Shorted annular patch antennas for multipath rejection in GPS-based attitude determination systems

Abstract

In the past years, ESA has been considering the use of the Global Positioning System (GPS) as a medium-accuracy attitude sensor for low-earth-orbit missions. This paper describes the design of a compact GPS antenna with improved multipath rejection to counteract the effects of the spurious reflections. In particular, a shorted annular patch that is a variant of the classical annular patch and has its inner edge shorted by a cylindrical conducting wall is proposed. It is shown that the radiation characteristics of the antenna offer the possibility to fulfill the multipath rejection radiation requirements without using an array solution. © 2001 John Wiley & Sons, Inc. Microwave Opt Technol Lett 28: 47–51, 2001.