ACES JOURNAL, VOL. 28, NO.

1, JANUARY 2013 57

A Novel Compact Planar Spiral-shaped Antenna

Bing Xiao, Lei Zhong, Jing-Song Hong, and Song-Lin Li

The Institute of Applied Physics

University of Electronic Science and Technology of China, Chengdu, 610054
[email protected]

Abstract ─ A novel compact spiral antenna with located feeds. The other is to employ an irregular
planar feed structure is presented. The proposed physically perturbed patch that is excited by a
antenna is a two-arm Archimedean spiral antenna, single feed. However, two feed points greatly
which has similar properties of wideband and complicate the feed network, while irregular shape
circular polarization to traditional one. A of the patch breaks up the symmetry radiation [2,
remarkable improvement of the proposed antenna 3]. Most of all, microstrip antenna is an inherent
is the completely planar feed structure. The whole narrow band antenna, so it is difficult to expand
antenna is compact ，
its spiral diameter is only bandwidth significantly. Therefore, new
techniques of planar wideband circularly polarized
23.2mm and the balun is also small. It has an
impedance bandwidth of 67% from 4.5GHz to antenna should be explored.
9GHz and a 4-dB axial-ratio bandwidth of 46.67% Spiral antennas have emerged as leading
ranging from 4.6 GHz to 7.4 GHz. It can be candidates for various commercial and military
widely used in wideband planar antenna array and applications requiring wideband circularly
other low profile applications. polarized operation [4]. Spiral antennas are
inherent frequency-independent antennas. For
Index Terms ─ circular polarization, planar instance, they can achieve bandwidth up to 40:1 [5]
antenna arrays, spiral antennas, wideband antennas. and offer high-quality circular polarization,
because their input impedances are near constant
over the entire operating frequency range. In
I. INTRODUCTION
recent years, various spiral antennas have been
Wideband planar antennas have been widely
developed [6-9].
used in aircraft, satellite, radar, remote control,
However, conventional spiral antenna is
telemetry, etc., especially when bandwidth,
always fed by a balun, which is perpendicular to
profile, conformal installation, weight and cost are
the spiral plane in the center [10-12]. Therefore,
main concerns of the users. In terms of
they cannot be completely planar and encounter
polarization of wideband planar antenna, circular
serious difficulties in the planar integration of
polarization (CP) is more attractive than linear
spiral antenna.
polarization. CP can facilitate easy orientations
To design a planar feed structure for spiral
between transmitters and receivers and has high
antenna, several attempts have been made over the
degree of mobility, weather penetration, and
past few years [13-16]. Some authors use slotlines
reduction in multipath reflections and other kinds
instead of strips for the convenience of planar feed
of interferences [1].
[13-15]. As we all know, slotline is a dispersion
Several kinds of wideband antennas can
transmission line, whose phase velocity varies
accommodate the demand of both planar structure
with the frequency. Thus it will affect the group
and circular polarization. Microstrip antenna is the
delay time of wideband antenna. Some other spiral
most commonly used antenna. Basically, there are
antennas are designed by strips, but they do not
two techniques to generate circular polarization for
have a compact and simple structure for microstrip
a single microstrip patch. One is to excite the
feed [16]. Apparently, a compact planar spiral
square or circular patch by two orthogonally

Submitted On: Mar. 28, 2012

Accepted On: Dec. 16, 2012
1054-4887 © 2013 ACES
58 ACES JOURNAL, VOL. 28, NO. 1, JANUARY 2013

antenna fed by microstrip is much more adaptable neighboring arms are in phase. The start of two
to low profile applications, such as planar antenna spiral strips is a typical CPS, and the currents on
array. the two strips are in antiphase. Therefore, the
This article investigates the possibility of a electromagnetic field is bound between the two
completely planar spiral antenna. The antenna is a strips and does not radiate.
spiraled coplanar stripline (CPS) fed by a novel However, the different radii lead to a different
compact microstrip-to-CPS balun. It shows length between the two strips of CPS while
wideband left hand circular polarization (LHCP) winding. If the different length is equal to half a
on front side and right hand circular polarization wavelength, the currents will be in phase, and the
(RHCP) radiation pattern on back side. The electromagnetic field will radiate. When a CPS
simulation and experimental results show an line (two spiral strips) is wound by 360°, the phase
impedance bandwidth of 67% from 4.5GHz to difference is 2πΔr (Δr is the distance between
9GHz and 4-dB axial-ratio bandwidth of 46.67% every two adjacent spiral strips). Thus, we assume
from 4.6 GHz to 7.4 GHz, whose radiation the radiation occurs at a distance s ~ s+Δr along
characteristics are similar to center-fed spiral the circumference and CPS is wound by n turns,
antenna. then
g
II. DESIGN OF SPIRALS n  2  r  . (1)
2
Figure 1 shows the configuration of the So
spirals. A CPS line is wound around the center.
Thus, the two strips of CPS become an inner spiral
g
s  2n  r  , (2)
and an outer spiral. The distance from the center to 2
a strip is defined as r, which is expressed as where λg is the guided wavelength on the spiral
r=r0+aφ, where r0 is the initial radius, a is the arms. It is worthwhile to note that the distance s is
growing rate, and φ is the winding angle. This independent from both the arm spacing Δr and the
expression comes from the classical Archimedean number of turn n. It is only proportional to the
spiral antenna [11]. guided wavelength of corresponding frequency.
Apparently, s cannot exceed the radius of radiation
part rmax. If the minimum frequency of the antenna
is fmin, the maximal s can be calculated by
c0
s( f min)  , (3)
2  eff  f min
where c0 is the speed of light in free space and εeff
is the effective relative dielectric constant of CPS.
As we use a 0.8-mm-thick RO4003C substrate
(relative dielectric constant εr=3.38), the effective
relative dielectric constant is 2.04 [17]. Thus s(fmin)
is calculated as 5.8mm, according to (3).
In fact, rmax should be twice as long as s(fmin) in
reality. Based on the principles mentioned above,
if rmax = s(fmin), the effective radiation area of the
minimum frequency should be the center point of
the spiral strips. Since the currents are cut at this
Fig. 1. Configuration of the spirals. point, there cannot be any effective radiation here.
So we define the initial value of rmax as 11.6mm.
In order to get a symmetrical structure, the end And rmin is designed as 1.8mm in order to keep the
of outer spiral is wound half a turn further in the end of two spirals apart in the center.
center. According to the band theory [11], the Additionally, strip width Ws and gap width
lower frequency limit of the operation band can be Wg (Wg=Δr-Ws) are designed as equal value. In
determined by judging whether the currents in the classical theory of Archimedean spiral
XIAO, ET. AL.: A NOVEL COMPACT PLANAR SPIRAL-SHAPED ANTENNA 59

antenna, a self-complementary structure is the input impedance changes dramatically with

modeled, when strip width is equal to gap width. frequency and the spirals are difficult to match
The largest bandwidth and the lowest input with a balun. Ranging from 5GHz to 9GHz, the
impedance can be achieved at the same time. As two curves are less oscillatory, and the magnitude
spiral antenna is a travelling wave structure, the of the input impedance is nearly a constant with an
signal travels along spirals and the intensity average of 175Ω. We can design a microstrip-to-
decays gradually. Hence the input impedance of CPS balun to feed the CPS structure in this band,
the antenna is the same as the characteristic where both field matching and impedance
impedance of CPS feed line. matching need to be considered [18].
In order to match the spirals to a 50Ω
microstrip line, Ws=Wg=0.6mm are set as initial
value for lower input impedance.
Growing rate of spirals, determined by Wg, Ws,
and rmax, is set as 0.38mm/rad.
Figure 2 shows the simulated electric field
intensity distribution at four different frequency
points (4.7 GHz, 5.6 GHz, 6.5 GHz and 7.4 GHz).
The bright area represents high intensity while the
dark area represents low intensity. Radiation
occurs where high intensity decreases to low
intensity, because the reduced intensity has
become radiation energy and radiated outward.
Consistent with the theoretical analysis, the higher
the frequency is, the outer the radiation area
locates.
Fig. 3. Real part, imaginary part and magnitude of
the input impedance of the spirals.

Fig. 4. Wide-band CPS-to-microstrip balun.

Fig. 2. Electric field intensity distributions at four
different frequencies. Recently, several CPS-to-microstrip baluns on
low dielectric-constant substrate have been
III. DESIGN OF CPS-TO-MICROSTRIP reported [19-21]. These baluns use a long smooth
BALUN tapered microstrip line to match high characteristic
The input impedance of spirals is decided by impedance of CPS. The proposed structure in this
both strip width Ws and gap width Wg. Figure 3 paper is compact and satisfying.
shows the simulated real and imaginary parts of Figure 4 shows the proposed wide-band CPS-
the input impedance of the spirals. Below 5GHz to-microstrip balun based on coupling method.
60 ACES JOURNAL, VOL. 28, NO. 1, JANUARY 2013

The transition consists of a microstrip stepped Additionally, Sr should theoretically be quarter

matching transformer, a radial stub and a guided wavelength of the center frequency.
quadrangle-defected ground. However, according to the results of full wave
Since the input impedance of the CPS is about simulation, Sr has a relatively big impact on the
175Ω, a 94Ω quarter-wavelength transformer is axial ratio of the spiral antenna, which is probably
assigned to match 175Ω and 50Ω. because Sr decides the phase difference at the start
As the electric field in the microstrip line is of CPS. Sr is defined as 6.1mm to balance the
parallel to z-axis and the electric field in the CPS transmission efficiency and axial ratio.
is parallel to x-axis, a 90°electric-field rotation is
needed. So a quadrangle defected ground structure IV. SIMULATION AND
(DGS) is employed to rotate the direction of MEASUREMENT RESULTS
electric field. The DGS can avoid mutual Based on the analysis above and simulations
interference by keeping spirals and ground apart. results with Ansoft HFSS 13, the detailed
This balun has advantages of wide bandwidth, low dimensions of the proposed antenna are showed in
loss, and compactness. Table 1.
The validity of the presented design was tested
by a prototype, as shown in Fig. 6. The
manufactured spiral antenna was tested by a vector
network analyzer.
Figure 7 shows the simulated and measured
return loss of the proposed antenna. The
bandwidth of 10 dB return loss covers from 4.5 to
9GHz.The LHCP and RHCP radiation patterns at
4.7 GHz, 5.6 GHz, 6.5 GHz and 7.4 GHz are
shown in Fig. 8 (a)-(d) respectively. The radiation
patterns are similar to conventional center-fed
spiral antenna at 4.7 GHz, 5.6 GHz and 6.5 GHz,
whereas at 7.4 GHz, the radiation pattern is
degraded. This is because the asymmetry brought
by the feed line has a greater impact when
Fig. 5. S21 and S11 curves of the balun with and radiation occurs at outer part of spirals.
without the quadrangle DGS. Additionally the circular polarization property is
also worse, as is shown in Fig. 9. If the radius of
Figure 5 shows S21 and S11 curves of the the spiral rmax increases, the radiation pattern and
balun with and without the quadrangle DGS. As the axial ratio at higher frequency will be probably
shown in Fig. 5, the transmission coefficient is improved, but the size will be even bigger.
higher and the return loss is lower when the
ground is truncated. Table 1: Dimensions of the Proposed Antenna
Since the quarter-wave radial stub can be seen Substrate: RO4003C
as virtual short, it is in equal potential with the (εr=3.38, tanδ=0.002, h=0.8mm)
ground plane. Thus at the start of radial stub, rmax 11.6 mm Ws 0.6 mm
electric field on CPS begins to couple into the rmin 1.8 mm Wg 0.6 mm
ground. When the ground plane is gradually DL 9 mm Sr 6.1 mm
formed, the electric field intensity between strip DW 2.6 mm λg/4 7.9 mm
and ground is gradually stronger (microstrip) and a 0.38 mm/rad n 4.5
that between two strips (CPS) is gradually weaker.
So we can reduce the reflection loss to the Figure 9 shows the simulated broadside axial
maximum extent, and the quasi-TEM mode of ratio versus frequency. Generally, the 4-dB axial
microstrip is obtained. ratio bandwidth covers from 4.6 GHz to 7.4 GHz.
The simulated broadside gain is shown in Fig. 10.
XIAO, ET. AL.: A NOVEL COMPACT PLANAR SPIRAL-SHAPED ANTENNA 61

(a) The top view, (b) The bottom view,

Fig. 6. Photograph of the proposed antenna: (a) the
top view, (b) the bottom view.

Fig. 7. The simulated and measured return loss.

(a) 4.7 GHz, (b) 5.6 GHz,

(c) 6.5 GHz, (d) 7.4 GHz,

Fig. 8. Radiation patterns at different frequencies, (a) 4.7 GHz, (b) 5.6 GHz, (c) 6.5 GHz and (d) 7.4 GHz.
62 ACES JOURNAL, VOL. 28, NO. 1, JANUARY 2013

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[13] D. S. Filipovic, A. U. Bhobe, T. P. Cencich, Bing Xiao is a graduate student

“Low-Profile Broadband Dual-Mode Four-Arm major in Radio Physics in the
Slot Spiral Antenna with Dual Dyson Balun Feed,” University of Electronic Science
IEE Proceedings Microwaves Antennas and and Technology of China now. His
Propagation, pp. 527-533, 2005. research interests include antenna
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“Spiral Antenna with Planar External Feeding,” research interests include wideband
29th European Microwave conference, vol. 1, pp. antenna technology and wireless
135-138, 1999. communication technique.
[17] I. J. Bahl, P. Bhartia, Microwave Solid State
Circuit Design, Wiley-Interscience, 2003.
[18] J. S. Izadian, S. M. Izadian, Microwave Transition Jing-song Hong received the B.Sc.
Design, Artech House, 1988. degree in electromagnetics from
[19] Y. H. Suh, K. Chang “A Wideband Coplanar Lanzhou University, China, in 1991,
Stripline to Microstrip Transition,” IEEE and the M.Sc. and Ph. D. degrees in
Microwave and Wireless Components Letters, vol. electrical engineering from the
11, no. 1, pp. 28-29, 2001. University of Electronic Science
[20] T. Chiu, Y. S. Shen “A Broadband Transition and Technology of China (UESTC),
Between Microstrip and Coplanar Stripline,” IEEE in 2000 and 2005, respectively. He
Microwave and Wireless Components Letters, vol. is now a professor with UESTC. From 1991 to 1993, he
13, no. 2, pp. 66-68, 2003. was a Circuit Designer with the Jingjiang Radar Factory,
[21] W. H. Tu, K. Chang, “Wide-Band Microstrip-to- Chengdu, China. From 1993 to 1997, he was a Testing
Coplanar Stripline/Slotline Transitions,” IEEE Engineer with SAE Magnetics (HK) Ltd, Guangdong,
Trans. on Microwave Theory and Techniques, vol. China. From 1999 to 2002, he was a Research Assistant
54, no. 3, pp. 1084-1089, 2006. with the City University of Hong Kong. His research
interest includes the use of numerical techniques in
electromagnetics and the use of microwave methods for
materials characterization and processing.

Song-lin Li is a graduate student

major in Radio Physics in the
University of Electronic Science
and Technology of China now. His
research interests include antenna
technology and wireless charging
technique.