Determination of reactance loading for circularly polarized circular loop antennas with a uniform traveling-wave current distribution

A simple theory is presented to predict the lumped reactance loading for circularly polarized circular loop antennas with a uniform traveling-wave current distribution. The reactive load is located on a circular wire loop of one-wavelength circumference at a position of 45° away from the feed point. To achieve a uniform traveling-wave current distribution, the loading reactance and the input impedances of the loaded and unloaded loop antennas need to satisfy certain conditions. First, the input resistance and the input reactance of the unloaded loop antenna should have the same absolute value. Second, the input impedance of the loaded loop must be purely resistive and its value needs to be two times of the input resistance of the unloaded loop. Third, the loading reactance should be chosen to be two times in value and opposite in sense of the input reactance of the unloaded loop. These conditions can be approximately met when the circular loop is placed above a ground plane. The loading reactance is determined from the input impedance of the unloaded loop and is optimized for an optimal performance of circular polarization. It is found that the reactive load must be capacitive and its value depends on the height of the loop above the ground plane and the thickness of the wire. The characteristics of the circular polarization and the input impedance of the capacitance-loaded circular loop antennas are investigated. An experimental example is presented to verify the theoretical prediction.