International Journal of Applied Electromagnetics and Mechanics 48 (2015) 379–386 379

DOI 10.3233/JAE-140151
IOS Press

Broadband circularly polarized spiral antenna

array using sequentially rotated technique

Zhi-Ya Zhanga,∗, Peng Huanga , Shao-Li Zuob , Jia-Yue Zhaoa and Guang Fua
a National Key Laboratory of Antennas and Microwave Technology, Xidian University, Xi’an, Shaanxi,
China
b School of Physics and Optoelectronic Engineering, Xidian University, Xi’an, Shaanxi, China

Abstract. A circularly polarized (CP) spiral antenna array for wideband application is presented, which employs a simple
single-arm spiral antenna (SASA), as the radiating element. By introducing a small round disc backed near the antenna center
and loading a termination resistor, the SASA achieves a wide impedance bandwidth without a balun circuit and a good axial
ratio (AR) performance, respectively. A total of four array elements are used in the 2 × 2 configuration to obtain a higher
gain. Particularly, a method of sequentially rotating the elements is used to improve the axial ratio. The array performs an
impedance bandwidth for VSWR  1.5 of 40% ranging from 1.25 to 1.88 GHz, an excellent AR of better than 0.74 dB, and
a gain variation from 11.34 to 14.56 dB within the operating band. Measured and simulated results presented for the array
confirm its wide impedance, axial ratio, and gain bandwidths. Acceptable agreement between the simulation and measured
results validates the proposed design.

Keywords: Circular polarization, array antenna, spiral antenna, wideband antenna

1. Introduction

Patch, helical, and loop antennas [1–4] have been used in a large number of wireless communica-
tion systems, such as Global Positioning System (GPS) and radio frequency identification (RFID). The
radiation from these antennas is circularly polarized (CP) [5,6], which is less sensitive to respective
orientations and reduces multipath effects as well.
The Archimedean spiral (ACRS) antenna forming an axial CP beam is receiving much more attention
nowadays, known for its wideband radiation characteristics [7,8]. Being a self-complementary struc-
ture, the planar spiral antenna has a real impedance around 170 Ω, which requires a balun circuit for
impedance transformation and balanced-mode operation [9]. Designing and installing such a wideband
balun necessitates laborious efforts, and hence modified two-arm and single-arm Archimedean spiral
antennas are presented in [10,11] that eliminate the use of balun by backing the spiral with a small disc.
Lower fabrication cost is realized due to the simpler antenna structure.
It is possible to transform the CP bidirectional beam into a CP unidirectional radiation beam by placing
the spiral with a conducting plane as a reflector [12,13]. It is noted that the input impedance fluctuates
remarkably and the polarization of the antenna becomes elliptical as the frequency decreases. Thus, poor

∗
Corresponding author: Zhi-Ya Zhang, National Key Laboratory of Antennas and Microwave Technology, Xidian University,
Xi’an 710071, Shaanxi, China. E-mail: zhiyazhang@163.com.

1383-5416/15/$35.00 
c 2015 – IOS Press and the authors. All rights reserved
380 Z-Y. Zhang et al. / Broadband CP spiral antenna array using sequentially rotated technique

axial ratio and input impedance performances are observed and it requires modification for improving
the wideband characteristics of the spiral antenna. Numerous approaches have been proposed to solve
this problem. With multiple chip resistors placed along an appropriate position of the arm [14,15], the
deterioration has been mitigated. In addition, it has been shown that the use of absorbing material [10,11]
reduces the reflected current from the arm end and consequently improves the antenna characteristics.
While these approaches have been revealed to improve the antenna performance, each has deficiency
in their implementation. Thus, one planar, lossless method proposed and developed initially for linear
polarized array antennas [16] is to provide the feeding ports with equal amplitude and opposite phase.
Then it is explored for CP patch arrays [17,18] by sequentially rotating the orientation of each array
element, thereby suppressing the cross polarization and increasing the axial ratio bandwidth.
This paper introduces a novel single-arm spiral antenna backed by a small round disc, which simplifies
the antenna structure and improves the impedance characteristic. By loading a termination resistor, the
axial ratio of the SASA has been improved effectively. Then, a CP 2 × 2 array with wide impedance and
AR bandwidths is realized using the SASA elements and a broadband phase shifting network integrating
the Wilkinson power divider with the modified Schiffman phase shifter. Specifically, a sequential rotation
technique is adopted to enhance the AR of the antenna array further. It consists in rotating each SASA
element sequentially together with imposing a proper phase shift. A prototype of the proposed CP spiral
antenna array has been fabricated, and its performance is measured to verify the design methodology.
Good agreement between the simulated and measured results is obtained for the VSWR, axial ratio,
radiation patterns and realized gain. Thus, the antenna can be well applied to the navigation systems.

2. Single-arm spiral antenna

2.1. Configuration of the SASA

The configuration and coordinate system of a single-arm spiral antenna, which serves as an array
element, are depicted in Fig. 1. The antenna arm, made of a conducting spiral strip at a height H from
the round ground plane, is printed on a 1-mm-thick dielectric substrate of relative permittivity 2.65.
The radius of the substrate is R = 42 mm, and there is a lower substrate of same property and 2 mm
thickness under the upper one. The disc, which is behind the spiral and printed on the bottom of the
lower substrate, has a radius rdisc and the disc spacing (distance between the spiral and the disc), is hdisc .
This SAS antenna is fed using a 50 Ω coaxial cable, where the inner and outer conductors of the coaxial
cable are connected to the spiral and the disc, respectively. Specifically, a 160 Ω termination resistor is
used to slowly attenuate the current reflection from the spiral end. The radial distance from the centerline
to any point on the spiral arm is defined by the Archimedean function r = asp Φw , where asp is the spiral
constant and Φw is the winding angle, varying between starting angle Φst to ending angle Φend. The
spiral diameter D is defined by D = 2rmax with rmax = asp Φend. The width of the spiral arm is denoted
by W .

2.2. Parametric study

To study the influence of the disc on the impedance characteristic of the SAS, the dimension of the disc
is investigated and demonstrated in Fig. 2. These dimensions include the disc spacing of hdisc and the disc
radius of rdisc . Figure 2(a) shows the simulated input impedance Zin = Rin + jXin versus frequency with
different values of the spacing hdisc . It is observed that the impedance curves fluctuate greatly and the real
 Z-Y. Zhang et al. / Broadband CP spiral antenna array using sequentially rotated technique 381

Z
Resistor
Resistor W=4mm
Spiral arm Upper
substrate
Supporting Y
frame D=100
Coaxial mm
cable

Φ
X Y Ground plane
Ground plane
( reflector) X ( reflector)

(a) (b)
Upper
Z sustrate
R=42mm h disc D1=1mm

r disc Lower
H=35mm Disc sustrate
R 1=1.5mm
Supporting H 1=33mm
frame

Coaxial cable D2=2mm

Y
Ground plane
(reflector) SMA

(c)

Fig. 1. Configuration of the single-arm spiral antenna. (a) Perspective view, (b) Top view, (c) Side view.

120 120
h disc = 1 mm r disc = 8 mm
Input Impedance (ohm)

h disc = 3 mm 100 r disc = 10 mm

Input Impedance (ohm)

90
h disc = 5 mm r disc = 12 mm
80
60 R in
60

30 R in X in
40 R in
20
0
0
X in
-30 -20
1.3 1.4 1.5 1.6 1.7 1.8 1.9 2.0 1.3 1.4 1.5 1.6 1.7 1.8 1.9 2.0
Frequency (GHz) Frequency (GHz)
(a) (b)

Fig. 2. Frequency response of the simulated input impedance with (a) hdisc , (b) rdisc .

part of the input impedance (Rin ) is large in the high frequency band when hdisc = 1 mm. Note that Rin
decreases as the spacing raises, and a good impedance match is achieved when hdisc = 3 mm. The input
impedance variation with rdisc is shown in Fig. 2(b), and the impedance curves fluctuate dramatically
when the radius is smaller. With optimum Rin = 50 ohm and Xin = 0 ohm impedance matching, the
rdisc is equal to 12 mm.
382 Z-Y. Zhang et al. / Broadband CP spiral antenna array using sequentially rotated technique

12 10
R R = 0 ohm
10 R = 80 ohm
8
R = 160 ohm
8 R = 200 ohm

Gain (dBi)
6
A R (d B )

6 D = 80 mm
D = 100 mm
4 4 D = 120 mm

2
2

0
1.3 1.4 1.5 1.6 1.7 1.8 1.9 2.0 1.2 1.6 2.0 2.4 2.8 3.2 3.6
Frequency (GHz) Frequency (GHz)

Fig. 3. The simulated AR with different resistance values. Fig. 4. The simulated gain with different ground-plane sizes.

In addition, the termination resistor (R) effect on the AR of the SASA is also investigated. The sim-
ulated frequency response of the AR with different values of resistance is depicted in Fig. 3. It is found
that, with a termination resistor adopted, the AR performance is obviously improved within the whole
band. Additionally, as the value of resistance increases, the AR decreases. A good CP characteristic of
the 3-dB AR bandwidth is achieved when the resistance value increases to 160 Ω, and the AR curve
changes slightly when the value shifts to 200 Ω. This is attributed to the fact that the termination resistor
reduces the current reflection from the end of the spiral arm which leads to impedance mismatch and
unwanted LHCP radiation. Note that resistive termination often causes gain reduction, but it has been
demonstrated that the gain of the co-polarization is only slighted changed, while there is a significant
improvement of the AR characteristic.
The simulated gain with different ground-plane sizes is shown in Fig. 4, and the diameter of the round
ground plane is varied over a range of 80 to 120 mm in 20 mm steps. It can be seen that the antenna gain
increases as the size of the ground plane raises.

2.3. Experimental results

The SASA is designed and simulated with the commercial software Ansoft High Frequency Structure
Simulator (HFSS 14.0). Figure 5(a) shows the simulated and measured VSWR of the SAS with Agilent
E8363B network analyzer, and they match well with each other. The measured impedance bandwidth
for VSWR  1.5 is about 88% ranging from 1.28 to 3.30 GHz.
For AR and gain of the SASA, the simulated and measured results are depicted in Fig. 5(b). Owing
to the disc and termination resistor, there are significant improvements of the impedance and AR perfor-
mances. The measured result of AR is better than 3 dB and the gain varies from 6.78 to 8.62 dBi over
the frequency range from 1.30 to 3.30 GHz.

3. Spiral antenna array

3.1. Configuration of the array

The radiation characteristics of the SASA have been shown in Section 2. In this Section 2 × 2 antenna
array using the single-arm spirals is designed and investigated. The geometry of the array and feed
 Z-Y. Zhang et al. / Broadband CP spiral antenna array using sequentially rotated technique 383

3.0 6 9
Measured VSWR
Simulated VSWR 5
2.5
4

Axial ratio(dB)
Simulated AR 6

Gain (dBi)
VSWR

Measured AR
2.0 3
Simulated Gain
2 Measured Gain
1.5 3
1

1.0 0
1.2 1.6 2.0 2.4 2.8 3.2 3.6 1.2 1.6 2.0 2.4 2.8 3.2 3.6
Frequency (GHz) Frequency (GHz)
(a) (b)

Fig. 5. Simulated and measured (a) VSWR, (b) AR and gain.

Port 5 Via hole

Port 4

2700 1800 Feed network

Port 1

Port 2
Z 00 900 Ground plane
( reflector)
Y Port 3
X Y
Substrate X
(a) (b)

Fig. 6. Configuration of the spiral array antenna. (a) Perspective view, (b) Feed network.

network is revealed in Fig. 6. It consists of four SASA elements, where the element distance equals to
120 mm (about 0.63 λ0 , where λ0 is the wavelength at the center frequency band in free space). To
increase the AR bandwidth, the array elements are sequentially rotated in both spatial orientation and
phase (0◦ , 90◦ , 180◦ and 270◦). A ground plane, which is above the 1-mm-thick substrate with a relative
permittivity of εr = 2.65, a thickness of 2 mm and a radius of 150 mm, is used as the reflector of the
antenna array.
For the feed network in Fig. 6(b), the array antenna is fed using a broadband phase shifting network,
which integrates the Wilkinson power divider with the modified Schiffman phase shifter. An equal am-
plitude for four output ports (Ports 2, 3, 4, and 5) is provided and a required sequential current phase
shift of 0◦ , 90◦, 180◦ and 270◦ is obtained. Three pairs of λg /8 open and short lines are deployed to
smooth the phase variation, where λg refers to the guided wavelength on the substrate. There are three
100-Ω chip resistors responsible for increasing the isolation among the output ports. In addition, the feed
network is printed on the back side of the substrate. The port 1 is connected to the SMA, as the input
port.

3.2. Discussion

To investigate the method of rotating each array element by a 90◦ increment, a comparison of AR
384 Z-Y. Zhang et al. / Broadband CP spiral antenna array using sequentially rotated technique

6 3.0 15

5
12
2.5
4 Simulated VSWR
Axial ratio(dB)

Measured VSWR
9

VSWR

Gain (dBi)
3 Simulated Gain
2.0
Array 1 Array 2 Measured Gain
2 6
1.5
Array without sequential rotation (Array 1)
1 Array with sequential rotation (Array 2) 3

0 1.0
1.2 1.3 1.4 1.5 1.6 1.7 1.8 1.9 2.0 1.2 1.3 1.4 1.5 1.6 1.7 1.8 1.9 2.0
Frequency (GHz) Frequency (GHz)

Fig. 7. Simulated AR of the conventional Fig. 8. Photograph of the fabri- Fig. 9. Simulated and measured VSWR and
and the rotated 2 × 2 array. cated array antenna. gain against frequency.

0 0 0
0 330 30 0 0
330 30 330 30

-20 300 60 300 60 300 60

-20 -20

-40 270 90 -40 270 90 -40 270 90

-20 240 Measured RHCP 120 -20 Measured RHCP -20

240 120 240 Measured RHCP 120
Measured LHCP Measured LHCP Measured LHCP
Simulated RHCP 1.35GHz Simulated RHCP 1.6GHz Simulated RHCP
XOZ XOZ Simulated LHCP XOZ 1.85GHz
Simulated LHCP Simulated LHCP150
0 210 150 0 210 150 210
0
180 180 180

Fig. 10. Simulated and measured radiation patterns of the array at 1.35, 1.6, and 1.85 GHz.

characteristic between the conventional and the rotated 2 × 2 array is performed. As shown in Fig. 7, the
AR of the array with sequential rotation is better than 0.63 dB in the entire band, while the conventional
array without rotation achieves an AR variation between 1.1 and 4.1 dB. The above results confirm the
fact that applying the sequential rotation technique to the array enables to improve the AR performance
significantly, offering an enhancement of about 2 dB in comparison with the conventional 2 × 2 an-
tenna array. As for the reason for the improvement, with a mechanical phase shift added to the current
phase shift, the desired sense of polarization is enhanced while the undesired sense is steered away and
canceled.

3.3. Measured and simulated results

The proposed 2 × 2 spiral array has been fabricated following the design dimensions, the photograph
of which is shown in Fig. 8. The measured results were obtained with Agilent E8363B network analyzer
and an anechoic chamber. The frequency responses of VSWR and gain for the array are depicted in
Fig. 9, and it is obvious that the simulated data and the measurements are in a fairly good agreement.
The measured impedance matching bandwidth for VSWR  1.5 is approximately 40% ranging from
1.25 to 1.88 GHz, covering the overall AR bandwidth (AR < 3 dB), while the measured gain varies
from 11.43 to 14.06 dBi in the overall band.
Simulated and measured results also show stable HPBW, versus frequency at Φ = 0◦ (xoz plane), and
the radiation patterns at 1.35, 1.6, and 1.85 GHz are respectively plotted in Fig. 10. The results indicate
 Z-Y. Zhang et al. / Broadband CP spiral antenna array using sequentially rotated technique 385

1.0 1.0

0.8 0.8

Radiation Efficiency
Simulated AR

Axial ratio (dB)

0.6 Measured AR 0.6
Radiation Efficiency

0.4 0.4

0.2 0.2

0.0 0.0
1.2 1.3 1.4 1.5 1.6 1.7 1.8 1.9 2.0
Frequency (GHz)

Fig. 11. Simulated and measured AR and radiation efficiency against frequency.

its co-polarization is right-hand circularly polarized (RHCP) and good half-power beamwidths of about
43◦ , 38◦ , and 35◦ are obtained at the frequencies of 1.35 GHz, 1.6 GHz, and 1.85 GHz, respectively.
There is reasonable agreement between the simulated and measured radiation patterns.
As apparently depicted by the simulated and measured results reported in Fig. 11, the AR is better than
0.74 dB over the entire operating band ranging from 1.25 GHz to 1.88 GHz. Such good performance is
related to the sequential 90◦ rotation of the array element and a proper phase shift provided by the feed
network. In addition, the array antenna exhibits stable and high radiation efficiency which varies from
79% to 93% over the operating band.

4. Conclusion

The radiation characteristics of a single-arm spiral antenna are investigated in this paper. With a small
round disc behind the spiral arm adopted and a termination resistor loaded, good impedance matching
and AR performance are obtained for the SAS, as well as a simple structure. Then, a circularly polarized
spiral antenna array composed of four SAS antennas as the radiation elements is presented and stud-
ied. Specifically, a sequential rotation technique is introduced to enhance the AR characteristic much
further. The array achieves a good impendence bandwidth for VSWR  1.5 of 40% ranging from 1.25
to 1.88 GHz, an excellent AR better than 0.74 dB within the operating band, a gain variation between
11.43 to 14.06 dB, and symmetrical radiation patterns. Due to these performances, the array antenna has
wide and various applications for navigation systems.

Acknowledgments

The authors would like to thank Professor Shuxi Gong for valuable suggestions. This work was
supported by the Fundamental Research Funds for the Central Universities (No. K5051302033,
K5051307009 and K5051310004), National Natural Science Foundation of China (Grant No. 61301175)
and Natural Science Basic Research Plan in Shaanxi Province of China (Program No. 2014JQ8311).

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