Hybrid Dielectric Resonator Antenna for Diversity Applications With Linear or Circular Polarization

This article presents a novel dielectric resonator antenna (DRA) with an eight-port feeding system offering gain and polarization diversity. The single-antenna unit is defined by a square arrangement of four aperture coupled slots (ACSs), hybridized with the radiation of the dielectric resonator. Basically, an atypical feeding layout, realized by two microstrip transmission lines driving each of the four ACSs (thus requiring a total of eight feed lines), allows for controlled excitation of the polarization. This resonator and feeder define the eight-port DRA, which, can offer linear polarization (LP), right-handed circular polarization (RHCP), or left-handed circular polarization (LHCP). Reflection coefficient and coupling values for different port excitation scenarios are also investigated for each polarization state of the L-band antenna. The maximum gain is about 5 dBic for LHCP or RCHP and 5 dBi when considering LP radiation. Such agility can be useful for the global navigation satellite system (GNSS), for example, and other RF challenged environments where the dominant polarization is not known a priori. Other applications include duplex systems, wireless communications, and other phased arrays where gain or polarization diversity is of interest.