Abstract
A high gain optically transparent microstrip patch antenna for K band (18 GHz-27 GHz) satellite communication has been proposed and investigated in this paper. In order to make sure the property of optical transparency of the antenna, optically transparent materials have been chosen for all the layers of the microstrip patch antenna. Indium Tin Oxide (ITO) film is opted for the radiating patch and ground plane where the substrate is made of pyrex glass (lossy) (E-r = 4.82 and tan delta = 0.0054). The proposed transparent antenna operates at center frequency of 24.8 GHz ranging from 17.625 GHz to 30.523 GHz that covers the entire K band of satellite communication. The transparency property of the patch antenna is useful to minimize the shadowing effect of the solar antenna as well as helpful to guarantee the maximum uses of satellite surface area. The proposed antenna has high IEEE gain of 12.36 dB and directivity of 13.38 dBi including efficiency of 92.38%. It also possesses very wide bandwidth (12.898 GHz), high front to back ratio (16.699 dB) and very good VSWR (1.0566) at center operating frequency.