Transparent Binomially Tapered Series-Fed Patch Array With Circular Polarization for Space Surveillance and Tracking MIMO Radar

In this paper, design of a two transmitter four receiver (2TX-4Rx) MIMO Radar consists with optically transparent binomially tapered series fed patch (BT-SFP) antenna placed above the solar cell is proposed. First, circular polarization (CP) is imposed on the BT-SFP to make its operation space-compatible. Furthermore, the effect of the solar cell on the CP behaviour is critically examined. The proposed antenna provide gain of 9.74 dBic with wide CP beamwidth of 95° and low side lobes. The obtained −10 dB impedance bandwidth (IBW) is 532 MHz and 3 dB axial ratio bandwidth (ARBW) is 57 MHz, which makes the proposed Radar deployable on a small cubesat for on-board space-surveillance and tracking (SST) applications.