Design and Development of Microstrip Patch Antenna for Communication between Pilot and Air Traffic Controller

Aeronautical communication between pilots and Air Traffic Control is crucial to preventing aircraft accidents. Ground-based augmentation systems (GBAS) and VHF communications services are operated in the 117-137 MHz band in aeronautical communication systems. The goal of this project is to develop a low profile microstrip patch antenna that will replace the existing VHF antenna while minimizing its size, mass, and cost. With this project, VHF Air to Ground(A/G) communication is our primary goal. Weather and navigational information are sent via VHF A/G communications, which also include conversations between ATC and aircraft in the air. A software named High Frequency Structure Simulator (HFSS) is used to simulate the designed antenna. Here, the substrate for the antenna is made of FR4 Epoxy and measures 350 mm by 170 mm. Several strategies were used in this research to achieve the target aerial characteristics. The antenna dimension is decreased using the meander line method. The research made use of hexagonal ring-shaped defective ground system (DGS) methods for improving bandwidth impedance and microstrip line feed, as well as single stub approaches to achieve optimum antenna impedance matching. The antenna’s operating frequency of 127 MHz and -25.7 dB reflection coefficient support the performance of aviation communications on the given frequency range. These techniques have been studied and acquired.