Low-Cost Dual-Band Circularly Polarized Switched-Beam Array for Global Navigation Satellite System

This paper presents the design and development of a dual-band switched-beam microstrip array for global navigation satellite system (GNSS) applications such as ocean reflectometry and remote sensing. In contrast to the traditional Butler matrix, a simple, low cost, broadband and low insertion loss beam switching feed network is proposed, designed and integrated with a dual band antenna array to achieve continuous beam coverage of ±25° around the boresight at the L1 (1.575 GHz) and L2 (1.227 GHz) bands. To reduce the cost, microstrip lines and PIN diode based switches are employed. The proposed switched-beam network is then integrated with dual-band step-shorted annular ring (S-SAR) antenna elements in order to produce a fully integrated compact-sized switched-beam array. Antenna simulation results show that the switched-beam array achieves a maximum gain of 12 dBic at the L1 band and 10 dBic at the L2 band. In order to validate the concept, a scaled down prototype of the simulated design is fabricated and measured. The prototype operates at twice of the original design frequency, i.e., 3.15 GHz and 2.454 GHz and the measured results confirm that the integrated array achieves beam switching and good performance at both bands.