Circularly Polarized Antenna Array Fed by Air-Bridge Free CPW-Slotline Network

Abstract

A novel design of 1×2 and 2×2 circularly polarized (CP) microstrip patch antenna arrays is presented in this paper. The two CP antenna arrays are fed by sequentially rotated coplanar waveguide (CPW) to slotline networks and are processed on 1 mm thick single-layer FR4 substrates. Both of the two arrays are low-profile and lightweight. An air-bridge free CPW-slotline power splitter is appropriately designed to form the feeding networks and realize the two CP antenna arrays. The mechanism of circular polarization in this design is explained. The simulated and measured impedance bandwidths as well as the 3 dB axial ratio bandwidths and the radiation patterns of the two proposed antenna arrays are presented. This proposed design can be easily extended to form a larger plane array with good performance owing to its simple structure.