Mass Reduction of a Dual-Band Folded-Shorted Patch Antenna for Compact Platforms Enabled by Additive Manufacturing and Electroplating

A low cost and lightweight dual-band folded-shorted patch (FSP) antenna is developed by plastic additive manufacturing (AM) techniques and electroplating, for utilization on size and mass restricted platforms. The intricate design operates in the S- and L-bands and uses a meandered top layer for miniaturization. The manufactured prototypes were also compared to an identical monolithic copper 3D AM prototype. Beam pattern measurements are primarily in agreement with a slight decrease in the peak realized gain, likely due to the manufacturing process of the copper platted elements. Also, a minor downward shift in the operating frequency for both antenna models was observed when compared to full-wave simulations, but good matching was still observed. Also, the platted structure has an 80% mass reduction when compared to the monolithic, fully metallic 3D printed counterpart and is a fraction of the cost.