Analysis and synthesis of a printed array for satellite communication with moving vehicles

We describe a mobile communications antenna consisting of concentric rings of elliptically polarized circular patches. For certain sets of relative phases, optimization of geometry and excitation amplitudes by simulated annealing synthesizes a conical beam with a maximum at a desired /spl theta/ and satisfactory directivity within a desired /spl theta/ range. An example of a two-ring array 50 cm in diameter with directivity >3 dB between /spl theta/=35/spl deg/ and /spl theta/=50/spl deg/ is presented.