LAUSR

In this letter, we evaluate the performance of a reconfigurable, planar antenna design to mitigate frequency-selective, multipath fading. Prior work has shown that the diversity provided by two or three polarizations can significantly improve system performance. The considered antenna enables four distinct polarizations, two linear that are mutually orthogonal and two circular that are likewise. Measured 1% diversity gains in a reverberation chamber and in an office were 14 and 11.7 dB, respectively. While the linear and circular configurations are not uncorrelated, these gains are $\sim$4 dB greater than gains obtained by selecting between either two orthogonal polarizations. An empirical, geometry-based stochastic channel model is also presented to facilitate further study of polarization diversity in such environments.