Dual-polarized slot-coupled planar antenna with wide bandwidth

A new dual-polarized slot-coupled microstrip patch antenna is presented, which can achieve high-isolation, low cross-polarization levels, a wide bandwidth, and low backward radiation levels. The coupling slot is an H-shaped slot. For wide bandwidth and easy integration with active circuits, it uses slot-coupled stacked microstrip patches. The theoretical analysis is based on the finite-difference time-domain (FDTD) method. First, a parametric study on the input impedance of the antenna with a single input port is presented. Based on the results, a dual-polarized microstrip antenna is designed, fabricated, and then measured. The measured return loss exhibits an impedance bandwidth of over 20.9% and the isolation between two polarization ports is better than 36 dB over the bandwidth. The cross-polarization levels in both E and H planes are better than 22 dB. The front-to-back ratio of the antenna radiation pattern is better than 21 dB. Both theoretical and experimental results of return loss, isolation, and radiation patterns are presented and discussed.