A Polarization Reconfigurable Patch Antenna With Loop Slots on the Ground Plane

This letter proposes a reconfigurable microstrip patch antenna with polarization states being switched among linear polarization (LP), left-hand (LH) and right-hand (RH) circular polarizations (CP). The CP waves are excited by two perturbation elements of loop slots in the ground plane. A p-i-n diode is placed on every slot to alter the current direction, which determines the polarization state. The influences of the slots and p-i-n diodes on antenna performance are minimized because the slots and diodes are not on the patch. The simulated and measured results verified the effectiveness of the proposed antenna configuration. The experimental bandwidths of the -10-dB reflection coefficient for LHCP and RHCP are about 60 MHz, while for LP is about 30 MHz. The bandwidths of the 3-dB axial ratio for both CP states are 20 MHz with best value of 0.5 dB at the center frequency on the broadside direction. Gains for two CP operations are 6.4 dB, and that for the LP one is 5.83 dB. This reconfigurable patch antenna with agile polarization has good performance and concise structure, which can be used for 2.4 GHz wireless communication systems.