Design of Hexagonal Antenna Array with Patch Slots for Satellite Communication Systems

Mobile satellite communication terminals are fast growing commercial market for maritime, aeronautical, and land-mobile applications. As a result, there is significant increase in the demand for lightweight, low profile and steerable antennas, capable of tracking the satellite. This paper present, a hexagonal patch array antenna with loading of slots to enhance the radiation gain without increasing the patch size, at Ku band with 14.5GHz resonant frequency. The 1×2 and 2×2 hexagonal patch antenna arrays with slots has voltage standing wave ratio (VSWR) which are less than (<;) 1.5, and gain of 9.15dB and 11.5dB respectively. While, the feeding network is optimized for the best impedance match to a 50Ω coaxial feeding line. Simulation results shows that the directivity, gain and efficiency increases with the slots.