Simple reconfigurable circularly polarized antenna at three bands

Abstract

In this paper, a simple design for a triple-band circularly polarized (CP) antenna with the capability of switching its polarization between dual-sense CPs is presented. The proposed antenna is comprised of a monopole loop antenna as a primary radiator. By placing a parasitic loop around the primary radiator, an additional CP band is achieved. Reconfigurability of the polarization between right-hand CP (RHCP) and left-hand CP (LHCP) at three different frequencies of 2.5, 3.3, and 3.8 GHz was realized by controlling the ON/OFF states of two PIN diodes. For validation, the fabricated antenna yielded an impedance bandwidth of 52.6% (2.34-4.01 GHz), while the axial ratio bandwidths for both the RHCP and LHCP states were 3.5% (2.47-2.56 GHz), 6.6% (3.20-3.42 GHz), and 2.4% (3.74-3.83 GHz). The measured broadside gains within the axial ratio bandwidth were 1.2, 2.7, and 1.4 dBi, respectively. Compared to other reconfigurable multi-band CP antennas, the proposed design is the first work to achieve a reconfigurable polarization at three distinct bands at a low fabrication cost by using only two diodes. The proposed antenna is suitable for WLAN and WiMAX applications.