POLARIZATION RECONFIGURABLE SLOT-FED CYLINDRICAL DIELECTRIC RESONATOR ANTENNA

Abstract

A new design for a cylindrical dielectric resonator antenna (DRA) with a capability of switching between circular, linear horizontal and linear vertical polarizations is introduced. The DRA, operating at the center frequency of 3.25 GHz, is fed by a microstrip line through two dog-bone slots. In this design, only two PIN diodes are employed as switching elements which significantly decreases the complexity of DC biasing circuits compared to existing designs. The PIN diodes are embedded in transformers connected to the feeding microstrip lines. This technique conveniently allows to make compensations for parasitic effects of the PIN diodes junction capacitors on the antenna matching bandwidth. The circular, linear horizontal and linear vertical polarizations have a bandwidth of 22%, 17% and 18%, respectively. The 3-dB axial ratio bandwidth for the circular polarization is 12%. The measured results obtained from prototyped antenna agree well with simulated results of the designed antenna system, which confirms the validity of the design process.