Optically transparent and circularly polarized patch antenna for K-band applications

This contribution presents an optically transparent and circularly polarized patch antenna to be integrated on a solar cell. The whole configuration is suitable to be use in a wireless sensor node acting as a communication interface and a power source. The antenna consisting of grid lines is studied concerning the impedance behavior due to the applied mesh. A single fed truncated corners meshed patch antenna with meshed ground plane on quartz glass is investigated. This structure with an overall transparency of 92 % has similar antenna properties to the opaque counterpart. Additionally, the alignment errors between both meshed layers possibly caused by the fabrication process is addressed concerning the axial ratio. A prototype is realized and measured to verify the simulation results.