International Conference on Communication and Signal Processing, July 28 - 30, 2020, India

Microstrip Patch Antenna Design for Space

Applications
R. Jyosthna, R Akshay Sunny, Abhinandan Ajit Jugale and Mohammed Riyaz Ahmed

Abstract—Ever since the first launch of Sputnik 1 by the uses radio signals to study celestial objects. Radio signals
Soviet Union in 1957, mankind’s urge towards exploring beyond emitted by celestial bodies are captured by a very large array
the sky has never stopped. Within four years of Sputnik 1, of antennas. These waves are then studied to understand
the man entered the space in 1961. Space research has always Earth Exploration
ploration
been a major area of research where the entire world is racing. Space Satellite Satellite
Predicting natural causes such as weather changes, upcoming Research
Radio
draughts, tsunamis; earth survey, communication systems and Astronomy
Extra Planetary
currently Cyber-Physical systems are the major boons of Space Vehicle

research. The domain being highly limited due to the cost Propagation
P ropagation o
UHF signals
of
Celestial
Body
involved, the research is mainly limited. However, with the recent Earth
Satellite
SSate
privatization such as Blue Origin, SpaceX, etc. the research in Planet

the domain is growing. In this work, we design and simulate a Radiated

microstrip patch antenna for Space applications. The antenna Waves
works in Extremely High Frequency(EHF) range of 31.5GHz. Uplink &
Satellite Soundings
Downlinknkk
The antenna has been analyzed for its return loss, VSWR, gain,
radiation pattern and current distribution. The obtained results
are verified to suit the requirements and are discussed for various Earth
Space applications. Geo Station
tion Ground Station
Antenna Antenna
Index Terms—Microstrip patch; Radio astronomy; Space re-
search; Earth exploration.

Fig. 1. A view towards space applications of the designed antenna: Radio

I. I NTRODUCTION
astronomy, Space research, and Earth exploration satellite
T concern of mankind towards the starry sky has al-
ways driven us with curiosity. Since the last six decades the celestial body. When imaging a celestial body, multiple
of space exploration, the need towards understanding the arrays of the designed antenna can be arranged as a single
space more is increasing. Antennas have been a constantly layer and a clear image can be obtained[5][6]. Further, the
modified commodity in this regard. Antennas play a vital role radio telescopes have to be extremely large when compared
in identifying the characteristics of the system in which they wavelength they are receiving. However, authors believe that
are used. They are used in various systems and various forms. instead of a single large antenna, multiple numbers of small
That is, in few of the systems the operational characteristic designed antennas can be cascaded and the obtained image
of the systems are designed depending upon the directional can be stitched to get more clear imagery[7][8].On the other
properties of an antenna or considering other systems[1][2]. side, the insatiable thirst to unravel the space has always been
Among various types of antennas, authors have designed a the universe’s interest[9][10]. Parabolic antennas have been the
microstrip patch antenna. Among the various types of antennas architecture of choice for this scientific exploration of outer
available, microstrip patch antennas are more advantageous space, these antenna’s consists of paraboloidal reflectors which
when it comes to the matter of compactness, power efficiency, are further illuminated indirectly by a network of sub reflectors
and low profile. Therefore, microstrip patch antennas become or directly by a set of feed antenna’s which are termed as prime
a popular choice among all other available choices[3][4]. In focus feed[11][12]. The large reflectors have an alternative
this work, the antenna has been specifically designed for that is to use an array of small antenna’s spread over a
theR.following applications
Jyosthna, R AkshayofSunny,
Radio Abhinandan
astronomy, Passive Space large area which transfers and receive the signal in the same
Ajit Jugale
Research, and Earth Exploration Satellites. Radio astronomy phase (phased array antenna. The fascination to Fig.1 out the
and Mohammed Riyaz Ahmed are with the School of Earth’s physical properties and natural phenomena better have
Electronics and Communication Engineering, REVA been a primary motivation to explore its surface and sub-
University, Bangalore, India 560064 (email: surface regions(Earth exploration)[13][14]. The geophysical
jyosthna2203@gmail.com, akshayrsunny@gmail.com, approach involves measuring gravity, radioactivity, electric-
abhinandan.a.j.1008@gmail.com, riyaz@reva.edu.in) ity, magnetism, etc.. Inside earth which is done by various
methodologies including magnetic method, gravity method, an
electrical and electromagnetic method, seismic reflection and
0406
978-1-7281-4988-2/20/$31.00 ©2020 IEEE refraction methods, etc. Whose main focus is to analyse the
physical attributes of the earth[15][16].

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 Fig. 2. (a) Top view of the designed antenna; (b)Side view of the designed antenna.

generally smaller compared to the patch and supplies current

TABLE I
A NTENNA PARAMETERS .
through one end of the patch. Further, this facilitates the
fabrication and patch is to be etched onto the same plane
Parameter Dimension in mm Parameter Dimension in mm this kind of arrangement has the advantage to provide a
Lg 6.77 Wg 7.84
Ls 6.77 Ws 7.84 planar structure[17]. The contrasting thing over here is that
Lp 1.978 Wp 3.042 the height of the substrate is found directly proportional to the
h 0.8 L1 1.4
Lf 0 2.558 Wf 0.2 bogus feed radiations and surface waves. This proportionality
Linset 0.158 Winset 0.25 is found to obstruct the bandwidth along with undesirable
cross-polarization of the antenna[18][19].In a few cases where
The rest of the paper is organised as follows. Section II de- there is an impedance mismatch between the feed line and
scribes about the antenna design. The results were discussed the radiation resistance at the edge of the patch results on
the performance of the antenna since maximum power is not
in Section III. At last, Section IV concludes the paper with
being transmitted[20][12]. Hence a matching network must
conclusion of the work. be implemented on the feed network to minimize reflections,
II. A NTENNA D ESIGN thereby enhancing the antennas performance. A typical method
used in such cases is by providing an inset feed[22]. The
The elementary steps involved in the process to design
inset fed can be calculated such that the feeding edge of the
an antenna are to understand the application that has to be
antenna can be matched to the characteristic impedance of
achieved and to meet the requirements of the parameters.
the transmission line. Line feed is a technique wherein which
Frequency is the most important parameter. Considering the
the feed is just an extension of the patch connecting with the
application of the antenna, the desired substrate could be
ground thus easy to match the impedance by adjusting the inset
preferred. After deciding all the required data, the physi-
position. To obtain good impedance matching it is advisable
cal dimensions of the antenna are calculated. In this field,
to opt for an inset feed that can be incorporated into the patch.
the authors use Ansys High- frequency Function Simulator
This can be achieved by precisely adjusting the inset position.
(HFSS) v 15.0 to design and implement the antenna. The
This technique is considered to be one of the easiest techniques
very first step is designing a ground layer of size 7.84mm X
as it provides ease of fabrication and simplicity in modelling
6.77mm. This acts as a base and provides space upon which
as well as impedance matching[23][24][25]. The antenna is
the antenna is to be mounted. The behaviour of the antenna
designed with the dimensions of 7.84mm X 6.77mm with
mainly depends upon the relative permittivity (£r) value of
a thickness of 0.8mm at the substrate. Then the substrate is
the substrate material and thus the thickness of the substrate
composed of FR4 epoxy with a relative permittivity of 4.4 and
material could be calculated. One of the substrate layers
dielectric loss tangent of 0.02. Further, the patch with dimen-
(usually second) is attached to the ground layer, while the
sions 3.04mm X 1.97mm is etched on the substrate. The line
other layer provides the base for the patch (layer third) which
feed with dimensions 0.2mm X 2.558mm.The arrangement is
is the most important layer of an antenna. The patch is fed with
such that the line feed is shorter than the path in width. One
current by various types of feeds. The prominent techniques
end of the feed is connected with the patch while the other is
include Microstrip line, Coaxial Probe, Aperture Coupling,
end connected to the ground layer as shown in Fig 2(a).
and Proximity Coupling. The simplest feeding technique is The geometric parameters are adjusted to observe the varia-
done by providing microstrip line feed, the conducting strip is tions concerning the gain, bandwidth, and resonant frequency

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 Fig. 3. Return loss versus frequency. The return loss of antenna should always be lesser than -10dB.

Fig. 4. VSWR of the antenna must practically be between the values of 1 and 2.

of the proposed antenna and are shown in Table I, where Linset
is Length of inset slot at feed and Winset is Width of inset
slot at the feed.
III. R ESULTS AND D ISCUSSION
The patch antenna proposed in this paper is simulated
and analyzed using ANSYS HFSS (High-Frequency Struc-
ture Simulator)15.0. The return loss aids with matching the
accuracy of the devices, which is preferred to be less than
-10 db for a low insertion loss. As shown in Fig. 3, return
loss was achieved to be -18.9589 at 31.5GHz. The VSWR is
another critical criterion for the antenna attributes, whose value
is expected to lie from 1 to 2. Fig. 4 displays the VSWR
graph, with the peak having the VSWR value of 1.9667 at the
resonant frequency. Gain defines the efficiency of the antenna,
it characterizes the capability of an antenna to convert the input
to output waves. The proposed antenna provides a valuable
gain of 4.9692. The graphical clone of radiations emitted by
the antenna is given in Fig 5(a), which are plotted in H and E
plane.
Surface current circulation is realized over the patch, in-
cluding the feed line. Each slot made alters the response of
the antenna. The obtained frequency vary from the theoretical
assumption, which later corrected by generating slots[26][27].
Since the antenna is compact, it can be employed in essential
places, as in space research or radio astronomy. The obtained
frequency of the designed antenna is 31.5GHz i.e. it operates in
EHF (Extremely High Frequency) range and thus it has made
a room for itself in applications such as satellites. Use of these
antennas in radio astronomy has enhanced our understanding
of the universe. The radio telescopes used, are enabled to attain
a giant number of finest priority astrophysical conclusions
from the satellite using antenna[28]. Further, the use of antenna
in space research has led to an enormous increase in our
knowledge concerning space research and thus increasing the
dimensions of our world. The paraboloidal reactors which are
illuminated by a network of sub reactors are spread over a
large area which transmits and receive signal by the usage of
the specific antenna[29][30]. Whereas in Earth exploration, the

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 (a) (b)

Fig. 5. (a) Radiation Pattern of the designed antenna; (b) Gain of the designed antenna.

Fig. 6. Current distribution is a qualitative measure of how the current is flowing in the antenna.

satellites use antennas to research the physical properties and
natural phenomenon in a better way. Thus the designed and
simulated antenna can also be adopted in these stations as a
result of their valuable gain and favourable radiation pattern.
IV. C ONCLUSION
In this work of antenna design, Microstrip patch antenna
with slots has been designed. The antenna works at a res-
onating frequency of 31.5GHz and can be used for three
different applications. Radio astronomy being the first ap-
plication requires the designed antenna to be cascaded into
an array by which radio signals from celestial bodies can
be received. In the second application of space research, the
designed antenna can be used in outer planet land vehicles
for communication with the native satellite. Further, along
with a suitable waveguide, the antenna also plays an important
role in earth exploration satellite. Among all the three sets of
applications, the second applications of space research hold
suitable for the antenna as it can be used in outer planet
vehicles due to its compact size and less power consumption.
However, the behaviour of the antenna in a practical space
environment has to be checked upon fabrication. This would be
included in the future work along with various other analyses
such as stability, beamforming, etc. The antenna must be
further optimized for the aforementioned applications to be
satisfied.
ACKNOWLEDGMENT
We would like to thank Dr P.Shyamaraju, honourable
chancellor, REVA University for providing all the necessary
research infrastructures to carry out our research. We also
would like to thank School of ECE, REVA University for
the enduring support. Further, we would like to extend our
gratitude to Ms.Bhoomika C M of the Centre of Excellence for
Cyber Physical Systems at REVA University for her valuable
inputs during the work.

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