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.2015.2417355, IEEE Antennas and Wireless Propagation Letters
1

Design of Novel Wideband Circularly Polarized

Antenna Based on Vivaldi Antenna Structure
Yong-Jin Hu, Zhi-Mo Qiu, Bo Yang, Shu-Jie Shi and Jian-Jun Yang

 t w2 rc
Abstract—This letter presents a novel compact wideband Metal wall(copper)
circularly polarized antenna by utilizing Vivaldi antenna z
Exponentially
structure as the design concept. The proposed antenna consists of w1 Outer edge
h1 tapered patch
four exponentially tapered patches, a circular metal wall and a Inner edge
feed network. Four tapered patches are sequentially rotated and Ground plane
vertically located in the circular metal wall which acts as a vertical h2 g Arc slot
ground plane. Slot-coupled feed technique is applied to feed the s1 y Substrate
hs
antenna. Feeding by a corporate feed network, wide impedance Arc slot w Feed network
bandwidth and axial ratio (AR) bandwidth are achieved.
(a)
Parametric studies are made to optimize the antenna. The
Ground plane
experimental results show that the antenna exhibits a 3-dB AR ws
bandwidth of 41.4% (3.45-5.25GHz) and a 10-dB impedance Arc slot
d
bandwidth of 57.3% (3.06-5.52GHz). θ rc Feed network

Index Terms—Wideband antennas, circular polarization, Isolation resistance

Vivaldi antennas, slot coupled feed technique
45deg Exponentially tapered
patch
y 50ΩMicrostrip line
I. INTRODUCTION
Circular metal wall
x (copper)

C ircularly polarized (CP) antenna is one of the most widely

used antennas because it allows for reduction in multipath
reflections and greater flexibility in orientations between
w
(b)

transmitting and receiving antennas. And CP antennas with
wideband CP radiation property have been widely investigated.
With the development of antenna technology, many wideband
CP antennas and arrays have been reported such as spiral
antennas [1], [2], loop antennas [3],[4], slot antennas [5], [6],
antenna arrays with application of sequential rotation feeding
technique [7], [8], [9], and so on.
Vivaldi antennas and tapered slot antennas are a class of
frequency independent antennas. Vivaldi antennas and tapered
slot antennas can always provide ultra wide impedance
bandwidth, where a long electrical length is obtained with a
reasonable short geometrical length. They are widely applied in
wireless communication due to their wide bandwidth, low cross
polarization, and stable patterns. Detailed investigations of the
Vivaldi antennas and tapered slot antennas have been
undertaken in [10]-[15]. Nevertheless, these researches focused
on the development of wideband linearly polarized Vivaldi
antennas or tapered slot antennas. Recently, a decade
bandwidth CP antenna array which is composed of four
antipodal Vivaldi antennas and a broadband feed network has
been presented in [16]. The proposed antenna exhibits the
10-dB return loss and 3-dB axial ratio bandwidths from
Fig. 1 Geometry of the proposed CP antenna. (a) sectional view. (b) top view.
1-10GHz. However, it is not very compact, and the feed
network design is very complex. In [17], the authors have
developed a compact wideband CP antenna using exponentially
tapered slots for the radiator. When the slot antenna modules
with a backed reflector for unidirectional radiation pattern
applications, it can provide a 3-dB AR bandwidth of 53%.
However, the bandwidth of the antenna is restricted by the
10-dB return loss bandwidth of 40%. And the dimension of the
antenna is about 1.49λ×1.49λ×0.28λ (λ is the free-space
wavelength at the center frequency).
This letter investigates a novel compact broadband CP
antenna. In the proposed antenna structure, the Vivaldi is cut in
half and is mirrored by the metal cavity around it. This leads to
the antenna size reduction. The final dimension of the antenna
is only about 0.97λ×0.97λ×0.52λ (λ is the free-space
wavelength at the center frequency). Combining with the
exponentially tapered slot structure and corporate feed network,
the antenna yields wide impedance bandwidth and AR
bandwidth. The measured performances of the prototype were
found to exhibit a 10-dB return loss bandwidth of 57.3%, and a
3-dB AR bandwidth of 41.4%. The proposed antenna can
provide wider bandwidth and is more compact than the one
mentioned in [17].

1536-1225 (c) 2015 IEEE. Personal use is permitted, but republication/redistribution requires IEEE permission. See
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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.2015.2417355, IEEE Antennas and Wireless Propagation Letters
2

II. ANTENNA DESIGN AND SIMULATED RESULTS slots. The tapered patch and the arc slot are rotated 45degrees
about the central axis of the circular wall and then duplicated
A. Antenna Element Structure and Numerical Analysis
along the central axis in relation to a rotationally symmetric
Fig. 1 illustrates the configuration and coordinate system of structure. The four patches are placed in two orthogonal planes
the proposed antenna. As shown in Fig.1 (a), we assume Z axis which pass through the diameter of the circular wall. The slots
vertically upwards and take the midpoint of the tapered patch’s are fed with equal amplitude power with relative excitation
bottom line as coordinate origin. The inner and outer edge phases of 0°, 90°, 180° and 270°. Three Wilkinson power
tapers of the patches are given by the following parametric dividers and phase shifters are utilized to design the corporate
equations: feed network which is fabricated on the bottom layer of FR4
youter  c1eaz  c2 (1) substrate. To evaluate the effects of the antenna dimensions on
s1 S11 and AR, a parametric study is performed. The parameter
c1  ( w1  w2  ) (e ah1  1) (2)
2 optimization is carried out based on trial-and-error strategy.
s1 ah1 The optimized dimensions of the proposed CP antenna are
c2  [ e  ( w1  w2 )] (eah1  1) (3)
2 shown in table II. Fig. 3 shows the simulated S-parameters and
axial ratios of the proposed CP antenna while varying the
yinner  c3ebz  c4
2
(4)
parameters of rc, w2, a, and b. The radius of rc has a relatively
s1 (5) high impact on S11 and AR. As shown in Fig. 3 (a), the AR
c3  ( w1  ) (ebh2  1)
2

2 bandwidth starts to deteriorate when rc increases. And rc has a

s1 bh22 (6) little influence on the impedance bandwidth. It is because that
c4  ( e  w1 ) (ebh2  1)
2

2 the coupling intensity between the tapered slots probably

The patch is vertically located in a circular copper wall with changes with rc. It can be observed from Fig. 3 (b), (c), and (d),
radius of rc, thickness of t and height of h1. The offset distance the parameters of w2, a, and b slightly effect S11 and AR when
from the bottom of the outer edge to the circular metal wall is they do not dramatically change.
denoted by g. The gap between the outer edge and circular TABLE I
metal wall corresponds to tapered slot which act as BASIC DIMENSIONS OF THE ANTENNA ELEMENT
electromagnetic wave radiator. Unlike traditional Vivaldi parameter value parameter value parameter value
antenna feed structure, slot-coupled feed technique is utilized to h1 36mm g 1mm s1 4mm
feed the tapered slot. The arc feed slot with width of ws and h2 15mm ws 2mm hs 0.8mm
radian of θ is etched on the top layer of a common FR4 (εr=4.4, w1 25mm d 8mm a 0.11
w2 10mm rc 30mm b 0.002
tanδ=0.02) substrate. A 50Ω microstrip feed line resides on the θ 62deg t 0.2mm
bottom layer of the substrate. The length of microstrip tuning
stub is defined as d. It has been experimentally demonstrated 0 0

that a tapered slot antenna can radiate energy effectively

-10 -10
without any supporting dielectric substrate [18]. Consequently,
the tapered patch is made of brass sheet with thickness of
S11(dB)
S11(dB)

-20 -20
0.5mm and welded on the top layer of the FR4 substrate. To
h1=32mm
examine the effect of antenna parameters on impedance -30 h1=36mm -30 g=0.5mm
h1=40mm g=0.8mm
matching, the antenna structure is designed and simulated by h1=44mm
g=1mm
g=1.3mm
using Ansoft HFSS. Only one tapered copper patch is located in -40
3 3.5 4 4.5 5 5.5 6 6.5 7
-40
3 3.5 4 4.5 5 5.5 6 6.5 7
Frequency(GHz) Frequency(GHz)
the circular metal wall and fed by a 50Ω microstrip line. The (a) (b)
selection of the operating frequency band is made by a 0 0

comprehensive consideration of difficulties in fabrication and

-10 -10
processing cost. The basic antenna parameters are given by
table I. Fig. 2 shows the effect of some key parameters on the
S11(dB)

S11(dB)

-20 -20

antenna S-parameter. The size of the patch is one of the main

factors affecting antenna electrical performances. As shown in -30 θ=42deg -30 d=6mm
θ=52deg d=8mm
Fig. 2 (a), the working frequency band shifts to low frequency θ=62deg
θ=72deg
d=10mm
d=12mm
when h1 increases. Wider impedance bandwidth can be -40
3 3.5 4 4.5 5 5.5 6 6.5 7
-40
3 3.5 4 4.5 5 5.5 6 6.5 7
Frequency(GHz) Frequency(GHz)
achieved by dramatically increasing h1. The impedance (c) (d)
matching is dominantly affected by offset distance of the outer Fig. 2 Simulsted S-parameters versus h1, g, θ, and d.
edge, dimensions of the arc slot, and length of the microstrip TABLE II
line stub. From Fig. 2 (b), (c), and (d), it can be observed that OPTIMIZED DIMENSIONS OF THE PROPOSED ANTENNA
good impedance matching can be achieved by tuning g, d and θ. parameter value parameter value parameter value
h1 36mm g 0.8mm s1 4mm
B. CP Antenna Design h2 17mm ws 2mm hs 0.8mm
w1 25mm d 8mm a 0.11
To generate circularly polarized radiation, sequentially w2 5mm rc 28.5mm b 0.002
rotated technique is applied to feed the exponentially tapered θ 62deg t 0.2mm w 67mm

1536-1225 (c) 2015 IEEE. Personal use is permitted, but republication/redistribution requires IEEE permission. See
http://www.ieee.org/publications_standards/publications/rights/index.html for more information.
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.2015.2417355, IEEE Antennas and Wireless Propagation Letters
3

III. MEASUREMENT RESULTS AND DISCUSSIONS
A prototype of the proposed antenna, constructed for
measurement purposes, is portrayed in Fig. 4. During the
antenna measurements, the Agilent N5230C vector network
analyzer is used to measure the S11 of the antenna. All radiation
characteristics of the antenna are measured in an anechoic
chamber. The experimental and simulation results of S11 of the
antenna are shown in Fig. 5. The measured S11 is less than
-10dB from 3.06GHz to 5.52GHz. This corresponds to an
0 18
-10
impedance bandwidth of 57.3%. From 3.00GHz to 5.45GHz,
the simulated S11 is no more than -10dB. The simulated and
measured results are complied with each other.
Fig. 6 shows the measured and simulated ARs versus
frequency in z-direction. The measured CP bandwidth is within
the impedance bandwidth. From 3.45GHz to 5.25GHz, the
measured AR of the antenna is below 3dB and the 3-dB AR
bandwidth is about 41.4%. The simulated 3-dB AR bandwidth
is 47.6%, from 3.2GHz to 5.2GHz. The difference between
measured and simulated results could be attributed to
fabrication tolerance.
15

-20 12

Axial ratio(dB)
S11(dB)

-30 rc=28.5mm 9
rc=29mm
rc=31mm
-40 6
rc=32mm

-50 3

-60 0
3 3.5 4 4.5 5 5.5 6
Frequency(GHz)
(a) (a) (b)
0 18 Fig. 4 Practical prototype of the proposed CP antenna. (a) Side view. (b)
Bottom view.
-10 15 0
Simulated S
11

-20 12 Measured S 11
Axial ratio(dB)

-10
S11(dB)

-30 w2=3mm 9
w2=5mm
S11(dB)

-40 w2=8mm 6 -20

w2=10mm
-50 3
-30

-60 0
3 3.5 4 4.5 5 5.5 6
Frequency(GHz)
-40
(b) 3 3.5 4 4.5 5 5.5 6
0 18 Frequency(GHz)
Fig. 5 Simulated and measured S11.
-10 15 15

Simulated S 11
-20 12 12 Measured S 11
Axial ratio(dB)
S11(dB)

-30 9
a=0.09 9
S11(dB)

a=0.11
-40 a=0.13 6
a=0.15 6

-50 3

3
-60 0
3 3.5 4 4.5 5 5.5 6
Frequency(GHz)
0
(c) 3 3.5 4 4.5 5 5.5 6
Frequency(GHz)
0 18
Fig. 6 Simulated and measured axial ratio.
12
-10 15

10
-20 12
Axial ratio(dB)
S11(dB)

8
-30 b=0.001 9
Gain(dBi)

b=0.002
6
b=0.004
-40 6
b=0.006
4
-50 3

2
-60 0
3 3.5 4 4.5 5 5.5 6
Frequency(GHz) 0
3 3.5 4 4.5 5 5.5 6
(d) Frequency(GHz)
Fig. 3 Simulated S-parameters and axial ratios versus rc, w2, a, b. Fig. 7 Simulated gain of the antenna.

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http://www.ieee.org/publications_standards/publications/rights/index.html for more information.
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.2015.2417355, IEEE Antennas and Wireless Propagation Letters
4

Due to our measurement restriction, only simulated gain of and is mirrored by the metal cavity around it. This leads to the
the antenna is shown in Fig. 7. The simulated gain is more than antenna size reduction. Owing to the exponentially tapered slot
6.9dBi in the 3-dB AR bandwidth (3.45-5.25GHz), and the structure, wide impedance bandwidth can be obtained. To
peak gain is about 10.0dBi at 5.3GHz. realize broadband CP operation, the antenna is fed by a
Fig. 8 shows the simulated and measured normalized corporate feed network that comprises three Wilkinson power
radiation pattern of the antenna in both XZ and YZ planes at dividers series phase shifters. The prototype of the antenna
3.5GHz, 4.1GHz and 5.0GHz, respectively. The antenna yields a 3-dB AR bandwidth of 41.4% and a 10-dB impedance
radiates a right hand circular polarization (RHCP). The bandwidth of 57.3%. The antenna maintains good radiation
measured radiation patterns are stable and symmetrical in a patterns and relatively stable gain level in the AR bandwidth.
wide band, owing to the symmetrical antenna configuration and The antenna is compact and its dimension is only about
feeding technique. The measured and the simulated results of 0.97λ×0.97λ×0.52λ.
the RHCP radiation pattern are in good agreement. The
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