Design of low cost cavity-backed microstrip patch arrays

Phased array antennas of microstrip patches enclosed in metallic cavities have attractive advantages in comparison with the conventional patch arrays on continuous substrates. They are however technologically more complex than the conventional patch array on continuous substrates. In order to have simpler structures that give rise to lower cost microstrip array configurations but maintaining the improved performance of patch arrays bounded by metallic walls, an alternative cavity-backed microstrip array arrangement is proposed. A versatile hybrid numerical analysis method is applied to investigate this configuration.