Modeling, simulation, and measurement of a transparent armor embedded meshed microstrip antenna

This paper presents the design and performance of a transparent armor embedded meshed microstrip antenna. In order to reduce opacity of the metallization, a sparse mesh pattern was chosen for the radiating patch. The pattern was subsequently enlarged and translated onto the ground plane, thus reducing the visual footprint of the antenna. After initial simulations, all un-embedded antenna and mesh dimensions were optimized for a specific operating frequency. A prototype patch antenna was then screen printed onto a single layer of glass, and characterized in an anechoic chamber. The antenna was subsequently embedded into a multilayered transparent armor stack and its parameters re-measured. Experiments confirm that the single layer design maintains typical patch antenna performance while reducing visual footprint and in comparison, the multi-layer embedded antenna reduces overall performance and must be compensated for a priori.