Circular Polarization and Polarization Reconfigurable Designs for Annular Slot Antennas

A simple design for circularly-polarized (CP) annular slot antennas is first described. The antenna is fed by a V-shaped coupling strip loaded with a small resistance, and it can generate CP radiation as long as the inclined angle of the V-shaped coupling strip is properly adjusted. Numerical analyses to the effects of varying the angle on CP axial ratio are performed. Several CP prototypes are fabricated. Both simulated and measured results demonstrate that the proposed feeding mechanism can give good CP performances for the case that the slot width is varied from 0.008 to 0.09 λ₀. Then, a design for polarization reconfigurable antennas is developed from the feeding mechanism. Only two PIN diodes are involved in the reconfigurable design that can offer the switching among three different polarizations, including one linear polarization and dual orthogonal circular polarizations. Details of the designs and experimental results are shown.