Miniaturization of L1/L2 Anti-jam GPS Antenna Array

Zhen-Biao Lin, Rajah Castillo, Jack J-Q. Lin, and Seymour Robin

Abstract:	GPS receivers with Fixed Radiation Pattern Antennas (FRPA) are susceptible to jamming threats. The most effective way against jammers is the use of controlled radiation pattern antennas (CRPA). Currently, the size of CRPA over 10” does not fit into small vehicles, where space, surface and weight constraints are tight. A dualfrequency, L1/L2, 4-element small-CRPA and a 3-element small-CRPA have been built and tested by Sensor Systems Inc. Both are built in a 4.5” diameter x 1.25” high package, the same size as FRPA. The challenge in the design of the 4.5” CRPA is to miniaturize element patches and to mitigate the effect of mutual coupling in mini-array design. Small size, broadband and low variation in gain/phase performance are the key engineering goals in the patch design. This paper demonstrates that the minipatches developed have about same bandwidth and polarization purity as regular L1/L2 GPS patches but have a smaller size. The mutual coupling effects in 4.5” diameter array were studied. Using innovative compensation techniques and meticulous designs, both 4- element and 3-element mini-arrays were built within a very small form factor. The actual nulling patterns tested show that good nulling performance within a wide band is obtained.
Published in:	Proceedings of the 15th International Technical Meeting of the Satellite Division of The Institute of Navigation (ION GPS 2002) September 24 - 27, 2002 Oregon Convention Center Portland, OR
Pages:	2093 - 2102
Cite this article:	Lin, Zhen-Biao, Castillo, Rajah, Lin, Jack J-Q., Robin, Seymour, "Miniaturization of L1/L2 Anti-jam GPS Antenna Array," Proceedings of the 15th International Technical Meeting of the Satellite Division of The Institute of Navigation (ION GPS 2002), Portland, OR, September 2002, pp. 2093-2102.
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