This study presents a circularly polarised (CP) antenna with a wideband characteristic, which is caused by the interelement mutual coupling effect. The proposed antenna consists of a dipole array with four elements in centre symmetry and a wideband feed network. In order to extend the lowest working frequency, a strong mutual coupling effect is introduced to the adjacent co-polarisation elements. What's more, the introduced effects of capacitive coupling reactance counteract the effects of the element's inductively reactive ground plane. Then, a small, tightly coupled array is formed that possesses wide impedance bandwidth and orthogonal polarisation component. A wideband feed network, including Wilkinson power dividers, phase shifters, and impedance converters, is designed to provide amplitudes and phases excitation that circular polarisation antenna required. Finally, a prototype is fabricated and tested. Measured results show a VSWR<2 impedance bandwidth of 102.7% (2.09–6.5 GHz) and a 3-dB axial ratio bandwidth of 94.2% (2.25–6.25 GHz). Besides, a relatively stable gain is realised across the operating band.

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Wideband circularly polarised antenna based on interelement mutual coupling effect

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