Reactive impedance surface based multisystem satellite navigation antenna

Abstract

A reactive impedance surface (RIS) based novel antenna that covers operating bands of multiple global navigation satellite systems (GNSSs) is presented. By using the metamaterial covering layer, that is, the RIS, the antenna achieves wideband performance in terms of both reflection coefficient and axial ratio (AR). For reflection coefficient lower than −10 dB, the operating band is 1.26–1.73 GHz. The AR bandwidth of the antenna that is lower than 3 dB is 1.33 GHz–1.71 GHz, enabling it compatible with several GNSSs including GPS, GLONASS, Beidou, and Galileo. In addition, the antenna radiates an axial beam with a peak gain of 6.0 dBic in the form of the right‐handed circular polarization. The antenna has a favorable peak radiation efficiency of 93.3% in the operating band while keeping a compact size of 0.38 λ0 × 0.38 λ0 × 0.097 λ0 at 1.33 GHz.© 2016 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Microwave Opt Technol Lett 58:2764–2769, 2016