Design and Development of Printed Antennas for Satellite-Based AIS Applications

Purpose of the Satellite Based-Automatic Identification System (SB-AIS) is to provide an extended range of communication over the traditional AIS. This has been accomplished by employing low earth orbiting (LEO) Satellite. In this paper, three different configurations of printed antennas have been proposed for marine VHF band (156-174 MHz). Initially, printed meander line configuration of monopole and dipole antennas have been designed and developed for AIS satellites and onboard ships, respectively. The overall size of meander line monopole (MLMA) and meander line dipole Antenna (MLDA) are 44.5 × 17 × 0.159 cm
³
and 66 × 4.4 × 0.159 cm
³
, respectively. Additionally, this work is extended to design a cross loop antenna (CLA) for onboard ships, with polarization diversity. This CLA occupies volume (including the ground plane) of 52.65 × 52.65 × 0.159 cm
³
. The radiation patterns of all the proposed antennas are omnidirectional with E-plane halfpower beamwidth (HPBW) of more than 80 deg. These proposed antenna configurations have been realized on low-cost FR-4 glass epoxy substrate. Simulated and measured characteristics of these are in good agreement.