A Differentially Fed Dual-Polarized Antenna for Satellite Applications

A differentially fed dual-polarized magnetic dipole antenna with platform independent performance is investigated in this paper. The magnetic dipole is composed of perpendicular parallel-plate waveguides with steps on edges. A cross-shaped conductor located in the center part of the waveguide is used to drive the antenna. The radiation pattern stability is dramatically improved by adding a rectangular cavity around the magnetic dipole. The results show that the antenna achieves the -4 dBi beamwidth of more than 127°. The cross-polarization discrimination is better than 20 dB within the beamwidth. In addition, the boresight gain is about 7.8 dBi. The proposed antenna features with robust structure, specific gain beamwidth and outstanding radiation performance.