Circularly Polarized Aperture Coupled Microstrip Antenna with Resonant Slots and a Screen

Abstract

A broadband circularly polarized (CP) Aperture Coupled Microstrip Antenna (ACMSA) is described herein. In order to decrease the back radiation of the antenna due to resonant coupling slots (a cross-slot) in the ground plane, a three-layer structure with a screen is proposed. As a result, the back radiation of the antenna is reduced by more than 12 dB and its gain is increased by about 1.3 dB compared to the conventional two-layer ACMSA with nonresonant coupling slots. The antenna is designed to operate within the Ku-band. Keeping its simple and compact construction and high mechanical characteristics it can be used as an element of CP microstrip antenna arrays with various applications in the contemporary communication systems. A comparison with two similar CP antennas with resonant slots, a two-layer ACMSA and a three-layer ACMSA with a patch reflector is accomplished.