Abstract
This paper describes the potentials of zinc aluminate (ZnAl2O4) based microwave dielectric ceramics as patch antenna for GPS applications. Nowadays the GPS operating frequencies has been shifted from microwave technology to millimeter-wave technology. Various microwave dielectric ceramics (MDC) have been explored and widely used in telecommunication industries. Among the most interesting materials of that kind, zinc aluminate (ZnAl2O4) is recognized as one of the most promising non-metals and offers many advantages as GPS patch antenna. By modifying ZnAl2O4 compound with other materials, it is found to have high quality factor (Q>5,000), low dielectric constant (epsilon(r)<20), and near zero temperature coefficient of resonant frequency (tau(f)similar to 0). The studies also evidence the typical value of epsilon(r) for GPS patch antenna and microwave substrate in the range of 4<epsilon(r)<20 and 4<epsilon(r)<10, respectively. The study also shows that the ZnAl2O4-based MDC can be successfully fabricated as microstrip patch antenna, which meets the requirements of GPS application.