A wideband and high-gain circularly polarized reconfigurable antenna array based on the solid-state plasma

In this paper, a wideband and high-gain circularly polarized (CP) antenna array with polarization-reconfigurable characteristics is presented based on the solid-state plasma (SSP). The proposed antenna is composed of switchable rotating radiation structures and a switchable feed network by simulating the different SSP branches. To investigate the CP operating mechanism, a reconfigurable CP element is designed through characteristic mode analysis (CMA). A switchable sequential-phase feed network is then proposed which can provide separately two rotational excitations. A spoof surface plasmon polariton (SSPP) is adopted for radiation patches to improve gain and axial ratio (AR) bandwidth. Finally, a high-gain and wideband 2 x 2 CP reconfigurable antenna array is designed. This array achieves left-hand circular polarization (LHCP) and right-hand circular polarization (RHCP) modes when different SSP branches are excited. The array has an overlapped impedance bandwidth of 61.9 % (3.17 to 6.01 GHz) and an overlapped AR bandwidth of 40.2 % (4.01 to 6.03 GHz) in two CP states, and the peak gain is 11.68 dBic.

Automated summary

This paper presents a wideband and high-gain circularly polarized antenna array with polarization-reconfigurable characteristics based on solid-state plasma (SSP). The antenna consists of switchable rotating radiation structures and a switchable feed network that simulates different SSP branches. Using characteristic mode analysis (CMA), a reconfigurable circularly polarized element is designed to investigate the CP operating mechanism. A switchable sequential-phase feed network is proposed to provide two rotational excitations independently. The radiation patches use spoof surface plasmon polariton (SSPP) to improve gain and axial ratio bandwidth. The designed 2x2 CP reconfigurable antenna array achieves LHCP and RHCP modes by exciting different SSP branches. The array has an overlapped impedance bandwidth of 61.9% (3.17 to 6.01 GHz) and an overlapped AR bandwidth of 40.2% (4.01 to 6.03 GHz) in two CP states, with a peak gain of 11.68 dBic.