Multi-Band Array Antenna Sharing a Common Aperture with Heterogeneous Array Elements

This paper proposes a multi-band array antenna that shares a common aperture with heterogenous array elements. The multi-band array antenna includes one printed dipole antenna for the S-band and 3 × 3 array E-shaped patch antennas for the X-band. The current directions of the printed dipole and E-shaped antenna are orthogonal to each other, which properly diminishes the mutual coupling interference. To decrease the mutual coupling interference among the X-band components, we placed cavities using multiple vias surrounding the X-band components. To check the validity of the proposed design, the unit-cell was expanded to a 12 × 12 X-band array configuration, and then the beam steering properties were examined. The proposed antenna’s average gains are 5.2 dBi in the S-band and 5.2 dBi in the X-band. The bore-sight gain of the extended array configuration on the ship mast is 35.6 dBi. The results confirm that the proposed design is suitable for MFR applications even in a shared aperture.