A Compact Dual-Polarized Aperture-in-Aperture Antenna for Concurrent GPS L1 and Ka-Band UAV Application Conference

Jafor, MS, Alam, MN, Alwan, EA. (2026). A Compact Dual-Polarized Aperture-in-Aperture Antenna for Concurrent GPS L1 and Ka-Band UAV Application . 2015 IEEE INTERNATIONAL SYMPOSIUM ON ANTENNAS AND PROPAGATION & USNC/URSI NATIONAL RADIO SCIENCE MEETING, 230-233. 10.1109/AP-S/USNC-URSI60190.2026.11675269

cited authors

  • Jafor, MS; Alam, MN; Alwan, EA

authors

abstract

  • A compact aperture-in-aperture (AIA) antenna is presented for simultaneous GPS L1 and Ka-band operation in small unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) platforms. The design integrates a dual-polarized L-band patch radiator operating at 1.568-1.576 GHz with a centrally embedded dual-polarized Ka-band grid element covering 29.3-29.7 GHz within a single, ultra-low-profile footprint of 119.12 mm × 119.12 mm and an overall height of 0.545 mm. The architecture enables concurrent dual-band operation without the use of air gaps, frequency-selective surfaces, or multilayer filtering structures. High isolation is achieved through orthogonal feeding and via-fence-based passive decoupling, while a modified feed-via configuration is employed to suppress intra-band coupling between orthogonal polarizations at the L-band. Full-wave electromagnetic simulations demonstrate impedance matching better than -10 dB across both operating bands, with inter-band isolation exceeding 40 dB and intra-band isolation on the order of 20 dB. Simulated radiation patterns exhibit stable broadside characteristics with cross-polarization levels below -20 dB for both frequency bands. The antenna achieves simulated realized gains of approximately 4.9 dBi at GPS L1 and 12.4 dBi at Ka-band, supporting dual-linear polarization for navigation robustness and link diversity.

publication date

  • January 1, 2026

published in

start page

  • 230

end page

  • 233