Multilayer and Conformal Antennas Using Synthetic Dielectric Substrates

Multilayer antennas—for example, stacked patches—often employ low permittivity substrates, such as foams. These foams, however, tend to be fragile, difficult to glue, and difficult to bend. In a previous contribution, the authors described how a Duroid substrate may be drilled in order to obtain a low permittivity synthetic dielectric. This paper shows, by means of both practical and numerical experiments, the results of using such a substrate in a range of multilayer antennas.