A Wideband Circularly Polarized Patch Antenna With Enhanced Axial Ratio Bandwidth via Co-Design of Feeding Network

Abstract

A wideband circularly polarized (CP) patch antenna with enhanced axial ratio (AR) bandwidth via co-design of feeding network is proposed in this paper. One $\pmb \lambda/4 $ resonator and one $\pmb \lambda/2 $ resonator are introduced and coupled in proximity to two orthogonal points of a square patch radiator to excite two orthogonal modes. These two resonators not only function as impedance matching elements to achieve equal magnitude of two orthogonal modes in a wide frequency band but also provide the required 90° phase difference. In this way, two minima in the AR response appear, resulting in extended AR bandwidth. The wideband design of the antenna is carried out based on the equivalent circuit model, where the patch radiator is treated as a conductance, inductance, and capacitance parallel resonator. In particular, the feeding network and the patch are jointly considered as a three-port network for synthesis design. By mapping the radiated far field to the magnitude and phase on the radiation conductance in the circuit model, the AR response of the antenna becomes predictable in a straightforward manner. Measured results experimentally demonstrate that the 3-dB AR bandwidth of our proposed CP patch antenna is 2.7 times that of the traditional one fed with two 90° offset lines.