Shaping the Axial-Ratio Footprint of Crossed-Dipole Antennas

A method is proposed to adaptively change the axial-ratio beam of simple circularly-polarized antennas. It is
shown, that by varying the phase shift between two orthogonal elements the axial-ratio beam shape can be dynamically adjusted.
This allows control of the direction of minimum axial-ratio and the ability to increase or decrease the beamwidth in one of two planes. The method is intended for satellite navigation systems: it can improve the rejection of reflected signals in varying propagation conditions (e.g. urban canyons), while using simple and low-cost circularly-polarized antennas.