Electromagnetics

ISSN: 0272-6343 (Print) 1532-527X (Online) Journal homepage: http://www.tandfonline.com/loi/uemg20

Wideband circularly polarized antenna with end

shorting vias and inverted L-shaped slots

Xiaodan Li, Runbo Ma, Xinwei Chen, Liping Han, Rongcao Yang & Wenmei
Zhang

To cite this article: Xiaodan Li, Runbo Ma, Xinwei Chen, Liping Han, Rongcao Yang & Wenmei
Zhang (2018): Wideband circularly polarized antenna with end shorting vias and inverted L-shaped
slots, Electromagnetics, DOI: 10.1080/02726343.2018.1519334

To link to this article: https://doi.org/10.1080/02726343.2018.1519334

Published online: 29 Nov 2018.

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ELECTROMAGNETICS
https://doi.org/10.1080/02726343.2018.1519334

Wideband circularly polarized antenna with end shorting vias

and inverted L-shaped slots
Xiaodan Li, Runbo Ma, Xinwei Chen, Liping Han, Rongcao Yang, and Wenmei Zhang
College of Physics and Electronics Engineering, Shanxi University, Taiyuan, China

ABSTRACT KEYWORDS
In this paper, we present a new wideband circularly polarized (CP) Circularly polarized antenna;
antenna. It has two parts, the first part is a circular ground plane with curved branches; inverted
curved branches, and the second one is a circular patch with curved L-shaped slots; wideband;
branches and inverted L-shaped slots. We could obtain a wideband end shorting vias
of impedance and axial ratio (AR) through commending inverted
L-shaped slots on the patch and loading end shorting vias at the
corresponding ends of the arced branches in the patch and ground
plane. The realized antenna has a dimension of 43 × 43 × 3.2 mm3,
equals to 0.73λ0 × 0.73λ0 × 0.054λ0 (λ0 is the wavelength at the
minimum frequency). The tested results illustrated that the impe-
dance and axial ratio (AR) bandwidth are 26.98% (5.29–6.94 GHz)
and 25.33% (5–6.45 GHz), respectively. The results of the actual test
are basically adjacent with the simulated one.

Introduction
As the wireless communication has gained increasing attention, circularly polarized
antennas are broadly applied to satellite communications, remote sense, navigation,
WLAN, and etc. Recently, all kinds of CP antennas have been raised. In Pan et al.
(2018), an unusual CP antenna was generated by loading a hollow rectangular antenna
with four unclosed walls. In Kumar, Dwari, and Mandal (2017), a CP antenna was
designed using the patch with a shape of tilting arrow. In Chu, Mao, and Xin-Rong
(2017), a CP antenna combining five sectorial parallel-plate cavities and arc-shaped strip
arms was presented. In Dan et al. (2017), a CP antenna was given by recommending four
pairs coupled outer and inner arcs on the upper patch of the hollow cylinder. Moreover,
some special structure are employed to obtained the CP field, like, the dielectric resonator
motivated through four curved helical slots in the bottom (Yang et al. 2017), joining six
bended slots on the ground plane (Cai et al. 2016), and the six pairs coupled bended arcs
at the top and bottom layers (Chen et al. 2017).
In our work, an original compact CP antenna is presented. In order to improve the
impedance and AR bandwidth, two ways are employed. One is corroding the L-shaped
slots orderly along the margin of the patch, another one is arranging the shorting vias at
the ends of the curved branches. The realized antenna has a low profile of 0.054 λ0. It can
operate at the 5.8 GHz and has a high gain.

CONTACT Wenmei Zhang zhangwm@sxu.edu.cn; wenmeizhang@hotmail.com Shanxi University, College of

Physics and Electronics, Taiyuan, Shanxi 030006, China.
Color versions of one or more of the figures in the article can be found online at www.tandfonline.com/uemg.
© 2018 Taylor & Francis
2 X. LI ET AL.

The design structure and the antenna parameter of our actual antenna are illustrated in
Section 2. The principle of circular polarization is introduced in Section 3. Some crucial
influence factors are discussed in Section 4. And Section 5 states the results of a measure-
ment. Finally, Section 6 is the conclusion.

Antenna design
The designed broadband CP antenna is described in Figure 1, which consists of two parts.
The top one is a circular patch, the bottom one is a rounded ground plane, and between
them there are a dielectric substrate (εr = 2.65, tan δ = 0.001, h = 3.2 mm). The top patch
contains a circular radiator with a radius of R3 and eight bended branches arranged
clockwise. Moreover, eight sequentially inverted L-shaped slots are corroded on the
patch. The ground plane has a same circular radiator with eight curved branches as the
patch. In addition, to connect the circular radiator and curved branches in the top and
bottom layers, two group of vias (group 1 and 2) are arranged uniformly on the circle of
radius a and b and denoted as short vias (group 1) and end shorting vias (group 2),
respectively. The mode of feeding of the antenna is coaxial feed. Table 1 gives the detailed
parameters of the proposed antenna.

Principle of circular polarization

A CP antenna requires the horizontally and vertically polarized waves (Eφ and Eθ) with
equal amplitude and 90° phase difference. For the proposed antenna, Eθ is realized by
circular radiators in the patch and ground plane and vias of group 1 (Liu et al. 2013).
Eφ is radiated by the curved branches in the patch and ground plane and vias of
group 2.
In order to confirm the circular polarization principle of the antenna, the electric field (on
the left) and the surface current (on the right) at four states of a period time at center
frequency of 5.8 GHz is displayed in Figure 2. As displayed in Figure 2(a), at t = 0, the patch
shows a fully charged state and there is no the surface current along the curved branches. The
electric field on circumferential and the L-shaped apertures radiate vertically polarized wave
Eθ. At t = T/4, the patch is totally discharged and the surface current flows in clockwise
direction along the curved branches, as shown in Figure 2(b), which produces the horizon-
tally polarized wave Eφ. At t = T/2, the electric field charges in opposite direction with that in
Figure 2(a) as shown in Figure 2(c), which results in vertically polarized wave Eθ. At t = 3T/4,
the surface current appears again and the electric field is discharged, radiating horizontally
polarized wave Eφ as described in Figure 2(d). It can be seen that electric field and surface
current alternately appear in a period of time (T/4), providing a 90° phase difference between
two orthogonal components. Therefore, CP wave is formed.

Principle for wide bandwidth

In this section, the principle for wideband width is investigated by analyzing the effects of
inverted L-shaped slots and end shorting vias.
 ELECTROMAGNETICS 3

θ3 y
d d1
Top View θ2 z x
Curved
branch
θ1
a R3 R2
b R1
R
R4

Short via
Inverted
L-shaped
slot
Patch

y
Bottom View θ4
z x

rs

R3

Ground Plane

Side View
Substrate Patch
Ground plane Short via z

h y x

Coaxial
cable

Figure 1. The structure of the wideband CP antenna.

4 X. LI ET AL.

Table 1. Optimized parameters of the CP antenna.

Parameter R R1 R2 R3 R4
Value 21.5 mm 8 mm 10.7 mm 13.25 mm 20 mm
Parameter h d d1 a b
Value 23.2 mm 0.8 mm 0.8 mm 11.2 mm 19.6 mm
Parameter rs θ1 θ2 θ3 θ4
Value 3 mm 34° 10° 31° 19°

(a) t=0

(b) t=T/4

(c) t=T/2

(d) t=3T/4

Figure 2. The electric field (on the left) and surface current (on the right) at 5.8 GHz: (a) t = 0 (b) t = T/4
(c) t = T/2 (d) t = 3T/4.
 ELECTROMAGNETICS 5

Effect of inverted l-shaped slots

Figure 3 plots the simulated results with and without inverted L-shaped slots. It indicates
that the L-shaped slots mainly have influence on the impedance bandwidth. For the
antenna without slots, in Figure 3 (a), its –10-dB impedance bandwidth is in the range
of 5–5.44 GHz and 6.2–6.67 GHz and the 3-dB AR bandwidth is in the range of
5–5.7 GHz. After the inverted L-shaped slots are introduced, the antenna in this case
has a wider impedance and AR bandwidth of 1.45 GHz (from 5.1 to 6.55 GHz) and 1.28
GHz (from 5 to 6.28 GHz), respectively, as shown in Figure 3 (a). The mechanism of the
L-shaped slots help the impedance bandwidth can be explained by investigating input
impedance shown in Figure 3 (b). For the antenna without slots, the antenna has two
resonant frequencies at 5.2 GHz and 6.6 GHz. Also, input resistance around 6 GHz is up
to 100 Ω. As a result, the antenna has two separated operating band around two resonant

0 18

15
-10

12

Axial Ratio (dB)

-20
S11 (dB)

9
Without L-shaped slots
-30
With L-shaped slots
6

-40
3

-50 0
5.0 5.5 6.0 6.5 7.0
Frequency (GHz)
(a)

150
Without L-shaped slots With L-shaped slots
Re Re
Im Im
100
Input Impedance (Ohm)

50

-50
5.0 5.5 6.0 6.5 7.0
Frequency (GHz)
(b)

Figure 3. Simulated results of the antenna with and without L-shaped slots. (a) S11 and AR (b) input
impedance.
6 X. LI ET AL.

frequencies. After the inverted L-shaped slots are introduced, input resistance around
6 GHz are reduced to around 50 Ω due to the reduction in Q factor. Also, the second
resonant frequency reduces to 6.25 GHz because of the increase of current path. In this
case, two separated operating bands are connected and a wider bandwidth is obtained.

Effect of end shorting vias

Figure 4 plots the results before and after the end shorting vias are introduced. It is
observed that the end shorting vias mainly used to strengthen the horizontally polarized
wave and improve the AR bandwidth. Before the end shorting vias are arranged, the
antenna has a narrow impedance bandwidth of 1 GHz (from 6 to 7 GHz) and its AR is
larger than 3 dB. After the end shorting vias are added, a wider impedance and AR
bandwidth from 5.1 to 6.55 GHz and from 5 to 6.28 GHz are achieved, as shown in
Figure 4, respectively. Without loss of generality, the principle of end shorting vias
strengthening the horizontally polarized wave can be interpreted by current distribution
at 5.8 GHz, as displayed in Figure 5. It is observed the end shorting vias create a direct
path for the enclosed loop current that the current is increased. As a result, the horizon-
tally polarized wave is largely enhanced.

Simulated and measured results

Figure 6 is the pictures of our designed antenna. The antenna was measured by the Agilent
N5230A vector network analyzer (Agilent Technologies Co., LTD, California, USA) and
SZ-VL antenna automatic test system antenna (as shown in Figure 7). The measured and
simulated results are described in Figure 8–10. Here, the measurement steps of AR are as
followed.

0 24

-10
18
Axial Ratio (dB)

-20
S11 (dB)

With end shorting vias 12

-30 Without end shorting vias

6
-40

-50 0
5.0 5.5 6.0 6.5 7.0
Frequency (GHz)

Figure 4. Simulated results of S11 and AR with and without the end shorting vias.
 ELECTROMAGNETICS 7

(a)

(b)
Figure 5. The surface current of the antenna at 5.8 GHz. (a) without the end shorting vias (b) with the
end shorting vias.

(1) Rotate the linearly polarized transmitting antenna 360° along its axis and find the
maximum radiation level Pmax (in dB) and the corresponding location θmax. (Pmax is
the long axis of the ellipse)
(2) Rotate the transmitting antenna 90° from the θmax and record the minimum
radiation level Pmin (in dB) (Pmin is the short axis of the ellipse)
(3) Calculate AR (dB) = Pmax(dB) - Pmin(dB).
8 X. LI ET AL.

Figure 6. Photograph of wideband CP antenna.

Antenna under test

Linearly polarized antenna

Figure 7. Photograph of the Axial Ratio measurement.

Figure 8 shows the measured S11 and Axial Ratio (at φ = 0°, θ = 30°) in comparison to the
simulated results. The simulated –10-dB impedance and 3-dB axial ratio bandwidth are
24.14% (5.1–6.5 GHz), and 22.69% (5–6.28 GHz), respectively. The corresponding mea-
sured results are 26.98% (5.29–6.94 GHz) and 25.33% (5–6.45 GHz), respectively, which
agree with the simulated one. In addition, the measured S11 around 5.75 GHz are slightly
exceed –10 dB due to the fabrication tolerance.
The calculated and measured radiation patterns in the azimuth (xy-plane) plane and
elevation (xz-plane) plane at 5.8 GHz are shown in Figure 9. In the elevation plane, null
point in the directions of θ = 0º and θ = 180º have been observed. While in the azimuthal
planes (θ = 30º, 60º and 90º), omnidirectional signal coverage is obtained. The cross
polarization (LHCP) fields are 15.02 dB lower than the copolarization (RHCP) fields. Also,
with the increase of θ, the co-polarized (RHCP) is basically unchanged and the cross-
polarized (LHCP) is gradually increased. Moreover, the simulated results and measured
 ELECTROMAGNETICS 9

0 12

-10
9

Axial Ratio (dB)

-20

S11 (dB) S11 AR 6

-30 Simulated
Measured
3
-40

-50 0
5.0 5.5 6.0 6.5 7.0
Frequency (GHz)

Figure 8. Measured and simulated S11 and Axial Ratio of the CP antenna.

0 0
0 330 30 0 330 30

-20 300 60 300 60

-20

-40

270 90 -40 270 90

-40

-20
-20 240 120 240 120

0 210 150 0 210 150

180 180

(a) (b)
0 0
0 330 30 0 330 30

-10
-20 300 60 300 60
-20

-30
-40

270 90 -40 270 90

-40
-30

-20
-20 240 120 240 120
-10

0 210 150 0 210 150

180 180

(c) (d)

Sim. LHCP Sim. RHCP Mea. LHCP Mea. RHCP

Figure 9. Calculated and measured radiation pattern at 5.8 GHz: (a) elevation plane, (b) θ = 30º, (c)
θ = 60º, (d) θ = 90º.
10 X. LI ET AL.

Simulated Gain
3
Measured Gain

Gain (dBi)
1

-1

-2
5.0 5.5 6.0 6.5 7.0
Frequency (GHz)

Figure 10. Measured and simulated gains.

Table 2. Comparison of the wideband CP antennas.

Ref. no Dimension Impedance bandwidth (GHz) AR bandwidth (GHz)
Kumar, Dwari, and Mandal 2017 0.936λ0 × 0.936λ0 × 0.03λ0 11.5–13.5 (16%) 11.8–13.2 (11.2%)
Chu, Mao, and Xin-Rong 2017 0.62λ0 × 0.62λ0 × 0.029λ0 5.68–5.91 (3.97%) 5.25–6.05 (14.16%)
Yang et al. 2017 0.49λ0 × 0.49λ0 × 0.16λ0 2.33–2.54 (8.6%) 2.35–2.5 (6.2%)
Chen et al. 2017 1.12λ0 × 1.12λ0 × 0.05λ0 2.16–2.63 (19.6%) 2.05–2.7 (27.4%)
Our work 0.75λ0 × 0.75λ0 × 0.054λ0 5.29–6.94 (26.95%) 5–6.45 (25.33%)

results are basically consistent. The tiny discrepancies are mainly attributed to the
imperfect measurement environment.
The simulated and measured gain in case of θ = 45°, φ = 0° are revealed in Figure 10. The
measured result is basically matched the simulated one. The actual peak gain at θ = 45° is
2.433 dBi appearing at 6.0 GHz, reasonably agreeing with its simulated result of 2.79 dBi.
Finally, Table 2 lists the main performance of the wideband CP antenna in our design
and corresponding results in other literatures. It is noticed that the recommended antenna
in this letter has the broadest effective bandwidth than other antennas, although it has
slightly larger dimensions.

Conclusions
In this article, we present a new compact wideband CP antenna. The design is focused on
improving the bandwidth of CP antenna through arranging eight L-shaped etched slots and
eight end shorting vias. By adding the eight slots and the eight shorting vias, Eφ and Eθ having
the approximately equal amplitudes and 90° phase difference are obtained. In addition, our
antenna has a high gain at operating frequency. A prototype working at the 5.8 GHz has been
fabricated and tested. The realized antenna achieves a wide usable bandwidth (S11 <−10 dB
ARs <3 dB) of 19.76%. It is could be confirmed by the simulated and measured results.
 ELECTROMAGNETICS 11

Funding
This project was supported by the National Science Foundation of China [61771295, 61775126] and
the Natural Science Foundation for Young Scientists of Shanxi Province [2014021021-1,
2015011042].

ORCID
Wenmei Zhang http://orcid.org/0000-0003-1658-7582

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