Accurate and versatile solutions for probe-fed microstrip patch antennas and arrays

Full-wave solutions for probe-fed microstrip patch antennas and arrays have been receiving a great deal of attention in the literature recently [1-25], In this article, we review previous solutions and their limitations, and describe a very accurate and versatile solution that has been developed by the authors. Applications of our approach to several specific geometries have appeared [20-24] or will appear [25] in the literature. Therefore, this paper focuses on the general features of our technique and its relationship to other approaches. In particular, we discuss infinite phased arrays of probe-fed patches in detail, and give results showing the effect of a cover layer on array performance.