Low-profile,low sidelobe array antenna with ultrawide beam coverage for UAV communication  

作　　者：Mei LI Zhiliang SHANG Lin PU Ming-Chun TANG Lei ZHU 

机构地区：[1]School of Microelectronics and Communication Engineering,Chongqing University,Chongqing 400044,China [2]Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering,University of Macao,Macao SAR 999078,China

出　　处：《Chinese Journal of Aeronautics》2025年第1期444-454,共11页中国航空学报(英文版)

基　　金：supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China(No.62371080 and 62031006);the National Science Foundation of Chongqing,China(No.CSTB2022NSCQ-MSX0597);the Venture&Innovation Support Program for Chongqing Overseas Returnees,China(No.cx2022063)。

摘　　要：This paper presents a design method to implement an antenna array characterized by ultra-wide beam coverage,low profile,and low Sidelobe Level(SLL)for the application of Unmanned Aerial Vehicle(UAV)air-to-ground communication.The array consists of ten broadside-radiating,ultrawide-beamwidth elements that are cascaded by a central-symmetry series-fed network with tapered currents following Dolph-Chebyshev distribution to provide low SLL.First,an innovative design of end-fire Huygens source antenna that is compatible with metal ground is presented.A low-profile,half-mode Microstrip Patch Antenna(MPA)is utilized to serve as the magnetic dipole and a monopole is utilized to serves as the electric dipole,constructing the compact,end-fire,grounded Huygens source antenna.Then,two opposite-oriented end-fire Huygens source antennas are seamlessly integrated into a single antenna element in the form of monopole-loaded MPA to accomplish the ultrawide,broadside-radiating beam.Particular consideration has been applied into the design of series-fed network as well as antenna element to compensate the adverse coupling effects between elements on the radiation performance.Experiment indicates an ultrawide Half-Power Beamwidth(HPBW)of 161°and a low SLL of-25 dB with a high gain of 12 d Bi under a single-layer configuration.The concurrent ultrawide beamwidth and low SLL make it particularly attractive for applications of UAV air-to-ground communication.

关 键 词：Array antenna Broad beam Fan beam Low sidelobe level Chebyshev synthesis UAV communication 

分 类 号：V279[航空宇航科学与技术—飞行器设计] V243.1[电子电信—信息与通信工程] TN820