A lightweight, C-band, dual circularly polarized microstrip antenna for satellite applications

The authors describe a lightweight, dual circularly polarized microstrip antenna for use in communications satellite reflector feed arrays. The radiator is intended as one-for-one replacement for existing waveguide feeds and is designed to operate in the 3.625- to 4.073-GHz frequency band. It consists of a four-element array fed by two microstrip polarizing networks. The radiator, which has a square cross section measuring 1.45 lambda at midband frequency, is considerably lighter and more compact than waveguide feeds having similar gain and radiation patterns.<
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