Dual-Sense Circular Polarization Antenna Based on Reconfigurable Orthogonal Network

Abstract

A novel circular polarization (CP) reconfigurable microstrip antenna is presented. The CP reconfigurable antenna is divided into three layers, composed of an annular radiating patch, ring slot, and reconfigurable orthogonal network (RON). The designed antenna is fed by dual vertical branches at the output port of the RON. By adjusting the bias voltage of the PIN switch loaded on the reconfigurable orthogonal network, the output phase can be changed, which means that the polarization direction of CP antenna is switchable. Simulation results show that the proposed feeding network provides constant phase difference and lower insertion loss for both states in the operating frequency band, thereby achieving good match and axial ratio characteristics either LHCP or RHCP state. Measured results show that the proposed antenna exhibits operational bandwidth of 1.2% with axial ratio below 3 dB and return loss above 10 dB in both polarized states. Good agreement between simulated and measured results is obtained.