Meshed conductor and meshed substrate GPS L1 band microstrip antenna for Cubesat applications

Due to the ease of integration, low cost and high radiation efficiency, microstrip antennas are the optimum choice for Cubesat applications. Microstrip antenna structure is characterized by its opacity, preventing solar energy from reaching the Cubesat's solar cells. Therefore a transparent microstrip antenna design is required. In this paper a transparent meshed conductor and meshed substrate, circularly polarized (CP) L1 band Global Positioning System (GPS) microstrip antenna design, is designed, simulated using C ST and fabricated. The required antenna specifications are: Operating frequency, fr = 1.575 GHz (LI band), Bandwidth, BW ≥ 2.9 % of fr, Antenna Gain, G ≥ 5 dBi, Antenna efficiency, e
_o
≥ 90 %, Percentage of Transparency, PT ≥ 60 % and Circularly Polarized.