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A New Planar Dual-Band GPS Antenna Designed for Reduced Susceptibility to Low-Angle Multipath
Lorena I. Basilio, Member, IEEE, Richard L. Chen, Member, IEEE, Jeffery T. Williams, Senior Member, IEEE, and David R. Jackson, Fellow, IEEE
Dr. Richard L. Chen passed away on May 4, 2006, after bravely struggling with brain cancer for almost two years.
AbstractA new Global Positioning System (GPS) microstrip patch antenna designed for dual-band (L1 L2) operation is introduced. The antenna design is based on the reduced-surface-wave (RSW) concept and, as a result, is much less susceptible to lowangle multipath interference effects than some of the more commonly-used high-precision GPS antennas. In this paper, the radiation characteristics of this new design will be compared to a dualband choke-ring and a dual-band pinwheel antenna. In addition to having the advantages typically associated with microstrip patch antennas, this planar dual-band antenna lacks the design complications associated with the frequently-used stacked-patch method for realizing dual-band microstrip antenna performance. Thus, the simplicity of the design, together with the reduced horizon and backside radiation levels and excellent circular polarization characteristics indicate that this new antenna design is a promising candidate for dual-band, high-precision applications. Index TermsChoke ring antennas, dual-band antennas, Global Positioning System (GPS), microstrip antennas, multipath interference.

I. INTRODUCTION

GLOBAL Positioning System (GPS) receiver measures the apparent transit time of a signal from the GPS satellite to the receiver and, from this time, computes the satellite-touser range [1]. This measurement can be corrupted by time delays associated with the complicated nature of the propagation medium, receiver noise, phase-center variation in the receiving antenna, and multipath interference. Although a number of these errors, to some extent, can be reduced with signal-processing techniques, in the case of high-precision GPS applications where accuracies on the order of centimeters are required, more stringent demands on the GPS receiving antenna are also necessary. More specically, to realize extremely accurate positional outputs, the antenna must be designed so that it has stable

Manuscript received January 10, 2005; revised February 4, 2007. This work was supported in part by NASA under Grant NAG9-1293 and in part by the State of Texas (Advanced Technology Program) under Grant 003652-0306-2001. L. I. Basilio was with the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering, University of Houston, Houston, TX 77204 USA. She is now with the Electromagnetics and Plasma Physics Department, Sandia National Laboratories, Albuquerque, NM 87185-1152 USA. R. L. Chen, deceased, was with the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering, University of Houston, Houston, TX 77204 USA. J. T. Williams and D. R. Jackson are with the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering, University of Houston, Houston, TX 77204 USA. Color versions of one or more of the gures in this paper are available online at http://ieeexplore.ieee.org. Digital Object Identier 10.1109/TAP.2007.901818

phase-center characteristics [2] and a reduced susceptibility to multipath interference. In this study, a dual-band antenna design that reduces the amount of multipath error introduced into the receiver at both the L1 (1.575 GHz) and L2 (1.227 GHz) GPS frequencies is presented. Multipath occurs when a signal reaches the receiving antenna via more than one path. In a GPS system, an antenna will typically receive the direct (line-of-sight) signal from the satellite and one or more reections from the ground and structures in the vicinity of the antenna (indirect signals). Since the GPS receiver computes a position based on the sum of the received signals, a satellite-to-user range measurement can be corrupted by this multipath interference, where the degree of positional error depends on the strength of the reected signal (relative to the direct signal) and the time delay between the reected and direct signals. For high-precision applications, it is the multipath events associated with reections occurring near the antenna that tend to be the most problematic. Since these signals are relatively strong and are typically not signicantly separated in time from the direct signal, signal-processing methods are typically unsuccessful at ltering out these signal components. GPS antenna with reduced suscepIn this paper, a new tibility to low-angle multipath (ground reections or reections from the antenna supporting structure) is proposed for high-precision applications. The antenna is a planar design consisting of two concentric annular-ring microstrip patch elements, each belonging to the class of reduced-surface-wave (RSW) Antennas developed at the University of Houston [3]. A RSW microstrip patch antenna produces only a small amount of surface-wave radiation and, if printed on an electrically-thin substrate, also produces only a small amount of lateral radiation (the space wave that propagates horizontally along the air-substrate interface). As a result of minimizing surface waves and lateral radiation, diffraction at the edge of the substrate or ground plane is reduced, and hence, the patch is characterized by a radiation pattern that has less scalloping in the forward region (above the horizon) and less back-scattered energy (less radiation below the horizon). Unlike the commonly-used choke-ring designs which rely on a corrugated ground plane (an electromagnetically soft surface) to suppress the surface waves excited by a conventional microstrip antenna element, a RSW microstrip patch antenna is designed specically so that the surface-wave and lateral radiation produced by the patch is signicantly reduced. In minimizing the radiation from edge diffraction due to these two mechanisms, the radiation characteristics of the RSW antenna become less dependent on the supporting structure. While the intent of both the choke-ring and RSW designs is to reduce the amount of back-scattered radiation, a RSW design is a less

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costly and more compact antenna solution to the problem of multipath interference than its choke-ring counterpart. In [4] a single-band (L1) GPS-RSW antenna design was presented and shown to provide comparable multipath performance to the commonly-used choke-ring design. While a GPS antenna based on the reduced-surface-wave concept has also been considered in a study by Boccia et al. in [5], [6], in this paper the focus is to compare the radiation performance of a new planar dualband GPS-RSW antenna to the more commonly-used GPS antenna designs. (A stacked dual-band GPS antenna based on the RSW concept is presented in [7].) With the properties of reduced horizon and backside radiation levels, excellent circular polarization characteristics, and similar performance at both the L1 and L2 frequencies, this new antenna design shows promise for dual-band, high-precision GPS applications. II. HIGH-PRECISION GPS ANTENNAS For high-precision GPS applications, the receiving antenna should ideally be characterized by a radiation pattern that is very broad above the horizon and capable of rejecting all signals arriving from below the horizon. An antenna with these radiation characteristics provides nearly hemispherical coverage while being less susceptible to multipath interference. The antenna should also be characterized by a stable phase center (or effective point of radiation as referred to in [2]) and nearly pure right-handed circularly polarized radiation (RHCP). In addition, dual-frequency operation (L1 and L2) requires that the antenna have similar radiation patterns, similar polarization characteristics, and a common phase center at each frequency. To date the most common antenna conguration that is used in high-precision GPS systems is a microstrip patch antenna mounted on a choke-ring ground plane [8]. A choke-ring ground plane is a corrugated surface (comprised of short-circuited quarter-wavelength radial waveguide bafes) that presents a and soft boundary condition along the horizon where are zero. While a microstrip patch element is employed because of its relatively broad gain pattern, low cost, and design simplicity, the choke-ring ground plane is used to suppress the edge diffraction effects from the surface-wave excitation and the patch lateral radiation and thus, taper the radiation pattern of the antenna so that indirect signals are not as easily received. The patch antenna is designed to receive a right-hand circularly-polarized wave at one or both of the GPS frequencies (L1 and L2). It is important to note that, by using the inherent polarization difference between the direct and reected GPS signals, most properly designed GPS antennas adequately eliminate the perturbing effects of high-elevation angle multipath events. In addition, signal-processing techniques can be used to eliminate the effects of spatially-removed multipath events (reections occurring further from the antenna). III. REDUCED-SURFACE-WAVE ANTENNA DESIGNS A. Reduced-Surface-Wave Concept It is well known that a resonant circular patch antenna opermode can be approximately modating in the eled by an equivalent edge magnetic current given by . A RSW antenna design relies on the principle that this

surface wave (or ring of magnetic current will not excite a lateral radiation in the case of a thin substrate) provided that the radius of the circular patch is given by

(1) where is the rst zero of (for the smallest possible is the propagation wavenumber for the patch size) and surface wave [3]. In order to make an RSW antenna resonant at the same surface-wave mode is not excited, frequency at which the the patch cavity is made resonant by introducing a circular short-circuit boundary condition concentric to the radiating edge, forming a shorted-annular-ring antenna [4]. A short-circuit boundary condition is used so as not to introduce an additional radiating edge into the antenna design. B. Single-Band Linearly-Polarized RSW Designs In order to realize the smallest-size RSW antenna for a given permittivity substrate and a given frequency, the short-circuit boundary is chosen to lie within the interior of the magnetic current ring (a in [4]). From the governing boundary conditions for the patch cavity [3], a transverse-resonance equation can be can be derived and the radius of the short-circuit boundary shown to satisfy the transcendental equation

(2) where is given by (1) and is the wavenumber in the dielectric substrate. For this design, it is important to recognize that is always less than the solution of (2) is selected such that . A reduced-surface-wave patch antenna that is designed according to the specications given in (1) and (2) is referred to as the shorted-annular-ring reduced-surface-wave (SAR-RSW) design. The schematic for a SAR-RSW design can be found in [4]. Unlike the RSW designs presented in [5][7], for the designs presented in this paper (as in [4]) the short-circuited inner boundary condition is implemented using a circular array of vias. For high-precision, narrow-band applications such as GPS, this method of realizing a short-circuit wall at the inner radius has proven to be the most effective in providing repeatable antenna performance. (It is important to note that the measured resonant frequency of the RSW antenna has been found to be especially sensitive to the radius of the short-circuited boundary.) Although the discrete spacing between each of the vias is known to result in a reactive surface impedance at the inner boundary (rather than a precise short circuit), the effect is assumed to be negligible for the small via-spacing considered in this study. A resonant patch cavity can also be realized by placing the short-circuit boundary outside of the circular ring of magnetic current. In this case, the radius of the short-circuited wall satises the transcendental equation given by

(3)

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Fig. 2. A comparison between the E-plane linearly-polarized radiation patterns (normalized to 0 dB) of a conventional circular, SAR, and ISAR patch antenna at 1.575 GHz on a 1 m diameter circular ground plane. Fig. 1. A probe-fed inverted shorted-annular-ring reduced-surface-wave patch antenna. (a) Side view and (b) top view.

where is given by (1) and [3]. A microstrip patch antenna that is designed with these dimensions is referred to as the inverted shorted-annular-ring reduced-surface-wave (ISARRSW) design. The ISAR-RSW antenna used in this study is shown in Fig. 1. As with the SAR-RSW design, the shorted-inner wall boundary condition is realized using a closely-spaced circular array of vias. For convenience, the top metal surface in this design is extended beyond the via fence and is terminated at the edges of the substrate. It is signicant to note that in this situation surface waves will inherently not be excited, since surface-wave excitation requires that the top metal surface surrounding the antenna is removed (as in the SAR-RSW design). However, for the antenna shown in Fig. 2, the design of the magnetic current ring radius according to (1) is still valuable since it dictates that lateral radiation will be signicantly reduced (again, for the structure shown in Fig. 2, surface-wave excitation is a non-issue) and, consequently, that a narrower radiation pattern compared to a conventional patch pattern will still result. The effect of the particular radiation mechanisms associated with the SAR-RSW and ISAR-RSW antennas on the characteristic radiation patterns is discussed in detail later on in this section. (It is worth mentioning that by removing the top metal surface surrounding the via fence, the ISAR-RSW antenna in Fig. 2 becomes an exact complement to the SAR-RSW antenna and both surface-wave excitation and lateral radiation are reduced by the design equation in (1). Since both the SAR-RSW and ISAR-RSW antennas (also referred to as the SAR and ISAR, respectively) are based upon the magnetic current ring radius given by (1), then for the same frequency and the same permittivity substrate, the magnetic cur. rent ring radius will be the same in both designs For the same conditions however, the radius of the short-circuit

boundary in the ISAR-RSW design will always be larger than . the corresponding radius in the SAR-RSW design Although the disadvantages of the larger patch antenna may in some cases hinder the practicality of the ISAR over its SAR counterpart for linearly-polarized single-band applications, there are certain advantages associated with the ISAR geometry for both circularly-polarized single-band (CP) and dual-band applications (in both linear and CP operation). While the benets of the larger patch for single-band CP applications are discussed in [9], the benets of the ISAR patch geometry for dual-band CP operation are discussed in the following section. In order to assess the performance of the two RSW designs, the measured linearly-polarized radiation patterns for these antennas are compared to those of a conventional circular patch design. All patches were fabricated on a Rogers RT/Duroid 6002 substrate with a dielectric constant of 2.94, thickness of 0.1524 cm, and a loss tangent of 0.0012. Using these parameters and a design frequency of 1.575 GHz (L1), the radii of the SAR and ISAR antennas were calculated as cm, cm, and cm, using (1)(3) [note that for this frecm]. (Although a full cavity-mode quency analysis accounting for losses is eventually used for more precisely determining the resonant dimensions of the dual-band GPS-RSW patch presented later, these convenient expressions are used here to simply demonstrate the RSW radiation characteristics. Using (1)(3)it is expected that there will be a slight shift in the measured patch resonant frequency.) For the L1 frequency, a conventional circular patch antenna on the same substrate has a radius equal to 3.17 cm [10]. Thus, for the same frequency, the RSW antennas are larger than the conventional circular patch design. Each antenna was probe-fed at its apcm proximate 50 match point corresponding to cm for the ISAR design, and for the SAR antenna, cm for the conventional patch. The probe feeds are in each case (Fig. 1). The vias used along the -axis

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for the short-circuit boundary in the both RSW antenna designs were spaced 10 mils apart (from edge to edge) and were each of 25 mils diameter (this via arrangement was used throughout the study). A complete electric characterization of the ISAR-RSW antenna is presented in [9] (theoretical and measured results include the input impedance characterization of the antenna). The measured far-eld radiation patterns in the E-plane for the SAR, ISAR, and conventional linearly-polarized designs are compared in Fig. 2. (A one-meter diameter circular ground plane was used for each these measurements.) For the conventional circular patch antenna, the scalloping in the front-side pattern and the considerable amount of radiation on the backside clearly indicate that there is a signicant amount of diffraction off the edges of the ground plane due to the surface-wave and lateral radiation. In contrast to the radiation patterns measured for the conventional designs, the radiation patterns for both the SAR and ISAR designs are relatively smooth in the forward region and demonstrate signicantly reduced back-scattered radiation. More quantitatively, the gains for the conventional, SAR, and ISAR design are approximately 6, 9, and 8 dB, respectively [9]. Based on these more directive linearly-polarized radiation patterns (relative to the conventional design), the SAR and ISAR antennas appear to be promising candidates for GPS applications. It is worth noting that the discrepancies (scalloping and below-the-horizon radiation) between the conventional and RSW radiation patterns is most evident in the E-plane pattern because surface-wave excitation and lateral radiation occur mainly in this plane. A comparison between the H-plane patterns can be found in [11], where the primary differences in the conventional and RSW patterns occur in the regions near 0 and 180 . Given the similarity between the SAR and ISAR patterns in Fig. 2, it can be concluded that it is primarily the reduction in the lateral radiation [dictated by (1)] that is responsible for the difference in pattern shape for these designs compared to the conventional pattern. As previously discussed, with the extension of the top conductor on the ISAR antenna as shown in Fig. 1, surface-wave excitation is inherently not present in this design. However, since this top metal surface does not affect the lateral radiation, it is the reduction in this component of the antenna radiation that can be said to be the key to both the SAR and ISAR designs. A signicant decrease in the horizon-level radiation for these designs is clearly demonstrated in Fig. 2. From Fig. 2, it is also important to note that the increase in directivity for the RSW patches, relative to the conventional design, is a consequence of the larger patch size required for reduced-surface-wave excitation. (While the larger structures result in a slightly lower efciency than for the conventional patch, current research efforts involving RSW patch miniaturization are an attempt, in part, to improve this situation.) IV. A DUAL-BAND ANTENNA DESIGN FOR GPS APPLICATIONS Using the linearly-polarized SAR and ISAR reduced-surface wave designs presented in Section III, a RHCP dual-band antenna designed for the L1 (1.575 GHz) and L2 (1.227 GHz) GPS frequencies is considered. The dual-band RSW antenna is a planar design consisting of an SAR-RSW element designed for

Fig. 3. A dual-band reduced-surface-wave patch antenna (top view).

the higher-frequency band of L1 lying within the interior of an ISAR-RSW element designed for the L2 band. The dual-band RSW design is shown in Fig. 3. As mentioned previously, since (1)(3) are derived assuming a perfect cavity resonator [3], a slight shift between the design and measured resonant frequencies is observed when the RSW patch dimensions are obtained directly from these expressions. Thus, for the sake of completeness and to also improve the design for the inner and outer radii that would result in a resonant SAR-RSW and ISAR-RSW antenna at the L1 and L2 frequencies, non-ideal cavity effects are taken into account. (Although (1)(3) are convenient expressions, for a narrow-band application such as GPS, a full cavity-mode analysis is more appropriate.) These non-idealities include fringing at the radiating edges of the patch, higher-order mode excitation, and losses associated with the dielectric substrate, patch conductor, and radiation. As with the previous designs, the RSW antennas were fabricated on a Rogers RT/Duroid substrate with a dielectric constant of 2.94, thickness of 0.1524 cm, and a loss tangent of 0.0012. Using these substrate parameters and a full cavity-mode analysis, the corresponding patch dimensions for a RSW antenna designed for 1.575 GHz were found to be 3.03 cm and 5.58 cm for the inner and outer radius, respectively. Using a similar analysis [9], [11], the inner and outer radius of an ISAR antenna resonant at 1.227 MHz were calculated as 7.16 cm and 11.15 cm, respectively. The antennas were each probe-fed at their approximate 50 match points occurring at cm and cm. For this initial dual-band design, right-hand circular polarization was realized by using a dual-orthogonal probe feed arrangement on each of the antennas (Fig. 4). In the pattern results that follow, the probes were fed through two microstrip quadrature hybrids designed for the L1 and L2 frequencies. (Similar performance was realized using a single broadband microstrip hybrid [11].) The quadrature hybrids were used to divide the input power fed into each antenna into two equi-amplitude components with a phase difference of 90 between them. The measured RHCP radiation (co-polarization) for the dualband GPS-RSW design at the L1 frequency, on a one-meter diameter circular aluminum ground plane, is shown in Fig. 5. (Throughout this study, the feed circuits (the quadrature hybrids in this case) are shielded by placing a Styrofoam layer approximately 2.5 cm thick over the circuit and using aluminum foil to wrap the entire package.) This pattern was obtained by measuring the receive pattern of the antenna when illuminated by

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Fig. 4. The feed conguration used to realize a right-hand circularly polarized dual-band RSW antenna.

two orthogonal linear polarizations from a transmitting horn antenna, and then forming a linear combination with a 90 phase shift from the two resulting data sets. (In this manner, the polarization purity of the dual-band RSW antenna is examined independently from the characteristics of the transmitting antenna.) As demonstrated with the linearly-polarized RSW designs presented in Section III, the RHCP pattern for the dual-band RSW design is relatively smooth in the forward region and is extremely small on the backside. Thus, in accordance with the design radii at the L1 and L2 frequencies given by (1), the pattern shows very little evidence of lateral space-wave diffraction. As previously discussed, it is the reduction in the lateral radiation for both the SAR and ISAR designs that is primarily responsible for the characteristic patterns of each (while a reduction in surface waves also occurs for the SAR design, in the case of the ISAR design in Fig. 1, surface waves are not excited and the characteristic pattern can only be attributed to a reduction in lateral radiation). Consequently, it is worth pointing out that the dual-band RSW design, a composite of an L1 SAR and L2 ISAR, is intrinsically immune to surface waves. In order to evaluate the quality of the circular-polarization for the RSW antenna at 1.575 GHz, the left-handed circular polarization (LHCP/cross-polarization) was measured in a similar fashion, and the result is also included in Fig. 5. The left-handed pattern is extremely low relative to the right-handed pattern (approximately 25 dB down at broadside), suggesting that the GPS antenna design can provide a high-level of discrimination between direct and multipath signals on the basis of polarization. This feature complements the ability of the GPS-RSW antenna to reject ground-bounce multipath by reason of the low-level horizon and backside radiation. The RCHP and LHCP radiation for the dual-band RSW antenna was also measured at the resonant frequency of 1.231 GHz (again, a one meter ground plane was used). It is important to note here that the slight shift in the ISAR resonant frequency could be a result of a small level of mutual coupling between elements, which was not taken into account in the cavity-mode analysis used in this study. With the pattern results also provided in Fig. 5, the performance of the antenna at this frequency was found to be very similar to the performance at 1.575 GHz. At this frequency, the pattern is again characterized by a smooth front-side and low radiation levels along the

Fig. 5. The measured RHCP and LHCP radiation patterns for a dual-band GPS-RSW antenna on a 1 m diameter ground plane. The patterns have been normalized to the maximum RHCP value at each frequency.

horizon and towards the backside of the antenna (of both the right- and left-handed type). The similar low cross-polarization levels at L1 and 1.231 GHz indicate that the dual-band RSW antenna is equally capable of rejecting multipath signals based on polarization at both frequencies. It is shown in [11] that, due to the similarity in the E- and H-plane patterns characterizing the RSW elements, these types of antennas exhibit much better cross-polarization characteristics than conventional patch designs. Comparing to the theoretical reduced-surface-wave CP patterns which are presented in [11], it is found that a GPS-RSW antenna mounted on one meter ground plane provides nearly the optimum cross-polarization performance that can be expected from the RSW design [11]. In comparing the radiation patterns of the dual-band RSW antenna to a single-frequency SAR-RSW and ISAR-RSW element designed for L1 and L2, respectively, there is little apparent difference. Hence, the radiation pattern associated with mode of the ISAR patch at 1.227 GHz is unaffected the by the presence of the SAR-RSW element in the dual-band design. From the input impedance response shown in Fig. 6, it is evident that while a relatively good match exists for the ISAR antenna at 1.227 GHz, the reection coefcient associated with the SAR-RSW element at this frequency is approximately 0 dB (corresponding to an input impedance of ). At the higher frequency of L1, there is a slight mode of the SAR-RSW patch and overlap between the the mode of the ISAR-RSW patch (the input impedance of the ISAR-RSW antenna at this frequency is equal to and hence, the reection coefcient is not equal to 0 dB). The identication of the modes is determined from the cavity-mode analysis presented in [9]. However, since these measurements were obtained by manually switching the feed ports for each frequency, at the L1 frequency the feed ports mode of the ISAR is not are on the SAR antenna and the

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Fig. 7. The measured RHCP and LHCP radiation patterns at 1.575 GHz and 1.227 GHz for a a 35.6 cm diameter commercial L1/L2 choke-ring antenna.

Fig. 6. Measured (a) input resistance and (b) input reactance as a function of frequency for the dual-band RSW patch antenna with a substrate relative permittivity of " = 2:94.

directly excited. Rather, it is excited only through the mutual coupling between the elements, which is very small. It is important to note that, although the lack of a signicant frequency mode and the SAR separation between the ISAR mode does not affect the radiation patterns of the antenna, this particular modal response becomes important when designing a single-input feed network capable of simultaneously feeding the SAR-RSW and ISAR-RSW elements in the dual-band design. A dual-band design including a diplexer feed circuit (comprised of a 3-dB three-branch broadband hybrid and stub-line combinations for tuning and detuning the SAR and ISAR elements) is presented in [11]. V. COMPARISON TO FREQUENTLY-USED GPS ANTENNAS A. Choke-Ring Antenna Comparison Although the commonly-used conguration of a microstrip patch antenna mounted on a choke-ring ground plane is fairly successful in reducing the edge diffraction effects from the patch surface-wave and lateral radiation, the ground plane itself is relatively bulky and can add signicant cost and weight to the system. Thus, while keeping in mind the simplicity and lightweight nature of an RSW antenna, the rst step in evaluating the dual-band RSW design as a viable alternative to the dual-band choke-ring design is to directly compare the RHCP and LHCP radiation performances of the two structures. (In [4] a choke-

ring antenna designed specically for L1 operation was shown to be characterized by a broad, smooth RHCP pattern with low backside levels and also appreciably low levels of LHCP radiation.) The L1 patterns for a commercial dual-band (L1/L2) chokering antenna are shown in Fig. 7. (Here and for the remainder of the radiation results that follow, the patterns have been normalized to the maximum RHCP value at each frequency.) For this choke-ring design, dual-band operation is realized by compromising on the design specications (specically on the depths of the choke-ring corrugations) so as to realize a moderately soft electromagnetic surface at both the L1 and L2 frequenand are approximately zero at both frequencies). cies ( However, as seen in Fig. 7, a consequence of this is that an extremely large cross-polarization pattern results (LHCP). Thus, unlike the single-band choke ring antenna shown in [4], the dual-band choke-ring antenna is fairly susceptible to receiving high-angle, odd-bounce multipath signals, which will signicantly limit its performance. The right- and left-handed circular polarization patterns at 1.227 GHz for the dual-band choke ring antenna are also provided in Fig. 7. Comparing the patterns to the corresponding patterns at 1.575 GHz, it is evident that the dual-band choke-ring design has a very similar performance at both frequencies. In contrast to the dual-band RSW designs (on a 1 m ground plane (Fig. 5) and a 25.4 cm ground plane to be presented shortly), the RHCP for the dual-band choke ring is characterized by higher levels of radiation along the horizon and towards the backside of the antenna at both frequencies. In addition, as a result of the design compromises implemented to realize reasonable performance at both the L1 and L2 frequencies, the choke-ring design becomes severely de-polarized. While the LHCP levels for the dual-band RSW antennas are approximately 25 dB down from the RHCP level at broadside at dB difference in the both frequencies, there is only about a dual-band choke-ring patterns.

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Fig. 8. The measured RHCP and LHCP radiation patterns at 1.575 GHz and 1.233 GHz for a dual-band GPS-RSW antenna on a 25.4 cm square ground plane.

Fig. 9. The measured RHCP and LHCP radiation patterns at L1 and L2 for the pinwheel antenna.

To ensure as fair a comparison as possible between the dualband RSW and the choke-ring designs, the RHCP and LHCP patterns for the dual-band RSW antenna were measured on a 25.4 cm square grounded substrate with no additional ground plane. It is signicant to note that, as a consequence of the 11.15 cm short-circuit ring radius of the IRSW antenna in the dual-band design (corresponding to L2), a 25.4 cm ground plane is nearly as small a ground plane as can be used for this design. The patterns at L1 and L2 are shown in Fig. 8. The dual-band choke-ring ground plane is approximately 30.5 cm in diameter. Thus, for approximately the same size structure, the dual-band RSW antenna demonstrates much less backscattered radiation and maintains a relatively small axial ratio for all angles above the horizon (the LHCP radiation levels are much smaller than the RHCP levels). In comparison to the measurements made on the one-meter ground plane (Fig. 5), the RHCP radiation remains relatively unchanged with only slightly higher levels of radiation occurring along the backside of the antenna. The LHCP component of the overall radiation has increased; however, the axial ratio is still greater on the 25.4 cm ground plane than that demonstrated by the larger commercial L1/L2 chokering design. As demonstrated in [11] for a single-band RSW design, further reductions in the cross-polarization levels for the dual-band RSW antenna can be realized with improvements in the feed design. Since the increase in LHCP levels for the RSW antenna on the smaller-sized ground plane is occurring mainly at low-elevation angles and along the backside, a more sophisticated feed design for this smaller patch may indeed be needed to improve the multipath-rejection performance of the antenna (LHCP multipath signals are more likely to come from these angles). B. Pinwheel Antenna Comparison In [12] a GPS antenna based on an array of coupled spiral slots in a pinwheel type conguration has been introduced.

While a short description of this antenna design can be found in [4], the key features to note here are that, like the RSW design, the pinwheel design can be used as a standalone element (not requiring the use of a choke-ring ground plane) and thereby also eliminates the weight and bulk associated with a choke-ring antenna. However, it is also important to recognize that, relative to the GPS-RSW structure, the pinwheel design is a much more complicated antenna. The radiation patterns measured for the pinwheel design at L1 and L2 are shown in Fig. 9. Here it is apparent that, with the exception of slightly higher backside levels and RHCP levels along the horizon, the pinwheel design provides similar RHCP radiation characteristics as the choke-ring design at both frequencies. (Relative to L1, slightly higher levels of backscattered and horizon-level radiation are observed for this antenna at the L2 frequency.) Both antenna designs exhibit signicantly less RHCP radiation below the horizon compared to a conventional patch design and thus, both are capable of reducing the receiver susceptibility to multipath events. As with the dual-band RSW design, the cross-polarization levels of radiation measured for the pinwheel antenna are signicantly lower at both frequencies than those of the dual-band choke ring (particularly along the front-side of the antenna), but higher than those for the single-band choke ring antenna [4]. The radiation patterns for the standalone pinwheel antenna (the pinwheel is printed on a square board of approximately 16.5 cm) can be directly compared to those of the standalone RSW element presented in Fig. 8. (Since, as previously discussed, the RSW antenna is constrained to a minimum size ground plane of 25.4 cm and the pinwheel antenna is encased in a radome packaging, this is as fair a size comparison as can be made in this study.) As with the choke-ring design, the most striking difference between the pinwheel design and the dual-band RSW antenna are the decreased RHCP radiation levels along the horizon associated with the RSW design. The two antennas have comparable LHCP patterns at both frequencies. Although the pinwheel antenna has a

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size advantage over the dual-band RSW structure, the RSW design, as previously noted, is a much simpler and easier-to-manufacture design. VI. SUMMARY Based on a reduced-surface-wave design concept, a new dual-band L1/L2 GPS microstrip patch antenna has been fabricated and tested. The dual-band RSW design is comprised of two concentric elements known as the shorted-annular-ring reduced-surface wave antenna (designed for L1) and the inverted shorted-annular-ring reduced-surface wave antenna (designed for L2). The microstrip antennas are printed on the same substrate and hence, form a planar patch design. The key to the dual-band design is that each of these antenna elements, when printed on an electrically thin substrate, produce only a small amount of lateral radiation. As a result, the dual-band RSW antenna, a lightweight, low-prole design, is characterized by broad, smooth front-side radiation pattern with very low backside levels. A comparison between the dual-band GPS-RSW radiation patterns and those for the choke ring and pinwheel antennas reveals similar or better radiation performance while being at least an order of magnitude smaller in terms of volume and weight than the choke-ring designs and easier to manufacture than the pinwheel design. Although reduced backside radiation is common to all three designs, the dual-band RSW antenna demonstrates superior low-angle and ground-bounce multipath rejection compared to the choke-ring and pinwheel designs. While, admittedly, a more directive radiation pattern for the receiving antenna does limit the ability of the receiver to detect direct signals from low-angle satellites, it is also important to recognize the higher gain corresponds to an increased signal integrity from the overhead satellites. Furthermore, with the ongoing efforts to increase the number of satellite constellations in orbit (i.e., Glonass), the required eld of view for the receiving antenna may decrease, with signals from satellites closer to the horizon becoming less important. REFERENCES
[1] E. D. Kaplan, Understanding GPS Principles and Applications. New York: Artech, 1996. [2] L. I. Basilio, J. T. Williams, and D. R. Jackson, Effective point of radiation considerations for a microstrip patch antenna, IEEE Trans. Antennas Propag., submitted for publication. [3] D. R. Jackson, J. T. Williams, A. K. Bhattacharyya, R. L. Smith, S. J. Buchheit, and S. A. Long, Microstrip patch designs that do not excite surface waves, IEEE Trans. Antennas Propag., vol. 41, no. 8, pp. 10261037, Aug. 1993. [4] L. I. Basilio, J. T. Williams, D. R. Jackson, and M. A. Khayat, A comparative study for a new GPS reduced-surface-wave antenna, IEEE Antennas Wireless Propag. Lett., vol. 4, 2005. [5] L. Boccia, G. Amendola, G. Di Massa, and L. Giulicchi, Shorted annular patch antennas for multipath rejection in GPS-based attitude determination systems, Microw. Opt. Technol. Lett., vol. 28, no. 1, Jan. 2001. [6] L. Boccia, G. Amendola, and G. Di Massa, A shorted elliptical patch antenna for GPS applications, IEEE Antennas Wireless Propag. Lett., vol. 2, 2003. [7] L. Boccia, G. Amendola, and G. Di Massa, A dual frequency microstrip patch antenna for high precision GPS applications, IEEE Antennas Wireless Propag. Lett., vol. 3, 2004.

[8] J. M. Tranquilla, J. P. Carr, and H. M. Al-Rizzo, Analysis of a choke ring groundplane for multipath control in global positioning system (GPS) applications, IEEE Trans. Antennas Propag., vol. 42, no. 7, pp. 905911, Jul. 1994. [9] L. I. Basilio, J. T. Williams, and D. R. Jackson, Characteristics of an inverted-shorted-annular-ring reduced-surface-wave antenna, IEEE Trans. Antennas Propag., accepted for publication. [10] C. A. Balanis, Antenna Theory: Analysis and Design, 2nd ed. New York: Wiley, 1997. [11] L. I. Basilio, New GPS antennas designed for reduced multipath susceptibility, Ph.D. dissertation, Univ. Houston, Houston, TX, 2003. [12] W. Kunysz, High performance GPS pinwheel antenna, Novatel Inc., [Online]. Available: http://www.novatel.com/Documents/Papers/gps_pinwheel_ant.pdf [Online]. Available

Lorena I. Basilio (S96M03) was born in Pasadena, TX, in 1970. She received the M.S. and Ph.D. degrees in electrical engineering from the University of Houston, Houston, TX, in 1998 and 2003, respectively. During the course of her studies, she worked with Dr. Jeff Williams and Dr. David Jackson primarily in the area of microstrip antenna design and analysis, with a concentration on reduced-surface wave antennas during her Ph.D. work. In September 2003 she joined the Electromagnetics and Plasma Physics Department at Sandia National Laboratories in Albuquerque, NM. Her current research interests are in the area of microstrip patch antennas for GPS applications, photonic bandgap antennas, and plasmon structures with enhanced optical transmission. Dr. Basilio is a member of the International Union of Radio Science (URSI) Commission B.

Richard L. Chen , deceased, (S00M04) received the B.S. degree in physics and the M.S.E.E. degree from Southeast University, Nanjing, China, in 1992 and 1995, respectively, and the Ph.D. degree in electrical engineering from the University of Houston, Houston, TX, in 2003. After graduation, he joined the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering, University of Houston, as a Postdoctoral Research Associate and then as a Research Assistant Professor. His research interests included microstrip antennas and arrays, nano-scale frequency selective surfaces and signal integrity. Dr. Chen was a member of the IEEE Antennas and Propagation and the IEEE Microwave Theory and Techniques Societies. He was a coauthor of a paper that received a best presentation award for a presentation given at the ION GPS/ GNSS 2003 conference in Portland, OR.

Jeffery T. Williams (S85M87SM97) was born in Kula, Maui, HI, on July 24, 1959. He received the B.S., M.S., and Ph.D. degrees in electrical engineering from the University of Arizona, Tucson, in 1981, 1984, and 1987, respectively. He joined the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering at the University of Houston, Houston, TX, in 1987, where he is now an Associate Professor. Prior to that, he was a Schlumberger-Doll Research Fellow at the University of Arizona. He spent four summers (19831986) at the Schlumberger-Doll Research Center in Ridgeeld, CT as a research scientist. During 1981 to 1982, he worked as a Design Engineer at Zonge Engineering and Research Organization in Tucson, AZ, and as a summer engineer at the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory in Livermore, CA. His research interests include the design and analysis of high frequency antennas and circuits, high frequency measurements, the application of high temperature superconductors and leaky-wave propagation. Dr. Williams is a member of the International Scientic Radio Union (URSI) Commission B. He is a former Associate Editor for the IEEE TRANSACTIONS ON ANTENNAS AND PROPAGATION and Radio Science

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David R. Jackson (S83M84SM95F99) was born in St. Louis, MO, on March 28, 1957. He received the B.S.E.E. and M.S.E.E. degrees from the University of Missouri, Columbia, in 1979 and 1981, respectively, and the Ph.D. degree in electrical engineering from the University of California, Los Angeles, in 1985. From 1985 to 1991, he was an Assistant Professor, from 1991 to 1998, he was an Associate Professor, and since 1998, he has been a Professor in the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering at the University of Houston, Houston, TX. His current research interests include microstrip antennas and circuits, leaky-wave antennas, leakage and radiation

effects in microwave integrated circuits, periodic structures, EMC, and bioelectromagnetics. Dr. Jackson is presently serving as the Chapter Activities Coordinator for the AP-S Society of the IEEE, and as the Vice Chair for URSI, U.S. Commission B. He is currently an Associate Editor for the International Journal of RF and Microwave Computer-Aided Engineering and a member of the Editorial Board of the IEEE TRANSACTIONS ON MICROWAVE THEORY AND TECHNIQUES. He is a past Distinguished Lecturer for the IEEE AP-S Society, and also a past Associate Editor for the IEEE TRANSACTIONS ON ANTENNAS AND PROPAGATION and the journal Radio Science. He has also served as a past member of AdCom for the AP-S Society.