Title :
Two advanced solar antenna "SOLANT" designs for satellite and terrestrial communications
Author :
Vaccaro, Stefano ; Mosig, Juan R. ; De Maagt, Peter
Author_Institution :
Lab. d´´Electromagn. et d´´Acoust., Ecole Polytech. Fed. de Lausanne, Switzerland
Abstract :
A novel hybrid technology where amorphous silicon (a-Si:H) solar cells are either integrated or physically combined with printed slot antennas is presented. This basic idea is demonstrated with the help of two innovative designs where the solar cells are directly grown on a stainless steel ground-plane or glued onto a standard copper layer printed on a dielectric substrate. To show the compatibility of solar cells and antennas, the concept is used to create a linearly polarized slot antenna, a circularly polarized slot antenna and a slot array. The concept offers advantages in terms of surface coverage, volume, weight and electric performance when compared with a simple juxtaposition of antennas and solar cells.
Keywords :
amorphous semiconductors; electromagnetic wave polarisation; microstrip antenna arrays; satellite antennas; semiconductor thin films; silicon; slot antenna arrays; solar cells; SOLANT; Si:H; amorphous silicon solar cells; circularly polarized slot antenna; compatibility; dielectric substrate; electric performance; hybrid technology; linearly polarized slot antenna; printed copper layer; printed slot antennas; satellite communications; satellite systems; slot array; solar antenna design; stainless steel ground-plane; surface coverage; terrestrial communications; thin film solar cell technology; volume; weight; Amorphous silicon; Artificial satellites; Copper; Dielectric substrates; Linear antenna arrays; Photovoltaic cells; Polarization; Satellite antennas; Slot antennas; Steel;
Journal_Title :
Antennas and Propagation, IEEE Transactions on
DOI :
10.1109/TAP.2003.815424