Proximity coupled stepped T-feed wideband linearly polarised patch antenna

A linearly polarised microstrip patch antenna fed by a novel stepped T-feed is presented. The antenna exhibits more than octave band impedance bandwidth for VSWR<2. The antenna operates over 1.05 to 2.4 GHz. Symmetrical far-field patterns are obtained over 46% of frequency band of operation and the cross polarisation level of the antenna is of the order of -18 to -25 dB over this band. Measured characteristics are compared with simulated predictions.