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A circularly conformal array antenna of double stacked microstrip patches is presented in two radiation versions: omnidirectional and electronically switched directive beam. Every single element is disposed on an eight‐faced regular prism structure built in 3D print technology. The omnidirectional pattern is achieved in the azimuth plane by using a microstrip uniform power divider to equally excite the circular antenna. The switched directive beam coverage is obtained by replacing the uniform power divider with an electronically switched power divider. Four switched beams of 90° angular separation are digitally configured. A fractional matching bandwidth of 17.2% has been measured for both omnidirectional and switched beam prototypes. The conformal antenna was entirely manufactured by using both printed circuit board and 3D printing technologies. Therefore, a very compact, low cost and light weight antenna design has been implemented, suitable to many applications such as Worldwide Interoperability for Microwave Access, wireless local area network, unmanned aerial vehicles or direction finding.

Abstract-A conformal patch array antenna with omnidirectional pattern in the azimuth plane at Sband is presented. A theoretical study of the generated ripple in the omnidirectional radiation pattern according to the number of faces that conform the array has been computed. A six-faced regular prism 3D structure has been chosen following a maximum 3 dB ripple criteria in the omnidirectional radiation pattern. A rectangular microstrip patch fed by a microstrip line has been designed as single radiating element. An equal power divider has been designed as feeding network in microstrip technology to feed each radiating element. Several prototypes have been manufactured and measured to validate the theoretical and simulated results. The entire conformal array has been assembled on a hexagonal regular prism manufactured in PolyLactic Acid (PLA) material using a 3D printer. In spite of the complexity of the proposed antenna structure, the used manufacturing processes, such as microstrip and 3D printing, allows to perform a low cost, low weight and compact final antenna. A higher radiated field ripple than the expected one is generated due to small deviations between experimental and theoretical critical parameters such as the feeding network performance or the 3 dB beam-width of the single element radiation pattern. A maximum ripple value of 4 dB has been experimentally obtained in the omnidirectional radiating pattern.

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