RADIATION CHARACTERISTICS OF A PRINTED SLOT ANTENNA AND A PRINTED SLOT ARRAY

Abstract

In recent years, the printed slot antennas fed by microstripline are gaining wide popularity because of their numerous advantages. They can be used in various ways in microstrip circuit design, such as, a feed for patch antenna, a radiating element by itself and in an array of slot radiators. The slot radiators have the advantages of very low cross polarization and spurious signal-free radiation patterns as compared to patch radiators. in the present work, the results of a detailed experimental study carried out on a microstripline - fed rectangular slot antenna have been presented. Experimental results have been reported on the input characteristics, the radiation pattern and gain of a matched slot antenna operating at 3 CHz. In order to increase the gain and directivity of the slot antenna experiments have been carried out on printed slot short backfire antenna. Also, experimental results of a printed slot array excited by an infinite microstripline have been presented. Change in various antenna parameters after introducing a reflector behind the slot has been studied. An attempt has been made to steer the main beam in the E-plane by changing the frequency. The effect of baffle on the side-lobes level in the E-plane of the radiation pattern has been studied in detail.