Wideband aperture coupled patch antenna for Ka-band exploiting the generation of surface waves

The growing demand for mobile data traffic is actually driving the deployment of innovative wireless networks, such as the 5G ones. The mobile satellite communications (Sat-Com-On-The-Move) at Low Earth Orbit (LEO) are meant to play a central role in this context. Innovative low-cost antenna solutions are required for Sat-Com-On-The-Move user terminals in order to bring this technology to the consumer mass-market. Hence, this paper proposes a low-cost wideband aperture coupled patch antenna (ACPA), working in Ka-band (18 - 31 GHz) and fabricated in standard PCB technology. The proposed antenna supports a double linear polarization feature with a simulated broadside realized gain ranging from 2 to 6 dBi in the (19.5 - 31) GHz frequency range.