Enhancement of Bandwidth and Gain of a Microstrip Antenna Applicable for 430 MHz Wind Profiling Radar Using Elliptical Slot

Abstract

The main aim of this project is to develop a suitable antenna working at 430 MHz frequency. In applications where size, weight, cost, performance, ease of installation, and aerodynamic profile are constraints, low profile antennas like micro strip and printed slot antennas are required. At first, we have designed a simple Rectangular Micro strip Patch Antenna. We have obtained its usable Bandwidth, Radiation pattern and related graphical representations. After that an elliptical slot is cut inside a rectangular patch which is shifted towards right. The results of both the designs are compared and it was found that an increase in the bandwidth of 28% and gain of 8.85 dB is being achieved as that of a simple Rectangular micro strip patch antenna. In this project, all the simulations have been done using the Zealand Inc. IE3D software. By using this software it is possible to obtain the 3D radiation pattern of planar circuit. It uses naturally occurring fluctuations in the radio refraction index and precipitations as targets. 400-500 MHz is considered as the best frequency band for wind profilers due to their optimal size and optimal performance. In India, the allotted band for this type of profiler is 420-435 MHz. The entire project is being carried out at National Atmospheric Research Laboratory (NARL), ISRO. These radars play a key role in weather forecasting that is for lower atmospheric research applications.