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This paper presents a novel sequentially rotated patch array antenna with dual circular polarizations (CP). The present design has the advantages of compact size, simple feed networks, low cross polarization, and high isolation. The radiating elements are dual linearly polarized (LP) equilateral triangular patches with hybrid feeds. The vertical polarization (VP) of the patch antenna is obtained by using an aperture-coupled feed and the horizontal polarization (HP) is obtained by using a proximity feed. These two feeds are orthogonally positioned and are printed on different PCB layers, which leads to the high isolation between these two ports and facilitates the design of the feed networks. The array antenna consists of six such dual-LP triangular patches sequentially rotated by 60 ^\circ and fed by separated feed networks. Since LP antenna elements are used, the design of the feed network is much simplified. Through sequentially varying the feeding phase by \pm 60^\circ, dual circular polarizations are obtained. The operation principle of the array antenna is also analytically explained in this paper. To verify the design concept, one dual LP equilateral triangular patch and one dual CP equilateral triangular patch array resonating at 10.5 GHz are designed, fabricated, and tested. There is a good agreement between the simulation and measurement results, both of which show that the array antenna exhibits high port isolation and good circular polarizations with low cross polarization at different planes. The proposed design technique can be applied to the design of dual CP array antennas operating at other frequency bands. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Low-profile wideband circularly polarized (CP) array antennas using integrated half-power quadrature power divider (HP-QPD) are presented. A novel HP-QPD is first proposed as an important design concept for CP radiation. Detailed analyses show that the proposed HP-QPD can have half-power CP radiation and the remaining half-power transmission with equal-magnitude but quadrature phase difference. Therefore, it can be utilized for designing a 1 $\times $ 2 CP array antenna. Compared to the traditionally designed single-feed or dual-feed CP counterparts, this 1 $\times $ 2 array antenna can have more than four times wider axial ratio (AR) bandwidth with three CP modes and a simple feed network. This 1 $\times $ 2 array antenna was then designed, fabricated, and measured for performance verification. Both measured and simulated results show that this array antenna can have a wide overlapped impedance and AR bandwidth of 7.9% with a thin dielectric thickness of $0.031\lambda _{0}$. The 1 $\times $ 2 array antenna was further extended to a 1 $\times $ 8 linear array antenna for high gain CP radiation. Measured results show that unidirectional and symmetrical radiation patterns are achieved with high peak realized gain of 15.4 dBic, low profile, and simple feed network. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article presents a new design of a differentially fed substrate integrated planar antenna array with dual-polarization. Compared with the traditional dual-polarized antenna arrays, the proposed array antenna has the advantages of simple configuration, high cross-polarization discrimination (XPD), and high gain. The 2 × 2-element subarray design with a via-loaded crossover structure is used, which reduces the complexity of the array antenna. The operation bandwidth is improved by generating three resonances in the subarray. An 8 × 8 antenna array is designed, prototyped, and tested to exemplify its potential applications in large dual-polarized antenna arrays. A planar orthomode transducer is used to achieve differential excitation for the antenna array. The measured results show that the proposed antenna array has an impedance bandwidth of 19.2–20.7 GHz for |S11|< −10 dB and port isolation higher than 20 dB. The array antenna exhibits a high XPD of 43 dB and a flat gain of about 22.2 dBi within the bandwidth. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article presents a novel dual slant polarized antenna for millimeter-wave (mmWave) base stations. Compared with the traditional slant polarized mmWave antennas, the proposed antenna offers the advantages of high cross-polarization discrimination (XPD), good aperture efficiency, simple structure, and low profile. The corner-fed substrate integrated waveguide (SIW) cavity is adopted to improve the port isolation and XPD of this slot-coupled antenna. Four corner-truncated patches connected by a thin cross strip are placed over the SIW cavity to increase the operation bandwidth. Then, a $2\times 8$ antenna array is designed to exemplify the antenna element performance. To improve the impedance matching, a shorted patch is introduced in designing the series feeding network and the power divider. The experimental results show that the 2 dB-down gain bandwidth of the proposed antenna array reaches 6.0% and the port isolation is better than 20 dB. The gain and XPD of the antenna array measure 16.7 dBi and 25 dB at the center frequency, respectively. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this article, a novel millimeter-wave dual-polarized 2-D multibeam antenna array incorporating differentially fed antenna elements is proposed to achieve high cross-polarization discrimination (XPD) when the beams scan to the maximal pointing angles. The antenna element is composed of an SIW cavity with four shorted patches placed inside, and it is differentially excited for dual-polarization by a pair of feeding strips and transverse slots beneath the patches. Differential excitation is realized by a power divider designed on two laminate layers. Two Butler matrices placed perpendicularly with each other in different laminates are employed to generate four tilted beams with dual-polarization. A $2\times 2$ dual-polarized 2-D multibeam antenna array working at 28 GHz is designed, fabricated, and measured. The operation bandwidth of the antenna is 26.8–29.2 GHz. The improvement in the XPD is experimentally demonstrated by far-field measurement. When the beams scan to 30° off the boresight, the measured XPDs are 28 dB at the center frequency and higher than 25 dB over the operation bandwidth, which confirms that the cross-polarized radiation in the 2-D multibeam antenna array is suppressed by using the differential-feeding technique. The measured gain is in the range from 7.6 to 10.5 dBi. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A novel dual-polarized crossed slot planar array antenna is presented in this communication. The proposed design integrates the antenna array with the feeding networks on a single laminate. The antenna element is developed by using a TE210 and TE120 mode cavity, which is constructed by inserting a number of metalized posts around the crossed region of two perpendicular substrate integrated waveguides (SIWs). The crossed slot is etched over the cavity and is excited from two orthogonal directions to realize dual-polarization. Owing to the orthogonality between the TE210 and TE120 mode, high isolation and low cross-polarization are achieved. A prototype of the designed antenna array operating at 25 GHz is fabricated and measured. The measured results confirm that the presented array antenna has high port isolation (>41 dB), high cross-polarization discrimination (XPD) (>26 dB), and high aperture efficiency (40%). With the advantages of simple configuration, good radiation performance, and easy fabrication, this proposed array antenna is a good candidate for millimeter-wave wireless systems. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A novel differentially driven dual-polarized patch antenna is presented in this communication. The proposed antenna is a low-cost design with a simple configuration, which avoids using the conventional high-cost multilayer PCB technology. The antenna is composed of two intersected open-loop resonators, which are connected to each other at the center. By using the electric coupling from the intersected resonators, two orthogonal radiating modes are excited from the top radiating patch. With the even- and odd-mode current distributions on the intersected resonators, high port isolation and low cross-polarization level are obtained. The external quality factor of the resonator is illustrated by using the analytical model of a double-loaded resonator. To demonstrate the design method, the proposed antenna and array are designed, fabricated, and measured. Compared to the traditionally designed capacitively coupled antenna, two times wider impedance bandwidth is obtained for the proposed antenna with high isolation (>38.5 dB) and low cross-polarization level (< −33 dB). The antenna array is designed for 5G base stations, which features the compact size and low reflection coefficient (< −15 dB). In addition, beam scanning performance of the antenna array is also investigated for base-station applications. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Crossed-dipole (CD) antennas have been widely employed for dual polarization in wireless communication systems in recent years. In this paper, a novel design concept of dual-polarized shared-dipole (DPSD) antenna is presented. Different from the traditional CD antennas, the arms of the DPSD antenna are shared for two orthogonal polarizations. This design technique leads to significant size reduction and high isolation compared to the traditional CD antennas. The operation principle of the proposed antenna is theoretically analyzed. To validate the presented design concept, two novel DPSD antennas are designed, fabricated, and measured. The first design is a four-port DPSD antenna, which is a straightforward demonstration of the operation principle of the DPSD antenna. The second design is a highly integrated DPSD antenna, which avoids the use of a feed network and provides a simple configuration to design the dual-polarized antenna. Both of the DPSD antennas are designed to operate at 1.7–2.7 GHz for base station applications. The simulated and measured results confirm that the two DPSD antennas have wide bandwidth with VSWR < 1.5 and isolation > 35 dB dB. In addition, stable gain and half-power beamwidth are obtained with the variance less than ±0.55 dB and ±3.5°, respectively. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Tightly coupled arrays (TCAs) have received considerable interests recently. Although various TCAs have been reported, they are generally limited to single or dual linear polarizations. Considering the importance of circularly polarization in various wireless systems, it is meaningful to design a circularly polarized (CP) TCA with a simple configuration. This communication presents a CP tightly coupled crossed dipole array (CP-TCCDA) with intrinsic CP feeding structure, which achieves wide overlapped impedance bandwidth and axial ratio (AR) bandwidth. An analysis is given to explain the principles of AR bandwidth improvement and is validated by the comparison of radiated E-fields between a CP-TCCDA and a conventional CP crossed dipole array. To verify the design concept, a $4 \times 4$ CP-TCCDA with elaborate feeding network is fabricated and measured. The measured results confirm that the proposed array achieves VSWR < 3 bandwidth from 2.06 to 6.46 GHz (3.14:1) and 3 dB AR bandwidth from 2.35 to 5.6 GHz (2.38:1), which are much wider than the bandwidth of an isolated element and a conventional array using the same element. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A novel ultra-wide-band tightly coupled dipole reflectarray (TCDR) antenna is presented in this paper. This reflectarray antenna consists of a wideband feed and a wideband reflecting surface. The feed is a log-periodic dipole array antenna. The reflecting surface consists of $26 \times 11$ unit cells. Each cell is composed of a tightly coupled dipole and a delay line. The minimum distance between adjacent cells is 8 mm, which is about 1/10 wavelength at the lowest operating frequency. By combining the advantages of reflectarray antennas and those of tightly coupled array antennas, the proposed TCDR antenna achieves ultra-wide bandwidth with reduced complexity and fabrication cost. A method to minimize the phase errors of the wideband reflectarray is also developed and the concept of equivalent distance delay is introduced to design the unit cell elements. To verify the design concept, a prototype operating from 3.4 to 10.6 GHz is simulated and fabricated. Good agreement between simulated and measured results is observed. Within the designed frequency band, the radiation pattern of the TCDR antenna is stable and the main beam of the antenna is not distorted or split. The side lobe levels of the radiation patterns are below −11.7 dB in the entire operating band. It is the first time a tightly coupled reflectarray is reported. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

This paper presents a novel tri-band (X/Ku/Ka-band) planar antenna array with dual polarizations and shared aperture. Compared with traditional dual-polarized arrays, the proposed array has advantages of low cost, low profile, and high integration. Three types of antennas resonating at different frequencies, including the perforated patch, stacked patch, and slim crosspatch, are innovatively interleaved in the same aperture. The crosspatch fed by proximity coupling is presented as Ku-band element for its advantages of compact size, high isolation, and pure polarization. The techniques such as series feed and reverse feed are utilized to implement the six feed networks in a compact size with reduced cross polarizations. Measured results agree well with the simulations, showing three operation bands at X-, Ku-, and Ka-bands with the bandwidths of 3.6%, 6.7%, and 5.3%, respectively. The antenna also exhibits excellent radiation performance with the cross-polarization discrimination over 25 dB at the three bands. To the best of the author’s knowledge, this is the first shared-aperture X/Ku/Ka-band dual-polarized antenna array reported, which is useful for potential synthetic aperture radar applications. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A triband antenna with high gain and low profile is proposed. This antenna is based on the concept of Fabry–Perot cavity antenna (FPCA) and three resonances are obtained by employing two frequency selective surface (FSS) layers. Two FSS layers lead to two resonant frequencies by making each FSS layer satisfy the resonant condition of Fabry–Perot cavity. The third resonant frequency is obtained by exploiting the combined effects of the two FSS layers together. The operating principle of this proposed antenna is explained and the achievable frequency range is investigated. It is shown that the proposed method enables all three resonant frequencies to be independently tuned within certain frequency range. Because of the 0° reflection phase of the combined-FSSs, the present antenna has a low profile. To verify the design concept, one C-/X-/Ku-band FPCA is designed, fabricated and tested. Experimental results agree well with the simulated results. High gain with good impedance matching in three bands is obtained, which reaches a peak gain of 13.4 dBi at 5.2 GHz, 18.9 dBi at 9.7 GHz, and 20 dBi at 14.6 GHz. The overall height of the proposed antenna is approximately 0.36 wavelength at its lowest operating frequency. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

A novel broadband circularly polarized (CP) antenna with wide axial ratio (AR) beamwidth is proposed. It is composed of two curved arms shaped like an inverted “S.” The mechanisms of wideband CP operation and wide AR beamwidth are explained. To validate the concept, a prototype at C-band is manufactured and measured. Experimental results confirm that the antenna achieves an impedance bandwidth of 63% and a CP bandwidth of 42%. Furthermore, maximum AR beamwidth of 140° is achieved and wide AR beamwidth can be maintained in a frequency bandwidth of 35% in nearly all elevation planes. In addition, the antenna has the advantage of being easily extended to arrays. A four-element array using the proposed antenna is investigated through both simulations and experiments, and achieves 60% CP bandwidth and wide AR beamwidth. The proposed inverted-S antenna can realize wide CP bandwidth and wide AR beamwidth, and can easily form wideband CP arrays. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

A novel method of designing a wideband high-isolated dual-antenna pair using dual-characteristic modes (CMs) is presented for fifth-generation (5G) multiple-input multiple-output (MIMO) smartphone applications. A set of orthogonal CMs resonating from the square-loop slot is first introduced and works for the lower band. Then, another set of orthogonal CMs resonating from the edge branches is introduced with a shared compact radiator and works for the higher band. In combination with two sets of degenerated CMs and a capacitive coupling feeding structure, the proposed dual-antenna pair achieves a broad impedance bandwidth and high isolation without the need for any external decoupling structures. Based on this dual-antenna pair, an $8\times $ 8 MIMO array is developed and integrated into the back cover of a smartphone, which realizes zero ground clearance on the system circuit board. To verify the design concept, prototypes of the antenna pair and MIMO array were fabricated and measured. It shows that experimental results agree well with the simulation results. More importantly, the presented $8\times $ 8 MIMO array has high isolation of more than 20 dB is achieved across the operating band of 3.3–3.8 GHz. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A novel reflectarray (RA) with ultralow-profile and 2-bit phase quantization beam-steering ability is presented in this article. To reduce the profile, a Leaky-wave feed is used to excite the RA with enhanced illumination efficiency. Moreover, simultaneous sum and difference patterns are also obtained to provide beam flexibility. The entire thickness of the proposed RA is less than 3% of that of the conventional front-fed RA with the same aperture. To increase the efficiency of the RA, a novel unit cell consisting of a polarizer layer and a reflection layer is developed, which is configured to provide polarization rotation and 2-bit phase shifts by using a hybrid of tunable polarization and discrete resonator. The operation principle, theoretical explanation, and implementation of the proposed antenna are elaborated in this work. To prove the design concept and beam scanning performance, an array with $9 \times 7$ unit cells operating at Ka-band is designed and simulated first. Two-dimensional beam scanning within the range of ±30° has been verified. Then, a passive prototype with $9\,\,\times67$ unit cells is designed, fabricated, and measured. Experimental results show aperture efficiency of 35.1% and illumination efficiency of 43.4%. The developed RA is scalable, and it provides a viable low-cost solution to develop low-profile, high-gain and beam-steering array antennas for satellite applications. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A novel wideband four-arm sinuous antenna with dual circular polarizations (CPs) and unidirectional radiation is proposed. Different from the conventional designs, this sinuous antenna is realized in a conical form and no ground plane or absorptive cavity is required to obtain unidirectional radiation. The beamforming network for dual circularly polarized operations consists of a wideband quadrature coupler and two wideband baluns, and an auxiliary feeding patch is introduced to facilitate the connection between baluns and sinuous arms. The design of baluns and coupler is inspired from the printed exponentially tapered microstrip balun and broadside-coupled microstrip coupler, respectively. The dynamic differential evolution algorithm is employed to optimize the geometry of coupler for optimal performance. For both polarizations, the presented antenna has wide impedance bandwidth, good axial ratio, moderate realized gain, and front-to-back ratio within 2–5 GHz. An antenna prototype is fabricated and tested. The agreement between simulation and measurement results validates the proposed antenna framework. The demonstrated antenna has advantages of wide bandwidth, dual CPs, unidirectional radiation, lightweight, and low cost, and is promising for applications in wireless systems. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A novel polarization-reconfigurable planar antenna is presented. The antenna consists of an electronically reconfigurable polarizer integrated with a printed slot. By changing the states of the p-i-n diodes on the polarizer, the linearly polarized (LP) waves radiated by the slot can be converted into either right-hand circularly polarized (RHCP) or left-hand CP (LHCP) waves. The polarizer contains 16 unit cells arranged as a $4\times 4$ array. The antenna radiates RHCP waves if the p-i-n diodes on the top side of the polarizer are switched ON, while LHCP waves are radiated if the p-i-n diodes of the bottom side of the polarizer are switched ON instead. The physical mechanisms of the antenna are discussed and the parametric study is carried out by full-wave simulations. To verify the concept, one prototype at 2.5 GHz is designed, fabricated, and measured. Good agreement between the measured and simulated results is obtained. The antenna achieves a gain ≥8.5 dBic in both RHCP and LHCP with an aperture efficiency of 70%. Advantages of the proposed design include electronically reconfigurable polarizations for RHCP or LHCP, low profile, low cost, high isolation between the dc bias circuit and RF signals, high power handling capability, and easy extension to large-scale arrays without increasing the complexity of the dc bias circuit. To the best of our knowledge, this is the first report of an electronically polarization-reconfigurable CP antenna with a single-substrate polarizer. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this paper, a novel dual-band dual-polarized array antenna with low frequency ratio and integrated filtering characteristics is proposed. By employing a dual-mode stub-loaded resonator (SLR) to feed and tune with two patches, the two feed networks for each polarization can be combined, resulting in the reduction of the feed networks and the input ports. In addition, owing to the native dual resonant features of the SLR, the proposed antenna exhibits second-order filtering characteristics with improved bandwidth and out-of-band rejections. The antenna is synthesized and the design methodology is explained. The coupling coefficients between the SLR and the patches are investigated. To verify the design concept, a C-/X-band element and a $2 \times 2$ array are optimized and prototyped. Measured results agree well with the simulations, showing good performance in terms of bandwidth, filtering, harmonic suppression, and radiation at both bands. Such an integrated array design can be used to simplify the feed of a reflector antenna. To prove the concept, a paraboloid reflector fed by the proposed array is conceived and measured directivities of 24.6 dBi (24.7 dBi) and 28.6 dBi (29.2 dBi) for the X-polarization (Y-polarization) are obtained for the low- and high-band operations, respectively. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]