors, –10 35 MHz
in Figure 6(b). 64 GB of random-access memory
–15

A typical simulated result for the
reflection coefficient magnitude is
shown in Figure 7. As seen, all patches
perfectly match the 50-X wave ports and
present a symmetrical 35-MHz band-
width with respect to the operating fre-
quency (2.44 GHz). It is important to
point out that the input impedance of
the long patch as designed is quite stable
near 50-X. That is a desirable feature,
from a manufacturing point of view,
because variations in the feeding posi-
tion do not change the electric character-
istics of the antenna substantially.
|Γ| (dB)
(RAM), and a 1.2-TB hard disk. This
calculation took 30 convergence steps, –20
1,346,937 tetrahedra, 35.4 GB of –25
RAM, and 16 h and 56 min of process-
–30
ing time. Radiation patterns in the xy 2.42 2.43 2.44 2.45 2.46
and xz planes estimated by (1) and (2) Frequency (GHz)
and simulated in the HFSS are shown
in Figure 8. Very good agreement was Figure 7. The long patch reflection coeffi­
observed between the patterns in the xy cient magnitude simulated in an HFSS.
plane, thus validating the procedure used
to establish the array topology. However, consider the circumferential array to
the estimated xz-plane radiation pattern be flush mounted and conformed onto
shows some disagreement with respect a perfect conductor and infinite cylin-
to the HFSS, because (1) and (2) do not der. This is different from the HFSS

0 0
0 330 30
330 30
0
–5
300 60 –10
300 60
–10 –20
–30
–15 270 90
–40 270 90

–10 –30

240 120 –20

–5 240 120
–10

210 150 0
0 210 150
180 180
(a) (b)
Predesign HFSS

Figure 8. The simulated radiation patterns: (a) the xy plane and (b) the xz plane.

IEEE Antennas & Propagation Magazine june 2017 103

 simulation, which considers the actual
geometry of the rocket (Figure 1). The
three-dimensional radiation pattern is
z
θ
x φ
y
Figure 9. The three-dimensional
radiation pattern simulated in an HFSS.
(Image courtesy of the HFSS interface.)
shown in Figure 9. The array pattern is
quite isotropic overall, as required for an
airborne telemetry antenna.
ARRAY MANUFACTURE
AND TEST
The circumferential array was manufac-
tured in a printed circuit board proto-
typing machine, the T-Tech AMC 2500.
Because the fabrication process is not
straightforward, a step-by-step proce-
dure for manufacturing the airborne
array was followed. First, the long patch-
es were prototyped: Figure 10 illustrates
the patches and the cover layers. Holes
for guide pins, used to maintain the
cover and the rectangular patch in the
correct position during the molding pro-
cess, are highlighted in Figure 10(b) and
(c). After prototyping the patches, the
antenna was conformed onto a metal-
lic cylinder of radius equal to the rock-
et’s, using an aluminum foil and three
hose clamps in this process. First, the
patch layer is positioned on the metallic
cylinder, as illustrated in Figure 11(a).
Then, the Rogers Corporation bonding
film [9] and the cover layer are stacked
onto it, as seen in Figure 11(b). Copper
pins are used to guarantee the align-
ment between the patch and the cover,
as shown in Figure 11(b).
Finally, as illustrated in Figure 11(c),
the aluminum foil and the hose clamps
are assembled around the stacked
layers to keep them conformed onto
the metallic cylinder during thermal
cycling process [i.e., the assembly
shown in Figure 11(c) is introduced
in a high-temperature oven, following

Feed Hole
Guide
Holes

Guide
Holes

(a) (b) (c)

Figure 10. (a) The patches after the manufacture process, (b) the typical rectangular patch, and (c) the cover layer.

(a) (b) (c)

Figure 11. The cylindrical microstrip antenna fabrication: (a) the patch layer positioned on the metallic cylinder, (b) the
bonding film and cover stacked on the patch layer, and (c) the final aspect of the molding device.

104 june 2017 IEEE Antennas & Propagation Magazine

 (a)
Figure 16. (a)–(c) The power divider fabrication steps.
Figure 12. The circumferential array
elements.
0 0
–10 45 MHz
|Γ| (dB)
–20
–30
–40
2.40 2.42 2.44 2.46
Frequency (GHz)
(a)
Figure 13. A single element
measurement setup (Agilent N5230A Figure 17. (a) The measured array reflection coefficient module. (b) The
Network Analyzer). experimental and simulated roll plane radiation patterns.
the recommendation in the Rogers Cor-
0
poration fabrication notes] [9] used for
bonding the patch layer to the cover one.
–10
After that is over, the clamps and alu-
|Γ| (dB)
–20 minum foil are removed. The array ele-
ment prototypes are shown in Figure 12.
–30 To validate both the antenna design
and the fabrication process, the input
2.40 2.42 2.44 2.46 2.48
impedance and the reflection coefficient
Frequency (GHz)
module of a single element assembled
HFSS Prototype
on the rocket’s electrical mockup, as
illustrated in Figure 13, were mea-
Figure 14. The input impedance and sured. Very good agreement between
reflection coefficient module.
the simulated and experimental results
was observed (Figure 14), but the reso-
nance of both is slightly lower than
2.44 GHz. This effect is due to the
electrical mockup being shorter than
the actual rocket length. Figure 15 shows
the array elements assembled on the
rocket’s electrical mockup. Their feeder
is an in-phase three-way power divider,
designed and implemented on TMM10i
substrate (f r = 9.3, tan d = 0.0022,
and thickness = 3.73 mm). Its fabrica-
Figure 15. The circumferential array tion steps are shown in Figure 16.
assembled on the rocket’s electrical Measured reflection ­c oefficient
mockup. module is shown in Figure 17(a). As
IEEE Antennas & Propagation Magazine june 2017
(b) (c)
0
330 30
–5
–10 300 60
–15
–20 270 90
–15
–10 240 120
–5
0 210 150
2.48 180
HFSS Prototype
(b)
seen, the antenna b a nd w i d t h is
45 MHz, with a 22-dB return loss at
2.44  GHz. Once again, the best value
of the re­­f lec tion coefficient mod-
ule is slightly off 2.44 GHz, given
the ­m ockup dimensions. Radiation
­patterns plotted in the roll plane of
the rocket are shown in Figure 17(b).
The good agreement between experi-
mental data and simulation validates
the approach taken for the airborne
telemetry an­­­tenna design.
GROUND-STATION ANTENNA
As the airborne antenna is linearly po-
larized, a circularly polarized ground-
station antenna was designed. To
facilitate the transportation and instal-
lation of the ground station, a truncat-
ed-corner patch antenna [10], [11] was
chosen. The typical geometry of a left-
handed circularly polarized radiator is
illustrated in Figure 18. The antenna
design for operation at 2.44 GHz took
two steps. First, considering the patch
printed on top of a 3.048-mm-thick infi-
nite grounded dielectric (Arlon CuClad
250GX: f r = 2.55 and tan d = 0.0022),
105
 4 0
0 330 30
D

Radiation Pattern (dB)

3 –10 300 60

Axial Ratio (dB)

D 32 MHz
–20
p 2 –30 270 90
Lp 1
L1

–20
1 240
–10 120
y Lp 2 0 0 210 150
2.42 2.43 2.44 2.45 2.46 180
x Frequency (GHz) Spinning Dipole Eφ Eθ

L2 (a) (b)

Figure 18. The truncated-corner patch Figure 19. The simulated results: (a) the axial ratio in the broadside direction and
antenna. (b) the xz-plane spinning-dipole radiation pattern.

the following predesign dimensions

were promptly established using the 0
method-of-moments-based Ansoft De­­ –5
120 MHz
signer [12] software: L p1 = 37.42 mm, –10

L p2 = 36.45 mm, D = 5 mm, a n d p =
9.7 mm. Second, the predesigned antenna
was optimized in an HFSS to incorporate
the effects of the grounded dielectric trun-
cation ^L 1 = L 2 = 170 mmh, ­resulting
in the following optimized dimensions:
L p1 = 37.1 mm, L p2 = 36.3 mm, D =
5 mm, and p = 9.55 mm. Compared
with the corresponding predesigned re-
sults, the maximum difference is 0.32 mm
for the L p1 side, indicating the s­econd
design step was also q ­ uickly performed.
Simulated results for the axial ratio
(in the broadside direction) and spin-
ning-dipole radiation pattern, in the
xz plane, are shown in Figure 19. As
seen from Figure 19(a), the antenna
presents a 1.3% symmetrical bandwidth
(32 MHz at the 3-dB axial ratio condi-
tion) that is adequate for the operation
of a telemetry channel. In addition,
Figure 19(b) shows the angular aper-
ture is symmetrical in the xz plane,
ranging from 300° to 60°; that is, 120°
at the 3-dB axial ratio condition. A pic-
ture of the prototype, which was also
manufactured with the T-Tech AMC
2500 machine, mounted on its position-
ing tripod is shown in Figure 20. The
experimental and simulated reflection
coefficient module results presented in
Figure 21 are in very good agreement.
The antenna exhibits a 4.9% symmetri-
cal bandwidth (120 MHz at the 10-dB
|Γ| (dB)
–15
–20
–25
–30
2.20 2.32 2.44 2.56 2.68
Frequency (GHz)
HFSS Prototype
Figure 20. The prototype mounted on Figure 21. The reflection coefficient
its positioning tripod. module.
return loss condition), thus properly developed, ended up in third place in
covering the telemetry channel. the basic category of the seventh IREC.
Specifically, the Montenegro team’s proj-
CONCLUSIONS ect was awarded the first prize among
The proposed methodology for design- the basic category competitors and the
ing both the ground-station antenna second overall.
and the circumferential array follows
LAP’s philosophy that considers ana- ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
lytical models an important tool for We thank FAPESP for sponsoring
antenna predesign. Although modern project 2011/22610 - 0, IFI-DCTA
electromagnetic simulators provide for providing the use of the anechoic
antenna designers with powerful tools, chamber, and Dr. Nilson Rabelo for
the development process becomes assistance in preparing this article. We
more effective after initial predesign. also thank the reviewers for their con-
This approach provides excellent physi- structive comments and suggestions.
cal insight to canonical patches and can
significantly reduce the optimization Author information
time in electromagnetic simulators. The Prêntice C. Ribeiro Filho
very good results that were obtained (prenticecrfilho@gmail.com) received his
here demonstrate the applicability of B.S. degree in electronic engineering and
the proposed methodology. ITA’s rocket
team, making use of the antennas thus (continued on page 140)

106 june 2017 IEEE Antennas & Propagation Magazine

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his M.S. degree from the Instituto Tec-
nológico de Aeronáutica, Brazil, in 2012.
Since 2014, he has worked as a satellite
payload engineer at Visiona Tecnologia
Espacial, in São José dos Campos, Brazil.
Alexis F. Tinoco-S. (aftinoco@espe
.edu.ec) has been a faculty member with
the Department of Electric and Elec-
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de las Fuerzas Armadas—ESPE, Quito,
Ecuador. His recent research interests
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antennas and microwave circuits.
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ita.br) received his B.S. degree in tele-
communications engineering from the
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Tecnológico de Aeronáutica, São José dos
Campos, Brazil, in 2007 and 2013,
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(continued from page 106)
J.C. da S. Lacava (lacava@ita.br)
served as the head of the Department of
Circuits and Microwaves and vice chair
of the Divisão de Engenharia Eletrônica
at the Instituto Tecnológico de Aeronáu-
tica (ITA), São José dos Campos, Brazil.
His research interests include electro-
magnetic theory and antennas, with an
emphasis on microstrip antennas and
arrays. He recently retired from ITA but
continues to collaborate with the Labora-
tory of Antennas and Propagation and
other research teams.
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