Beamwidth enhancement of array microstrip antenna for radio altimeter application

Abstract

In this paper, an array microstrip antenna with 2x2 configuration has been simulated and measured for radio altimeter. The goal of this study is to achieve a proper beamwidth for this application with acceptable VSWR. Thus, the spacing between patches has been varied to obtain the beamwidth. The simulation shows the antenna has 50.2 x 60 degrees beamwidth with VSWR of 1.21, where after measurement the antenna has gained VSWR of 1.238, 250.04 MHz bandwidth and beamwidth of ±48 x ±65 degrees.