X-Band Microstrip Array Antenna for UAV Onboard Full Circularly Polarized Synthetic Aperture Radar

Recently, unmanned aerial vehicles onboard synthetic aperture radar (UAV-SAR) have been developed by many institutions to provide high-resolution, real-time data acquisition and local emergency observation. The SAR system remains the issue to realize the system with the high resolution, lightweight, minimalized payload, power efficiency, high altitude operation, extreme environment, long-duration flight, and full polarimetric mode. For this purpose, our research group plans to develop the X-band circularly polarized UAV-SAR for disaster and environmental monitoring using the 25 kg payload of the UAV. The SAR system requires a broadband antenna and full circular polarization for precise observations. The antenna for the SAR systems requires a small size, lightweight, high gain, broadband for chirp pulse, and good antenna isolation and axial ratio (AR). For this purpose, we proposed the
$4\times4$
ax-shaped radiator array antenna. The proposed antenna was simulated, fabricated, and measured in an anechoic chamber. Furthermore, the indoor polarimetric scattering SAR experiment was conducted using canonical targets to investigate the polarimetric SAR capability of the system with the proposed antenna. The result proves the performance of circularly polarized SAR.