Linearly and circularly polarized slot antennas integrating solar cells

A new way to integrate antennas and solar cells of the amorphous silicon type (a-Si:H) is presented. In previous published designs, solar cells are glued on and around microstrip patches. It has been shown that only a reduced space around the radiating edges of the patches should not be covered by the cells. In this more integrated solution, called "fully-integrated" design, the solar cells are glued or even directly grown on the ground plane of a printed slot antenna. This solution results in an high level integration of the solar cells and antenna functions while allowing circular polarisation operation, beam scanning and minimizing the RF effects of the solar cells collector network. Examples of operational designs are given and their performances are discussed. The final prototypes represent a large gain in surface coverage, volume, weight and electric performance with respect to the simple juxtaposition of antennas and solar cells.