Design of a Compact Antenna Array for Satellite Navigation System Using Hybrid Matching Network

Abstract

An antenna arrays for a satellite navigation systems require more antenna elements to mitigate multiple jamming signals. In order to maintain the small array size while increasing the number of antenna elements, miniaturization technique is essential for antenna design. In this work, an electrically small circular microstrip patch antenna with a 3 dB hybrid coupler is designed as an element antenna, where the 3 dB hybrid coupler can yield the circularly polarized radiation characteristic. The miniaturized element antenna typically has too large capacitance in GPS Ll and GLONASS G1 bands, making it difficult to match with a single stand-alone non-Foster matching circuit (NFMC) in a stable state. Therefore, we propose a new matching technique, referred to as the hybrid matching method, which consists of a NFMC and a passive circuit. This passive tuning circuit manages reactance of antenna elements at an appropriate capacitance without a pole in the operating frequency range. The antenna array is fabricated, and the measured results show a reflection coefficient of less than -10 dB and an isolation of greater than 50 dB. In addition, peak gain of the proposed antenna is increased by 22.3 dB compared to the antenna without the hybrid matching network.