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Design of a Microstrip Patch Antenna Array for Airborne

SAR Applications
G. Vetharatnam , B. K. Chung & H. T. Chuah
Published online: 03 Apr 2012.

To cite this article: G. Vetharatnam , B. K. Chung & H. T. Chuah (2005): Design of a Microstrip Patch Antenna Array for
Airborne SAR Applications, Journal of Electromagnetic Waves and Applications, 19:12, 1687-1701

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 J. of Electromagn. Waves and Appl., Vol. 19, No. 12, 1687–1701, 2005

DESIGN OF A MICROSTRIP PATCH ANTENNA

ARRAY FOR AIRBORNE SAR APPLICATIONS

G. Vetharatnam, B. K. Chung, and H. T. Chuah

Faculty of Engineering
Multimedia University
Jalan Multimedia
63100 Cyberjaya, Selangor, Malaysia

Abstract—A microstrip patch antenna array has been developed for

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a C-band airborne Synthetic Aperture Radar. The antenna operates

at 6 GHz with a bandwidth of 168 MHz (SWR<1.5). It is a rectangular
patch fed by a probe from a feed network placed behind the ground
plane. A cost effective substrate with low dielectric constant and
moderate loss is used for the patch and feed network. The antenna
has an optimally shaped beam pattern (with a beamwidth of 24◦ ) in
the E-plane with the sidelobe suppressed by 15 dB. In the H-plane, a
narrow beamwidth of 3◦ is designed with the sidelobes suppressed by
30 dB. The antenna achieved a gain of 21.2 dBi. A practical method to
compensate for the losses in the feed distribution network is introduced.

1 Introduction
2 Radiation Pattern Design Considerations
3 Design of a Microstrip Patch Antenna
3.1 Design of the E-Plane Array
3.2 Design of the H-Plane Array
4 Signal Distribution Network for the Array
4.1 E-Plane Signal Distribution Network
4.2 H-Plane Signal Distribution Network
5 Fabrication and Measurements
6 Conclusion
Acknowledgment
References
 1688 Vetharatnam, Chung, and Chuah

1. INTRODUCTION

Synthetic Aperture Radar (SAR) is capable of producing high-

resolution imagery of earth surface using a special processing technique
that synthesizes a very long antenna aperture [1]. The development of
the first SAR sensor is credited to the radar group at the Goodyear
research facility in Litchfield, Arizona, back in 1953 [2]. It operated at
930 MHz using a Yagi antenna with a very wide beamwidth (100◦ ).
Subsequently many more airborne SAR systems were developed,
notable among them are the AIRSAR by Jet Propulsion Laboratory
(JPL) [3], E-SAR by German Aerospace Research Establishment
(DLR), C/X-SAR by Canadian Centre for Remote Sensing (CCRS)
and EMISAR by Danish Centre for Remote Sensing (DCRS) [4].
These airborne SAR systems employed different types of antennas,
ranging from Yagi, slotted-waveguide to microstrip. However Yagi is
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not suited for modern day civilian SAR system, which utilizes L-,
C- and X-band frequencies. A slotted-waveguide antenna exhibits
excellent electrical qualities but is large in dimension and is of
considerable weight. Microstrip antennas are low in weight, planar
and have a low profile. Furthermore, it has good radiation properties,
which explains its dominance in airborne SAR system of today. A C-
band (6 GHz) single VV polarization linear FM radar system has been
constructed at Multimedia University, Malaysia [5]. The important
specification of the SAR system is listed in Table 1. A microstrip patch
antenna array is constructed for the SAR sensor taking into account
all the parameters and constraints of an airborne platform.

Table 1. SAR specifications.

2. RADIATION PATTERN DESIGN CONSIDERATIONS

The radiation pattern of a typical SAR sensor depends on five factors,

namely azimuth ambiguity, range ambiguity, left-right ambiguity,
range gain variation, and reflections from the aircraft structure.
 Microstrip patch antenna for airborne SAR 1689

These are in addition to the mechanical constraints associated with

an airborne platform. Azimuth ambiguity is caused by the act of
sampling the Doppler spectrum. Sampling causes aliasing, which
corrupts the intended Doppler signals. A measure of the combined
azimuth ambiguity signals relative to the main lobe signal is the
azimuth ambiguity over signal ratio (AASR). Typical AASR of −20 dB
is tolerable in SAR systems [2]. This requires the sidelobes to be
suppressed by typically −25 dB. AASR can be estimated using the
following equation:
Bp /2
∞

G2 (fd + mfr )dfd
m=−∞
m=0 −Bp /2
AASR ≈ (1)
Bp /2
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G2 (fd )dfd
−Bp /2
2v cos θ
fd = (2)
λ
where Bp is the azimuth processing bandwidth, G2 (f ) the two-way far
field antenna power pattern, fr the pulse repetition frequency, fd the
Doppler frequency, v the platform velocity, λ the operating wavelength
and θ the azimuth angle.
Range ambiguity is caused by echoes received from earlier or later
pulses arriving back to the antenna at the same time as the desired
echo [6]. High PRF or large slant ranges increases the possibility of
range ambiguity. To avoid ambiguity the PRF shall be selected based
on the following criteria:
2v c
< P RF < (3)
D 2(Rmax − Rmin )
where v is the platform speed, D antenna length, c speed of light, Rmax
maximum slant range and Rmin minimum slant range.
Left-right ambiguity is caused by the inability of the SAR system
to differentiate between reflections from the right side of the aircraft
from the left side since both have the same time delay [6]. This can
be reduced, by suppressing radiation towards the other side of the
aircraft. In a ground mapping radar there exist a significant variation
between near and far range to ground. Near-range is illuminated by
a stronger field than the far-range. The distortion in return power
can be corrected by shaping the antenna gain pattern. Patterns
that perform this function are commonly termed as “cosec-squared”
 1690 Vetharatnam, Chung, and Chuah

pattern [7]. Reflection is caused by radiation from sidelobes of the

antenna that are directed towards any surface of the aircraft, causing
multipath propagation and pattern degradation. Proper design of the
antenna fixture and suppression of the sidelobes can reduce reflection
significantly.
The radiation patterns for E-plane (elevation) and H-plane
(azimuth) are designed based on the constraints discussed above. The
constraints in the E-plane pattern are shown in Figure 1. A “cosec-
squared” pattern from 76◦ to 100◦ (a beamwidth of 24◦ ) with a sidelobe
of −15 dB is designed in this plane (see Figure 2). The radiation
pattern in the H-plane is designed as a pencil beam with a beamwidth
of 3◦ , and the sidelobes limited to −30 dB.
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Figure 1. SAR antenna constraints.

3. DESIGN OF A MICROSTRIP PATCH ANTENNA

The radiation pattern above can best be produced by an array of

rectangular microstrip patches. The feed transmission line is placed
behind the ground plane for better radiation purity, as it would reduce
the spurious radiation from the transmission lines [8]. Also greater
flexibility in transmission line layout can be exercised. A single patch
antenna with the dimensions of 16.48 mm in width and 12.61 mm in
length is constructed and tested. The feed transmission line has a
characteristic impedance of 50Ω, and fed to the patch at 3.97 mm
offset from the edge, for a 50Ω impedance-match. Thermoset Polymer
Alloy (TPA) laminate (GML 1032 from GIL Technologies) is used as
the substrate material for the antenna. This material has a dielectric
constant of 3.20.
The E-plane and the H-plane radiation patterns are synthesized
separately. The total antenna pattern is the product of the patterns
 Microstrip patch antenna for airborne SAR 1691
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Figure 2. Ideal elevation beam radiation pattern.

of these two orthogonal linear arrays [9]. A 5-element array is used

to realize the E-plane pattern, while in the H-plane 28 elements are
required.

3.1. Design of the E-Plane Array

For the E-plane, the Elliott synthesis method [9] is used to synthesize
the radiation pattern.
The array factor for N-elements array is given as

AF = 1 + ejψ + e2jψ + e3jψ + · · · + e(N −1)jψ (4)

where ψ = βd cos θ, β is the phase constant, d the spacing and θ the
angular coordinate. The Schelkunoff’s unit circle for the array factor
with spacing d = 0.7λ is given in Figure 3. The maximum spacing is
obtained from the solution to this equality:
ψ[θ = (76◦ − 12◦ )] = ψ[θ = 180◦ ] (5)
where the first term points to the first null of the AF while the second
 1692 Vetharatnam, Chung, and Chuah

Figure 3. Unit circle for 0.7λ (35 mm) spacing.

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points to the end-fire. The number of elements is chosen to be five

(N = 5).
For the 5-element array spaced by 0.7λ, the iteration begins at
a convenient root location, normally uniform amplitude and phase.
Iteratively displacing the roots of the polynomial over the unit circle
results in the array factor shown in Figure 4, which closely match the
targeted array factor envelope. Two major beams and 5 minor beams
are formed. There exist a null in between the two major beams, which
is filled by moving the root away from the unit circle as shown in
Figure 5. The resultant array factor, with the null filled and beam
shaped is shown in Figure 6.
From the roots in Figure 5, the array factor is reconstructed as

AF = (z − r1 )(z − r2 )(z − r3 )(z − r4 ).

The roots are,

r1 = 2.325 + j0.594, r2 = −0.505 + j0.863,

r3 = −1.000 − j0.008 and r4 = −0.490 − j0.872.

Thus the array factor is AF = a4 z 4 − a3 z 3 − a2 z 2 − a1 z − a0 , where

the coefficients of the array factor are,

a0 = 2.310 + j0.652, a1 = 3.618 + j1.237, a2 = 2.635 + j1.190,

a3 = 0.330 + j0.577 and a4 = 1.

The excitation coefficients of each of the 5 elements normalized and

referred to the 5th element are given in Table 2.
 Microstrip patch antenna for airborne SAR 1693
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Figure 4. 5-element array after Elliott synthesis.

Table 2. Excitation coefficient for a 5-element array.

3.2. Design of the H-Plane Array

For a SAR system with PRF of 1000 Hz, a sidelobe level of −30 dB
would result in total azimuth ambiguity over signal ratio (AASR)
of −26.2 dB, sufficient for good SAR system performance. Dolph-
Chebyshev method may be used to synthesize the radiation pattern
[11]. A major drawback in using the Dolph-Chebyshev method is the
constant amplitude of sidelobes towards the end-fire. However, since
the individual radiating elements’ pattern has a null towards the end-
fire, then the total radiation pattern would exhibit low radiation at
end-fire. The number of elements in the array is chosen as an even
number to capitalize on the symmetry of the feed transmission line
design. The spacing is preferred to be further than 0.7λ, which is the
 1694 Vetharatnam, Chung, and Chuah
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Figure 5. Elliott synthesis - Null filling.

Figure 6. Elliott synthesis - array factor after null filling.

 Microstrip patch antenna for airborne SAR 1695

spacing for the E-plane. However, it cannot be extended too much as

grating lobes will be visible in the pattern. As a compromise, 0.74λ
(37 mm) is chosen with the number of array elements N = 28. The
array excitation coefficients are given in Table 3 with the phases being
equal.

Table 3. Dolph-Chebyshev array excitation coefficients.

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4. SIGNAL DISTRIBUTION NETWORK FOR THE

ARRAY

A simple signal distribution network is designed for the microstrip

patch array, where the power dividers are based on T-junctions. The
transmission line networks are designed separately in the E-plane and
H-plane. They are later combined to produce the complete array
distribution. A combination of series and corporate feed system is
used, based on the required excitation coefficient.

4.1. E-Plane Signal Distribution Network

For the E-plane, four power dividers and four phase shifters are
required. The transmission line is shown in Figure 7 where all the
power dividers have unequal power division. The leftmost element
has a relative power of 2.40 with phase of −164◦ . The element with
high power occupies the leftmost position in the network thus reducing
transmission line losses. However, in a series network, transmission
line losses will give rise to error in the actual excitation magnitude at
the rightmost element. The error causes distortions in the radiation
pattern.
This can be overcome by means of a proper compensation for
the losses in the transmission lines. For the specific feed substrate,
the loss is estimated as 0.17 dB/inch at 6 GHz for a transmission line
with characteristic impedance of 50Ω. Applying this condition, the
power division for each element is corrected as shown in Table 4. The
signal distribution network is designed using the corrected excitation
coefficients.
 1696 Vetharatnam, Chung, and Chuah

Figure 7. E-plane signal distribution network.

Table 4. Revised array distribution incorporating transmission line

losses.
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4.2. H-Plane Signal Distribution Network

Generally series feed system is preferred for a large array as the
transmission line losses is lower compared to corporate network.
However, there are two drawbacks if series network is used in this
design. First is the phase accuracy. A series feed network for the
H-plane suffers from unequal phase distribution between the patches
due to errors in the transmission line length. The second drawback is
the unrealizable power division at the front end of the feed lines. For
example, the first power divider shall have a power ratio of about 1:9.
Such power divider is difficult to implement and is unreliable. Thus,
we implement a combination of corporate and series feed distribution
network for the H-plane.
The 28-element array is divided into 2 symmetrical sections. The
array elements are grouped such that each power dividers has a ratio
of approximately unity, while the total length from the signal input
port to each of the array elements are equal. The complete signal
distribution network for the array is shown in Figure 8, incorporating
both the E-plane and H-plane feed line networks.

Figure 8. The planar signal distribution network.

 Microstrip patch antenna for airborne SAR 1697

Figure 9. The front view of the SAR antenna.

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Figure 10. Measured H-plane radiation pattern.

5. FABRICATION AND MEASUREMENTS

The completed patch antenna is shown in Figures 9. The array has

a combined dimension of 1.1 m × 0.2 m × 0.06 m. Figures 10 and
11 shows the H-plane and E-plane radiation pattern of the array,
respectively. The antenna achieved a SWR of 1.34 at the operating
frequency, with a bandwidth of 168 MHz for SWR<1.5 (see Figure 12).
The antenna has a gain of 21.2 dBi. The measured 3 dB-beamwidth in
the H-plane is 2.94◦ .
 1698 Vetharatnam, Chung, and Chuah
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Figure 11. Measured E-plane radiation pattern.

Figure 12. Measured standing wave ratio (SWR).

 Microstrip patch antenna for airborne SAR 1699

The H-plane radiation pattern shows that some of the sidelobes

are exceeding the −30 dB design specification. The highest sidelobe has
a peak value of −16.2 dB. However, in the region below 70◦ and above
100◦ , the side lobes are lower than −28 dB. For a PRF of 1000 Hz,
azimuth ambiguous signals are received through side lobes at 6.6◦ ,
41.4◦ , 60.05◦ , 75.6◦ , 104.4◦ , 119.95◦ , 138.6◦ and 173.4◦ . The total
ambiguous signal received through these sidelobes is calculated to be
lower than −26.9 dB. Hence, although some of the sidelobes are larger
than −30 dB, the effect on the azimuth ambiguity is tolerable.
The E-plane pattern matches the targeted pattern very well with
an rms error of only 0.43 dB in the main beam. The highest side lobe
is 20 dB lower than the peak, while all remaining side lobes are well
under −25 dB. Significantly, the side lobes between angular sector 150◦
and 180◦ are less than −30 dB, reducing the possible reflection from
under the wings.
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6. CONCLUSION

A microstrip patch antenna array for C-band airborne SAR has been
successfully designed and constructed. A narrow beam radiation
pattern with low sidelobes in the H-plane and a shaped-beam pattern
in the E-plane is realized with an array of 28 × 5 rectangular patch
elements. A practical method to compensate for the losses in the feed
distribution network is introduced. The performance of the antenna is
summarized in Table 5. The antenna will be used in the airborne SAR
system development at Multimedia University.

Table 5. Antenna performance comparison.

 1700 Vetharatnam, Chung, and Chuah

ACKNOWLEDGMENT

This project is partially supported by the Malaysian Centre for Remote

Sensing (MACRES).

REFERENCES

1. Tomiyasu, K., “Tutorial review of Synthetic Aperture Radar

(SAR) with applications to imaging of the ocean surface,” Proc.
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Radar, Systems and Signal Processing, John Wiley & Sons, New
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3. Lou, Y., D. A. Imel, A. Chu, T. W. Miller, D. Moller, and
W. Skotnicki, “Progress report on the NASA/JPL airborne
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synthetic aperture radar system,” Geoscience and Remote Sensing

Symposium, Vol. 5, 2046–2048, 2001.
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on Geoscience and Remote Sensing, Vol. 29, 417–426, 1991.
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B. K. Chung, and H. T. Chuah, “The MASAR project: Design
and development,” Progress in Electromagnetic Research, PIER
50, 279–298, 2005.
6. Christensen, E. L. and M. Dich, “SAR antenna design for
ambiguity and multipath suppression,” International Symposium
on Geoscience and Remote Sensing IGARSS ’93 Vol. 2, 784–787,
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7. Besso, P., M. Crozzoli, D. Forigo, and R. Vallauri, “Design
and characteristics of a sector/cosec2 shaped beam microstrip
antenna,” Antennas and Propagation Conference Publication,
No. 407, 85–88, 1995.
8. Woelders, K. and J. Granholm, “Design and performance of a
dual-linearly polarized C-band microstrip array antenna,” Second
International Workshop on Radar Polarimetry, 369–378, 1992.
9. Elliott, R. S., Antenna Theory and Design, Prentice-Hall, New
Jersy, 1981.
10. Hansen, R. C., Phased Array Antennas, John Wiley & Sons, New
York, 1997.
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& Sons, New York, 1997.
 Microstrip patch antenna for airborne SAR 1701

G. Vetharatnam obtained his B.E. (Hons) in Electrical Engineering

from University of Malaya, in 1998 and M.Eng.Sc. from the Multimedia
University, in 2003. He is presently a lecturer with the Faculty of
Engineering, Multimedia University. His research interests include
microwave remote sensing, microstrip antennas and radar technology.

B. K. Chung graduated with a B.Eng. (Hons) in Electrical

Engineering from the University of Malaya in 1992. He worked
in the Design Department of Sony Electronics in Penang, Malaysia
from 1992 to 1995. He then returned to the University of Malaya
to undertake a research project and obtained his M.Eng.Sc. degree
in Electrical Engineering in 1997. He obtained his Ph.D. in
Microwave Engineering from Multimedia University in 2003. He
is currently an Associate Professor at Multimedia University. His
research interest includes microwave theory and techniques, radar,
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wireless communication systems, antenna design, remote sensing,

electromagnetic compatibility, and electronic instrumentation and
measurements.

H. T. Chuah obtained his B.Eng., M.Eng.Sc., and Ph.D., all in

Electrical Engineering from the University of Malaya. He is currently
a Professor with the faculty of Engineering, Multimedia University.
Chuah was the recipient of the inaugural Young Engineer Award by
the Institution of Engineers, Malaysia in 1991, the Young Scientist
Award by Union of Radio Science to attend its 23rd and 24th General
Assembly in Czechoslovakia and in Japan, respectively. He received the
National Young Scientist Award (Industrial Sector) by the Malaysian
Ministry of Science, technology and Environment in 1995 and the
Malaysian Toray Science and technology Award in 1999. His research
interests are in applied electromagnetic, microwave remote sensing and
device physics.