Related content

Conformal Patch Antenna

Problem Description

Mechanical design often determines the shape of microstrip antennas. Examples of such designs are:

• Mobile communication devices where ergonomics dictate the shape of the device.
• Aerospace designs such as aircraft fuselage or missile nosecones where aerodynamic drag considerations dictate the shape.

The complexity of the modelling of microstrip antennas that conform to any given surface shape can be reduced by requiring that the shape aligns with the simulation coordinate system.

Problems that designers of conformal antennas typically encounter include:

• General antenna performance, i.e. radiation patterns, antenna efficiency, input impedance bandwidths, etc..
• Optimisation of the antenna parameters in the presence of the body that the antenna is mounted on.

FEKO Solution

FEKO offers a range of solution options for the modelling of conformal antennas. These include:

• Planer Green's functions for infinite dielectric layers, which is applicable to antennas conforming to the simulation coordinate system.
• Modern techniques such as the Surface Equivalence Principle (SEP) for use with the Method of Moments (MoM) which allows the modelling of arbitrarily shaped antennas.
• Triangular surface meshing that enable simple modelling of conformal shapes.
• A CAD interface with powerful features for the modelling of conformal antenna models, e.g. lofting of curves to create surfaces, projection of points or lines onto surfaces, local coordinate systems.
  
• A variety of feed techniques for conformal antennas, e.g. probe feeds, stripline feeds, electromagnetically coupled feeds.
• Varying permitivity and loss parameter dielectric solids with conducters on top of or inside such solids.