A New Planar Dual-Band GPS Antenna Designed for Reduced Susceptibility to Low-Angle Multipath.

A new Global Positioning System (GPS) microstrip patch antenna designed for dual-band (L1/L2) operation is introduced. The antenna design is based on the reduced-surface-wave (RSW) concept and, as a result, is much less susceptible to low-angle multipath interference effects than some of the more commonly-used high-precision GPS antennas. In this paper, the radiation characteristics of this new design will be compared to a dual-band choke-ring and a dual-band pinwheel antenna. In addition to having the advantages typically associated with microstrip patch antennas, this planar dual-band antenna lacks the design complications associated with the frequently-used stacked-patch method for realizing dual-band microstrip antenna performance. Thus, the simplicity of the design, together with the reduced horizon and backside radiation levels and excellent circular polarization characteristics indicate that this new antenna design is a promising candidate for dual-band, high-precision applications. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]