X-band compact dual circularly polarized isoflux antenna for nanosatellite applications

This paper presents an original solution to design a compact dual circularly polarized isoflux antenna for nanosatellite applications. This kind of antenna has been previously designed in our laboratory, for a single circular polarization. This antenna is composed of a dual circularly polarized feed and a choke horn antenna. This feed is a cross-shaped slot in the ground plane, which provides coupling between a patch and a ring microstrip line with two ports. It is located at the center of a choke horn antenna. The simulated antenna presents an axial ratio <3 dB and a realized gain close to 0 dB over a 400 MHz bandwidth (8.0-8.4 GHz) at the limit of coverage, i.e. 65 degrees whatever the azimuth angle (phi) and the port. A 20 dB matching for each port and 13 dB isolation characteristics between the two ports have been achieved on this bandwidth. It has been realized and successfully measured.