3006 IEEE TRANSACTIONS ON ANTENNAS AND PROPAGATION, VOL. 51, NO.
10, OCTOBER 2003
reflections below 060 dB. Finally, the influence of the new degree of
freedom on the PML performance is discussed and the best choices
are singled out both in the case of Yee’s FDTD model and the WETD
model.
REFERENCES
[1] J. P. Berenger, “A perfectly matched layer for the absorption of electro-
magnetic waves,” J. Comp. Phys., vol. 114, pp. 185–200, 1994.
[2] B. Chen, D. G. Fang, and B. H. Zhou, “Modified Berenger PML
absorbing boundary condition for FD-TD meshes,” IEEE Microwave
Guided Wave Lett., vol. 5, pp. 399–401, 1995.
[3] J. Fang and Z. Wu, “Generalized perfectly matched layer—An exten-
sion of Berenger’s perfectly matched layer boundary condition,” IEEE
Microwave Guided Wave Lett., vol. 5, pp. 451–453, 1995.
[4] S. D. Gedney, “An anisotropic PML absorbing media for the FDTD sim-
ulation of fields in lossy and dispersive media,” Electromagnetics, vol.
16, no. 4, pp. 399–416, 1996.
[5] A. Taflove, Advances in Computational Electrodynamics: The Finite
Difference Time Domain Method. Boston, MA: Artech House, 1997,
pp. 263–344.
[6] J. P. Berenger, “Numerical reflection from FDTD-PMLs: a comparison
of the split PML with the unsplit and CFS PMLs,” IEEE Trans. Antennas
Propagat., vol. 50, pp. 258–265, 2002.
[7] Y. Rickard, N. Georgieva, and W.-P. Huang, “A perfectly matched layer
for the 3-D wave equation in the time domain,” IEEE Microwave Wire-
less Comp. Lett., vol. 12, pp. 181–183, 2002.
[8] , “Application and optimization of PML ABC for the 3-D wave
equation in the time domain,” IEEE Trans. Antennas Propagat., vol. 51,
pp. 286–295, Feb. 2003.
[9] G. Lazzi and O. P. Gandhi, “Inversion theory as applied to the optimiza-
tion of conductivity profile for PML absorbing boundary condition for
FDTD code,” Electron. Lett., vol. 33, no. 6, pp. 502–503, 1997.
[10] E. A. Marengo, C. M. Rappaport, and E. L. Miller, “Optimum PML
ABC conductivity profile in FDTD,” IEEE Trans. Magn., vol. 35, pp.
1506–1509, 1999.
[11] S. C. Winton and C. M. Rappaport, “Specifying PML conductivities by
considering numerical reflection dependencies,” IEEE Trans. Antennas
Propagat., vol. 48, pp. 1055–1063, 2000.
[12] E. Michielssen, W. C. Chew, and D. S. Weile, “Genetic algorithm opti-
mized perfectly matched layers for finite difference frequency domain
applications,” in Proc. EEE Antennas Propagat. Soc. Int. Symp. Dig.,
vol. 3, 1996, pp. 2106–2109.
[13] L. Zhao and A. C. Cangellaris, “The generalized theory of perfectly
matched layers (GT-PML): Numerical reflection analysis and optimiza-
tion,” in Proc. IEEE Antennas Propagat. Soc. Int. Symp. Dig., vol. 3,
1997, pp. 1896–1899.
[14] D. Johnson, C. Furse, and A. Tripp, “Application and optimization
of the perfectly matched layer boundary condition for geophysical
simulations,” Microwave Opt. Technol. Lett., vol. 25, no. 4, pp.
253–255, 2000.
[15] G. Lazzi, C. M. Furse, and O. P. Gandhi, “Optimization and design of
conductivity profiles for the PML boundary condition and its applica-
tion to bioelectromagnetic problems,” in Proc. IEEE Antennas Prop-
agat. Soc. Int. Symp. Dig., vol. 1, 1997, pp. 486–489.
[16] K. S. Yee, “Numerical solution of initial boundary value problems in-
volving Maxwell’s equations in isotropic media,” IEEE Trans. Antennas
Propagat., vol. 14, pp. 302–307, 1966.
[17] F. J. Harris, “On the use of windows for harmonic analysis with the
discrete Fourier transform,” Proc. IEEE, vol. 66, pp. 51–83, 1978.
[18] C. E. Reuter, R. M. Joseph, E. T. Thiele, D. S. Katz, and A.
Taflove, “Ultrawideband absorbing boundary condition of waveguiding
structures in FD-TD simulations,” IEEE Microwave Guided Wave
Lett., vol. 4, pp. 344–446, 1994.
[19] C. M. Rappaport, “Interpreting and improving the PML absorbing
boundary condition using anisotropic lossy mapping of space,” IEEE
Trans. Magn., vol. 32, pp. 968–974, 1996.
0018-926X/03$17.00 © 2003 IEEE
Low-Cost Broadband Circularly Polarized Patch Antenna
Fa-Shian Chang, Kin-Lu Wong, and Tzung-Wern Chiou
Abstract—A novel single-feed broadband circularly polarized patch an-
tenna is proposed. The proposed antenna has a simple structure, consisting
of a corner-truncated square radiating patch, an L-shaped ground plane,
and a probe feed. Through a via hole in the vertical ground of the L-shaped
ground plane, the radiating patch is easily excited by a probe feed ori-
ented in the same plane as the patch, and circular polarization (CP) ra-
diation over a wide frequency range ( 10%) is achieved. Experimental
results of a constructed prototype with the center operating frequency at
about 2500 MHz showed that the antenna has an impedance bandwidth
(1.5 : 1 VSWR) of about 30%, a 3-dB axial-ratio CP bandwidth of about
10.4%, and a gain level of 8.5 dBi or larger within the CP bandwidth. In
addition to the low cost of the proposed antenna due to its simple structure,
the obtained CP performance is among the best that have been reported for
single-feed single-element patch antennas.
Index Terms—Broadband, circular polarization (CP), patch antenna,
probe-fed.
I. INTRODUCTION
Circularly polarized (CP) antennas are attractive for wireless
communication applications, because no strict orientations between
the base station and the mobile unit are required. To achieve CP
operations, many designs of patch antennas have also been reported.
However, for the design using a dielectric substrate, single-feed
single-element patch antennas are usually with a narrow CP band-
width of about 2% or less [1]–[4], which greatly limits their practical
applications. In order to achieve enhanced CP bandwidth, several
single-feed single-element patch antenna designs using an air-layer or
foam substrate have also been shown [5]–[7], in which the reported
CP bandwidths are about 3.5% [5], [6] and 7.2% [7]. To achieve
much larger CP bandwidths (>10%) for patch antennas, the designs
using stacked radiating elements [7] or dual feeds or complicated
feed structures [8]–[12] have been presented, and it is noted that no
single-feed single-element patch antenna designs are available in the
open literature for achieving CP bandwidth of larger than 10% and
with good radiation characteristics.
In this communication, we demonstrate that, by using a novel and
simple feed structure (see Fig. 1), a single-element patch antenna can
have a CP bandwidth larger than 10%. The proposed feed structure is
with the probe feed oriented in the same plane as the antenna’s radi-
ating patch, which is different from the conventional probe feed placed
in between the antenna’s radiating patch and ground plane. With the
proposed feed structure, a corner-truncated square patch antenna with a
thick air-layer substrate can be excited with good impedance matching
over a wide frequency range, and good CP radiation characteristics can
also be obtained. The wide impedance bandwidth obtained is mainly
because the proposed design allows the use of a short probe pin, al-
though the antenna is with a thick air-layer substrate, which introduces
small or negligible probe inductance and, thus, its effect on the an-
tenna’s impedance matching can be ignored. Details of the proposed
Manuscript received June 28,2001; revised September 20, 2002.
F.-S. Chang and K.-L. Wong are with the Department of Electrical Engi-
neering, National Sun Yat-Sen University, Kaohsiung 804, Taiwan (e-mail:
wongkl@mail.nsysu.edu.tw).
T.-W. Chiou was with the Department of Electrical Engineering, National Sun
Yat-Sen University, Kaohsiung 804, Taiwan. He is now with Phycomp Taiwan
Limited, Kaohsiung 811, Taiwan.
Digital Object Identifier 10.1109/TAP.2003.818010
IEEE TRANSACTIONS ON ANTENNAS AND PROPAGATION, VOL. 51, NO. 10, OCTOBER 2003 3007

Fig. 1. Geometry of the proposed broadband circularly polarized patch antenna.

Fig. 3. Measured and simulated return loss for the antenna studied in Fig. 2.

= 23 = 43 1 = 31 =
Fig. 2. Measured input impedance on a Smith chart for the proposed antenna
shown in Fig. 1 with S mm, L mm, L : mm, h
18 mm,  = 35: mm.

CP design are described, and the experimental results of a constructed

prototype showing wide CP bandwidth and good radiation characteris-
tics are presented.

II. ANTENNA DESIGN

Fig. 1 shows the proposed broadband circularly polarized patch
antenna with the proposed feed structure. The square radiating patch Fig. 4. Measured axial ratio for the antenna studied in Fig. 2.
has a side length of L, and a pair of opposite corners having a side
1
length of L are cut to provide as a perturbation for obtaining two additional vertical ground used in the proposed design is for the
orthogonal near-degenerate resonant modes for CP radiation [1]. This purpose of feeding the patch antenna using a probe feed oriented
corner-truncated square patch is placed above an L-shaped ground in the same plane as the radiating patch. In this case, although a
plane, which consists of a horizontal ground ( 100 200
2 mm2 in thick air-layer substrate of thickness h is used between the radiating
this communication) and a vertical ground (S 2 200
mm2 ). The patch and the horizontal ground, the probe-pin length (`) can be
3008 IEEE TRANSACTIONS ON ANTENNAS AND PROPAGATION, VOL. 51, NO. 10, OCTOBER 2003
Fig. 5. Measured spinning linear radiation patterns at 2500 MHz in the x–z and y –z planes for the antenna studied in Fig. 2.
kept to be small to eliminate the problem of large probe inductance
effect on the antenna’s impedance matching. In addition, it should
be noted that the width of the vertical ground cannot be made to just
wide enough (for example, width = 20 mm) to support the coaxial
connector in the proposed design. In this case, good CP radiation
cannot be obtained (measured axial ratio larger than 3 dB). From
experiments, in order to achieve good CP radiation over a wide
bandwidth, it is found that the width of the vertical ground needs
to be larger than two times the side length of the square radiating
patch. In this communication, for convenience in construction, the
width of the vertical ground was selected to be the same as that of
the horizontal ground, which makes it easier to construct (simply
by bending a single rectangular metallic plate into an inverted-L
shape).
Also note that, similar to the patch antenna with a conventional probe
feed placed in between the antenna’s radiating patch and ground plane,
the proposed patch antenna is also operated as a half-wavelength struc-
ture. However, owing to the use of a thick air-layer substrate as studied
in [12], which decreases the antenna’s resonant length, the proposed
patch antenna usually has a resonant length (that is, the side length L
of its square radiating patch) less than 40% of the free-space wave-
length of the center operating frequency. Thus, to design the proposed
broadband CP antenna at a specific center operating frequency f , one
should choose the side length of the antenna’s square radiating patch
to be less than 0.4 c=f (c is the speed of light in free space).
As for the selection of the air-layer substrate thickness h, it is greatly
dependent on the operating bandwidth required. Larger substrate thick-
ness will lead to a wider bandwidth. For obtaining a wide CP bandwidth
(>10%) as studied here, one needs to choose the air-layer substrate
thickness to be about 15% of the free-space wavelength of the center
operating frequency (see the prototype studied in Section III).
For the dimensions of the horizontal ground plane, they have
relatively smaller effects on the antenna’s resonant frequency, and they
mainly affect the directivity of the antenna’s radiation patterns. Larger
ground plane can decrease the backward radiation of the antenna,
leading to enhanced antenna directivity (that is, the antenna gain can
be higher for a larger ground plane). In this communication, with
the ground-plane dimensions selected to be 100 2 200 mm2 (about
0:830 2 1:670 ), the antenna’s backward radiation is less than
020 dB (see Fig. 4 in Section III) and good antenna gain is obtained.
Note that one can also select the ground-plane dimensions to be 100 2
100 mm2 for the constructed prototype studied in Section III, and the
obtained antenna performance is about the same as that obtained here.
However, when the linear dimension of the ground plane decreases and
is smaller than 100 mm (about 0:830 or 2:3L in this communication)
for the constructed prototype studied here, noticeable increase in the
antenna’s backward radiation will be observed, and the antenna gain
will decrease.
In addition, it should be noted that the optimal feed position for the
proposed CP design is at the center of the patch edge facing the vertical
ground. As for the height (h) of the vertical ground, it is chosen to be
slightly larger than the air-layer substrate thickness to accommodate
the SMA connector and to minimize its affect on the radiation charac-
teristics of the antenna. If a large vertical ground is used, it could result
in prominent asymmetric radiation patterns for the proposed antenna,
especially in the x–y plane (the plane in perpendicular to the vertical
ground) radiation. Also note that, to optimize the design parameters for
the constructed prototype of the proposed CP design, the simulation
software Ansoft High Frequency Structure Simulator (HFSS) can be
used. In addition, for the antenna geometry shown in Fig. 1, left-hand
CP radiation is obtained. On the other hand, when we truncate the two
patch corners at points A and B, instead of truncating at points C and
D as shown in Fig. 1, right-hand CP radiation is generated.
III. EXPERIMENTAL RESULTS AND DISCUSSION
A prototype of the proposed CP design with the center operating fre-
quency at about 2500 MHz was constructed and studied. For achieving
a wide CP bandwidth centered at about 2500 MHz, the side length (L)
of the square radiating patch and the air-layer substrate thickness (h)
were, respectively, selected to be 43 mm (about 0:360 ) and 18 mm
(0:150 ), and the optimal side length of the truncated corners was de-
termined to be 3.1 mm (about 0.072L). [Note that, due to the thick
air-layer substrate thickness used, the resonant length (0:360 ) is much
less than 0:50 , and will approach 0:250 , if a very large value of h
is used or the horizontal ground is removed. In this case, the proposed
antenna will become as a monopole antenna, and the CP radiation, how-
ever, cannot be obtained by truncating the corners of the square patch.
In addition, the probe-pin length (`) was selected to be 3.5 mm, which
is much less than the air-layer substrate thickness, and, thus, the probe
IEEE TRANSACTIONS ON ANTENNAS AND PROPAGATION, VOL. 51, NO. 10, OCTOBER 2003
demonstrated. In addition, good antenna gain and broadside radiation
patterns have also been obtained. The proposed antenna is suitable for
applications in wireless local area networks, personal communications
systems, and mobile satellite communications.
Fig. 6. Measured antenna gain for the antenna studied in Fig. 2.
inductance is minimized and its effect on the antenna’s impedance
matching can be ignored. As for the height (S ) of the vertical ground,
it was chosen to be 23 mm, slightly larger than the air-layer substrate
thickness.
Measured input impedance of the constructed prototype is presented
in Fig. 2. It is clearly seen that a very small loop occurs close to
the center of the Smith chart. The small loop indicates that two
resonant modes are excited at close frequencies [12], [13], which
makes CP radiation possible. The measured and simulated return loss
for the constructed prototype is also shown in Fig. 3. The measured
data in general agree with the simulated results, and the obtained
impedance bandwidth, determined by 1.5 : 1 VSWR, is as large as 740
MHz (2270–3010 MHz) or about 30% referenced to designed center
frequency at 2500 MHz.
Fig. 4 shows the measured axial ratio in the broadside direction of
the constructed prototype. The obtained 3-dB axial-ratio bandwidth
reaches 260 MHz (2400–2660 MHz) or about 10.4% with respect to
the center frequency at 2500 MHz at which a minimum axial ratio is
observed. From the measured return loss shown in Fig. 3, the oper-
ating frequencies within the CP bandwidth obtained are with a return
loss better than about 17 dB. Measured spinning linear radiation pat-
terns in two principal planes at 2500 MHz are plotted in Fig. 5. Slight
asymmetry of the radiation patterns is seen, which is probably owing
to the presence of the vertical ground in the proposed design. As for
the backward radiation, it is seen to be less than 020 dB, relative to
the main lobe in the forward direction. Also note that the larger the
ripples (peak-to-peak values of the ripples) in the radiation pattern, the
larger the cross polarization (right-hand CP component for the con-
structed prototype generating left-hand CP radiation). Therefore, as
seen in Fig. 5, the cross polarization is minimum in the +z direction and
increases away from the z axis. Fig. 6 presents the measured antenna
gain for the operating frequencies within the CP bandwidth obtained.
The peak antenna gain reaches about 9.2 dBi, and the average gain level
is about 8.5 dBi or larger. By comparing the measured antenna gain and
the directivity, the radiation efficiency of the constructed prototype is
estimated to be about 80%.
IV. CONCLUSION
A new single-element patch antenna fed by a probe feed for broad-
band CP radiation has been proposed. The proposed design is simple
in structure, and can be easily constructed with a very low cost. A con-
structed prototype with a CP bandwidth larger than 10% has also been
3009
REFERENCES
[1] P. C. Sharma and K. C. Gupta, “Analysis and optimized design of single
feed circularly polarized microstrip antenna,” IEEE Trans. Antennas
Propagat., vol. 31, pp. 949–955, 1983.
[2] J. R. James and P. S. Hall, Handbook of Microstrip
Antennas. Stevenage, U.K.: Peregrinus, 1989.
[3] C. Y. Huang, J. Y. Wu, and K. L. Wong, “Cross-slot-coupled microstrip
antenna and dielectric resonator antenna for circular polarization,” IEEE
Trans. Antennas Propagat., vol. 47, pp. 605–609, 1999.
[4] , “Slot-coupled microstrip antenna for broadband circular polariza-
tion,” Electron. Lett., vol. 34, pp. 835–836, 1998.
[5] W. K. Lo, J.-L. Hu, C. H. Chan, and K. M. Luk, “Circularly polarized
patch antenna with an L-shaped probe fed by a micostrip line,” Mi-
crowave Opt. Technol. Lett., vol. 24, pp. 412–414, 2000.
[6] C. Wang and K. Chang, “Single-layer wideband probe-fed circularly
polarized microstrip antenna,” in Proc. IEEE Antennas Propagat. Soc.
Int. Symp. Dig., Salt Lake City, UT, 2000, pp. 1000–1003.
[7] N. C. Karmakar and M. E. Bialkowski, “Circularly polarized
aperture-coupled circular microstrip patch antennas for L-band appli-
cations,” IEEE Trans. Antennas Propagat., vol. 47, pp. 933–940, May
1999.
[8] S. D. Targonski and D. M. Pozar, “Design of wideband circularly polar-
ized aperture-coupled microstrip antenna,” IEEE Trans. Antennas Prop-
agat., vol. 41, pp. 214–220, 1993.
[9] F. E. Gardiol and J.-F. Zuercher, “Broad-band patch antennas—A SSFIP
update,” in Proc. IEEE Antennas Propagat. Soc. Int. Symp. Dig., Balti-
more, MD, 1996, pp. 2–5.
[10] N. Herscovici, “New considerations in the design of microstrip
antennas,” IEEE Trans. Antennas Propagat., vol. 46, pp. 807–812,
1998.
[11] T. W. Chiou and K. L. Wong, “Single-layer wideband probe-fed circu-
larly polarized microstrip antenna,” Microwave Opt. Technol. Lett., vol.
25, pp. 74–76, 2000.
[12] K. L. Wong and T. W. Chiou, “Broad-band single-patch circularly po-
larized microstrip antenna with dual capacitively-coupled feeds,” IEEE
Trans. Antennas Propagat., vol. 49, pp. 41–44, 2001.
[13] J. H. Lu, C. L. Tang, and K. L. Wong, “Single-feed slotted equilateral-
triangular microstrip antenna for circular polarization,” IEEE Trans. An-
tennas Propagat., vol. 47, pp. 1174–1178, 1999.