Design of compact circularly polarized rectangular dielectric resonator antenna with WBLC for navigational satellite applications

Compact circularly polarized rectangular dielectric resonator antenna (CPRDRA) using wideband branch line coupler (WBLC) is investigated for navigational satellite applications. In this paper, a footprint area of CPRDRA is reduced using high dielectric constant dielectric resonator (ε
_r
= 20.40) and high dielectric constant dielectric substrate (Rogers R03210 ε
_r
= 10.2). The area of compact CPRDRA is 25 × 25 mm
²
which is designed to operate in frequency range of 2.48 to 2.5 GHz with resonant frequency of 2.49 GHz. The return loss, right hand circular polarization (RHCP) realized gain and axial ratio are simulated using ANSYS HFSS14.0. Simulated return loss is better than 24 dB in the operating frequency band. RHCP in CPRDRA is generated using wideband branch line coupler. The RHCP gain in CPRDRA are stronger than the left hand circular polarization (LHCP) gain by 24 dB in broadside direction. RHCP realized gain of CPRDRA is 2.9 dB at zenith. Axial ratio of compact CPRDRA is better than 3 dB at zenith to ±48° for phi=0, 45 and 90 degrees. Verification of DRA simulation using ANSYS HFSS is done by comparing our results with CPDRA results reported by Fang, Leung and Lim [8]. Experimental results will be reported for compact CPRDRA regarding return loss, antenna gain and axial ratio.