Defining an Effective Point of Radiation for a Microstrip Patch Antenna

Lorena I. Basilio, Jeffery T. Williams, and David R. Jackson

Abstract:	In this study, a linearly-polarized patch is analyzed in order to demonstrate the general phase center characteristics of microstrip patch antennas. The results reveal that a microstrip patch antenna is, in general, characterized by an astigmatic equiphase surface from which a single phase center cannot be identified. Thus, a single point of radiation based on the phase center concept is found to be ambiguous and an alterative method for applying phase corrections is proposed. This method is based on the group delay associated with the phase of the radiated fields and provides a unique answer to the timing error introduced by the antenna’s radiation characteristics. Using the group delay results, an equivalent point of radiation as a function of the incident angle for both linear and circularly-polarized antennas are presented. Design techniques for stabilizing the equivalent point of radiation to the same location for all incident angles are also discussed.
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:	2120 - 2128
Cite this article:	Basilio, Lorena I., Williams, Jeffery T., Jackson, David R., "Defining an Effective Point of Radiation for a Microstrip Patch Antenna," Proceedings of the 15th International Technical Meeting of the Satellite Division of The Institute of Navigation (ION GPS 2002), Portland, OR, September 2002, pp. 2120-2128.
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