Implementation and experimental verifications of microstrip antennas for angular scanning of a Doppler radar

Abstract

The aim of this study is to improve operational capabilities and range of the MIT-Coffee Can Doppler radar via aperture coupled Vivaldi type transmitter antenna, patch array receiver antenna, and an unequal power divider. Accordingly, a mechanical angular scanning feature for tracking multi-targets and the system integration of lightweight microstrip structures are realized for the radar. A narrow beamwidth in the receiver and a well impedance matching on the overall system to reduce return losses are achieved for the considered application. Good agreements between simulations and measurements for the fabricated antennas/divider and a successful integration of the antennas to the existing system for finding a moving target angular location is reported. It is shown that through wall identification and target velocity at scanned regions can be obtained with the proposed hardware configuration. Simulation results of antenna parameters for various number of array elements are listed which could be a useful tool for different engineering applications. (C) 2019 Elsevier GmbH. All rights reserved.