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fully edited. Content may change prior to final publication. Citation information: DOI 10.1109/LAWP.2016.2605099, IEEE
Antennas and Wireless Propagation Letters
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Miniaturized Circularly Polarized Square Slot

Antenna with Enhanced Axial-Ratio Bandwidth
Using an Antipodal Y-strip
Mehrdad Nosrati, Student Member, IEEE, Negar Tavassolian, Member, IEEE

 TABLE I
COMPARISON BETWEEN THE PROPOSED ANTENNA AND SIMILAR ONES IN
Abstract— A novel single-fed, wideband, circularly polarized
THE LITERATURE.
slot antenna is proposed and fabricated. Wideband circular
Ref. Size (mm2) ARBW (GHz) Impedance BW
polarization is obtained by introducing an antipodal Y-strip to a Year λo × λo (%) Relative BW Relative BW
square slot antenna. The feed-line is a U-shaped microstrip line [8] 70 × 70 1.5-1.9 1.4-1.9
which provides a wide impedance bandwidth. The overall size of 2011 0.33 × 0.33 23% 30%
the antenna is only 28 mm × 28 mm (0.3 λo × 0.3 λo). A prototype [9] 20 × 20 5.15-7.1 4.8-7.2
of the antenna is fabricated and tested. The measured 2013 0.33 × 0.33 33% 40%
bandwidths for the axial ratio (AR < 3 dB) and relative [10] 20 × 20 4.3-6.5 4.3-8.0
impedance (|S11| < -10 dB) are 41.3% (from 4.4 GHz to 6.67 2013 0.30 × 0.30 40% 60%
GHz) and 84% (from 3.25 GHz to 8 GHz) respectively, and the [11] 186 × 103 2.0-2.7 1.85-3.23
antenna has a stable radiation pattern and a gain of greater than 2013 1.14 × 0.65 30% 51%
3 dBi over the entire circular polarization frequency band. [12] 50 × 50 3.3-3.8 2-6
2013 0.33 × 0.33 27% 100%
[13] 60 × 60 1.55-2.25 1.17-2.25
Index Terms— Wideband antennas, circular polarization, slot 2015 0.34 × 0.34 36.8% 63.2%
antennas, antipodal Y-strip [14] 67 × 67 3.45-5.25 3-5.5
2015 0.67 × 0.67 41.4% 57%
[15] 120 × 100 1.98-2.25 1.73-3.11
2015 0.69 × 0.57 39.4% 57%
I. INTRODUCTION
This work 28 × 28 4.4-6.67 3.25-8.0

W the advent of modern wireless systems, there is an

ITH
ongoing demand for compact, low-cost, and integratable
2016 0.30 × 0.30 41.3%

a narrower axial ratio bandwidth (ARBW) is achieved.

84%

broadband antennas. Circular polarization is one of the most

Consequently, considerable efforts have been devoted towards
appealing polarization schemes due to having high
addressing this shortcoming. Several techniques have been
immunization to multipath interferences, robustness to
proposed in recent years to enhance the ARBW, such as
polarization mismatches between the transmitter and the
truncated-corner microstrip patch antennas [2], spiral antennas
receiver, and better transmission characteristics in adverse
[3], and dielectric resonator antennas [4]. Single-fed, planar
weather conditions. It is therefore widely employed in various
slot antennas are among the main candidates for realizing a CP
applications such as RFID, radar, WLAN, global positioning,
radiation due to having a simple structure, and thus being low-
and satellite systems.
cost and low-profile. Various techniques have been proposed
Circularly-polarized (CP) antennas can be achieved using
by different groups to increase the axial ratio bandwidth
either single-fed or dual-fed structures [1]. Although dual-fed
(ARBW) of these antennas [5-12]. In [5], a T-shaped strip was
systems provide a wider axial ratio (AR) bandwidth compared
utilized on the ground plane of a CPW-fed square slot antenna
to their single-fed counterparts, they require a wideband
and the reported ARBW was 18%. Creating two inverted L-
power-divider with 90o phase difference between the outputs.
strips on the ground plane of a CPW-fed square slot antenna
This increases the antenna size, complexity, and cost. On the
has increased the ARBW to 25% [6]. The design presented in
other hand, in single-fed CP antennas (which are generally
[7] used ground strips and an inverted L-shaped feed-line to
realized by introducing perturbations in the antenna structure),
attain an ARBW of 30%. In [8], an L-shaped monopole slot
antenna was fed by a C-shaped microstrip line and an ARBW
of 23% was achieved. Using two embedded stubs in the
microstrip feed-line to excite a two-linked elliptical slot has
This paragraph of the first footnote will contain the date on which you led to ARBW of 40% [9]. In [10-15], the shape of the ground
submitted your paper for review. It will also contain support information,
including sponsor and financial support acknowledgment. For example, “This plane of a slot antenna has been modified in different ways to
work was supported in part by the U.S. Department of Commerce under Grant increase the ARBW.
BS123456”. In this paper, a simple, compact, wideband, circularly-
The authors are with the Department of Electrical and Computer
Engineering, Stevens Institute of Technology, Hoboken, NJ, 07030, USA; polarized slot antenna is presented. The antenna fabrication is
email: mnosrati@stevens.edu.

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straightforward and cost-effective. Circular polarization is 28

front back
y
realized by creating an antipodal Y-strip on the ground plane
of a square slot antenna. The antenna has a stable radiation x 0.78
4.6
135o
pattern over the entire CP frequency band. A comparison of 7.35
0.55 16.8
the performance of the proposed antenna and similar antennas
8.25 3.1
28
recently reported in the literature is presented in Table I. It is 0.85
clearly seen that the proposed antenna has similar or better 4.2
2
22.4 2.8
performance over the reference antennas in terms of either
size, ARBW, or both. 8
2.4
8.4

II. ANTENNA CONFIGURATION

(a)
The geometry and a prototype of the proposed antenna are
shown in Fig. 1. Fig. 1 (a) also presents the optimized antenna
dimensions (all in mm). The antenna is printed on a low-loss
RT/Duroid 5880 substrate with dielectric constant of 2.2 and
thickness of 1.6 mm. The antenna is composed of U-shaped
microstrip feed-line, a square slot, a parasitic strip, and an
antipodal Y-shaped strip to realize the CP radiation. It will be
shown in Section III that the length of the Y-strip (Y_length) (b)
has the most significant influence on the antenna ARBW. Fig. 1. Geometry and dimensions (in mm) of the proposed antenna. (a) Top
and bottom sides. (b) Photograph of the fabricated prototype antenna.
As seen in Fig. 1, half of the Y-shaped strip is created on the
ground conductor while the remaining half is on the other side
of the substrate. A parasitic strip is also etched above the feed-
line. Modifying this strip length (L_parasit) allows for fine
tuning of the ARBW. The antenna is fed using a U-shaped
microstrip line. The overall size of the antenna is only 28 mm
× 28 mm. In the next section, the evolution stages of the Ant1 Ant2 Back side
Ant3 Ant4
Front side
proposed antenna are discussed and design guidelines are
provided. Fig. 2. Antenna development process.

III. ANTENNA DESIGN AND EVOLUTION PROCEDURE

Fig. 2 demonstrates the antenna development process. The
S11 and AR of these antennas are plotted in Fig. 3 for
comparison. As seen in Fig. 2, Ant1 is basically a linearly-
polarized (LP) square slot antenna which is fed using a
microstrip feed-line. To enhance the impedance bandwidth of
Ant1, a U-shaped feed-line is exploited (Ant2). According to
the S11 plot shown in Fig. 3 (a), adding the U-shaped junction
results in an improvement in the impedance bandwidth.
However, it can be seen from Fig. 3 (b) that both Ant1 and
Ant2 have LP radiation patterns. The next step of the design is
to excite electrical field components with equal amplitudes
and phase differences of 90° and therefore generate a CP
radiation. Towards this end, a Y-shaped strip and a simple
stub are created on the antenna ground conductor as seen in
Ant3 in Fig. 2. It is clearly observed in Fig. 3 that creating this
Y-strip and stub significantly lowers the AR and improves the
S11. These enhancements are due to an increase in the lengths
of the current paths. Adding the Y-strip has the additional
benefit of miniaturizing the antenna as well. AR is greatly
decreased from 40 dB for Ant1 to below 6 dB for Ant3.
However, Ant3 can achieve an ARBW of only 18% (AR < 3
dB) which is relatively low. The final step of the design is to
enhance the ARBW. Through extensive simulations, we
discovered that using an antipodal design will improve the
ARBW. The same technique has been employed to enhance
the impedance bandwidth of LP antennas [16]. To use this
(a) (b)
Fig. 3. Simulated S11 and AR for Ant1, Ant2, and Ant3. (a) |S11|, and (b) AR
values.
method, half of the Y-strip along with the small stub are
transferred to the opposite side of the substrate to form Ant4 in
Fig. 2. The performance of Ant3 and Ant4 are compared in
Fig. 4. It is clearly demonstrated in Fig. 4 (b) that Ant4 has a
much wider ARBW. A slight shift of S11 towards higher
frequencies is also seen in Ant4 which is due to a decrease in
the lengths of the current paths by transferring the Y-stub and
the parasitic track to the other side of the substrate.
A. Effects of the Y-strip and the Stub Lengths
Fig. 5 demonstrates the effects of the Y-strip and the stub
lengths on the antenna performance. The simulated S11 and
AR curves with different values of the Y-strip length are
shown in Fig. 5 (a) and (b), respectively. The Y-strip alters the
current flow and produces orthogonal electric field
components to generate a CP radiation, and therefore its

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(a) (b)
Fig. 4. Comparison between the performance of Ant3 and Ant4. (a) |S11|, and
(b) AR values.
(a) (b)
(c) (d)
Fig. 5. Effects of Y_length and L_parasit on the antenna performance. (a) &
(c) S11. (b) & (d) AR.
length has a significant influence on both the S11 bandwidth
and the ARBW. The parameter “Y_length” is increased from
3.35 mm to 13.35 mm. As seen in Fig. 5 (a), the S11 response
of the antenna for Y_length = 1.35 mm is very close to the
corresponding response of Ant2 in Fig. 3 (a) which does not
have this strip in its structure. By increasing Y_length, its
effect on the S11 curve becomes more apparent. The optimal
value is found to be 7.35 mm for which the widest S11 and
AR bandwidths are simultaneously achieved.
The S11 and AR variations with different lengths of the
parasitic stub (L_parasit) are depicted in Fig. 5 (c) and (d),
respectively. Since the length of this parasitic strip is
electrically small, changing it does not vary the antenna
impedance by a large amount and thus has minor effects on
the S11 as seen in Fig. 5 (c). However, varying this length
affects the phase difference between the two orthogonal field
components and therefore changes the CP radiation behavior
and consequently the ARBW.
B. Circular Polarization Mechanism
To illustrate the circular polarization mechanism, the
simulated surface current distributions at different time
intervals at f = 5.8 GHz are shown in Fig. 5. As the phase
changes from 0° to 270°, the surface currents trace a clockwise
path. At the initial time of ωt = 0o, the currents mainly move
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3
Fig. 6. Simulated surface current distributions on the feed-line and
ground plane of the proposed antenna at f = 5.8 GHz.
Fig. 7. Antenna placed inside the anechoic chamber.
in the -x direction. At ωt = 90o, the dominant currents flow in
the +y direction. After another quarter-period, the currents
flow in the +x direction. Finally, at ωt = 270o, the currents are
directed in the –y direction. This depicts a left-hand circular
polarization (LHCP) scheme when observed from the +z
direction. Right-hand circular polarization (RHCP) may be
achieved by simply mirroring the antenna about the y-z plane.
IV. EXPERIMENTAL RESULTS AND DISCUSSION
The antenna is simulated using the frequency-domain solver
of CST Microwave Studio. A prototype of the antenna was
measured in a Satimo SG-64 anechoic chamber [17]. Fig. 7
depicts the antenna in the measurement chamber. The S11 and
AR of the proposed antenna are presented in Fig. 8 (a) and (b),
respectively. Excellent agreement is achieved between
simulation and measurement results. Antenna measurements
show a relative impedance bandwidth of 84% (from 3.25 GHz
to 8 GHz) and AR bandwidth of 41.3% (from 4.4 GHz to 6.67
GHz) at the broadside direction θ = φ = 0°. Fig. 9 (b) also
demonstrates the measured and simulated gains versus
frequency. The gain is more than 3 dBi over the entire CP
frequency band. The antenna radiation patterns at several
frequencies are depicted in Fig. 8. Antenna radiation at other
frequencies follow the same pattern and are not presented for
brevity.
The simulated and measured radiation patterns agree well.
The minor discrepancies are attributed to the manufacturing
This article has been accepted for publication in a future issue of this journal, but has not been fully edited. Content may change prior to final publication. Citation information: DOI 10.1109/LAWP.2016.2605099, IEEE
Antennas and Wireless Propagation Letters
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feeding cable which cause some perturbations in the pattern.

V. CONCLUSION
This paper presents a novel compact, wideband, circularly-
polarized antenna. The wideband axial ratio is achieved by
introducing an antipodal Y-shaped strip to a square slot
antenna. A U-shaped feed-line is used to enhance the
impedance bandwidth. The fabricated antenna attains wide AR
and impedance bandwidths of over 41% and 84%,
respectively, and has stable gain and radiation patterns over
(a)
the entire CP frequency band. The antenna is also highly
compact and low-profile and is a promising candidate for a
wide variety of wireless applications.

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