The development of copper clad laminate horn antennas for drone interferometric synthetic aperture radar
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Published version
Author(s)
Carpenter, Anthony
Lawrence, James
Ghail, Richard
Mason, Philippa
Type
Journal Article
Abstract
Interferometric synthetic aperture radar (InSAR) is an active remote sensing technique that typically utilises satellite data to quantify Earth surface and structural deformation. Drone InSAR should provide improved spatial-temporal data resolutions and operational flexibility. This necessitates the development of custom radar hardware for drone deployment, including antennas for the transmission and reception of microwave electromagnetic signals. We present the design, simulation, fabrication, and testing of two lightweight and inexpensive copper clad laminate (CCL)/printed circuit board (PCB) horn antennas for C-band radar deployed on the DJI Matrice 600 Pro drone. This is the first demonstration of horn antennas fabricated from CCL, and the first complete overview of antenna development for drone radar applications. The dimensions are optimised for the desired gain and centre frequency of 19 dBi and 5.4 GHz, respectively. The S11, directivity/gain, and half power beam widths (HPBW) are simulated in MATLAB, with the antennas tested in a radio frequency (RF) electromagnetic anechoic chamber using a calibrated vector network analyser (VNA) for comparison. The antennas are highly directive with gains of 15.80 and 16.25 dBi, respectively. The reduction in gain compared to the simulated value is attributed to a resonant frequency shift caused by the brass input feed increasing the electrical dimensions. The measured S11 and azimuth HPBW either meet or exceed the simulated results. A slight performance disparity between the two antennas is attributed to minor artefacts of the manufacturing and testing processes. The incorporation of the antennas into the drone payload is presented. Overall, both antennas satisfy our performance criteria and highlight the potential for CCL/PCB/FR-4 as a lightweight and inexpensive material for custom antenna production in drone radar and other antenna applications.
Editor(s)
Mohsan, Syed Agha Hassnain
Lorenz, Pascal
Rabie, Khaled
Khan, Muhammad Asghar
Shafiq, Muhammad
Date Issued
2023-03-20
Date Acceptance
2023-03-18
Citation
Drones, 2023, 7 (3), pp.1-25
ISSN
2504-446X
Publisher
MDPI AG
Start Page
1
End Page
25
Journal / Book Title
Drones
Volume
7
Issue
3
Copyright Statement
© 2023 by the authors. Licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland. This article is an open access article distributed under the terms and conditions of the Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY) license (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/).
License URL
Identifier
https://www.mdpi.com/2504-446X/7/3/215
Subjects
antennas
Copper Clad Laminate (CCL)
drones
horn antennas
Interferometric Synthetic Aperture Radar (InSAR)
payload
radar antennas
remote sensing
Synthetic Aperture Radar (SAR)
Publication Status
Published
Article Number
215
Date Publish Online
2023-03-20