Solar-Cell Metasurface-Integrated Circularly Polarized Antenna With 100% Insolation

A circularly polarized (CP) patch antenna loaded with a metasurface, which is realized with a lattice of 4 × 4 square solar cells, is presented. The antenna is composed of a slotted circular patch sandwiched between the metasurface and the ground plane. This arrangement not only allows for total exposure of the solar cells to sunlight (100% insolation) but also improves antenna performance greatly. The final design, with an overall size of 40 mm × 40 mm × 3.5 mm (0.87 $\lambda_{0}$ × 0.87 $\lambda_{0}$ × 0.076 $\lambda_{0}$ at 6.5 GHz) yields a VSWR 90% across its 3-dB AR bandwidth.