High gain 2D printed antenna array

Microstrip patch antennas play a vital role in wireless telecommunication due to their unbeatable qualities such as thin planner profile and low cost. There are many studies being conducted to investigate whether they can be used for long distance telecommunication, such as for spacecraft and satellites. In order to communicate between long distances the antenna should have a large gain and directivity. The directivity of patch antennas can be improved by arranging them in an array. The gain of an antenna array increases with the number of antenna elements. The reflection coefficient determines how well an antenna is impedance matched. It ensures that the reflected power by patch antenna is at a low level such that it has a high efficiency. In addition, farfield patterns indicate the side lobe levels and the beam width of the antenna's radiation pattern. This project designed a 3D model of a 4 x 4 array with improved gain and directivity. The array is fed by a corporate feed network consisting of quarter wavelength transformers in order to match the impedances. CST software was used for all the designing and simulation purposes of the antenna array. It provides different optimiser tools to tune the array to achieve the desired results. The reflection coefficient, voltage standing wave ratio and farfield pattern were used to examine the performance of the array.