High-Gain Planar Circularly Polarized ME Dipole Array with Wide Axial Ratio and Impedance Bandwidth for Millimeter-wave Applications

Abstract

Modern communication systems at millimeter-wave (mmwave) frequencies or above rely on phased-arrays with possible beam steering capability. Antenna arrays with narrow beam, high gain, and good circular-polarized (CP) characteristics over a wide frequency band are always preferred. In this paper, a design with a 64-element magneto-electric (ME) dipole array is presented based on standard PCB fabrication technology. The array antenna achieves a wide impedance bandwidth of 76.8% (18.94-42.54 GHz) and an overlapping axial ratio bandwidth of 69.9% (19.24-39.93 GHz). The CP array achieves a peak gain of 22-24 dBic, a radiation efficiency of 70%-85% across the band, and a 3-dB beamwidth of 18°. The planar configuration, combined with wideband CP performance and the ease of fabrication, makes the proposed design highly suitable for the design to be integrated with satellite communication (SatCom) and mm-wave front-end subsystems.