Design of a highly efficient wideband suspended solar array antenna

This paper presents the design of a wideband suspended solar patch array antenna for WLAN and ISM band applications. The suspended silicon solar cells, which have been replaced with traditional microstrip patches and work as antennas within the design, are able to receive and transmit the EM signals while producing a DC current as a result of the photovoltaic effect. A unique and effective quarter-wave DC/AC decoupling circuit, which enables the produced current to be withdrawn from the system without affecting the RF performance of the antenna, has been designed based on microwave circuit topology. Experimental and full-wave simulation results of the presented solar antenna operating within the frequency band of 2.3-2.75 GHz, confirm the suitability of the proposed design for wideband communication systems with a wide impedance bandwidth of 18.36%, 450 MHz, and a high gain of 12.2 dB.