814
2D VAN ATTA RETRODIREXTIVE ARRAY USING DUAL POLARIZED TWO-PORT SQUARE
MICROSTRIP PATCHES
M G Christodoulou and D P Chrissoulidis
Aristotle University of Thessaloniki, Greece
INTRODUCTION
A retrodirective array possesses the advantage that the
reradiation field from all the elements has a coherent
phase in the arrival direction of the incident wave. Such
an array is thus useful in applications such as collision
avoidance systems, toll management, freight
management etc. Well-known retrodirective antennas
are the comer reflector, which is a 3D structure and the
Van Atta array, Van Atta (1).
The Van Atta array is a planar structure comprising of
antennas located and paired symmetrically in one
dimension for 2D retrodirectivity (l), Tseng et al. (2),
i.e. retrodirectivity in a single plane or in two
dimensions for 3D retrodirectivity, Tseng et al. (3), i.e.
retrodirectivity in three dimensions. In our application a
Van Atta array for 3D retrodirectivity at 2GHz was
developed.
ANTENNA CONSTRUCTION
An important characteristic of retrodirective arrays is
the isolation between incident and transmitted waves at
the receiving end. One way for achieving this is by use
of different polarizations for those waves. In our design
a dual polarized two-port square microstrip patch is
used as the antenna element (Fig. 1).
Figure 1: Two port square microstrip patch antenna
The microstrip patch, Carver et al. (4), is designed to
operate in two linear orthogonal modes, TMlo and
m,, James et al. (5), Lee and Chen (6). Isolation
between the. polarization diverse signals ensures
mini”interferencebetween received and transmitted
11th lntemational Conference on Antennas and Propagation, 17-20 April 2001, Conference Publication No. 480 0IEE 2001
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signals at the receiving end. Feeding of the patch at the
centers of the orthogonal sides of the patch gives
minimum coupling, Rao and Bhartia (7), between the
two ports (calculated S21 is -51.8dB at 2GHz). The
patch was designed using the method of moments (patch
dimensions: 1925xl925mils). The input impedance (Z),
of each port is purely resistive at 2 GHz (Zh=376L2)and
it is matched to 50n microstrip lines through hg/4
transformers (width w=23mil, length 1=lY123mil)where
h, is the microstrip line wavelength (guided
wavelength).
The array (Fig 2) consists of four microstrip patches
located and paired symmetrically with respect to the
reflector’s center. The interelement distances in both
dimensions are both chosen as 0 . 6 b (&,=5905mils) to
reduce the coupling effect between the antennas. The
patches are connected with 50R microstrip lines (width
w=19lmils). In a Van Atta array the length of the lines
connecting the antennas are equal or their differences
are multiples of a microstrip line wavelength 1Lg
(hg=4,267mils). The microstrip lines connecting the
upper left and lower right patches are 1,495mils long
while the upper right and lower left (Fig. 2) are
connected with 12,164mils length microstrip lines. It
should be noted that their difference is 2.5 lig, which is
not a multiple of a wavelength 1,. This is explained by
the fact that the patches are not fed from the same side
and a 0.5 lip difference is needed to compensate for that
change in the feeding side.
Y b
Figure 2: 2D microstrippatch retrodirective antenna
 815

The array was fabricated on Taconic dielectric material
TLY-5 with e,=2.21, and tan6=0.001 (material
dimensions: dielectric thickness h=62mil, copper
thickness t=1.4mil). The copper was removed with a T-
Tech. milling machine. The total m a y area was 10x11
inches.
For the monostatic case (Fig. 5), the array was tested
with both H-plane (Fig 6) and E-plane (Fig-7) excitation
in the azimuthal plane.
In these cases both antennas were moved in the
azimuthal plane from (p=-60"to (p=+60° in steps of 5".
Retrodirective Array

MEASUREMENTS

The performance of the retrodirective array was tested

by canying out a bistatic (Fig. 3) and a monostatic (Fig,
5 ) radiation pattem measurement setup.

Retrodirective Array

Receiving Antennas
(Cp400 to 6 0 0 )

Figure 5 : Monostatic measurement setup (8=90°)

For both forms of excitation the may monostatic

radiation pattem had a 3dF3 beamwidth of
approximately 80" ((p=-40° to (p=+40°).
Receiving Antenna
( ~ p =-7OO to +70°)
(at p 2 O o ) MonostabcMeasurement
with Power Meter with Signal Generator H-plane Exatabon

Figure 3: Bistatic measurement setup (8=90°)

In both measurement setups two vertically polarized

horn antennas (Advanced Technical Materials lOdB
Standard Gain Hom Antennas), were used, one
transmitting and the other receiving.
For the bistatic case, the transmitting antenna (H-plane .I5
'
excitation in the azimuthal plane) was placed at (p=+2Oo -in
-.o en
while the receiving antenna was moved in the azimuthal do .ZQ Q in 10

plane from (p-70" to (p=+70" in steps of 10". The

results obtained (Fig. 4) indicate that the array was
directed its main beam to the (p=+20°, i.e. it was capable Figure 6: H-plane excitation (8=90°)
of retrodirective beam formation.
MonostaticMeasurement
Bistatic Measurement €-Plane Excitation
H-plane Excitation

4 I
0

5
0
I
.*Q

.IQ -15

-20
-15 M 40 i2Q Q 20 10 W
40 40 .w 0 in 10 w Anple 9 (E=w)

Figure 7: E-plane excitation (8=90°)

Figure 4: Retrodirective beam formation

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CONCLUSIONS

In this paper a planar 2D retrodirective array consisting

of 4 microstrip patches was presented. Bistatic
measurements indicated that the array is capable of
retrodirective beam formation while monostatic
measurements suggest that the radiation pattem
beanwidth is almost 80”.

Future developments include the broadening of the

array beamwidth with antennas of different kind of
antennas and the addition of amplifiers in the paths
between the antennas so as to enhance the retransmitted
signal.

REFERENCES

1. Van Ana L.C., “Electromagnetic Reflector ”, U.S.

Patent #2,908,002, Oct. 6, 1959

2. Tseng, W.J., Hu, C.S., and Chung, S.J., 1998, IEE

Electron. Letters, 34, 1374-1376

3. Tseng, W.J., Chung, S.J., and Chang, K., 2000, E

Trans. Antennas Propagat., 48, 173-175

4. Carver, R.K., and Mink, J.W., 1981, IEEE Trans.

Antennas Propagat., 29,2-24

5. James, J.R., Hall, P.S., and Wood C., 1981,

“Microstrip Antenna Theory and Design”, Peregrinus,
Stevenage, U.K.,

6. Lee, K.F., and Chen, W. (eds.), 1997, “Advances in

Microstrip and Printed Antennas”, John Wiley & Sons

7. Rao, K.V.S., and Bhartia P., 1989, IEEE AP-SAJRSI

Int. Symp. Digest, 608-61 1

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