A Compact Dual-Circularly Polarized Cavity-Backed Ring-Slot Antenna

A low profile dual-circularly polarized printed ring-slot antenna with a small footprint, which radiates above an open cavity loaded with an artificial magnetic conducting reflector, is presented. The feed network consists of two T-shaped capacitive feed structures connected to a miniaturized hybrid branch-line coupler. Experimental results for a final antenna design (with a size of $0.5\lambda _{\mathrm {\mathbf {0}}} \quad \times 0.5\lambda _{\mathrm {\mathbf {0}}} \quad \times 0.057\lambda _{\mathrm {\mathbf {0}}}$ ) show a 4% isolation bandwidth between the two ports of the dual-circularly polarized antenna and a maximum gain of approximately 6.8 dBic. Good front-to-back ratios and low cross-polarization were achieved. These very compact and low profile antennas are suitable for 2.4 GHz wireless local area network (WLAN) communication systems.