Low-Profile Wide-Axial-Ratio-Beamwidth Circularly Polarized Antenna Loaded With Artificial Magnetic Conductor

A low-profile and wide-axial-ratio-beamwidth (ARBW) circularly polarized antenna loaded with a honeycomb-shaped artificial magnetic conductor (AMC) is presented. The essential radiator consists of a pair of orthogonal dipoles. By properly designing the AMC composed of hexagonal elements, the ARBW can be enhanced. Compared with the ordinary PEC reflector and traditional square AMC, the proposed hexagon AMC reflector can enable extra wide ARBW to cover all cut planes. Finally, the proposed antenna is fabricated and measured. Measurements show that the proposed antenna achieves wide ARBWs of at least 239 degrees in eight cut planes. Furthermore, the profile of the proposed antenna is reduced to 0.073 lambda(0) (at 1.6 GHz) and the peak gain reaches 10.91 dBic with the employment of the AMC reflector.