PHASED ARRAY ANTENNA HAVING PATCH ANTENNA ELEMENTS WITH ENHANCED PARASITIC ANTENNA ELEMENT PERFORMANCE AT MILLIMETER WAVELENGTH RADIO FREQUENCY SIGNALS

摘要

A phased array antenna includes an antenna housing having an array face defining an electrically conductive ground layer. A plurality of millimeter wavelength patch antenna elements are positioned on the array face and each include a primary substrate having front and rear sides and a driven antenna element positioned on the front side of the primary substrate. A ground plane layer is positioned on the rear side of the primary substrate and a dielectric layer is positioned on the ground plane layer. A microstrip quadrature-to-circular polarization circuit is positioned on the dielectric layer. A parasitic antenna element layer is spaced forward from the driven antenna element and at least one spacer is positioned between the parasitic antenna element layer and the primary substrate.