Abstract
A circular polarized highly directional S band patch antenna for small satellite applications has been proposed in this invention. The proposed antenna comprises of a square ground plane and two circular radiating patches with annular circular slot fed by a coaxial probe. The circular slot in the radiating patch is responsible for creating resonance at the S band. The prototype is can be easily integrated with a small satellite due to the simplicity of the design. The modification of the circular shape patch by cutting circular shape slots help to excite the resonance at the desired frequency. The simulation and the experimental results have a good agreement. The proposed antenna has achieved an impedance bandwidth of 55 MHz (2.380 GHz-2.435 GHz) and axial ratio (AR) < 3 dB is about 35 MHz(2.410 MHz-2.445 MHz) in the operating band. The prototype has achieved a gain of 8.13 dBi at centre frequency of 2.42 GHz. The directional radiation pattern, circular polarization (CP), and high gain characteristics make the proposed antenna suitable for small satellite applications.