Wireless Corner

Eva Rajo-lgl8sias
Departamento de Teona de la
Christos Christodoulou Senal y Comunicaciones
Department of Eledrical and
University Carlos III of Madrid,
Computer Engineering
Oespacho 4.3810
University of New Mexico Avenida de la Universidad,
Albuquerque, NM 87131-1356 USA 30,28911 Leganas,Madrid, Spain
Tel: +1 (5 05) 2776580 Tel: +34 916248774
Fax: +1 (505) 277 1439 Fax: +34 916248749
E-mail: christos@ece.unm.edu E-mail: eva@tsc.uc3m.es

Wideband Circularly Polarized E-Shaped

Patch Antenna for Wireless Applications

Ahmed Khidre, Kai Fang Lee, Fan Yang, and Ate' Eisherbeni

Center of Applied Electromagnetic Systems Research (CAESR), Electrical Engineering Department

The University of Mississippi
University, MS 38655 USA
E-mail: ahmed.khidre@ieee.org. leek@olemiss.edu, fyang@olemiss.edu, atef@olemiss.edu

Abstract

A new technique to achieve a circularly polarized probe-fed single-layer microstrip-patch antenna with a wideband axial ratio
is proposed. The antenna is a modified form of the conventional E-shaped patch, used to broaden the impedance bandwidth
of a basic patch antenna. 8y letting the two parallel slots of the E patch be unequal, asymmetry is introduced. This leads to
two orthogonal currents on the patch and, hence, circularly polarized fields are excited. The proposed technique exhibits the
advantage of the simplicity of the E-shaped patch design, which requires only the slot lengths, widths, and position
parameters to be determined. Investigations of the effect of various dimensions of the antenna have been carried out via
parametric analysis. Based on these investigations, a design procedure for a circularly polarized E-shaped patch was
developed. A prototype has been designed, following the suggested procedure for the IEEE 802.11 bIg WLAN band. The
performance of the fabricated antenna was measured and compared with simulation results. Various examples with different
substrate thicknesses and material types are presented and compared with the recently proposed circularly polarized U-slot
patch antennas.

Keywords: Circular polarization; axial ratio; E-shaped patch; microstrip antennas; wideband; wireless communication; local
area networks

1. Introduction enhancement than linear polarization. Circularly polarized micro

strip antennas have been widely used in different wireless applica
tions, such as GPS and RFID systems.

C
ircularly polarized (CP) microstrip antennas are attractive for
wireless applications because they combine advantages of
both microstrip antennas and circular-polarization characteristics.
Microstrip antennas have a planar profile, low cost, and mechani
cal robustness, while circular polarization can reduce the transmis
sion loss caused by the misalignment between antennas of station
ary and mobile terminals. Circular polarization can thus provide
better mobility, weather penetration, and system-performance
Many studies and research efforts have been reported in the
literature directed toward obtaining circularly polarized microstrip
antennas. These antennas can be classified according to the number
of feeds and the number of layers used. In general, single-feed sin
gle-layer structures yield the smallest axial-ratio CAR) bandwidth,
defined at the 3 dB level. However, these structures are attractive
because of their simplicity. They do not need external circuitry or

IEEE Antennas and Propagation Magazine, Vol. 52, No.5, October 2010 219
larger space compared to configurations consisting of multi-feed,
multi-layer, or sequential-feed configurations [ I ]. Techniques used
to obtain circular polarization in single-feed, single-layer micro
.. ..
strip-antenna configurations include trimming opposite comers,
cutting a narrow slot at 45 to a square patch, or adding tabs to an
elliptical patch [2]. However, the axial-ratio bandwidth obtainable
using these techniques is usually less than I %, which limits their
!
practical applications. I
For the case of linear polarization, a number of impedance . ----.
broadening techniques have been extensively investigated and
developed in the past. In particular, the V-slot [3, 4], L-probe [5],

. I
and E-shaped patches [6] have gained a lot of popularity. This is
because compared to other methods, they do not require a complex
matching network or stacked configuration. More recently, the V
slot and L-probe techniques have been applied to single-layer sin

-- --
.. A.
...
gle-feed circularly polarized antennas [7-10]. These techniques
enable the use of thick substrates, and yield axial-ratio bandwidths
as large as 13%.

In this paper, the well-known technique of an E-shaped patch

- -- .
used for a broad impedance bandwidth [6] is modified to generate

circularly polarized radiation. This leads to a new alternative I
I
method of acquiring circular polarization, using a single-layer
probe-fed patch antenna with a relatively wideband axial ratio,
without the necessity of it being square or comer-trimmed. A sys
tematic design procedure is also demonstrated by various design
examples. Finally, a comparison with the V-slot technique recently
published in [7, 8] for circularly polarized single-layer microstrip

- - ,
antennas is given.

--- -

Figure 2. The current flow across the patch: (top) linearly

polarized E-patch, (bottom) circularly polarized E-patch.

Lsi
2. Antenna Configuration and
Ws !1 Circularly Polarized Mechanism

W F
2. 1 Geometry

I The antenna geometry is shown in Figure I. It consists of a

modified E-shaped patch antenna with unequal parallel slots. Both
Ls2 slots have the same width (Ws). The patch, with dimensions Wand
L, is placed at a height h from the ground plane. The medium
between the patch and the ground plane is air. The antenna is fed
with a coaxial probe at position F from the middle of the right edge
of the patch, as shown in Figure I.
z

I 2.2 The Circularly Polarized Design

The conventional E-shaped patch is shown in Figure 2a. Its

y radiation is linearly polarized and symmetric in the xz plane. To
make this antenna circularly polarized, the x-directed current needs
Figure 1. The antenna geometry. to be equal in magnitude to the y-directed current, with a 90 phase

220 IEEE Antennas and Propagation Magazine, Vol.52, No.5, October 2010
 shaped patches as a function of the source-phase variation. Fig
ures 3 and 4 show the current-vector distribution on the circularly
polarized and linearly polarized E-shaped patch at 2.45 GHz,
respectively. The zoomed parts at the 0, 90, 180, and 270
,

phase states mimic current animations. From Figure 3, at 0 cur

,

rent flows in the x direction, while at 90, current flows in the y

,
,
,
,

direction. Similarly, at 180 and 270, both currents are in opposite

directions. This implies quadrature phase between the x- and y

,
,
,
directed currents. It is also clear that the tips of the current vectors
, ,
,
,
,
rotate in a circular path with a phase progression, which depicts
,
,
circular polarization. It is therefore expected that Land W, together
with the two slot lengths, control the resonant length of the x- and
y-directed currents. That is why there is no need for the patch to be
nearly square or comer-trimmed. Instead, circular polarization is
achieved by incorporating unequal parallel slots into the patch, and
adjusting their length, width, and position so that the phase differ
90" ase
ence between the orthogonal currents is 90.

On the other hand, from Figure 4, at 0, current flows in the y

direction, while at 90 and 270, current is almost zero (due to the
existence of cross polarization). At 180 it then flows in the oppo
180" phase site direction to the flow at 0. The tip of the current vector there
fore alternates between the "+" and "-" y directions during one
Figure 3. The current-vector distribution on the circularly
cycle. This implies linear polarization. The next section shows how
polarized E-shaped patch, and zoomed portions of it for four
to adjust the antenna's dimensions to obtain these circularly polar
different phase states.
ized characteristics, and demonstrates the physical effect of various
parameters.

3. Parametric Analysis and

Design Procedure

3. 1 Parametric Study

Basically, W and L control the resonant lengths of the x and y

orthogonal currents excited across the edges of the patch. The
incorporated parallel slots change the electrical length of both cur
,
,
,

,
,
, ,
,
,
rents, and hence they have significant effects on the resonant
,
lengths. We start with the conventional linearly polarized E-shaped
,
, ,
, ,
, ,

patch to cover the 2.45 GHz WLAN band. The dimensions of such
, ,
, ,
,

an antenna are tabulated in Table I. Details of the E-shaped patch

antenna design were discussed in [6].

O phase
/' -, 270 phase
Figure 4. The current-vector distribution on the linearly
polarized E-shaped patch and zoomed portions of it for four
different phase states.
difference. This is accomplished by making one of the slots in the
E-patch shorter than the other. This introduces an asymmetric cur
rent around the yz plane, which increases the x-directed current
such that its magnitude is almost equal to the y-directed current, as
shown in Figure 2b. The antenna dimensions are then adjusted
such that these two orthogonal currents are in phase quadrature.
It is instructive to present the current-vector distribution on
both optimized linearly polarized and circularly polarized
When the slot LsI gets shorter, it is expected that the axial
ratio will decrease. Figures 5 and 6 show the effect of LsI on the
return loss represented by SII' and on the axial ratio, respectively,
based on simulation results obtained using Ansoft's HFSS [ I I]. As
expected, the shorter is LsI, the higher is the resonant frequency.
Making LsI shorter also drastically improves the axial ratio. It
ISO phase
drops from 40 dB at LsI
to around 7 dB at LsI =
= 40 mm (the case of linear polarization)
20 mm (elliptical polarization). A further
decrease in the length of LsI won't improve the axial ratio; rather,
it again begins to increase. These are consistent results, because
LsI changes the electrical path length of the x-directed current. At
a certain length of LsI, the phase difference between the orthogo
nal currents therefore approaches 90. Beyond this critical value,
the phase difference between the orthogonal currents retreats from
90. It was found that the optimum value of LsI for the current
antenna configuration was 17 mm, which gives the minimum
axial-ratio level.
The goal after this step is (a) to improve the axial-ratio level
so it is above the 3 dB level across the desired band of operation,
and (b) to align the impedance and axial-ratio bandwidths together.
E- The probe position is expected to play a critical role for impedance

IEEE Antennas and Propagation Magazine, Vol.52, No.5, October 2010 221
 Table 1. The dimensions of the linear polarized
E-shaped patch in mm.

w L Ws lsI Ls2 p F h
76 4S 7 40 40 14 10 10

O ==:-:-
: ..... ,
:-I .

-5 ", .... "

... ;... . . . .
. . . . . . .. . .. .
.
. .
.

" ' ;1> : ' '" ,

- 10 \' '. .' " -::--->""

'
i
''''
co
"!,

-1 5 . . \L . . -'' .,. - .'< ,/

(J)
\:
..-, ... ,. :'.
:
.
-
f 1-" .>,,, .... 1.
. . .... , ... 1
.--'---,--'-:---:--::-'1"-
-20 ............
. .....,......... ' ..... '\. .... . . . ...
, ... - Ls1= 10 . Figure 8. The axial ratio at different values of F 1 and
'\ j
LsI 17 mm while the other parameters in Table 1 were fixed.
---Ls1=20
,'\ .I
=

-25 . .
.
:
. . . ....... . ... ; \ r " ; .. -'-" Ls 1 =30 .

Ls1= 40 . \,/
-30 !-- --"-i,=---=-i,----,,i=--====== :i,-
2 2 .1 2.2 2.3 2.4 2 .5 2.6 2.7 2.8 2.9 3
Frequency(GHz)

Figure 5. Sll at different values of lsI while the other parame

ters in Table t were fixed.

-5

40
r--- --======
...
iiJ-10 ........., . .
i - Ls1=10
-...-'

... ---Ls1=20
,,/.:
30
..
Ls1=30
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. . . .. . . . . . . .. . . . . .... . . . . . .. . . . . .. . . . . . . . ...... ..
(i) -15 .
- - 'Ls1=4 0
fg 25 ..
. ......
---Ls2=35
o ............... . -20 .
20 . ........ Ls2=44
n::: ,
'
15 , -25 L-----
' ... 2 2.1 2.2 2.3 2.4 2.5 2.6 2. 7 2.8 2 .9 3
10 ....... , ___________ " Frequency(GHz)
__
____

5 ................ ...... ...... .....

Figure 9. S) J at different values of Ls2 while LsI = 17 mm,
2
2 . 1 2.2 2 .3 2.4 2.5 F 16 mm, and the other parameters in Table 1 were fixed.
2 .6 2.7 2 . 8 2 . 9 3
=

Frequency( GHz)

Figure 6. The axial ratio at different values of LsI while the

other parameters in Table I were fixed.

'" ...:- .... ,

, .. , .. ... , II . .. '" ,,,,"',,, .. ..
: -
,
. .. 01
. : ....
....
.. . " :::;"("";rr.-...
-5 ...c ........ /:
: ... -{ ... .
,
. .. . .

,, , ,
, :. .:
\" .. '(
:''i
iiJ-10 .. .. , , /\ .
i
L.

.

, :\ I '
I ' ..

(i) -15 .
\ .
.... Lc.
\ '
. /-
I-
,..
,.

"1.
" I

-F=10 \..' I
.,.1.. . . . . , ..
,I
-20 .
---F=1 6 'J
..... :'t.
.... .... F=26

-25 2 2.1 2.2 2.3 2.4 2.5 2.6 2.7 2.8 2.9 3
2 2.1 2 .2 2.3 2.4 2.5 2.6 2. 7 3
Frequency(GHz)
Frequency(GHz)

Figure 10. The axial ratio at different values of Ls2 while

Figure 7. SJ I at different values of F and Lsi = 17 mm while the LsI", 17 mm, F '" 16 mm, and the other parameters in Table I
other parameters in Table 1 were fixed. were fixed.

222 IEEE Antennas and Propagation Magazine, Vol.52, No.5, October 2010
matching as well as for improving the axial-ratio level. Because its
position changes the impedance seen by the source, it can improve
the matching to 50 Q. The effect of probe position on S,' and
axial ratio are shown in Figures 7 and 8, respectively. As expected,
at some position good matching an improved axial-ratio level
could be obtained and aligned together within the band of interest.
LP E- shap e d Patch
According to the above discussion, it is expected that Ls2 can 10 arameters r 61
be as effective as Ls 1, because it changes the x-directed current's
electrical path length, and hence affects both S,' and the axial
ratio level in a similar fashion. Figure 9 shows the effect of Ls2 on
Shortening Ls 1 ILs2 for
S,', which demonstrated that as Ls2 increases, the frequency at

which S,' is a minimum decreases, and the -10 dB band moves LHCP/RHCP
toward a lower frequency range. Figure 10 shows that the effect of
Ls2 on axial ratio is similar to that of lsI, but it is observed that
Ls2 is less sensitive, which could be useful for fine tuning the S,'
Changing pro be position
and axial ratio.

3.2 Design Procedure Change Ls2/Lsl for fine

tuning
Based on the above parametric study and discussion, the fol
lowing systematic design procedure is proposed:

Step 1. Start with a linearly polarized E-shaped patch at the

band of interest, as given in [6]. It is not necessary to
optimize the design for maximum-obtainable imped
ance bandwidth, because this will be distorted later
by changing one of the slot's dimensions.

Step 2. For left-hand circular polarization, begin with mak

ing the length of lsI shorter (while Ls2 is fixed)
until a minimum axial-ratio level is obtained. The
opposite procedure should be followed if right-hand
circular polarization is required.
Yes
Step 3. Change the probe position along the axis of symme
try in the yz plane to improve the axial-ratio level, as
well as aligning the S,' band with the axial-ratio
band.

Step 4. As a last step, Ls2 could be changed for a fine Figure 11. A flowchart for the design and tuning procedure.
enhancement of the axial-ratio level, as well as
alignment with the S,' band.

Figure II shows a flowchart of the suggested design and tun
ing procedure. The previous procedure could be repeated if the
goal is not satisfied after the first time. However, in the following
loop, Lsi could be changed up and down, rather than only down,
as in the first loop. The same procedure is valid for the other
parameters.
4. Design Examples and Comparisons
with Circularly Polarized U-Slot Patches
In this section, a circularly polarized E-shaped patch is
designed using the above-suggested procedure on two different
substrate materials with different thicknesses. The antenna per
formance is compared with the two recently published circularly
polarized V-slot patches in [9, 10].
4.1 Design 1
The geometry of the antenna was the same as in Figure 1,
while the geometrical parameters of the circularly polarized V-slot
antennas are shown in Figures 12 and 13. An air substrate with a
10 mm ( 0.08Ao) thickness was used. The tuned dimensions of the
designs to work in the IEEE 802.llb/g band (2.4-2.5 GHz) are
tabulated in Tables 2 to 4. Figure 14 shows the S'l of the three
antennas. From the results, the impedance bandwidth defined by
the -10 dB level of S,' was 10.1% for the E-patch (2.35-2.6 GHz).
For the unequal-arms V-slot, it was 9.25% (2.37-2. 6 GHz), and for
the truncated-comer V-slot, it was 9.64% (2.27-2.5 GHz). The
axial ratio as a function of frequency for the three antennas is
shown in Figure 15. It was clear that all axial-ratio bandwidths
were aligned with the corresponding S,' bandwidth. The axial
ratio bandwidth of this E-patch antenna was 6.5% (2.38-

IEEE Antennas and Propagation Magazine, Vol. 52, No.5, October 2010 223
 \V.I
I"
------

w
p

, H

Figure 13. The geometry of the circularly polarized truncated

corners U-slot antenna.
s

Figure 12. The ge0ltletry of the circularly polarized unequal

arms U-slot antenna.

Ol__
. .... ,, :
..

-5 . . \ ..........
:
.. .
,
'\ :
-10 '. . . , . \+ ...
co \
-15 . . -.. . . ... \ ... . ... r . . . . . X ..
.
. .

..... \
Table 2. The dimensions of the circularly polarized (J)
.\.1. .i
\ I
E-shaped patch in mm. - 20 .. , ......... ,..
... .. ..... .
r----------.
.. ::e
- -

C
r H W L Ws LsI Ls2 P F
-25 ....... ; .... J .. . .. !....
. --- d corner U-slot
o Unequal U-slot
1 10 77 47.5 7 19 44.5 14 17 .
- 30
2.2 6. 7 63 33.5 4 27 6 20 10 2 2.1 2.2 2.3 2.4 2.5 2.6 2.7 2.8 2.9 3
F(GHz

Figure 14. SII of Design 1 for the E-shaped unequal-arms U

slot and truncated-corners U-slot patch antennas.

Table 3. The dimensions of the circularly polarized U-slot patch 151 in mm.

H Lp Wp LuI Lur Lub Wu Ws L

C
r f
I 10 43.7 43.7 27.3 19.8 10. 3 16.9 2.3 12.5
2.2 6.7 32.7 32.7 20 13.5 8.9 11.4 1.5 12

Table 4. The dimensions of the circularly polarized U-slot patch [6] in mm.

C H L W a d Ua Ud Ux Uy
r

1 10 48.2 48.2 12.2 10 2. 1 19.8 23 19

2.2 6.7 36 36 7.7 6. 5 1.2 19.6 15.5 11.5

224 IEEE Antennas and Propagation Magazine, Vol. 52, No.5, October 2010
2.54 GHz), which was pretty wide for a single-layer single-feed
microstrip-patch antenna.
4
The 4% (2.39-2.49 GHz) axial-ratio bandwidth obtained from
the unequal-arms V-slot was comparable to 4.5% (2.39-2.2.5 GHz)
for the truncated-corner V-slot.

4.2 Design 2 - E-patch

---Truncated corner U-slot
o Unequal U-slot
To show that the proposed design also worked for a material
substrate, we used a substrate with 8r 2.2 and a thickness of =

O
6.7 mm (O.08A.g). The optimized dimensions are tabulated in 2 2.1 2.2 2.3 2.7 2.8 2.9 3

Tables 2 to 4. The results are shown in Figures 16 and 17. The

modified E-shaped patch provided a 10.6% (2.39-2.66 GHz) Figure 17. The axial ratio of Design 2 for the E-shaped
impedance bandwidth and a 3.6% (2.41-2.5 GHz) axial-ratio unequal-arms V-slot and truncated-corners V-slot antennas.
bandwidth, which was pretty wide for such permittivity. On the
other hand, the unequal-arms V-slot gave a 6.9% (2.38-2.55 GHz)
impedance bandwidth and a 2.8% (2.4 15-2.465 GHz) axial-ratio
bandwidth, while the truncated-corners V-slot gave a 13.1% (2.4 I-
2.75 GHz) impedance bandwidth and a 3.3% (2.41-2. 49 GHz)
axial-ratio bandwidth.

5. Experimental Work

Design 1 was chosen for fabrication and measurements. A

photo of the prototype is shown in Figure 18. The metallic patch

4 . .. .... .
.... . .. ': ......... ..........;.

iii'
3 ; :" . : ......... ..... . .
: :
" '
o
:p
It!
It:
(ij 2 ...... : ......... .... .

.. . . . . . . . 1
. .. ' ' " - E-patch
--- Truncated corner U-slot
o Unequal U-slot
O
2 2.1 2.2 2.3 2.4 2.5 2.6 2.7 2.8 2.9 3
F(GHz)

Figure 15. The axial ratio of Design 1 for the E-shaped

unequal-arms V-slot and truncated-corners V-slot patch
antennas.
Figure 18a. A plane view of the prototype of the circularly
O
__"TT ==I polarizedE-shaped patch antenna.
,.. - E-patch
---truncated corner U-slot
-5 . . . . .. . . .. . o Unequal U slot '-........

;' r
iii'-10 . ....-[ ;
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . t/ /: '.
. ...

i r
'r"

(j) -15 ;
. . , .
.
Ii'. . . . . . . . . . . ..
/':

Figure 18b. A side view of the prototype of the circularly

-20 ; l j
..
polarized E-sbaped patch antenna.

_25L--L L- Table 5. The dimensions of the circularly polarized

2 2.1 2.2 2.3 2.4 2.5 2.6 2.7 2.8 2.9 3
F(GHz) E-sbaped patch prototype in mm.

Figure 1 6. SII of Design 2 for the E-shaped, unequal-arms V w L Ws LsI Ls2 p F h

slot and truncated-corners V-slot antennas.

76 45 7 40 40 14 10 10

IEEE Antennas and Propagation Magazine, Vol. 52, No.5, October 2010 225
 s-parameters
0
30 30
-5

lO 60 60
co-
..

in - 15 ....

-20 .. . : '-i'"
. 90 : ....... .....
:
90

- 25 L-
2 2 . 1 2.2 2.3 2.4 2.5 2.6 2.7 2.8 2. 9

3
.
. .'

f(GHz)
120 . . 120
.... . ..
" "

Figure 19. A comparison of the simulated and measured SII

.. '
.. -: .

-
value for the circularly polarized E- shaped patch antenna.
. .. .
150
.. ..

150
.
. ...

10
180
9

8 Figure 2 1 b. The radiation patterns of for left-hand circular

7 ..... i .. ! polarization (blue) and right-hand circular polarization (green)
co
.. . . ..

"0 ..... .. . . , in the xz plane. The simulated pattern is the solid line, while
'0 6
.

the measured pattern is the dashed or dotted line.

5 ,.
0:::
.

(ii 4
3

2
---Measured
....
:
7.5
- HFSS
co
O "0 5
2 2.1 2.2 2.3 2.4 2.5 2.6 2.7 2.8 2.9 3 c
F(GHz) 'iij
2.5 -...
co
Figure 20. A comparison of the simulated and measured axial :;
ratio values for the circularly polarized E-shaped patch ... . ...
G
antenna.

o
- 5 -L--
2 2.1 2.2 2 . 3 2.4 2.5 2.6 2.7 2.8 2.9 3
F(GHz)

Figure 22. A comparison of the simulated and measured

60 60 broadside gain as a function of frequency.

was fabricated via milling a thin copper-clad substrate. This

90 ., ......... 90 enabled etching the E-shaped patch dimensions with higher accu
racy. The substrate's relative dielectric constant was 2.2, and its
thickness was 0.787 mm. It was mounted above a ground plane
with dimensions of 200 mm x 95 mm by using a via of 0.75 mm
radius, which was soldered to the center pin of a 50 Q SMA con
120 120 necter, as shown in Figure 18 (bottom view). The tuned dimen
sions are tabulated in Table 5, and a comparison of the simulation
and measured results for SII is shown in Figure 19. Good agree
ment between the simulation and measurement was observed. The
150 150
measured antenna impedance bandwidth was 9.27% (2.34-
180 2.57 GHz), while 10.27% (2.31-2.57 GHz) was obtained from the
simulation. The simulated and measured axial-ratio results are
Figure 21a. The radiation patterns of for left-hand circular shown in Figure 20. The axial-ratio bandwidth based on simulation
polarization (blue) and right-hand circular polarization (green) was 8.1% (2.28-2.45 GHz), and the measured axial-ratio band
in the yz plane. The simulated pattern is the solid line, while width was 16% (2.3-2.7 GHz). The bandwidth overlapped by SII
the measured pattern is the dashed or dotted line. and the axial ratio was 2.34-2.57 GHz, which was 9.27%. Com-

226 IEEE Antennas and Propagation Magazine, Vol. 52, No.5, October 2010
parisons of the left-hand circular polarization and right-hand cir IEEE Transactions on Antennas and Propagation, AP-49, 7, July
cular polarization patterns in the yz and xz planes at 2.45 GHz are 2001, pp. 1094-1100.
shown in Figure 21. The gain as a function of frequency in the
broadside direction is shown in Figure 22. The maximum meas 7. W. K. Lo, J. I. Hu, C. H. Chan, and K. M. Luk, "L- Shaped
ured gain obtained was 8.3 dBi with a 15.5% 3 dB bandwidth Probe-Feed Circularly Polarized Microstrip Patch Antenna with a
(2.27-2.65 GHz). The maximum simulated gain was 8.7 dBi with a Cross Slot," Microwave and Optical Technology Letters, 25, 4,
19.5% 3 dB bandwidth (2.18-2.65 GHz). The overlapped band May 2000, pp. 251-251.
width among impedance, axial ratio, and gain was 9.27%, which
was the effective bandwidth of the antenna. This was considered 8. F. S. Chang, K. L Wong, and T. W. Chiou, "Low-Cost Broad
very wideband for a single-feed single-layer microstrip-patch band Circularly Polarized Patch Antenna," IEEE Transactions on
antenna. Antennas and Propagation, AP-51, 10, October 2003, pp. 2006-
2009.

9. K. F. Tong and T. P. Wong, "Circularly Polarized U- Slot

6. Conclusion
A new technique to achieve circularly polarized radiating
fields from a single-feed single-layer microstrip antenna using an
E-shaped patch has been proposed. The technique is simple, and
Antenna," IEEE Transactions on Antennas and Propagation, AP-
55,8, August 2007, pp. 2382-2385.
10. S. L. S. Yang, K. F. Lee, A. A. Kishk, and K. M. Luk, "Design
and Study of Wideband Single Feed Circularly Polarized Micro

achieves a wideband axial ratio compared to other techniques strip Antennas," Progress in Electromagnetics Research, PIER 80,
applied to comparably sized patches. The circularly polarized E 2008, pp. 45-6 I.
shaped patch has been designed, fabricated, and measured for the
802.11big WLAN band. An effective bandwidth of 9% was 11. High Frequency Structure Simulation (H F S S), Version 11,
obtained (2.34-2.57 GHz). Wireless devices that require circular Ansoft Corp.

polarization characteristics are considered one of the potential

applications for this antenna. 12. Y. X. Guo, L. Bian, and X. Q. Shi, "Broadband Circularly
Polarized Annular-Ring Microstrip Antenna," IEEE Transactions

The proposed design is also attractive for the implementation on Antennas and Propagation, AP-57, 8, August 2008, pp. 2474-
of a reconfigurable antenna with switchable left-hand circularly 2477.
polarized/right-hand circularly polarized operation. This future
implementation would be useful for diversity in establishing radio 13. C. 1. Wang and C. H. Chen, "CP W- Fed Star- Shaped Slot
links. A .current investigation is exploring this concept with the E Antennas with Circular polarization," IEEE Transactions on
shaped patch antenna of equal parallel slots. Two R F switches Antennas and Propagation, AP-57, 8, August 2008, pp. 2483-
(PIN diodes) were inserted in appropriate locations across each 2486.
slot. If one of the switches is ON and the other is OFF, the two slot
lengths become effectively unequal, and circular polarization is
obtained. If the states of the two switches are reversed, circular
polarization with the opposite orientation will be obtained at the
same frequency. The results of this investigation will be reported
in a future article.
IntroduCing the Authors

7. References

I. R. Garg. P. Bhartia, I. Bahl and A. Ittipiboon, Microstrip

Antenna Design Handbook, Norwood, MA, Artech House, 2001.

2. C. A. Balanis, Antenna Theory: Analysis and Design, Second

Edition, New York, John Wiley and Sons,1997.

3. T. Huynh, and K. F. Lee, " Single-Layer Single-Patch Wideband

Microstrip Antenna," Electronics Letters, 31, 16, August 1995, pp.
13 10-1312.
4. K. F. Lee, K. M. Luk, K. F. Tong, Y. L. Yung, and T. Huynh,
"Experimental Study of the Rectangular Patch with a U- Shaped
Slot," IEEE International Symposium on Antennas and Propaga
tion Digest, I, July. 1996, pp. 10- 13.
5. K. M. Luk, C. L. Mak, Y. L. Chow, and K. F. Lee, "Broadband
Microstrip Patch Antenna," Electronics Letters, 34, 15, 1998, pp.
1442-1443.
6. F. Yang, X. X. Zhang, X. Ye and Y. Rahmat- Samii, " Wide
Band E- Shaped Patch Antenna for Wireless Communications,"
Ahmed Khidre received his B Sc in Electrical Engineering
from Ain Shams University in 2006. From 2006 to 2007, he was
employed at Ericsson Egypt Ltd. From 2007 to 2009, he was
appointed to the Electrical Engineering Department of Misr Inter
national University ( MIU) as a teacher assistant. He is currently a
graduate research assistant at the Center of Applied Electromag
netic Systems Research (CA ESR), the University of Mississippi,
where he is pursuing his postgraduate studies. His research inter
ests include microstrip antennas, reconfigurable printed antennas,
beam-scanning antennas, phased antennas/reflectarrays, U WB
communication systems, numerical techniques for EM modeling
and simulation, optimization techniques for active microwave cir
cuits/antennas, and RF M EMs.

IEEE Antennas and Propagation Magazine, Vol. 52 No.5, October 2010

, 227

Kai Fong Lee is Professor of Electrical Engineering at the
University of Mississippi, where he served as Dean of Engineering
from 2001 to 2009. He received his BSc and MSc degrees from
Queen's University, Canada, and his PhD degree from Cornell
University, all in Electrical Engineering. In his career, he has held
research, faculty, and academic administrative positions in the US
and Hong Kong. Administrative positions included the founding
Head of the Department of Electronic Engineering at the City Uni
versity of Hong Kong, Chair and Professor of Electrical Engineer
ing at the University of Toledo, and Chair and Lapierre Professor
of Electrical Engineering at the University of Missouri. He held
research positions at the University of California, San Diego; Uni
versity of California, Los Angeles; National Center for Atmos
pheric Research; National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administra
tion; and NASA. He also taught at the Catholic University of
America, the Chinese University of Hong Kong, and the Univer
sity of Akron.
Prof. Lee worked on plasma waves and instabilities from
1966-1981, and has worked on antennas since 1981. He was
elected an IEEE Fellow in 1997. He received the 2009 John Kraus
Antenna Award of the IEEE Antennas and Propagation Society.
He authored Principles of Antenna Theory (John Wiley and Sons,
1984), and was senior editor of Advances in Microstrip and
Printed Antennas, (Wiley Interscience 1997). He was the lead
author of Microsfrip Patch Antennas with Kwai Man Luk (World
Scientific/Imperial College Press, 20I 0).
Fan Yang received the BS and MS degrees from Tsinghua
University in 1997 and 1999, and the PhD degree from University
of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) in 2002. From 1994 to 1999,
he was a Research Assistant in the State Key Laboratory of
Microwave and Digital Communications, Tsinghua University,
China. From 1999 to 2002, he was a Graduate Student Researcher
in the Antenna Lab, UCLA. From 2002 to 2004, he was a post-doc
Research Engineer and Instructor in the Electrical Engineering
Department, UCLA. In August 2004, he joined the Electrical
Engineering Department at the University of Mississippi as an
Assistant Professor, and was promoted to Associate Professor in
2009.
Dr. Yang's research interests include antenna theory, design,
and measurements, electromagnetic bandgap (EBG) structures and
228
their applications, computational electromagnetics and optimiza
tion techniques, and applied electromagnetic systems, such as
radio-frequency identification (RFlD) systems and solar energy
concentrating systems. He has published over 100 technical journal
articles and conference papers, five book chapters, and two books,
Electromagnetic Band Gap Structures in Antenna Engineering and
Electromagnetics and Antenna Optimization Using Taguchi's
Method.
Dr. Yang is a Senior Member of the IEEE and a Member of
Commission B of URSIIUSNC. Dr. Yang serves as the Associate
Editor-in-Chief for the Applied Computational Electromagnetics
Society (ACES) Journal and as an Associate Editor for the IEEE
Transactions on Antennas and Propagation. He is also a frequent
reviewer for over twenty scientific journals and book publishers,
and has chaired numerous technical sessions in various interna
tional symposiums. Dr. Yang was Secretary of the IEEE AP-S Los
Angeles Chapter. He was a Faculty Senator and a Member of the
University Assessment Committee at the University of Mississippi.
In 2004, Dr. Yang received the Certificate for Exceptional Accom
plishment in Research and Professional Development Award from
UCLA. He received a Young Scientist Award at the 2005 URSI
General Assembly and at the 2007 International Symposium on
Electromagnetic Theory. He was appointed as a University of Mis
sissippi Faculty Research Fellow in 2005 and 2006. In 2008, Dr.
Yang received the Junior Faculty Research Award from the Uni
versity of Mississippi. In 2009, he received the inaugural IEEE
Donald G. Dudley Jr. Undergraduate Teaching Award.
Atef Z. Eisherbeni is a Professor of Electrical Engineering
and Associate Dean for Research and Graduate Programs, the
Director of the School of Engineering CAD Lab, and the Associate
Director of the Center for Applied Electromagnetic Systems
Research (CAESR) at the University of Mississippi. In 2004, he
was appointed as an adjunct Professor in the Department of Elec
trical Engineering and Computer Science of the L. C. Smith Col
lege of Engineering and Computer Science at Syracuse University.
In 2009, he was selected as a Finland Distinguished Professor by
the Academy of Finland and Tekes. Dr. Elsherbeni has conducted
research dealing with scattering and diffraction by dielectric and
metal objects; Finite-Difference Time-Domain analysis of passive
and active microwave devices including planar transmission lines;
field visualization and software development for EM education;
interactions of electromagnetic waves with the human body; RFID
and sensor development for monitoring soil moisture, airport noise
levels, and air quality including haze and humidity; reflector and
printed antennas and antenna arrays for radars, UAV, and personal
communication systems; antennas for wideband applications;
antenna and material properties measurements; and hardware and
software acceleration of computational techniques for electromag
netics. Dr. Elsherbeni is co-authored The Finite Difference Time
Domain Method for Electromagnetics with MATLAB Simulations
(SciTech, 2009), Antenna Design and Visualization Using
MATLAB (SciTech, 2006), MATLAB Simulations for Radar Sys-
IEEE Antennas and Propagation Magazine, Vol. 52, No.5, October 2010
tems Design (CRC Press, 2003), Electromagnetic Scattering Using
the Iterative Muitiregion Technique (Morgan & Claypool, 2007) ,

Electromagnetics and Antenna Optimization using Taguchi's

Method (Morgan & Claypool, 2007), and was the main author of
the chapters "Handheld Antennas" and "The Finite Difference
Time Domain Technique for Microstrip Antennas" in Handbook of
Antennas in Wireless Communications (CRC Press, 2001). Dr.
Elsherbeni is a Fellow of the IEEE and a Fellow of ACES. He is
the Editor-in-Chief of the ACES Journal, and a past Associate
Editor of Radio Science. (@

IEEE Antennas and Propagation Magazine, Vol.52, No.5, October 2010 229