Lightweight Printed Dipole Antenna Array With 3 x 2 Beamforming Network for Wide UAV Communication Coverage

Abstract

In this paper, a lightweight printed dipole antenna array with 3 x 2 beamforming network for wide unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) communication coverage is presented. The proposed antenna consists of an upper substrate, a lower substrate, and two supports with a microstrip feeding. The upper substrate has a two-element printed dipole antenna array, and the lower substrate includes a beamforming feeding circuit and a ground plane as a reflector of the proposed antenna array for gain improvement. For wide beam coverage, the proposed feeding network consists of three RF switches, one Wilkinson power divider, and one 90 degrees hybrid coupler, and generates the wide beam using one broadside beam and two end-fire beams. Measured impedance bandwidth, peak gain, and half-power beamwidth (HPBW) of the proposed array operated from 5.03 to 5.15 GHz are approximately 2 GHz, 4.3 dBi, and 155 degrees, respectively.