A dual-band dual-sense circularly polarized patch antenna using hybrid capacitive-inductive proximity-coupling feed

Abstract

This paper presents a new proximity-coupling mechanism between a rectangular patch and a microstrip line with an open circuit terminal. The patch is located to cover both adjacent maximum-voltage (capacitive coupling) and maximum-current (inductive coupling) points of the standing wave on the feedline, and consequently, two orthogonal resonant modes with 90° phase difference are excited on the patch for generating a circularly polarized (CP) radiation. Based on this feeding mechanism, a dual-band dual-sense CP antenna is designed, which is composed of two linear rectangular patch arrays coupled to an open-ending microstrip line. It is realized on a single-layer substrate and its CP rotating sense in each band is opposite to each other. For verification, the antenna operating at 5.0 and 8.0 GHz are designed, fabricated, and tested. Noting that the design concept can be easily implemented to other frequency bands. The measurements result in an impedance-matching bandwidth of 4.72 – 5.10 GHz and 7.50 – 8.20 GHz. The antenna is left-hand CP for the lower band and right-hand CP for the upper band. In addition, the prototype shows a 3-dB axial ratio bandwidth of 4.93 – 5.02 GHz and 7.40 – 8.10 GHz and peak gains of 11.4 and 12.7 dBic at the lower and upper bands, respectively.