A Circularly Polarized Low-Cost Flat Panel Antenna Array with a High Impedance Surface Meta-Substrate for Satellite On-The-Move Medical IoT Applications

A 1×3 linear antenna array consisting of Quad-Arm Curl antenna with a High impedance meta-surface (QACH) is presented. We believe that it is the first linear phased array solution which can provide 360° azimuth coverage. This array has been designed to operate at L-Band (1.518 - 1.675 GHz) and generate right hand circularly polarized radiation to primarily target the Inmarsat BGAN satellite constellation. The metamaterial structure integrated into each antenna element allows a low-profile height of 17.2 mm (λ1.597/10.9). Since the curl element has wideband characteristics, the array is able to provide shared aperture functionality. The array guarantees high gain beam steering for low elevation angles (up to θ = 70° from the zenith) with an average gain of 7.96 dBic at θ = 70°. In comparison, to achieve an equivalent high gain a conventional 4×5 patch array would be required (3 elements vs 20 elements). This means that the proposed array requires 80% fewer phase shifters, amplifiers and LNAs. This translates to a crucial commercial advantage in relation to manufacturing cost. This development can lead to disruption of the existing Satcom market by lowering the barrier-to-entry for customers looking for a mass deployable, low-cost IoT on Satcom solution.