IEEE ANTENNAS AND WIRELESS PROPAGATION LETTERS, VOL. 19, NO.
4, APRIL 2020
Design of a Compact Dual Circular-Polarized
Antenna for L-Band Satellite Applications
Harine Govindarajan, Santi C. Pavone , Member, IEEE, Loreto Di Donato , Member, IEEE, Paolo Di Mariano,
Giuseppe Distefano, Patrizia Livreri , Member, IEEE, Prabagarane Nagaradjane, Concetto Squadrito ,
and Gino Sorbello
Abstract—In this letter, we propose a design of a dual circular-
polarized antenna for L-band applications (1.1–1.6 GHz). The de-
signed antenna has been developed by considering crossed-dipoles
on top of which a circular patch has been placed, to properly act on
the mutual coupling between the dipoles. The dual circular polar-
ization is achieved by feeding dipoles in quadrature. Moreover, to
increase the antenna gain and polarization purity at high elevation
angles, a fence of passive monopoles has been added. The proposed
antenna can profitably used as primary feed of a low-frequency
parabolic reflector.
Index Terms—Circular polarization, crossed dipoles, patch
antennas, small satellites.
I. INTRODUCTION
IRCULARLY POLARIZED antennas (CP) are widely
C used at relatively low frequencies (L-band or S-band)
in several satellite applications like MEO satellites [1], Cube-
Sats [2], telemetry tracking and command (TTC) antennas [3],
wireless power transfer [4], and near-field focusing [5], [6],
to mention a few. CP antennas [7] are particularly desired for
designing links between satellites and earth stations, since the
polarization of a linear-polarized radio-wave is subjected to the
Faraday rotation as it passes through the ionosphere. Moreover,
in absence of the Faraday rotation, CP antennas are desirable
because no particular orientation between transmitting and re-
ceiving antennas is required for polarization matching, as for
instance in dedicated short-range communication (DSRC) [8],
[9].
Manuscript received January 4, 2020; accepted January 30, 2020. Date of
publication February 3, 2020; date of current version April 17, 2020. This work
was supported in part by Sicilsat Communications s.r.l., as part of the order
1821817, in part by the Thales Alenia Space Italy, and in part by the PON
Research and Innovation project AIM (Attraction and Mobility of Researchers),
Action I.2, granted by the FSE European Union program. (Corresponding
author: Santi C. Pavone.)
Harine Govindarajan and Prabagarane Nagaradjane are with the Depart-
ment of ECE, SSN College of Engineering, Chennai 603110, India (e-mail:
harine16036@ece.ssn.edu.in; prabagaranen@ssn.edu.in).
Santi C. Pavone, Loreto Di Donato, and Gino Sorbello are with the Department
of Electrical, Electronics and Computer Engineering, University of Catania,
95125 Catania, Italy, and also with the Consorzio Nazionale Interuniversitario
per le Telecomunicazioni, 43124 Parma, Italy (e-mail: santi.pavone@unict.it;
loreto.didonato@dieei.unict.it; gino.sorbello@unict.it).
Paolo Di Mariano, Giuseppe Distefano, and Concetto Squadrito are with
the Sicilsat Communications s.r.l., 95030 Pedara, Italy (e-mail: p.dimariano@
sicilsat.com; g.distefano@sicilsat.com; c.squadrito@sicilsat.com).
Patrizia Livreri is with the Department of Engineering, University of Palermo,
90128 Palermo,, Italy (e-mail: patrizia.livreri@unipa.it).
Digital Object Identifier 10.1109/LAWP.2020.2971322
1536-1225 © 2020 IEEE. Personal use is permitted, but republication/redistribution requires IEEE permission.
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547
In [10], a dual-polarized antenna design for operating frequen-
cies suitable for GSM, CDMA, and TD-SCDMA applications
has been proposed, in which the antenna has been excited by a
“Tou”-shaped strip. Such an antenna exhibits good impedance
bandwidth, port isolation, and gain. However, the cross-polar
component rejection is not so satisfactory.
On the other hand, a magnetoelectric dual-polarized
differentially-driven antenna has been proposed in [11], in which
a stable radiation pattern versus frequency is shown. Further-
more, it is also demonstrated that the design has resulted in
better isolation with respect to [10], higher cross-polar compo-
nent rejection, and reduced back-radiation. In [12], a wideband
diamond-shaped crossed-dipole has been designed with accept-
able port isolation and cross polarization. Nevertheless, such
design requires a noncompact curved reflector.
Moreover, the authors in [13] address the design of a high-
isolation dual-polarized antenna for multifunctional phased-
array RADAR operating in the band 2.7–3 GHz. To achieve a
remarkable isolation between input ports, they have employed a
couple of collocated bent dipoles with a distinct excitation based
on stripline feeding. Though their design has yielded better port
isolation, the resultant radiation characteristics of the proposed
antenna have a narrow operating bandwidth.
In this letter, a dual-CP crossed-dipole antenna is designed
in the operating bandwidth (1.1–1.6 GHz). The effect of all the
relevant geometric antenna parameters is carefully taken into
account and optimized by using a full-wave simulator, in such a
way to maximize the gain and to reduce the axial ratio (AR) in
the considered bandwidth.
The letter is organized as follows. In Section II, the antenna
configuration is explained in detail, whereas in Section III gain
and impedance bandwidth measurements of the realized pro-
totype, operating in the bandwidth (1.1–1.6 GHz) for satellite
applications, are presented. Finally, Section IV concludes the
article.
II. OPERATING PRINCIPLES AND DESIGN CONSIDERATIONS
The proposed dual-polarized antenna is designed to operate in
the L-Band. It operates in the presence of a ground plane, hence
it can be installed on a metallic (satellite or mobile) platform, or
used as primary feed of a parabolic antenna. Moreover, it is fed
by two coaxial cables connected to the two orthogonal dipoles,
that are excited with a phase shift of 90◦ , in such a way to be
548 IEEE ANTENNAS AND WIRELESS PROPAGATION LETTERS, VOL. 19, NO. 4, APRIL 2020

Fig. 2. Top and side views of the (a) gap between dipoles and of the (b) feeding
structure, in which two standard semirigid coaxial cables UT-085-SP have been
used. Moreover, two more dummy cables have been inserted to symmetrize the
feeding line.

TABLE I
Fig. 1. Top and front views of the proposed dual circular-polarized antenna, ANTENNA GEOMETRIC PARAMETERS
in which the relevant geometric parameters are highlighted.

able to radiate both right-hand (RH) and left-hand (LH) circular

polarizations, by using a 90◦ hybrid coupler, depending on the
required polarization sense dictated by design.
As well established in literature, crossed-dipoles generally
exhibit narrow impedance bandwidth. To enlarge it, sometimes
diamond-shaped metal dipoles [12], [14] are adopted. In the
proposed design, we instead adopt a suspended patch above the
dipoles to enhance their mutual coupling, thus allowing a larger
operational bandwidth, and also naturally protecting the feeding
bridges.
To further optimize the structure performance close to endfire
direction (θ = 90◦ ), a fence of passive monopole, made by eight
monopoles connected to the antenna ground plane, is placed.
This solution mitigates the unavoidable cross polarization at
high elevation angles [15], and is lightweight if compared with
cavity-backed antenna solutions [16]. The antenna geometric
parameters are shown in Fig. 1, and detailed for the feeder in
Fig. 2. Moreover, in Table I, a summary of antenna geometric in Fig. 3(b). Such a parameter significantly affects the reflection
parameters is shown. The dipole length dictates the reference coefficient at the input port, since it behaves as a capacitive
dimension for the other geometric parameters: Since the an- load that partially reflects the incoming feeding wave. After a

tenna works at the central frequency f0 = 1.35 GHz, the dipole parametric analysis, an optimum value of XG = 2 mm has been
resonant length has been chosen as LD ≈ 1.15λ0 /2 = 12.8 cm, chosen (bold orange line).
being λ0 the wavelength at f0 , with a correction factor of 1.15 to As shown in Fig. 1 (circumference of radius RP ), a metallic
take into account the dipole arm tips and also the environment in circular patch is placed above the dipoles at a distance zP from
which the dipoles radiates. Accordingly, the dipole width WD the dipole position. It provides mechanical protection to the
has been chosen to be small in terms of dipole length WD ≈ crossed-dipoles and to the feeding cables, and also increases
LD /10 ≈ 1 cm, and further optimized by making a parametric electromagnetic coupling between the two orthogonal dipoles.
analysis around such a starting point, as shown in Fig. 3(a), once Moreover, it helps in improving the antenna input matching
the other relevant parameters are fixed. Furthermore, the effect (|S11 | < −10 dB), as it can be inferred from Fig. 3(c), in which

of the gap between dipoles XG has also been analyzed, as shown the effect of changing zP with respect to its nominal value

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GOVINDARAJAN et al.: DESIGN OF A COMPACT DUAL CIRCULAR-POLARIZED ANTENNA FOR L-BAND SATELLITE APPLICATIONS
Fig. 3. (a) Effect of dipole width WD on |S11 | parameter in the considered
bandwidth; (b) effect of the gap between crossed-dipoles XG on |S | parameter
11
in the considered bandwidth; (c) effect of the distance zP between the circular
patch and the dipoles on |S11 | parameter in the considered bandwidth. With
reference to Figs. 1–2 for parameter labels.
on |S11 | is shown versus frequency. It should be noticed that
the presence of the coupling patch has a large effect on the
impedance bandwidth, whereas its effect on the gain pattern is
almost negligible. Finally, it should be mentioned that a similar
coupling effect between the orthogonal radiating dipoles can be
achieved using different dipole shapes as discussed in [12].
The antenna is mounted above a circular ground plane of
radius RG = 13.75 cm and placed at a distance hD = 1.54 mm
from the radiating dipoles. Due to the presence of ground plane,
the antenna can be easily installed on metallic platforms (satel-
lite, mobile, etc.) without affecting its radiation performances.
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549
Fig. 4. Monopole fence effect on AR versus frequency for θ = 0◦ and 60◦ , in
correspondence of the cut planes φ = 0◦ , 22.5◦ , and 45◦ . The traces with filled
(empty) symbols are referred to the antenna with (without) passive monopoles.
A good polarization purity is exhibited by the antenna over all the operating
bandwidth.
Additionally, as the ground plane reflects backward-radiation
and reverts the incident wave polarization, its presence also
results in a general gain enhancement and improved cross-polar
discrimination (XPD).
Around the dipoles, a monopole fence made by eight equally-
spaced monopoles of height HM = 28.35 mm and diameter
DM = 2RM = 3 mm has been added on the ground plane. It
is well known that the monopole fence contribution to broad-
side radiation (θ = 0◦ ) is negligible, but it considerably helps
in increasing the antenna copolar gain component for higher
elevation angles, with a remarkable reduction of cross-polar
component. Besides, the monopole fence stabilizes and reduces
the antenna axial ratio (AR) versus frequency over all the op-
erating bandwidth (1.1–1.6 GHz), as it is apparent from Fig. 4,
in which an almost flat AR versus frequency is exhibited by the
antenna at θ = 0◦ and 60◦ in correspondence of the cut planes
φ = 0◦ , 22.5◦ and 45◦ , thus demonstrating a good polarization
purity, that allows the antenna to be used as a primary feed of a
parabolic reflector. It is worth noting that in Fig. 4 we assumed
that the antenna is fed by using an ideal ±90◦ phase-shifter.
In Section III, a prototype of dual circular-polarized antenna
for L-band satellite applications is presented.
III. EXPERIMENTAL VALIDATION AND MEASUREMENTS
The antenna presented in Section II has been fabricated
according to the design parameters listed in Table I and is
shown in Fig. 5. The measured scattering parameters over all
the considered bandwidth (1.1–1.6 GHz) around the operating
frequency are in good agreement with simulated results, as can
be witnessed from Fig. 6. Furthermore, it is worth noting that
input port isolation is excellent, since the measured port-to-port
coupling is less than 40 dB over all the considered bandwidth,
as it can be inferred from the plot of |S12 | (red dotted line in
Fig. 6).
The simulated maximum gain is Gmax ≈ 9 dB, whereas the
XPD is less than −46 dB at θ = 0◦ , thus showing an excellent
550
Fig. 5. Prototype of the dual circular-polarized antenna, operating in the
bandwidth (1.1–1.6 GHz).
Fig. 6. Antenna scattering parameters at the input ports in the considered
bandwidth (1.1–1.6 GHz): Simulated (continuous traces with empty symbols)
and measured (dotted traces with filled symbols).
Fig. 7. Comparison of simulated (dashed traces) and measured (continuous
traces) patterns at f = 1.35 GHz. The patterns are measured in linear polariza-
tion at port 1. The copolar (cross-polar) pattern component is highlighted by
filled (empty) symbols.
cross-polarization rejection. Instead, in Fig. 7 the simulated and
measured gain patterns normalized to their maxima are in good
agreement with each other. For the sake of simplicity, the radi-
ation patterns have been measured and compared with the sim-
ulated ones in linear polarization. CP has been experimentally
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IEEE ANTENNAS AND WIRELESS PROPAGATION LETTERS, VOL. 19, NO. 4, APRIL 2020
Fig. 8. Comparison of simulated (dashed traces) and measured (continu-
ous traces) LHCP (GL ) and RHCP (GR ) normalized gain patterns at f =
1.1, 1.35, and 1.6 GHz (cut plane at φ = 0◦ ). The copolar (cross-polar) pattern
component is highlighted by filled (empty) symbols.
TABLE II
PERFORMANCE COMPARISON OF CROSSED-DIPOLE ANTENNAS
achieved by exciting the two input ports with a 90◦ phase differ-
ence, by using the Narda 4032 C Miniature Stripline 90◦ Coaxial
Mini-Hybrid in the experimental setup, which provides both RH
and LHCP input ports. For completeness, in Fig. 8 the LH/RHCP
simulated and measured gain patterns are provided. It is worth
mentioning that the measured AR at θ = 0◦ , obtained by using
the standard method of spinning linearly polarized transmitting
antenna [17], is below 1 dB over all the considered bandwidth.
Finally, in Table II a comparison among our antenna perfor-
mances and the state of art is presented. The cross polarization in
linear polarization is the lowest among compared works (mea-
sured XPD < −45 dB). Moreover, the operating bandwidth is
larger than [13], whereas the isolation between CP input ports
is better than [10]–[12].
IV. CONCLUSION
The design and optimization of a compact dual-circular-
polarized antenna for L-band satellite applications have been
proposed. Full-wave simulations reveal a good polarization pu-
rity and gain enhancement for high elevation angles, due to the
presence of a properly designed monopole fence. Moreover,
the antenna exhibits a stable gain pattern versus frequency.
The overall antenna performances render that the proposed
antenna is more suitable to be used as a primary feed for low-
frequency reflectors. Finally, a prototype of our antenna has been
fabricated and measured over the entire operating bandwidth,
which indeed has shown a remarkable agreement with full-wave
simulations.
GOVINDARAJAN et al.: DESIGN OF A COMPACT DUAL CIRCULAR-POLARIZED ANTENNA FOR L-BAND SATELLITE APPLICATIONS
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