Novel design of a dual-band microstrip antenna array for 6G mmWave applications.

This paper proposes an innovative microstrip antenna design, which can offer dual-band and dual-circular polarization capability, dedicated to small autonomous aerial vehicles (AAVs)/low Earth orbit (LEO) satellites operation at the K/Ka-band. The design uses arrow-shaped (left) and T-shaped (right) stubs to achieve right-hand and left-hand circular polarization in two frequency bands. By simultaneous excitation of the orthogonal modes [Formula: see text] and [Formula: see text]), the resonant frequencies of the antenna can be fine-tuned using these stubs. The stub dimensions allow for individual tuning of each operational band thus enhancing optimal performance in multiple frequencies. A validated 2 × 2 antenna array at 18.6 GHz and 30.8 GHz supports the ability of the design of 10.9% and 4.75% impedance bandwidths; 3.65 and 2.25% axial ratio bandwidths; 9.35 dBic and 10.65 dBic of realized gains. These findings support the appropriateness of the design for more sophisticated communication systems.