A wideband circularly polarized antenna array with sequential rotation feed

A novel wideband circularly polarized (CP) antenna array is designed, which consists of a horizontally placed wideband phase shifting feed network and four vertically placed linearly polarized dipole antenna elements, and the circular polarization is realized based on sequential rotation feeding technology. By placing two parasitic strips and two grounding strips on the top and side of each T‐shaped dipole antenna element, the impedance bandwidth and circular polarization performance of the antenna can be further improved. The simulation results show that the 10‐dB impedance bandwidth of the antenna is 93% (1.56‐4.27 GHz) and the 3‐dB AR bandwidth is 80.7% (1.7‐4.0 GHz). The measured results are in good agreement with the simulation results. Due to the use of orthogonally placed wideband feed network and wideband array elements, the proposed antenna array has a wider circular polarization bandwidth than the similar antenna arrays reported.     

Low‐profile omnidirectional circularly polarized antenna based on substrate integrated waveguide technology

A substrate integrated waveguide (SIW) circularly polarized (CP) antenna with omnidirectional radiation in the azimuthal plane is proposed. The antenna consists of five identical end‐fire CP antenna elements in a pentagonal array configuration, which is loaded on a circular substrate. Each element contains an H‐plane horn antenna in SIW structure and a printed dipole antenna. Five parasitic curve elements are introduced to improve the omnidirectional property of the antenna. Combined with complementary dipoles theory and SIW technology, prototype antenna is designed, fabricated and measured. With a low profile of 0.024λ₀, the antenna has a 10‐dB return‐loss impedance bandwidth of 4.08% (2.4～2.5 GHz) and a 3‐dB axial‐ratio (AR) bandwidth of 5.76% (2.36～2.50 GHz). The antenna works well in the 2.45 GHz ISM band, with good cross‐polarization and excellent omnidirectional property.     

A wideband circularly polarized crossed magneto‐electric dipole

A novel wideband crossed magneto‐electric (ME) dipole for circularly polarized (CP) radiation is proposed in this paper. The proposed antenna consists of a crossed dipole, four parasitic elements, and two pairs of folding metal plates (magnetic dipole). The parasitic elements and magnetic dipole are employed to enhance the axial ratio bandwidth (ARBW). The antenna size is 0.51λ₀ × 0.51λ₀ × 0.33λ₀, where λ₀ is the corresponding free‐space wavelength at the center frequency. A prototype antenna is fabricated and tested. The experiment results depict that the impedance bandwidth (IBW) for voltage standing wave ratio < 2 is 79.2% (2.5‐5.78 GHz) and the 3‐dB axial ratio bandwidth (ARBW) is 72.5% (2.7‐5.77 GHz). At the same time, good CP characteristics and stable symmetrical radiation patterns can be obtained across the operation bandwidth.     

A new modified CPW‐fed wideband circularly polarized half‐split cylindrical dielectric resonator antenna with different permittivity of two layers in radial direction

In this article, a wideband circularly polarized half‐split cylindrical dielectric resonator antenna (HS‐CDRA) having two layers with different permittivity in radial direction is investigated. Designed antenna is excited by a new modified CPW fed which consists of signal line, helps to realization of circular polarization, half‐split cylindrical dielectric resonator (HS‐CDR), to confirm that circular polarization in proposed antenna. HS‐CDR is made of two different materials which can supports to enhance the input impedance bandwidth and 3‐dB axial ratio bandwidth. From the distributions of E‐fields in HS‐CDRA, it is observed that TM_11δ mode has been excited. To confirmed the circular polarization in proposed antenna, E‐field distribution on different phases (φ = 0º, 90º, 180º, and 270º) have been plotted. This antenna provides measured ?10 dB input impedance bandwidth of 25.94% (centered on 4.70 GHz) and 3‐dB axial ratio bandwidth in broadside direction of 17.34% (centered on 4.90 GHz). The average gain and radiation efficiency in working band are 1.56 dBi and 93.43% in broadside direction, respectively. CP radiation pattern shows that the proposed antenna has left hand circular polarization and this developed antenna could be useful for wireless applications like WLAN/Wi‐MAX bands.     

Novel dual‐band asymmetric U‐shaped slot antenna for dual‐circular polarization

A novel dual‐band, dual‐circularly polarized antenna is proposed and fabricated. The proposed antenna consists of an asymmetric U‐shaped slot and an inverted L‐shaped slot which are designed to excite two orthogonal E vectors with equal amplitude and 90° phase difference (PD), in addition, fed by a coplanar waveguide (CPW) Furthermore, a left‐hand circular polarization in the direction of z > 0 and a right‐hand circular polarization instead of the opposite direction both at the lower and upper bands are exhibited by the radiations of the antenna. Good agreement is achieved between the measurement and simulation, which indicates that a 10‐dB bandwidth of 38.75% from 2.56 to 3.8 GHz and 21.8% from 10.01 to 12.53 GHz, while a 3‐dB axial‐ratio bandwidth (ARBW) of 13.4% from 2.77 to 3.2 GHz and 9.23% from 10.25 to 11.25 GHz at two operation bands, respectively, are covered in the designed antenna. To explain the mechanism of dual‐band dual‐circular polarization, the analysis of magnetic fields distributions and a parametric study of the design are given. Meanwhile, compared to other recent works, a single layer structure, wider axial ratio and impedance bandwidths and a more compact size are the key features of the proposed antenna.     

Compact microstrip antennas with very wide ARBW and triple circularly polarized bands

This article presents two compact circularly polarized microstrip antennas with a very wide 3 dB axial ratio bandwidth and triple circularly polarized bands. A hexagonal stub (circular polarization element) along with tuning element in the ground plane is used for achieving wide 3 dB ARBW in antenna‐1, while a novel approach of using a parasitic strip around the circular polarization element is used in antenna‐2 for introducing band elimination notches in the circularly polarized band of antenna‐1. The antenna‐1 has a ?10 dB impedance bandwidth of 12.34% (3.8‐4.3 GHz), 84.02% (4.9‐12 GHz), and 3 dB ARBW of 79.94% (4.9‐10.9 GHz). The antenna‐2 displays circularly polarized band elimination notch characteristics with ?10 dB impedance bandwidth of 24.80% (3.85‐4.94 GHz), 31.72% (6.1‐8.4 GHz), 25.35% (9.3‐12 GHz), and 3 dB ARBW of 4.84% (4.63‐4.86 GHz), 19.08% (6.02‐7.29 GHz), and 5.7% (9.54‐10.1 GHz). Both the antennas are designed and fabricated on FR4 substrate of dimension (0.52 × 0.52 × 0.04)λ₀ at a frequency of 7.9 GHz.     

Wideband asymmetric microstrip‐fed circularly polarized antenna with monofilar spiral stub for WLAN application

A wideband circularly polarized printed antenna is proposed and fabricated, which employs monofilar spiral stubs and a slit in the asymmetrical ground plane which are fed by an inverted L‐shaped microstrip feedline. The CP operation is realized by embedding an inverted‐L shaped strip and modified ground plane and can be markedly improved by loading monofilar spiral stubs asymmetrically connected at the edge of the ground plane. After optimization, the measured results of the finally structure demonstrate that a 10‐dB bandwidth of 67.6% from 4.6 to 9.3 GHz and a 3‐dB axial‐ratio bandwidth (ARBW) for circular polarization (CP) of 60.1% from 5 to 9.3 GHz could be achieved which could completely cover the WLAN (5.725‐5.85 GHz) band. Therefore, the proposed antenna is suitable for circular polarization applications in C band. To explain the mechanism of broadband circular polarization operation, the analysis of magnetic fields distributions and a parametric study of the design are given. Compared to other recent works, a simpler structure, wider axial ratio and impedance bandwidths and a more compact size are the key features of the proposed antenna.     

A wideband compact antenna with quad‐circular polarized bands in its operating regions

This article presents the design of an offset CPW‐fed slot antenna which exhibits a narrow impedance bandwidth (IBW; |S₁₁| ≤ ?10 dB) extending from 1.20 GHz to 1.45 GHz and another wide impedance bandwidth from 1.86 GHz to 8.4 GHz thus covering almost all the conventional operating frequencies. The antenna is loaded with semicircular and rectangular stubs and meandered microstrip lines to realize circular polarization at 1.35 GHz, 3.3 GHz, 4.9 GHz, and 7.5 GHz with axial ratio bandwidth (axial ratio ≤ 3 dB) of 19.25% (1.2‐1.46 GHz), 4.24% (3.24‐3.38 GHz), 4.1%(4.8‐5 GHz), and 5.2% (7.3‐7.69 GHz) respectively thus covering the GPS, WiMAX, WLAN, and X‐band downlink satellite communication application bands. The mechanism of generation of CP is discussed using vector analysis of surface current density distribution. The gain is fairly constant in the wide IBW region with maximum fluctuation of 1.2 dB. The structure is compact with an overall layout area of 0.27λ × 0.27λ, where λ is the free‐space wavelength corresponding to the lowest circular polarized (CP) frequency. A comparison of the proposed antenna with previously reported structures is performed with respect to impedance bandwidth, compactness, number of CP bands, LHCP to RHCP isolation and gain to comprehend the novelty of the proposed design. A prototype of the proposed antenna is fabricated and the measured results are in accord with the simulated results.     

Analysis of wideband circularly polarized ring slot antenna using characteristics mode for bandwidth enhancement

In this article, a coplanar waveguide fed ring slot antenna is proposed for the generation of circular polarization. It is shown that the bandwidth can be improved by adding a stub. Characteristics mode analysis is used to understand the wideband behavior and generation of circular polarization in different antenna configurations. Parametric analysis is used to optimize the performance of the antenna. The proposed antenna is fabricated and the measured results are compared with the simulated performance. The measured impedance bandwidth (|S₁₁| ≤ －10 dB) is 64.6% (2.25 GHz–4.4 GHz) and a 3 dB axial ratio bandwidth is 64.6% (2.25 GHz–4.4 GHz).     

A broadband circularly polarized monopole antenna

A compact modified C‐shaped monopole antenna with broadband circular polarization is proposed, fabricated and measured. The antenna structure is simple and only consists of combined modified C‐shaped radiation patch and an improved ground plane with the overall size of 25 × 25 × 1 mm³. By cutting the corner on the modified C‐shaped patch and adding triangular stubs on the ground plane, the wide impedance bandwidth and axial ratio bandwidth are achieved. The design process of the antenna is given, and the circular polarization mechanism of the circularly polarized antenna is analyzed from the surface current distributions. The measured impedance bandwidth is 95.2% (4.4‐12.4 GHz) with return loss better than 10 dB, and the measured 3 dB axial ratio bandwidth is 96.8% (4.42‐12.72 GHz). The peak gain is above 3.0 dBi within the working band, which indicates that it is suitable for application of ultra‐wideband (UWB) wireless communication systems and satellite communication systems.     

A compact wideband circularly polarized antenna with two pairs of driven patch arrays

In this article, a new wideband circularly polarized (CP) antenna is presented. The antenna is composed of a circular‐loop feeding structure which provides sequential phase (SP), four primary‐parasitic crown patches and four secondary‐parasitic crown patches. The circular‐loop SP structure is used to feed the two pairs of crown patches by a capacitively coupled way. The presented antenna features a wide 10‐dB impedance bandwidth (IBW) of 23% (6 GHz, 5.31‐6.69 GHz), and a wide 3‐dB axial ratio bandwidth (ARBW) of 11.1% (5.875 GHz, 5.55‐6.2 GHz). The proposed antenna features compact structure and broad 3 dB‐ARBW, which could include the WLAN (5.725‐5.85 GHz), ITS (5.8 GHz), and WIFI (5.85‐5.925 GHz) band.     

A novel low‐cost high‐gain antenna design from cuboids and differential strips

This article proposed a novel broadband high‐gain antenna designed by suspended cuboids and differential shorting strips on a circular ground plane. The design structure of the proposed antenna is simple and all its components such as cuboids, strips, and ground plane are fabricated by a copper sheet of thickness 0.5 mm. The proposed antenna has measured ?10 dB impedance bandwidth (IBW) 45% (2.35‐3.7 GHz) with broadside gain of 10.1 ± 0.4 dBi over IBW. The use of differential strips in inner cuboid improved the cross polarization and enhanced the broadside gain. The measured antenna has low cross polarization is below 25 dB in the broadside direction over IBW. The proposed antenna has 1 dB gain‐bandwidth 53% (2.2‐3.8 GHz) in the broadside. The antenna has been fabricated and measured; the results show a good agreement with simulated results.     

A wideband circularly polarized slot antenna with antipodal strips for WLAN and C‐band applications

A single‐fed circularly polarized square shaped wide slot antenna with modified ground plane and microstrip feed has been presented. The field in the slot is perturbed by introducing an antipodal strips section attached with a microstrip line to produce circular polarization in a wide band of frequencies. The antipodal strip section consists of a group of four strips of unequal length and separation. The presence of asymmetric perturbations in the slot is mainly responsible for exciting two orthogonal modes in the slot having equal magnitude and 90° phase difference which results in circular polarization. A wide bandwidth of 3.3 GHz (4.4 GHz‐7.7 GHz) has been achieved for an axial ratio value AR < 3 dB with the minimum axial ratio value being 0.3 dB. The impedance bandwidth for |S₁₁| < ?10 dB ranges from 4.3 GHz to 8 GHz, and therefore covers most of the C‐band communication systems. The antenna exhibits stable radiation patterns throughout the circular polarization bandwidth with a gain around 6 dBi in entire operational bandwidth. A prototype of antenna was fabricated and measured. The antenna has a planar size 0.40λ₀ × 0.40λ₀ and thickness of 0.02λ₀ where λ₀ is the wavelength in free space at the lowest frequency. With its compact size and low profile, the antenna is a favorable choice for WLAN (5.15‐5.85 GHz) and a wide variety of C‐band wireless applications.     

Novel planar reconfigurable circularly polarized complementary antenna for unidirectional end‐fire radiation

In this article, a novel planar reconfigurable circular polarization (CP) complementary antenna for unidirectional end‐fire radiation is proposed. Its radiator is the combination of a shorted quarter wavelength patch and an electric dipole, which provide the vertical and horizontal polarizations, respectively. By adding a 90° phase delay line, the proposed antenna radiates CP electromagnetic waves in the unidirectional end‐fire direction. Four p‐i‐n diodes are also inserted at joints of the electric dipole and the phase delay lines, and two orthogonal CP states, left‐hand (LH) and right‐hand (RH) CPs, can be switched. In order to reduce the number of DC bias lines, electric dipole arms on both sides of the substrate are connected by metal via‐holes, which simplifies the DC bias lines. The proposed antenna at 2.45 GHz is designed and fabricated. Its measured impedance bandwidth with |S₁₁| < ?10 dB and 3‐dB axial ratio bandwidth are 2.1% and 10.7%, respectively. Additionally, its maximum half power beamwidth in xoz plane is 196°. Reasonable agreement between the measured and simulated results validates the polarization reconfigurability of the proposed antenna.     

CPW‐fed C‐shaped slot antenna for broadband circularly polarized radiation

A novel broadband circularly polarized (CP) C‐shaped slot antenna fed by a coplanar waveguide is presented. The broadband CP operation can be achieved simply using a C‐shaped slot in the ground to produce orthogonal surface currents for left‐hand circular polarization. Using the semicircle‐shaped radiator patch, wide impedance bandwidth and broad axial‐ratio (AR) bandwidth can be obtained simultaneously. The measured results show that the proposed antenna can provide a 10‐dB impedance bandwidth of 105% from 2.78 to 8.92 GHz, and a 3‐dB AR bandwidth of 70.4% from 2.9 to 6.05 GHz. Finally, an antenna prototype with a reflector for unidirectional pattern applications is also developed. The proposed antenna has broader impedance and CP bandwidths but with a more compact size compared with the previous designs. © 2015 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Int J RF and Microwave CAE 25:739–746, 2015.     

Compact microstrip‐via‐fed wideband circularly polarized antenna with monofilar spiral stub for C‐band applications

A wideband circularly polarized printed antenna is proposed and fabricated, which employs monofilar spiral stubs and a slit in the asymmetrical ground plane which is fed by an asymmetrical microstrip feedline using a via. The CP operation is realized by embedding an inverted‐L shaped strip and a modified ground plane and can be markedly improved by loading monofilar spiral stubs connected to the asymmetric feedline by means of a via. A parametric study of the key parameters is made and the mechanism for circular polarization is described. After optimization, the impedance bandwidth is approximately 3.6 GHz (4.4‐8 GHz) and the 3 dB axial ratio bandwidth is approximately 3.3 GHz (4.7‐8 GHz), which represent fractional bandwidths of approximately 58.1% and 52%, respectively. Therefore, the proposed antenna is suitable for circular polarization applications in C (4‐8 GHz) band. Compared with other recent works, the simpler structure, wider axial ratio, impedance bandwidths, and more compact size are the key features of the proposed antenna.     

Broadband printed quadrifilar helix antenna using parasitic strip technique

A circularly polarized (CP) printed quadrifilar helix antenna (QHA) with enhanced bandwidth is proposed in this communication. This QHA is fed by a feeding structure with superior performance, which uses wide‐band 90° and 180° planar bulun. The feeding network can simply realize the 90° phase shift and four equal power divisions within a wide band range. Enhanced impedance matching and CP radiation characteristics can be achieved with the parasitic strips between helix arms. The study of proposed antenna performance with different geometric parameters has been conducted. The final antenna exhibits a good impedance bandwidth (IBW) of approximately 37.4% (1.65‐2.41 GHz), and the 3‐dB axial‐ratio bandwidth (ARBW) is over 43.9% (1.6‐2.5 GHz). Broad pattern coverage, pure CP radiation at all designed bands and a wide 3 dB axial‐ratio beam width of 150° makes this antenna an excellent candidate for satellite communications and navigation systems.     

Novel wide‐beam cross‐dipole CP antenna for GNSS applications

A wide‐beam circularly polarized (CP) cross‐dipole antenna for GNSS applications is proposed in this article. This cross‐dipole antenna is fed by a coaxial cable, on which the slots is added to optimize the impedance matching. These two pairs of dipole arms are designed with different lengths to obtain the circularly polarized radiation. Enhanced wide‐beam CP radiation characteristics can be achieved by curving the dipole arms and adjusting the distance between the arms and the metallic ground plane. The study of proposed antenna performance with different geometric parameters has been conducted. The final antenna exhibits a good impedance bandwidth (IBW) of ～13.1% (1.50‐1.71 GHz), and the 3‐dB axial‐ratio bandwidth is over 7% (1.52‐1.64 GHz). Broad pattern coverage of more than 140°, pure CP radiation at all designed bands and a wide 3 dB axial‐ratio beamwidth (ARBW) of nearly 150° makes this antenna an excellent candidate for satellite communications and navigation systems.     

A compact double‐layer wideband circularly polarized microstrip antenna with parasitic elements

In this article, a new broadband circularly polarized (CP) microstrip patch antenna (MPA) with a sequential phase (SP) square‐loop feeding structure is proposed. The presented antenna is composed of a square‐loop feeding structure, four L‐shaped parasitic patches with L‐shaped slots, four parasitic square patches, and a corner‐truncated square patch. At first, a SP square‐loop is designed as a feeding structure. Then, four L‐shaped parasitic patches with L‐shaped slots are utilized to generate one CP mode by a capacitive coupled way. At last, four parasitic square patches and a corner‐truncated square patch are together placed above the SP feeding structure to broaden the circularly polarized bandwidth (CPBW). The presented antenna has a wide 3‐dB axial ratio bandwidth (ARBW) of 16.7% (5.4 GHz, 4.95‐5.85 GHz), and a wide 10‐dB return loss bandwidth of 25.5% (5.5 GHz, 4.8‐6.2 GHz). The proposed antenna features compact structure and broad 3‐AR bandwidth which could completely cover the WLAN (5.725‐5.85GHz) band. Therefore, the proposed antenna is suitable for circular polarization applications in C band.     

A dual‐band and wideband omnidirectional circularly polarized antenna based on VO2

In this article, a dual‐band and wideband omnidirectional circularly polarized (CP) antenna based on the vanadium dioxide (VO₂) is investigated. The operating bandwidth of such an antenna can be regulated by altering the outside temperature (T), which is attained by the insulator‐metal transition of VO₂. The omnidirectional CP antenna is based on a loop antenna‐dipole model, which is composed of four tilted metal and VO₂ resonant units that are loaded around a cuboid and a feeding network for broadening bandwidth. The simulated results show that when T = 50°C (State I), the 10‐dB impedance bandwidth is 45.7% (1.67‐2.66 GHz), and the 3‐dB axial ratio (AR) bandwidth is 40% (1.9‐2.85 GHz). When T = 80°C (State II), the 10‐dB impedance bandwidth is 13.8% (1.62‐1.86 GHz), and the 3‐dB AR bandwidth is 21.8% (1.68‐2.09 GHz). In order to further characterize the concept of the proposed antenna, the related parameters of such an antenna are studied using simulation software HFSS.