IEEE ANTENNAS AND WIRELESS PROPAGATION LETTERS, VOL.

16, 2017 533

A Compact Circularly Polarized Antenna for

5.8-GHz Intelligent Transportation System
Stefano Maddio, Member, IEEE

Abstract—A compact circularly polarized antenna suitable for

applications of an intelligent transportation system (ITS) is pre-
sented. The antenna consists of a disc patch operating in modal
degeneration, which is gap-coupled with multiple annular sectors.
The use of parasitic resonators coupled to the degenerated modes
of the patch enhances the realized gain and the polarization purity,
at the cost of only a modest increase in the area. Despite the small
size of 35 × 35 mm2 (0.46 λ20 at the central frequency of 5.8 GHz),
the experimental validation of the best prototype confirms a hemi-
Fig. 1. Disc geometry and representation of the modes. (a) Disc geometry. (b)
spherical coverage with a half-beam power of 80°, a maximum Mode TM x 0 . (c) Mode TM 0 y .
left-hand gain of 7.16 dB, a cross-polarization discrimination of
21 dB, and a 10-dB return-loss bandwidth exceeding 900 MHz,
a performance suitable for ultracompact tag reader realized in
cost-effective single-layer technology.
Index Terms—Compact antenna, circular polarization,
gap-coupling, intelligent transportation system.
I. INTRODUCTION
N THE context of dedicated short-range communication for
I an intelligent transportation system (ITS), both fixed and mo-
bile units operate in circular polarization (CP) around 5.8 GHz.
In Europe, according to the EN12253 standard, the tag operates
in left-hand CP (LHCP) with a cross polarization not less than
15 dB. The constraint of communication over wide angle de-
mands low-directivity solutions [1]. Furthermore, commercial
considerations suggest the adoption of single-layer design in
common substrate, with dielectric constant between 3.5 and
4.5. The mobile unit is typically semipassive, meaning that
an antenna gain has a tremendous impact on the link budget.
With these motivations, a compact-size antenna design based
on the gap-coupling approach is proposed in the form of disc-
based patch arranged in a single-layer via-less square board of
35 × 35 mm2 . The best solution among the presented ones ex-
hibits an LHCP gain of 7.16 dB, a polarization ratio exceeding
20 dB, half-power beamwidth (HPBW) of 80°, and return loss
(RL) better than 25 dB, a performance suitable for integrated
low-cost ITS tags.
II. BASIC ANTENNA DESIGN
The basic antenna, based on a compact disc-based design
proposed by Maddio et al. in [2] and [3], is hereby briefly Fig. 2. Characteristics of the basic disc design. (a) De-embedded input
described. With reference to Fig. 1(a), a disc patch with radius impedance components. (b) Gain components. (c) Normalized far-fields and
R is centrally cut with an ellipse whose axes are labeled by modal ratio.

A and B. The elliptical cut behaves as a degeneration driver,

Manuscript received August 20, 2015; revised October 11, 2015, December
2, 2015, and June 8, 2016; accepted June 26, 2016. Date of publication July 7, detuning the fundamental TM 11 mode into two orthogonal ones,
2016; date of current version March 20, 2017. indicated by TM x0 and TM 0y . The modal fields behave as in the
The author is with the Department of Information Engineering, University of case of an annular ring antenna [4, p. 367], i.e., with the canonic
Florence, Florence 50139, Italy (e-mail: stefano.maddio@unifi.it).
Bessel-like distribution—cfr. Fig. 1(b) and (c).
Color versions of one or more of the figures in this letter are available online
at http://ieeexplore.ieee.org. Fig. 2(a) shows the input impedance when the patch is tuned to
Digital Object Identifier 10.1109/LAWP.2016.2587771 exhibit a CP gain at 5.8 GHz, as depicted in Fig. 2(b). The patch
1536-1225 © 2016 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.

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534 IEEE ANTENNAS AND WIRELESS PROPAGATION LETTERS, VOL. 16, 2017

Fig. 3. Geometry and modal fields of the gap-coupled design. (a) Patch
Geometry. (b) TM n x , n = 0, 1. (c) TM n y, n = 0,1.

input impedance is the sum of the two second-order resonators,

modeling the two degenerated modes
R R
Z = Zx + Zy = x + y 
f fx 0 f f0 y
1 + jQx fx 0
− f
1 + jQy f0 y
− f

(1)

where Rx , Ry are the modal resistance, fx0 , f0y are the modal
frequencies, and Qx , Qy are the modal quality factors [3], [4].
The nominal CP condition, i.e., the two modes excited with
equal magnitudes and in-phase quadrature, can be imposed di-
rectly, operating on the equivalent circuit, imposing [3]

Zx (f )  Zx0 (fc )
= = 1 exp (jπ/2 ). (2)
Zy (f ) f c Z0y (fc )

It is found that the best CP condition is obtained when the

impedance Zx —corresponding to the x-oriented component
in Fig. 1(b)—exhibits a maximum at 5.65 GHz while the
impedance Zy —y-oriented component in Fig. 1(b)—exhibits
a maximum at 5.9 GHz. Comparing Fig. 2(a) and (b), good
Fig. 4. Characteristics of the parasitic loaded design. (a) De-embedded in-
agreement of the impedance peaks and the maxima of the x and put impedance components (real part). (b) Gain components. (c) Normalized
y gain components are observed, located respectively at 5.65 far-fields and modal ratio.
and 5.9 GHz. The ratio of the modal impedances matches very
well with the ratio of normalized modal far fields, both in terms
of the magnitude and the relative phase (2 c). different actual parameters: the gaps g1x , g1y , the aperture angles
α1x , α1y , and the external radii P1x , P1y .
The parasitic design is tuned to reproduce, with the far-
III. GAP-COUPLED DESIGN field components enhanced by the gap-coupling mechanism,
In this section, the basic design, which can be used by itself the same modal combination that provides the nominal CP con-
if the gain requirements are satisfied [5], is enhanced with the dition for the basic patch. Therefore, extending the concept in
use of additional coplanar annular sector patches. The idea is to (2), the modal recombination can be rewritten as
increase the aperture efficiency keeping a wide HPBW, as dic- 
Zx (f )  Zx0 (fc ) + Zx1 (fc )
tated by ITS requirements, enhancing at the same time radiation
 = = 1 exp (jπ/2 ) (3)
efficiency and polarization purity. Zy (f ) f c Z0y (fc ) + Z1y (fc )

with Zx0 + Zx1 being the x-oriented LP component, and Z0y +

A. One Level of Parasitics
The use of parasitic patches coupled by capacitive (gap) fring-
ing is a known method of enhancing antenna operation [6], [7].
Here, the gap-coupling mechanism is employed to enhance the
gain and polarization purity.
With reference to Fig. 3, four annular sectors are arranged
around the central disc. Due to the quasi-symmetric nature of
the disc geometry, two pairs of annular parasitic patches are
considered. Each pair of opposite sectors are associated with
one of the modes of the central disc: The sectors highlighted
in Fig. 3(b), associated with the mode TM x1 , are designed to
couple with the TM x0 , while the one in Fig. 3(c), associated
with TM 1y , are coupled with TM 0y . The geometries of the two
pairs of parasitics are formally identical, but characterized by
Z1y the y-oriented component. Indeed, the external parasites
are exploited to increase the active area of the correspondent
degenerated mode, introducing a passive array effect.
The subsets of parameters controlling the x- and y-sectors
behave in similar manners, but affecting TM x1 and TM 1y almost
independently—cf. Fig. 3(b) and (c). In particular, g1x , g1y
dictate the coupling level, while the radii P1x , P1y , and the
angles α1x , α1y affect the tuning of the resonant frequencies,
as expected for the canonical angular sectors [4, p. 388] and [8,
pp. 10–49]. Incidentally, when tuned to reproduce the optimal
CP gain condition at 5.8 GHz, the parasites exhibit a second
resonance above the fundamental frequency—around 7 GHz in
Fig. 4(a)—which is ignored in the letter, being only a by-product
of the design process.

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MADDIO: COMPACT CIRCULARLY POLARIZED ANTENNA FOR 5.8-GHz INTELLIGENT TRANSPORTATION SYSTEM 535

TABLE I
PARAMETRIC ANALYSIS FOR THE LH GAIN AT 5.8 GHZ

R α 1x α 1y f x0 f 0y f x1 f 1y LH Gain

6.85 55° 50° 5.60 6.00 8.10 8.60 6.25

6.75 62° 58° 5.60 5.95 7.40 7.75 6.55
6.60 65° 60° 5.65 6.05 7.20 7.50 6.70
6.50 68° 64° 5.70 5.60 6.95 7.30 6.80
6.30 78° 74° 5.65 5.90 6.70 7.05 6.85

The other parameters are (all in mm): A = 3.15, B = 1, g 1 x =

0.35, g 1 y = 0.54, P 1 x = 11.7, P 1 y = 12.

Fig. 5. Geometry and modes of the two-level design. (a) Patch geometry.
(b) TM x n , n = 0, 1, 2. (c) TM n y , n = 0, 1, 2.

With reference to Table I, it is found that for fixed external

radii P1x , P1y (therefore fixed area occupation), the CP gain at
5.8 GHz is maximized when the sectors are adjusted to have fx1
and f1y about 1.0 GHz above fx0 and f0y . Larger differences
between the pairs fx1 , f1y and fx0 , f0y would not permit a
constructive field combination of TM x0 with TM 0y and TM x1
with TM 1y , nullifying the gap-coupling effect. Smaller differ-
ences affect fx0 and f0y lowering the fundamental frequency
as well. The optimal LH gain of 6.9 dB, shown in Fig. 4(b), is
obtained after fine-tuning the entire set of parameters. Despite a Fig. 6. Characteristics of the parasitic loaded design. (a) De-embedded in-
mismatch between the simplified circuit model and the radiative put impedance components (real part). (b) Gain components. (c) Normalized
quantities, the modal ratios shown in Fig. 4(c) are adequately far-fields and modal ratio.
matched around 5.8 GHz.
B. Two Levels of Parasitics
The same design strategy is iterated with a second family
of parasitic sectors, formally identical to the first set and gap-
coupled with it, as depicted in Fig. 5. The actual parameters
of the two sectors are defined similarly but are independent to
better match the new resonant frequencies fx2 and f2y with fx1
and f1y . Formally, the constraints in (3) can be recast with all
the involved modes, with the same preliminary tuning of the
structure. Considering the design complexity, a full-wave op- Fig. 7. Photograph of the proposed antennas.
timization has been carried out starting from the early design
stage. Fig. 6(a) shows the input impedance of the best design, validated. The actual dimensions, expressed in millimeter and
which exhibits an LH gain of 7.25 dB, with a cross-polarization degree, are the following:
discrimination (XPD) exceeding 25 dB [see Fig. 6(b)]. A slight #0: R = 7.1, A = 6.5, B = 1.0, Lin = 1.0, Win = 1.0.
improvement with respect to the previous case is observed. Al- #1: R = 6.3, A = 3.4, B = 1.0, g1x = 0.25, g1y = 0.48,
though modest, this is done at no extra cost, without any impact α1x = 77, α1y = 74, P1x = 11.1, P1y = 11.24, Lin =
on the reference area. 1.0, Win = 1.0,
#2: R = 6.28, A = 3.15, B = 1.2, g1x = 0.29, g1y = 0.53,
IV. IMPLEMENTATION AND EXPERIMENTAL VALIDATION
α1x = 74.2, α1y = 72, P1x = 10.7, P1y = 11, g1x =
The optimal sets of parameters for the three designs were 0.28, g1y = 0.52, α1x = 48.7, α1y = 41, P1x = 16.12,
obtained by maximizing the LHCP in the boresight direction P1y = 16.32, Lin = 1.0, Win = 1.0.
with the constraint of fixed board dimensions (35 × 35 mm2 ). In Fig. 8, the measured reflection coefficients of the three
A quarter-wave transformer was employed to match each an- devices are compared. The RL at center frequencies exceeds
tenna to an impedance of 50 Ω. The three prototypes depicted 23 dB in all cases, with a peak exceeding 30 dB for case #2. The
in Fig. 7 have been fabricated on a high-quality substrate (thick- 10-dB RL bandwidth (BW) is about 340 MHz for #0, 250 MHz
ness = 1.6 mm, R = 3.67, tan δ = 0.012) and experimentally for #1, and almost 950 MHz for #2.

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536 IEEE ANTENNAS AND WIRELESS PROPAGATION LETTERS, VOL. 16, 2017

TABLE II
COMPARISON OF COMPACT CP ANTENNAS FOR ITS

Ref. size (mm2 ) Gain (dB) PxR(dB) Eff(%) tan δ

[5] 40 × 40 4.68 22.5 66.3 0.018

[9] 40 × 60 5.52 20 n.a. 0.0035
[10] 45 × 45 8.25 21 85 ≤ 0.01
[11] 60 × 60 6.90 21 n.a. 0.0009
[12] ∼32 × 30 OK OK n.a. ∼0.02
This 35 × 35 7.16 21 ≥75 ≤0.01
Work

Fig. 8. Measured reflection coefficients.

“OK” stands for ITS-complaint according to [1].

Fig. 9. Measured gain (solid lines, left y-axis) and axial ratio (dotted lines,
right y-axis) against frequency.
Fig. 10. Radiation patterns of the three prototypes at 5.8 GHz. copolar in solid
lines and cross-polar in dashed lines. (a) x-cut. (b) y-cut.
Fig. 9 shows the measured copolarized gain in the boresight
direction along with the axial ratio (AR). The 3-dB AR BW is
75, 110, and 210 MHz for #0, #1, and #2, respectively. Fig. 10
depicts the measured gain pattern at the central frequency. The
co- and cross-components in both the x- and y-cuts are given,
with the definition of the axes in Fig. 7. The maximum gains of
the three prototypes are 6.14, 6.85, and 7.16 dB, according to the
number of parasitics. The cardioid-like shape is maintained for
all three cases, as well as the polarization performance within
the principal lobe. The radiation efficiency is above 75% for all
the prototypes.
V. CONCLUSION
A compact single-layer circularly polarized antenna for ap-
plications of ITS was designed, simulated, and fabricated. To
meet the demands of wide hemispherical coverage and con-
sistent left-hand gain, a design based on one or two levels of
parasitic loading is developed with single-layer via-less im-
plementation. Three prototypes are proposed, arranged on a
35× 35-mm2 board, meaning a surface of 0.46 λ20 at the central
frequency of 5.80 GHz.
The reference device exhibits a peak gain of 6.14 dB, the one
with one level of gap-coupled parasitics has a gain of 6.85 dB,
and the one with two levels reaches 7.16 dB. A wide half-
power angle of 80° and polarization purity exceeding 20 dB are
observed. Considering the compact dimension, the proposed
prototype is suitable for applications of ITS, although it is not
the best result in the related literature—cf. Table II.
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