Antenna is one of the key payloads of the GNSS-R system, and the gain is an important performance parameter. The signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) of the received signal can be improved by increasing the gain of the GNSS-R antenna, therefore the measurement accuracy is improved. However, the antenna gain and its beam width, these two performance parameters, are contradictory. If the gain of the antenna is increased, its beam width will inevitably become narrower. This narrowed beam width will affect the width of the survey strip for the GNSS-R system, which cannot meet the requirement of the high-precision and high-spatial resolution spaceborne GNSS-R sea surface altimetry in the future. In this paper, a novel dual circularly polarized phased array antenna (NDCPPA) is proposed and investigated. First, the GNSS-R satellites currently operating in orbit are all cGNSS-R systems, which use the traditional element antenna (TEA) method for measurement. The antenna used in this method is with low gain, which limits the improvement of sea surface measurement accuracy. In response to this problem, this paper establishes an NDCPPA model of iGNSS-R measurement system based on the theory of coherent signal processing on the sea surface. This model uses the high-gain scanning beam to increase the gain of the iGNSS-R antenna without affecting its coverage area, thereby improving the sea surface altimetry precision. Second, in order to verify the gain improvement effect brought by adopting the NDCPPA model, an NDCPPA model verification prototype for iGNSS-R sea surface altimetry was designed and fabricated, and then measured in a microwave anechoic chamber. The measurement results show that, compared with the TEA method, the antenna gain of our proposed verification prototype is enhanced by 9.5 dB. And the measured and designed value of the gain of the verification prototype matches well. Third, based on the GPS L1 signal, the NDCPPA model is used to analyze the effect of improving the precision of sea surface altimetry. Compared with the TEA method, the proposed model can increase the altimetric precision of the nadir point from 7.27 m to 0.21 m, which effectively improves the performance of the iGNSS-R altimetry. The NDCPPA model proposed in this article can provide the theoretical method basis and the crucial technical support for the future high-precision and high-spatial-resolution GNSS-R sea surface altimetry verification satellite.

To address the issue of traditional Particle Swarm Optimization (PSO) being prone to local optima and insufficient global search capability in sparse phased array optimization, a hybrid optimization algorithm integrating PSO with a Genetic Algorithm (GA) is proposed. Within the PSO framework, the proposed algorithm incorporates the adaptive crossover and mutation operations of the GA to enhance population diversity. It combines an adaptive weighting factor and a constriction factor to balance global exploration and local exploitation capabilities. Furthermore, a density-weighted method is employed to generate a high-quality initial population, thereby accelerating convergence. The proposed algorithm is applied to an 8 × 8 planar sparse array. On the E-plane (φ = 0°) and H-plane (φ = 90°), simulation results indicate that the achieved normalized maximum sidelobe level is −23.14 dB, which is significantly superior to those obtained by standalone PSO and GA. Based on these simulation results, microstrip patch antennas are introduced for array constitution and analysis. Full-wave electromagnetic simulation proves that the proposed sparse array has the ability of wide-angle scanning and low sidelobe. Our work demonstrates that the PSO-GA hybrid algorithm effectively enhances search capability and convergence performance, providing a reliable solution for sparse array design.

The bistatic global navigation satellite system’s (GNSS) signal reflection technology has become an effective means of space-based sea surface wind field retrieval and height retrieval. By adopting a wider signal bandwidth, a higher pulse-limited footprint resolution can be achieved. However, for the GNSS-Reflectometry (GNSS-R) system, its signal bandwidth is affected by the signal bandwidth of the GNSS satellite, which limits the further improvement of the pulse-limited footprint resolution. This article proposes a method based on the novel signal bandwidth joint principle to improve the resolution of GNSS-R pulse-limited footprints. Firstly, currently in-orbit GNSS-R satellites use the traditional single frequency band (TSFB) method, which is limited by the GNSS satellite’s signals and has a theoretical upper limit on its signal bandwidth. In response to this issue, this article proposes the novel joint bandwidth (NJBW) method (Galileo E5a and E5b signals) based on the auto-correlation function (ACF) signal ambiguity theory. The NJBW method reduces the main lobe width of the ACF of the GNSS-R signal by jointly processing the signals of E5a and E5b frequency bands, thus improving the pulse-limit footprint resolution of GNSS-R. Secondly, in order to verify the improvement effect of the novel joint bandwidth method on the pulse-limited footprint resolution of GNSS-R, this paper designs and fabricates an NJBW antenna verification prototype for the joint Galileo E5a and E5b frequency band and tests it in a microwave anechoic chamber. The test results indicate that the radio frequency (RF) bandwidth of the NJBW antenna validation prototype can cover both the frequency bands of E5a and E5b, making it suitable for use as the NJBW method for the GNSS-R receiving antenna. The bandwidth test values of the NJBW antenna validation prototype are consistent with the design values, which verifies the correctness of the NJBW antenna design model and further proves the feasibility of the NJBW method. Thirdly, based on the joint Galileo E5a and E5b frequency band signals, the NJBW method was applied to analyze the improvement effect of the pulse-limited footprint resolution. Compared to the TSFB method, the application of the NJBW method can increase the resolution of the GNSS-R pulse-limiting footprint by 1.73 times, which effectively improves the performance of the GNSS-R system. The NJBW method proposed in this article provides the theoretical method foundation and key technical support for sea surface wind field retrieval and height retrieval and the antenna design for the future high-precision and high pulse-limited footprint resolution GNSS-R sea surface wind field retrieval and height retrieval verification satellite.