Mutual Coupling Reduction Using EBG in Steering Antennas

In this letter, a dual circular polarized steering antenna for satellite communications in X-band is presented. This antenna consists of printed elements grouped in an array, able to work from 7.25 up to 8.4 GHz in both polarizations: left-handed circular polarization (LHCP) and right-handed circular polarization (RHCP). The module antenna is compact, with narrow beamwidth, and reaches a gain of 16 dBi. It has the capability to steer in elevation to ±10
^°
and ±40
^°
electronically with a Butler matrix. In order to reduce the mutual coupling between adjacent patches, electromagnetic band-gap (EBG) structures are introduced. These EBGs combine double-layer and edge location via in order to reduce the size, without changing the low-permittivity substrate, and therefore maintaining the high radiation efficiency of the antenna.