A Miniaturized High-Gain Flexible Antenna for UAV Applications

Abstract

A miniaturized high-gain flexible unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) antenna is presented in this study. The proposed antenna basically comprised of three parts of printed patch in series, etched on dielectric substrate. And, a flexible cable is loaded on the bottom of dielectric substrate. A coplanar waveguide (CPW) with asymmetric ground feeding structure is employed to provide good impedance matching. The surface current can achieve the same phase for the straight-line patch and the flexible cable, through adjusting the dimensions of the meander line patch, which increases radiation gain while maintaining the compact size. As an important merit to be highlighted, the flexible cable can greatly reduce the volume and aerodynamic drag of the antenna. It has a low-profile compact size of 196 × 15 × 0.8 mm3 (excluding flexible cable). The results show that the omnidirectional gain fluctuates within 4.5 ± 0.1 dBi in the desired band (902 MHz–928 MHz), which is high enough for the UAV application. Details of the antenna design and experimental results are presented and discussed.

Flexible Symmetric-Defection Antenna with Bending and Thermal Insensitivity for Miniaturized UAV

“…The flexible antenna, which conforms with the vehicle surface of the UAV, is compact and has good aerodynamic properties [ 38 , 39 , 40 ], especially for operation between users and the base station at low altitude at the applied frequency band of ISM2.4 GHz [ 41 , 42 , 43 , 44 ], as shown in Figure 1 a. The FSDA consists of the bottom symmetric-defection ground, the middle flexible dielectric substrate (PDMS, = 2.65, = 0.031), and the top radiated unit ( Figure 1 b).…”

Review of Patch Antennas used in Drone Applications

“…2 (a). This research [24] presents a miniature, flexible, highgain UAV antenna. The suggested antenna was essentially a series of three printed patches etched on a dielectric substrate.…”

Design of UAV Antennas and Challenges: Review

“…Directional So, it can be easily mounted on the wings of drone without increasing the overall weight of drone. In earlier days, dipole and bladed shapes microstrip patch antenna were used, which is not compatible for ultra-wideband application [19]. To increase the antenna, gain and directivity, antenna array is used.…”

“…In [19], authors have been designed the U shaped MIMO compact and thin antenna for UAV application in C-Band. This antenna provides the omnidirectional radiation pattern with linear polarization and pattern diversity.…”