Patent ID: 7193567

Claim:
A microstrip antenna which provides for TM and GPS frequency coverage comprising: (a) a ground plane printed circuit board having a bottom surface covered with copper plate, said ground plane printed circuit board having a circular shape; (b) a circuit board positioned above said ground plane printed circuit board in alignment with said ground plane printed circuit board, said circuit board having an upper surface, a lower surface, and said circular shape; (c) a telemetry microstrip antenna spaced apart from and electrically separated from said ground plane printed circuit board by said circuit board, said telemetry microstrip antenna being tuned over an S-Band frequency range of 2.2 to 2.3 GHz; (d) said telemetry microstrip antenna including: (i) a circular shaped radiating patch mounted on the upper surface of said circuit board for transmitting a first RF (radio frequency) signal having telemetry data contained therein; and (ii) a first filter mounted on the lower surface of said circuit board, said first filter being electrically connected to the radiating patch of said telemetry microstrip antenna to filter GPS (Global Positioning System) signals from the first RF signal transmitted by said radiating patch; (e) a square shaped GPS microstrip antenna mounted above said telemetry microstrip antenna on said circuit board, said GPS microstrip antenna receiving a second RF signal having GPS data contained therein; (f) a filter top printed circuit board positioned below said ground plane printed circuit board in alignment with said ground plane printed circuit board, said filter top printed circuit board having an upper surface, a lower surface, and said circular shape; and (g) said filter top printed circuit board including: (i) a second filter mounted on the lower surface of said filter top printed circuit board, said second filter being electrically connected to the radiating patch of said telemetry microstrip antenna to filter said GPS signals from the first RF signal transmitted by the radiating patch of said telemetry microstrip antenna; and (j) a third filter mounted on the lower surface of said filter top printed circuit board in proximity to said second filter, said third filter being electrically connected to said GPS microstrip antenna to filter TM signals from said second RF signal received by said GPS microstrip antenna.