A novel dual-polarization microstrip antenna array with wideband and high gain in Ku band

In this paper, a novel design of dual-polarized microstrip patch element and 96-element array with wide bandwidth and high gain is proposed for Ku-band application. A stacked patch antenna (SPA) architecture is adopted in the element design in order to increase the bandwidth and gain. Dual-layered feeding technique is used to achieve the dual-polarization, where the horizontal polarization port is fed with a coplanar microstrip line, while the vertical polarization port is excited by a probe. The anti-phase feeding technique is considered in design of the feeding network, which leads to lower cross polarization. The simulated and experimental results show that the gain of the array with 96-element reaches 26 dBi with an aperture efficiency of 51%, the cross-polarization is lower than -30 dB. In addition, the relative impedance bandwidths of the horizontal and vertical polarization ports are 11.3% and 13.7%, respectively, and the isolation between the dual polarization ports is better than 40dB.