Subsystem embedded microstrip antennas and its performance evaluation

This paper present the increasing applications of the satellite communication have driven the need to design small-sized antennas. Microstrip antenna structures, which embed RF subsystems inside the structure, are thus proposed to retain small in size and thickness, where the overall subsystem size can actually be the antenna size itself. This paper demonstrates the concepts and studies the impacts on the antenna and subsystem´s performance. In particular, the antenna design applications for the signal receptions of satellite radio and global positioning system (GPS) are considered to evaluate the characteristics. These types of antenna applications in the signal receptions have characteristics of low RF strengths on the antenna bodies, and thus are very suitable for the development of subsystem embedded antenna systems. Experimental results validate the concepts in the following sections.