Analysis of crossed dipole to obtain circular

polarization applying Characteristic Modes

techniques
Juan Pablo Ciafardini (1), Eva Antonino Daviu (2), Marta Cabedo Fabrés (2), Nora Mohamed Mohamed-Hicho (2),
José Alberto Bava (1), Miguel Ferrando Bataller (2).

(1)
Dpto. de Electrotecnia. Facultad de Ingeniería, Universidad Nacional de La Plata. Calle 48 y 116 - La Plata
(1900), Argentina. jpciafardini@fcaglp.unlp.edu.ar
(2)
Instituto de Telecomunicaciones y Aplicaciones Multimedia. Edificio 8G. Planta 4ª, acceso D. Universidad
Politécnica Valencia. Camino de Vera, s/n46022 Valencia. España. evanda@upvnet.upv.es

Abstract— The crossed dipole is a common type of antenna
that is used to generate circularly polarized radiation in a wide
frequency range. This antenna was originally developed in the
1930s and today is used in many wireless communication
systems, including broadcast services, satellite
communications, mobile communications, global navigation
systems satellite system (GNSS), radio frequency identification
(RFID), wireless local area networks (WLANs) and global
interoperability for microwave access (WiMAX).
This paper shows that it is possible to obtain circular
polarization with two cross dipoles with different lengths and
connected in parallel by applying the Theory of Characteristic
Modes. The results obtained using this new approach is
consistent with those obtained using the normal method of
analysis of input admittances.
Resumen— El dipolo cruzado es un tipo común de antena
que se emplea para generar radiación con polarización
circular en un amplio rango de frecuencias. Esta antena fue
desarrollada originalmente en la década de 1930 y hoy en día
se utiliza en un gran número sistemas de comunicación
inalámbrica, incluyendo los servicios de radiodifusión, las
comunicaciones por satélite, las comunicaciones móviles, los
sistemas globales de navegación por satélite (GNSS), la
identificación de radiofrecuencia (RFID), las redes de área
local inalámbricas (WLANs), y la interoperabilidad mundial
para acceso por microondas (WiMAX).
En este trabajó se demuestra que es posible obtener
polarización circular con dos dipolos cruzados de distinta
longitud y conectados en paralelo aplicando la Teoría de los
Modos Característicos. Los resultados obtenidos mediante este
nuevo enfoque son consistentes con los obtenidos mediante el
planteo clásico de análisis de admitancias de entrada.
developed to achieve wider bandwidth impedance compared
to the original design. In 1961 a new type of crossed dipole
antenna, which used a single feed, was developed for
circular polarization radiation [5], Bolster demonstrated
theoretically and experimentally that single-feed crossed
dipoles connected in parallel if the lengths of the dipoles
were such that the real parts of their input admittances were
equal and the phase angles of their input admittances
differed by 90º. Based on these conditions, numerous
single-feed circularly polarized crossed dipole antennas
have been designed [5] - [25].
Along the eight decades since the first crossed dipole was
proposed, there has been a lot of literature on these antennas,
however, this paper presents a new approach using the
Theory of Characteristic Modes.
The Theory of Characteristic Modes was first developed
by Garbacz [26] and was later refined by Harrington and
Mautz in the seventies [27], [28]. Initially it was applied to
some cases and then fell in disuse. Recently the theory of
Characteristic Modes reemerged in designing antennas for
modern applications [29], [34], in the last years the number
of publications related to the application of this theory in the
analysis and design of antennas has increased exponentially.
The success of Characteristic Modes lies in the clear
physical vision that provide of the phenomena that
contribute to radiation from the antenna, allowing a better
understanding of its operation, so that the design of it can be
done in a justified and consistent way.
II. CHARACTERISTIC MODES THEORY

I. INTRODUCTION The characteristic modes or characteristic currents can be

The crossed dipole is a common type of antenna used in obtained as the eigenfunctions of the following particular
the frequency range from the RF to millimeter waves. The weighted eigenvalue equation [28]:
first crossed dipole antenna was developed in the 1930s
under the name of "Turnstile Antenna", by Brown [1]. In the = (1)
1940s the antennas "super turnstile" [2] - [4] were
where the are the eigenvalues, are the eigenfunctions
or the eigencurrents, and and are the real and imaginary
part of the impedance operator:
= + (2)
This impedance operator is obtained after formulating an
integro-differential equation. It is known from the
reciprocity theorem that if Z is a linear symmetric operator,
then, its Hermitian parts, R and X, will be real and
symmetric operators. From this, it follows that all
eigenvalues in Equation (1) are real, and all the
eigenfunctions, , can be chosen real or equiphasal (a
complex constant times a real function) over the surface on
which they are defined [27].
Consistent with the Equation (1), the characteristic modes
can be defined as the real currents on the surface of a
conducting body that only depend on its shape and size, and
are independent of any specific source or excitation. In
practice, to compute characteristic modes of a particular
conducting body, Equation (1) needs to be reduced to
matrix form, as explained in [28], using a Galerkin
formulation [35]:
= (3)
Next, eigenvectors, , and eigenvalues, , of the object
are obtained by solving the generalized eigenproblem of
Equation (3) with standard algorithms [36].
As the characteristic modes form a set of orthogonal
functions they can be used to expand the total current J at
the surface of the antenna as follows:
Vni J n
J = (4)
n 1 + jλn
where are the eigencurrents, are the eigenvalues and
are the modal excitation coefficient. The modal
excitation coefficient can be obtained as:
= 〈 , 〉=∯ . (5)
The product in the Equation (4) models the
coupling between excitation and -th mode, and determines
which mode will be excited by the feed of the antenna or the
incident field. It should be noted that the total current in
equation (4) also depends on , which is the eigenvalue
associated with the -th mode. The eigenvalues are very
important because their magnitude gives information on the
frequency of resonance and radiation properties of different
currents modes. If the variation with frequency of the
eigenvalues are analyzed it is often observed that these
take values ranging from -∞ to + .Considering a mode is at
resonance when its associated eigenvalue is zero it is
inferred that the smaller the magnitude of the eigenvalue,
the more efficiently the mode radiates when excited. In
addition, the sign of the eigenvalue determines whether the
mode contributes to storing magnetic energy ( > 0) or
electric energy ( <0).
As discussed above, an analysis of the variation of
eigenvalues is often very useful for the design of the
antenna as information is obtained about the resonance
frequency of the modes. However, in practice other
alternative representations of the eigenvalues are preferred.
Since the current modal expansion described in Equation
(4) depends inversely on the eigenvalues, it seems more
convenient to analyze the variation of the expression:
= (6)
The term presented in (6) is known as modal significance
(MSn) and represents the normalized amplitude of the
current modes [37]. This normalized amplitude only
depends on the shape and size of the conducting object, and
it does not account for excitation.
However, there exists another even more intuitive
representation of the eigenvalues, which is based on the use
of characteristic angles. Characteristic angles are defined in
[38] as:
= 180° − ( ) (7)
From a physical point of view, the characteristic angle
models the phase difference between a characteristic current
Jn , and the associated characteristic field, En.
As previously set a mode resonates when λn = 0 that
means, when its characteristic angle (αn) is 180º. Therefore,
when the characteristic angle is close to 180º the mode is a
good radiator. When the characteristic angle is near 90º or
270º the mode mainly stores energy. Thus, the radiating
bandwidth of a mode can be obtained from the slope at 180º
of the curve described by the characteristic angles.
III. MODAL ANALYSIS OF THE CROSSED DIPOLE ANTENNA
After reviewing the basic concepts of the theory of
characteristic modes we will perform a modal analysis of
the structure of crossed dipole antenna shown in Fig. 1.
Fig. 1. Crossed Dipole Antenna.
 In this figure you can see two dipoles located in the same
plane and at an angle of 90°, the length of each dipole is
L1=L2=L=0.5 meters, and each has a diameter d = 1
millimeter.
To perform the modal analysis of the structure shown in
Fig.1 we worked with the software for electromagnetic
simulations FEKO [39] using Characteristic Modes request.
The Fig. 2 shows the variation with frequency of the
modal significance (MSn) related to current modes Jn of the
crossed dipole shown Fig. 1. The resonance of each mode
can be identified by the maximum value of each modal
significance curve. This means that the closer the curve to
its maximum value, the more effectively the associated
mode contributes to radiation The radiating bandwidth of a
mode can then be established according to the width of its
modal-significance curve near the maximum point
Therefore, in Fig. 2 it can be seen that the modes J1 and J1’
resonate at 290 MHz, as indicated by their corresponding
modal significance curves (MS1 y MS1’), the mode J2
resonate at 485 MHz (MS2), the mode J2’ resonate at 645
MHz (MS2’), the modes J3 and J3’ resonate at 890 MHz (MS3
y MS3’) and the higher order modes resonate outside the
range of frequencies analyzed.
Fig. 2. Modal Significance (MSn) versus frequency related to the currents
modes (Jn) of the crossed dipole antenna show in Fig.1.
Fig. 3. Characteristic Angle (αn) versus frequency related to the currents
modes (Jn) of the crossed dipole antenna show in Fig.1.
The J1 and J1’ modes are called degenerate modes as
they resonate at the same frequency due to the symmetry of
the structure analyzed, so do the J3 y J3’ modes If the modal
significance curves corresponding to the degenerate modes
are observed can be seen that are the same and are
superposed (MS1 with MS1’ and MS3 with MS3’). Note that
the J2 and J2’ modes are not degenerated modes.
Fig. 3 shows the variation with frequency of the
characteristic angles (αn), associated with current modes Jn
of the crossed dipoles. In this case the resonance of the
modes occurs when the characteristic angle (αn) is equal to
180°. It is also noted that curves corresponding to the
degenerate modes are equal and are superimposed (α1 with
α1’ and α3 with α3’).
Although the information given by Fig. 3 could also have
been taken from Fig. 2 often characteristic angle
representation is preferred as it is more intuitive.
Finally, Fig. 4 shows the normalized electric field (En)
associated with the characteristic currents Jn. These far field
modal patterns were obtained with FEKO [39] using
Characteristic Modes request. It can be appreciated that
fields produced by the degenerate modes are equal and
orthogonal to each other (E1 with E1’ and E3 with E3’).
Fig. 4. Normalized characteristic electric fields of the first six modes
of the crossed dipole antenna.
IV. SINGLE-FEED CROSSED DIPOLES WITH CIRCULAR
POLARIZATION.
It is a well-known fact that to obtain circular polarization
it is necessary to combine two orthogonal and linearly
polarized modes, with the same current amplitude and with
a phase difference of 90º [29], [30]. This is accomplished
simply by combining two degenerate modes (of the above),
for example J1 y J1’ modes. To produce the required phase
shift of current the length of one of the dipoles can be
increased, making L1=L+a, causing the resonance
frequency of mode J1 moves to lower values. Furthermore
shortens simultaneously the length of the other dipole,
making L2=L-a, causing the resonance frequency of mode
J1’ moves to higher values, as seen in the curves of modal
significance (MS1 and MS1’) of Fig. 5.
Fig. 6 shows what happens to the curves of the
characteristic angle. It can be seen that the curves
corresponding to the degenerate modes J1 and J1’
represented by its characteristic angles α1 y α1’ separate, are
no longer superimposed as in the case where the two dipoles
had equal lengths. For a value of a = 35mm (7 % of the
original length of the dipole) the desired displacement
between modes J1 y J1’ is obtained. In Fig. 5 can be seen
that for frequency 290 MHz, both modes have exactly the
same amplitude of normalized current. Moreover, as shown
in Fig. 6 modes J1 y J1’ are in phase quadrature at frequency
of 290 MHz. In this way a circular polarization at 290 MHz,
is obtained, since at this frequency, there are two orthogonal
modes that meet the required conditions. Fig.7. Radiation pattern of the crossed dipole antenna of different lengths,
obtained by software simulation. Blue line shows the right circular
polarization and red color left circular polarization.

It is noted that the antenna presents a diagram of quasi

isotropic radiation, linearly polarized in the horizontal plane
containing the dipoles, and radiation with a circular
polarization in the vertical direction. The upper side
irradiates with right circular polarization (RHCP) while the
lower side irradiates with left circular polarization (LHCP).

Finally in Fig. 8 the axial ratio in direction perpendicular

to the plane containing the dipoles is shown. This graph
attests that the radiation generated by the antenna is
circularly polarized at frequency of 290 MHz. The 3dB
bandwidth of axial ratio is 13.5 MHz.
Fig. 5. Curves of modal significance (MSn) of the first four modes of the
crossed dipoles antenna of different lengths.

Fig. 8. Axial ratio in the direction perpendicular to the plane containing the
dipoles.

Fig. 6. Curves of characteristic angle (αn) of the first four modes of the V. CONCLUSION
crossed dipoles antenna of different lengths.

In this work, application of the Characteristic Modes

The Fig. 7 shows the far field radiation pattern obtained
with the dipoles fed in the center and connected in parallel.
The main advantage of this type of feeding is that no
quadrature hybrid is needed to excite the two orthogonal
modes.
Theory demonstrated that it is possible to obtain circular
polarization with two crossed dipoles of different longitude
and connected in parallel.
The obtained results applying the modal analysis is
consistent with those obtained by means of the classic
outline of input admittances analysis [5].
 ACKNOWLEDGMENT
The authors wish to express special recognition to the
Universidad Politécnica de Valencia, since this study was
conducted during the stay of Eng. Juan Pablo Ciafardini at
this university. We must also thank the Facultad de
Ingeniería de la Universidad Nacional de La Plata which
financed part of this research stay.
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