A Travelling-Wave-Fed Slot Spiral Antenna With Wide Axial-Ratio Bandwidth and Beamwidth for GNSS Applications

• Published in: IEEE Open Journal of Antennas and Propagation 2021, Vol.2, p.578-584
• Main Authors: Zhong, Zeng-Pei, Zhang, Xiao
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Antenna feeds; Axial ratio bandwidth; axial ratio beamwidth; Broadband antennas; circularly-polarized; Global navigation satellite system; Slot antennas; Spirals; travelling-wave-fed; Wideband; wideband GNSS antenna
• ISSN: 2637-6431; 2637-6431
• DOI: 10.1109/OJAP.2021.3074287

A travelling-wave-fed slot spiral antenna with wide axial-ratio (AR) bandwidth and beamwidth for GNSS applications is proposed in this paper. The evolution procedure of the proposed antenna can be classified into three steps. Firstly, 12 identical spiral slots are arranged concentrically in a compact area, and AR roundness in low elevation plane is improved by virtue of good rotational symmetry of slot radiators. Secondly, a two-turn travelling-wave feed line is sequentially coupled to the slots, and wideband response of desired magnitude ratio and phase difference of E_{\theta } and E_{\varphi } is obtained by optimizing the number and growth rate of microstrip turns. Thirdly, by supporting the antenna with a modified metallic cavity, the CP radiation performance in low elevation plane is well improved, and thus a widened AR beamwidth is obtained. Finally, the proposed antenna with satisfactory performance is realized in a diameter of 0.56\lambda _{0} and height of 0.12\lambda _{0} , where \lambda _{0} is the free-space wavelength at center frequency 1.4 GHz. Measured bandwidth of |S_{11}| fully covers the entire GNSS bands, and the 3-dB AR bandwidth ranges from 1.14 to 1.67 GHz (37.7%). Moreover, the 3-dB AR beamwidth exceeds 140° at 1.4 GHz.