Design of a broad-band microstrip loop antennas with less-dispersive group velocity for accurate direction finding

Abstract

This study proposes the design of broad-band microstrip loop antennas with less-dispersive group velocity of radiation patterns for accurate direction of arrival (DoA) estimation. The proposed structure consists of radiating and feeding microstrip loops, and the radiating loop is electromagnetically coupled to the feeding loop. This feeding mechanism helps to suppress phase variations of radiating patterns by avoiding dual resonances within a wide frequency band over 60 MHz, which allows to obtain the less-dispersive group velocity for accurate DoA estimation. The effectiveness of the less-dispersive behaviour is validated by implementing the proposed structure into a four-element array to estimate vertical and horizontal placements using dual-axis phase interferometry. The results confirm that the proposed antenna has less-dispersive group velocity compared to a conventional microstrip patch antenna and is more suitable for accurate DoA estimation.