Patch Antenna Modeling Issues Using Commercial Software
William O. Coburn, Steven Weiss, and Canh Ly
U.S. Army Research Laboratory
The Method of Moments, implemented in 2.5-D for multilayer antenna structures, or as a fully 3-D solution of Maxwell’s equations, is a popular method for microwave antenna simulations. Commercial software was used to simulate an aperture-coupled patch and a pin-fed patch antenna element. The simulation results are compared with experimental data measured for antenna prototypes having finite substrate and ground plane dimensions. The aperture-coupled patch has microstrip feed line extending to the edge of the substrate where a coaxial connector is installed between the microstrip and ground plane. The pin-fed patch has coaxial connector feed with finite size ground plane and radome without dielectric substrates. A 3-D simulation is used to capture the effect of a finite ground plane compared to a 2.5-D model. The calculated and measured antenna performance are compared indicating that the 2.5-D simulations are sufficient for the design of conventional patch antennas but detailed analysis or novel designs may require a fully 3-D model.
24th Annual Review of Progress in Applied Computational Electromagnetics
2008
April
364-369
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