Mutual coupling in conformal microstrip patch antenna arrays

A finite element-boundary integral method has been developed to investigate the impedance properties of patch elements in an array environment, when the array is embedded in a conformal surface. The effect of mutual coupling between elements in such an array is included in the analysis. The method is tested on patch antennas mounted on planar and cylindrical surfaces. For the examples considered, it is shown that the simulated results are in good agreement with measurement.