Single‐layer low‐profile wideband circularly polarized patch antenna surrounded by periodic metallic plates

This article presents a simple design of circularly polarized (CP) antenna with low profile and wideband operation characteristics. To achieve these desirable features, a truncated corner squared patch is chosen as primary radiating source and surrounded by periodic metallic plates for bandwidth enhancement. Notably, all the radiating elements are designed on a single layer of substrate using printed circuit techniques, which significantly reduces the design complexity. The final prototype with overall size of 0.60λ_o × 0.60λ_o × 0.05λ_o (λ_o is free‐space wavelength at the center operating frequency) was fabricated and tested. Measured results show that the proposed antenna has wide operation bandwidth of 19.7% (5.1‐6.2 GHz). Additionally, broadside gain ranging from 5.0 to 6.9 dBic is also attained within the operating band. In comparison with the other reported antennas in literature, the proposed one has the simplest design architecture with competitive operating bandwidth.     

Metasurface cavity antenna for broadband high‐gain circularly polarized radiation

The article presents a microstrip patch (MSA) fed high gain circularly polarized metasurface cavity (CP‐MSC) antenna using a planar progressively‐phased‐reflector and a transmissive linear to circular polarization conversion metascreen. The bottom metasurface reflector consists of a remodeled Jerusalem cross to obtain 2π reflection phase variation. Linear to circular polarization conversion is achieved by a hexagonal ring based meta‐element with high transmission and bellow 3 dB axial ratio from 9.5 to 10.5 GHz. Simulated and measured results of assembled CP‐MSC antenna with MSA are in good agreement. The gain of the proposed cavity antenna with 10 and 10.5 GHz MSA are 14.9 and 16.3 dBi, respectively. Below 3 dB AR throughout the operating band denotes significant circular polarization performance of the proposed antenna.     

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 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.     

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.     

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).     

Wideband circularly polarized dielectric resonator antenna loaded with partially reflective surface

A wideband circularly polarized (CP) dielectric resonator antenna (DRA) loaded with the partially reflective surface for gain enhancement is presented in this article. First, the DRA is excited by a microstrip line through modified stepped ring cross‐slot to generate the circular polarization. Four modified parasitic metallic plates are sequentially placed around the DRA for greatly widening the axial‐ratio bandwidth. Then, a partially reflective surface is introduced for enhancing the gain performance and further improving the CP bandwidth as well. Finally, an optimized prototype is fabricated to verify the design concept. The measured results show that the proposed DRA achieves 54.3% impedance bandwidth (VSWR<2) and 54.9% 3‐dB AR bandwidth. Besides, its average and peak gains are 10.7 dBic and 14.2 dBic, respectively. Wide CP band and high gains make the proposed DRA especially attractive for some broadband wireless applications such as satellite communication and remote sensing.     

A wideband low-radar cross section circularly polarized holographic antenna based on hybrid metasurface

A wideband low-radar cross section (RCS) circularly-polarized (CP) holographic antenna (HA) based on hybrid metasurface is proposed. The proposed HA is composed of a source antenna, a holographic metasurface (HM) and a hybrid metasurface. The HM is designed to transform a surface wave (SW) into a right-hand CP wave. A novel hybrid meatasurface is proposed, which is the main contribution in this paper. The hybrid metasurface consists of two kinds of frequency-selective absorbers (FSAs), both of which exhibit transmission characteristic for in-band waves so that a good radiation performance is maintained. For the out-of-band waves, HM and hybrid metasurface act together as an absorber within 3–11 GHz. On the contrary, they act as two kinds of reflective FSAs (RFSAs) with 180° ± 37° reflection phase difference within 17–24 GHz. Thus, the RCS is effectively reduced within 3–24 GHz. Finally, a reasonable agreement is obtained between measured and simulated results.     

Wideband omnidirectional circularly polarized antenna with offsetting slots and vertical strips

A wideband omnidirectional circularly polarized (CP) antenna is proposed in this paper. The antenna is comprised of two slotted square patches which are connected by four vertical metal strips at the edges and a simple feeding probe in the centre. Loop currents can be yielded on the patches when rotation‐symmetrically offsetting slots are cut. By combining the two orthogonal fields radiating from the loop and the feeding probe, omnidirectional circular polarization is obtained in the azimuth plane. One group of slots are cut to verify the CP performance and two groups of slots are cut to further broaden the operating bandwidth. Measured results show that the proposed antenna with a small size of 40 × 40 × 10 mm³ obtains an effective bandwidth of 22% (2.1–2.62 GHz) for |S₁₁| < ?10 dB and axial ratio < 3dB. © 2015 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Int J RF and Microwave CAE 25:675–680, 2015.     

A coaxial probe fed wideband circularly polarized antenna using unequal and adjacent‐slided rectangular dielectric resonators for WLAN applications

In this article, a coaxial probe fed wideband circularly polarized antenna has been designed and investigated using unequal and adjacent‐slided rectangular dielectric resonators radiating in broadside direction (Φ = 0°, θ = 0°). Wi‐Fi wireless network use radio signal either in 2.4 or 5 GHz band. Owing to high rush in 2.4 GHz band, the proposed antenna is designed for 5 GHz (5.15‐5.825 GHz) WLAN band. The proposed design uses fundamental orthogonal modes and excited in two individual rectangular dielectric resonators to achieve wide axial‐ratio bandwidth (below 3 dB). Measured input reflection coefficient (below ?10 dB) and axial ratio bandwidth (below 3 dB) of 26.07% (5.27‐6.85 GHz) and 26.85% (5.32‐6.97 GHz) has been attained, respectively, in this proposed antenna. The measured far‐field patterns such as gain and radiation patterns are showing consistent performance throughout the working band.     

A new broadband circularly polarized antenna with a single‐layer metasurface

In this article, a new low‐profile broadband circularly polarized antenna with a single‐layer metasurface is designed. The metasurface is composed of 4 × 4 rotated rectangle‐loops. Compared to single rotated rectangle, introducing inner‐cut rectangle slot can increase the design flexibilities by changing this slot size for wider circularly polarized operating bandwidth and reduce the size of the antenna in same frequency. The proposed antenna has the advantages of a wide 3‐dB axial ratio bandwidth from 5.4 to 6.05 GHz and an excellent 10‐dB impedance bandwidth from 5 to 6.05 GHz.     

Wideband polarization reconfigurable circularly polarized antenna with omnidirectional radiation pattern

This paper presents a wideband reconfigurable circularly polarized (CP) antenna with omnidirectional radiation pattern. The antenna is based on a shorted monopolar patch surrounded by multiple curved branches and it is proximity‐fed by a disk‐loaded coaxial cable. The polarization reconfigurability is realized by introducing PIN diodes on junctions between the patch and the branches to alter the current direction flowing on the branches. By properly controlling the ON/OFF states of the diodes, the antenna's polarization can be switched between right‐hand circular polarization (RHCP) and left‐hand circular polarization (LHCP). A reconfigurable prototype has been fabricated and measured. The experiments show that the prototype has wide overlapped bandwidth from 2.3 to 3.1 GHz, in which the reflection coefficient and the axial ratio (AR) are less than ?10 dB and 3 dB for both polarization states. Besides, the antenna radiates dipole‐like patterns with the realized gain of around 0.6 dBic across this operating band.     

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.     

A novel wideband circularly polarized modified square‐slot antenna with loaded strips

In this article, a novel inverted L‐shaped microstrip‐fed wideband circularly polarized (CP) modified square‐slot antenna is designed. By cutting a pair of triangle chamfers and introducing a pair of triangle patches at the square‐slot, the antenna achieves a wideband CP radiation. Moreover, CP performance of the antenna can also be remarkably enhanced by protruding an L‐shaped strip and embedding a tuning rectangle slot into the slot ground. The measured results demonstrate that the axial‐ratio bandwidth for AR < 3 is 75.1% (from 4.45 to 9.8 GHz) and the impedance bandwidth (|S₁₁| < ?10 dB) reaches 65.8% (from 4.95 to 9.8 GHz). In addition, surface current studies are performed to illustrate the operating mechanism of CP operation, and the antenna has bidirectional radiation characteristics with an average gain of ~4 dBic within the CP band.     

A multistate high gain antenna based on metasurface

A multi‐state high gain antenna based on metasurface is proposed. The antenna is composed of two stacking layers and a ground plane. The metasurface is constituted by two layers with the same size. And both of the two layers contain a copper patch array which is formed by 4 × 4 square copper cells uniformly distributed along x and y directions. The metasurface antenna is excited by the aperture coupled structure. The structure is consists of an anomaly microstrip line and a narrow slot etched in the ground plane. Genetic algorithm (GA) is adopted to optimize all the parameters and obtain the best performance of the metasurface antenna. By appropriately choosing the dimensions of the antenna, the proposed antenna can be achieved with the impedance bandwidth (RL≥10 dB) of about 340 MHz (7.8% at 4.36 GHz), 180 MHz (3.6% at 5.02 GHz), and 2800 MHz (41.1% at 6.81 GHz). The peak gain of the proposed antenna is 10.1dBi, 6.9 dBi, and 10.5dBi at 4.26 GHz, 5 GHz, and 7 GHz. In addition, the proposed metasurface antenna can work in multistate, which makes it an excellent candidate for practical applications.     

Single‐feed wideband circularly polarized patch antenna using dual mode defected ground waveguide coupling structure

A dual mode square‐ring defected ground waveguide (SR‐DGW) with defected square patch is first proposed to excite a single‐feed dual mode circularly polarized (CP) patch antenna, which can improve the impedance bandwidth and achieve the CP radiation pattern. The defected square patch is called the perturbation element. By optimizing the size of the perturbation, the degenerate modes of the dual mode SR‐DGW are split and their orthogonal modes can be excited simultaneously. Due to the dual mode of the SR‐DGW, the TM₀₁ mode, and TM₁₀ mode of the square patch antenna are excited simultaneously, which can improve the impedance bandwidth of the antenna. Meanwhile, owing to the orthogonal modes, CP radiation pattern of the antenna is obtained. Then, for a better impedance matching, an L‐shaped spurline embedded in the feedline is introduced. The simulated and measured results show a good performance of the proposed antenna. The measured ?10 dB impedance bandwidth is 10.4% (3.56 GHz‐3.95 GHz). The measured 3 dB axial ratio bandwidth is 5.36% (3.63 GHz‐3.83 GHz). Detailed designs and experiments are described and discussed.     

A metasurface‐based wideband bidirectional same‐sense circularly polarized antenna

This article presents a wideband bidirectional same‐sense circularly polarized (CP) antenna based on metasurface structure. The antenna consists of a rectangular slot and two identical layers of periodic metallic plates as metasurfaces (MSs). The MS structure is formed by 16 unit cells of truncated‐corner patches arranged in 4 × 4 configuration. For bidirectional beam realization, the MSs are positioned on both the front and back sides of the primary radiating slot. In the proposed design, the MSs act as a polarization conversion structures, which convert the linearly polarized wave produced by the rectangular slot to the CP wave. The final antenna has a profile of 0.13λ _o and lateral dimensions of 0.86λ _o × 0.67λ _o at the center operating frequency. Measurements show that the proposed design radiates left‐hand CP radiation for both front and back directions over wide operating bandwidth of 14.3% (5.2‐6.0 GHz). In addition, the average gain value is about 4.2 dBi and the radiation efficiency is always better than 83% across the operating band. To the best of authors' knowledge, the proposed one shows a state‐of‐the‐art operating bandwidth in comparison with other reported designs.     

Broadband circularly polarized printed falcate‐shaped monopole antenna

In this study, a simple broadband circularly polarized (CP) printed monopole antenna for S/C‐band applications is proposed. The CP antenna is composed of a falcate‐shaped monopole with a right‐angle trapezoid stub, then wide impedance and axial ratio (AR) bandwidths are achieved. By placing one rectangular split‐ring resonator above the stub for generating upper CP mode, both of impedance and CP performances are further improved. The proposed antenna is fabricated on a FR4 substrate and measured. The measured ?10‐dB impedance bandwidth is 107%, ranging from 2.4‐7.9 GHz, and the measured 3‐dB AR bandwidth is 94% (2.4‐6.6 GHz), covering the entire wireless local area network (WLAN) and WiMAX bands.     

A wideband circularly polarized antenna using mutual coupling method

A novel wideband circularly polarized (CP) antenna is presented in this article. The proposed antenna consists of a four‐leaf clover patch, four L‐probes, and wideband networks. Based on the tightly coupled mechanism, the four L‐probes are formed as a ring with the adjacent ones kept close for strong mutual coupling. Consequently, the proposed antenna realizes a wideband impedance matching. Meanwhile, the four‐leaf clover patch is put closely inside of the ring for further improving the impedance bandwidth, which is proximity‐coupled fed by the four sequential‐rotation L‐probes with phase of 0°, 90°, 180°, and 270°. The four L‐probes are connected to the respective ports of a wideband feeding network by a two‐stage impedance transforming network. The measured results indicate that the proposed design has an impedance bandwidth of 66.7% from 1.0 to 2.0 GHz for VSWR ≤ 2 and a 3‐dB axial ratio bandwidth of 56.5% from 1.08 to 1.93 GHz. Furthermore, in the operating bandwidth, stable and symmetry radiation patterns and high gain are obtained. The design has a 3‐dB gain bandwidth of 38% from 1.3 to 1.9 GHz with a peak gain of 8.5 dBic.     

Broadband circularly polarized antenna with moon‐shaped parasitic element

A broadband circularly polarized (CP) circular patch antenna with an L‐shaped ground plane and parasitic element is studied. The use of this L‐shaped ground is to achieve short probe feed connection to the circular patch, while maintaining a certain height between the circular patch and ground plane, so that good impedance matching and bandwidth enhancement can be attained. To achieve CP radiation, two notches are initially loaded diagonally into the circular patch, and to further enhance the CP bandwidth, a novel technique of loading a small size moon‐shaped parasitic element into the notched circular patch is proposed. By doing so, the CP bandwidth of proposed antenna can be tremendously increased by approximately 10%. The experimental results show that the proposed CP antenna can yield impedance bandwidth and CP bandwidth of 835–1150 MHz and 839–968 MHz, respectively, with good gain level of 7.6 dBic. Therefore, this proposed wideband CP antenna can be used for UHF (ultrahigh frequency) RFID (radio frequency identification) reader antenna that operates within the universal RFID bands (840 ? 960 MHz). © 2016 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Int J RF and Microwave CAE 26:387–395, 2016