Compact Elliptic Cross-Dipole Antenna for S-Band SATCOM Array

This paper presents a compact printed cross-dipole partial wall cavity antenna for ground-based satellite communication (SatCom) receiver systems. The effect of high permittivity substrate and partial metallic cavity on elliptical patch cross-dipole antenna compactness, gain, front-to-back ratio (FBR), and 3 dB axial ratio is analyzed. The proposed antenna achieves 33.95% 10 dB impedance matching bandwidth (BW). Its peak gain varies between 6.5-7.7 dBiC, and the axial ratio (AR) is < 3 dB for the required 2.5-2.7 GHz frequency band of operation. Due to the implementation of a partial cavity, the FBR is better than 14 dB. A good agreement is achieved between simulated and measured results. This elliptic cross-dipole design offers superior compatibility for SatCom antenna array systems by ensuring low mutual coupling between the elements.