A CPW‐fed band notched wideband circularly polarized ZOR antenna based on CRLH‐TL approach

This article presents design and analysis of three wide band zeroth‐order resonance antennas (antennas I, II, and III) using composite right and left‐handed transmission line (CRLH‐TL) approach. Coplanar waveguide technology, single layer via‐less structures are used to have the design flexibility. The bandwidth characteristics are analyzed by using lumped parameters of CRLH‐TL. By introducing a simple slot in the ground plane of antenna I both bandwidth enhancement and circularly polarization characteristics are achieved in antenna II. Another quarter wave L‐shaped slot has been introduced in the ground plane of antenna II to introduce a notch band in the frequency response of antenna III. Achieved measured 10 dB return loss bandwidth of antenna I and antenna II are 960 (3.3‐4.26 GHz) and 2890 MHz (2.77‐5.66 GHz), respectively. Antenna III offers measured 10 dB return loss bandwidth of 3220 MHz (2.32‐5.54 GHz) with a band notch from 2.39 to 2.99 GHz that isolates the 2.4 GHz WLAN and 3.5 GHz WiMAX band. Antenna II and antenna III have circular polarization property with measured axial ratio bandwidth of 440 MHz. The measured peak realized gain of antennas II and III is around 1.53‐2.9 dBi.     

Compact frequency reconfigurable triple band notched monopole antenna for ultrawideband applications

A compact ultra‐wideband (UWB) reconfigurable microstrip fed monopole antenna having size of 0.22 λ₀ × 0.28 λ₀ × 0.005 λ₀ with switchable frequency bands is presented. Triple band notched characteristics are achieved by inserting two stubs at top of radiator and one slot in between the radiator and microstrip feed line. Proposed antenna achieves reconfigurability with three PIN diodes at strategic positions to obtain eight different operational modes. In one of the operational modes, antenna operates in the entire UWB (3‐14 GHz) with fractional bandwidth of 127.5%. Two stubs are used to notch two frequency bands worldwide interoperability for microwave access (3.3‐3.6 GHz/WiMAX) and C‐band (3.7‐4.2 GHz). T‐shaped slot is also inserted to notch wireless local area network (5.725‐5.825 GHz/WLAN) frequency band. Proper biasing of PIN diodes is done by using suitable chip inductors and capacitors. Proposed antenna exhibits stable radiation patterns with average gain of around 3 dBi. Simulation and measurement results are in good agreement. Proposed antenna is suitable for on‐demand band rejection of parasitic bands coexisting in UWB.     

Bandwidth and gain‐enhanced composite right/left‐handed antenna for ultra‐wideband applications

A coplanar waveguide‐fed metamaterial antenna is presented for ultra‐wideband (UWB) applications. The proposed antenna is designed with single unit‐cell composite right/left‐handed transmission line (CRLH‐TL) loaded with a split‐ring resonator (SRR). The UWB characteristic is obtained by merging the zeroth‐order resonance of CRLH‐TL with two additional resonances due to the ground plane and SRR respectively. Subsequently, a partial reactive impedance surface is embedded on the rear side of the proposed antenna to enhance the realized gain without affecting the UWB response. The overall size of the antenna is 0.241λ_o x 0.267λ_o x 0.013λ_o (28.8 x 32 x 1.6 mm³), where λ_o is the free space wavelength at 2.51 GHz. The measured results indicate –10 dB fractional bandwidth of 139.19% (2.51‐14 GHz) with realized gains of 2.3, 4.6, and 6 dBi at the resonant frequencies 4, 7.84, and 10.29 GHz respectively. The measured peak realized gain is 6.6 dBi at 10.6 GHz. The radiation efficiency is above 63.85% for the entire UWB range with a peak value of 86.84%. A fairly stable group delay with variation within 1 ns is obtained throughout the operating frequency band. A good agreement has been observed between the measured and simulated results.     

A wideband circularly polarized slot antenna with antipodal strips for WLAN and C‐band applications

A single‐fed circularly polarized square shaped wide slot antenna with modified ground plane and microstrip feed has been presented. The field in the slot is perturbed by introducing an antipodal strips section attached with a microstrip line to produce circular polarization in a wide band of frequencies. The antipodal strip section consists of a group of four strips of unequal length and separation. The presence of asymmetric perturbations in the slot is mainly responsible for exciting two orthogonal modes in the slot having equal magnitude and 90° phase difference which results in circular polarization. A wide bandwidth of 3.3 GHz (4.4 GHz‐7.7 GHz) has been achieved for an axial ratio value AR < 3 dB with the minimum axial ratio value being 0.3 dB. The impedance bandwidth for |S₁₁| < ?10 dB ranges from 4.3 GHz to 8 GHz, and therefore covers most of the C‐band communication systems. The antenna exhibits stable radiation patterns throughout the circular polarization bandwidth with a gain around 6 dBi in entire operational bandwidth. A prototype of antenna was fabricated and measured. The antenna has a planar size 0.40λ₀ × 0.40λ₀ and thickness of 0.02λ₀ where λ₀ is the wavelength in free space at the lowest frequency. With its compact size and low profile, the antenna is a favorable choice for WLAN (5.15‐5.85 GHz) and a wide variety of C‐band wireless applications.     

Broadband compact CPW‐fed metasurface antenna for SAR‐based portable imaging system

A broadband and compact coplanar waveguide (CPW) coupled‐fed metasurface (MS)‐based antenna for C‐band synthetic aperture radar (SAR) imaging application is proposed in this article, which is consisted of 16 uniform periodic square patches performed as radiators. The CPW feeding structure gives two following functions: (1) It excites an aperture coupling slot structure underneath the center of MS patch array. (2) It acts as a ground plane for the metasurface patch units. Different slots were investigated and eventually an hourglass‐shaped slot is applied to enhance bandwidth for imaging applications. A prototype with a dimension of 60 × 60 × 1.524 mm³ (1.1λ₀ × 1.1λ₀ × 0.03λ₀) operating at the center frequency 5.5 GHz (f₀) has been fabricated and measured to verify the design principle. This antenna has a measured impedance bandwidth of 12.4% from 5.14 to 5.82 GHz, a peak gain of 9.2 dBi and averaged gain of 7.2 dBi at broadside radiation. Microwave imaging experiments using the proposed antenna have been carried out and a good performance is achieved.     

Coplanar waveguide‐fed electrically small dual‐polarized short‐ended zeroth‐order resonating antenna using Ω‐shaped capacitor and single‐split ring resonator for GPS/WiMAX/WLAN/C‐band applications

This work explains the design and analysis of a triple‐band electrically small (ka = 0.56 < 1) zeroth‐order resonating (ZOR) antenna with wideband circular polarization (CP) characteristics. The antenna compactness is obtained due to ZOR frequency of composite right/left‐handed (CRLH) transmission line (TL) and wideband CP radiation are achieved due to the introduction of single‐split ring resonator and asymmetric coplanar waveguide fed ground plane. The proposed antenna obtains an overall electrical size including the ground plane of 0.124 λ₀ × 0.131 λ₀ × 0.005 λ₀ at 1.58 GHz and physical dimension of 23.7 × 25 × 1 mm³ are achieved. The antenna provides a size reduction of 44.95% compared to a conventional monopole antenna. The novelty behind the ohm‐shaped capacitor is the generation of extra miniaturization with better antenna compactness. The antenna provides dual‐polarized radiation pattern with linear polarization radiation at 1.58 and 3.54 GHz, wideband CP radiation at 5.8 GHz. The antenna measured results shows good impedance bandwidth of 5%, 6.21%, and 57.5% for the three bands centered at 1.58, 3.54, and 5.8 GHz with a wider axial ratio bandwidth (ARBW) of 25.47% is obtained in the third band. The antenna provides a higher level of compactness, wider ARBW, good radiation efficiency, and wider S₁₁ bandwidth. Hence, the proposed antenna is suitable for use in GPS L1 band (1.565‐1.585 GHz), WiMAX 3.5 GHz (3.4‐3.8 GHz) GHz, WLAN 5.2/5.8 GHz (5.15‐5.825 GHz), and C‐band (4‐8 GHz) wireless application systems.     

A dual‐band efficient circularly polarized rectenna for RF energy harvesting systems

A multilayered circularly polarized (CP), dual‐band, stacked slit‐/slotted‐patch antenna with compact size and with compact rectifier is offered for RF energy harvesting systems. The compact dual‐band CP antenna size is able to achieve by stacking slotted‐circular‐patch (SCP) on the substrate above the tapered‐slit‐octagon patch (TSOP). Dual‐band CP radiation is realized by stacking the SCP on the TSOP and the microstrip feedline with metallic‐via to SCP. Eight‐tapered‐slit with length difference of 6.25% are embedded along the octagonal directions symmetrically on the TSOP from the patch's center and two unequal size circular slots are embedded in diagonal axis onto SCP to produce dual‐orthogonal modes with almost equal magnitude for CP waves. The designed antenna is realized measured gain of greater than 5.2 dBic across the band (0.908‐0.922 GHz) with maximum gain of 5.41 dBic at 0.918 GHz and gain of greater than 6.14 dBic across the band (2.35‐2.50 GHz) with maximum gain of 7.94 dBic at 2.485 GHz. An overall antenna volume is 0.36λ _o × 0.36λ _o × 0.026λ _o (λ _o is free space wavelength at 0.9 GHz). A compact composite right‐/left‐handed (CRLH) based rectifier with dual‐band at 0.9 and 2.45 GHz is designed, prototyped, and measured. The right‐handed (RH) part of the CRLH transmission line (TL) is formed by a microstrip line. The left‐handed (LH) part of the CRLH‐TL is formed by lumped components. The measured RF‐DC conversion efficiency is 43% at 0.9 GHz and 39% at 2.45 GHz with rectifier size of 0.18λ _o × 0.075λ _o × 0.0002λ _o at 0.9 GHz.     

A compact dual‐band zeroth‐order resonator antenna loaded with meander line inductor

A novel zeroth‐order resonator (ZOR) meta‐material (MTM) antenna with dual‐band is suggested using compound right/left handed transmission line as MTM. In this article, suggested antenna consists of patch through series gap, two meander line inductors, and two circular stubs. The MTM antenna is compact in size which shows dual‐band properties with first band centered at 2.47 GHz (2.05‐2.89 GHz) and second band is centered at 5.9 GHz (3.70‐8.10 GHz) with impedance bandwidth of (S₁₁ < ? 10 dB) 34.69% and 72.45%, respectively. At ZOR mode (2.35 GHz), the suggested antenna has overall dimension of 0.197λ_o × 0.07λ_o × 0.011λ_o with gain of 1.65 dB for ZOR band and 3.35 dB for first positive order resonator band which covers the applications like Bluetooth (2.4 GHZ), TV/Radio/Data (3.700‐6.425 GHz), WLAN (5‐5.16 GHz), C band frequencies (5.15‐5.35, 5.47‐5.725, or 5.725‐5.875 GHz) and satellite communication (7.25‐7.9 GHz). The radiation patterns of suggested structure are steady during the operating band for which sample antenna has been fabricated and confirmed experimentally. It exhibits novel omnidirectional radiation characteristics in phi = 0° plane with lower cross‐polarization values.     

Design of high gain/directional ultra‐wideband antenna for radar imaging systems

A compact size of 40 × 40 mm² ( λ₀ × λ₀ ) semi‐elliptical slotted ground structure (SESGS) directional ultra‐wideband (UWB) antenna is proposed for radar imaging applications. A vertical semi‐elliptical slot is inserted into ground and subsequently, an axis of semi‐ellipse is rotated diagonally (with 45°) in direction of the substrate. Axes of semi‐ellipse are optimized symmetrically around the circular patch to work antenna as a reflector. Furthermore, semi‐elliptical slot is rotated horizontally (with 90°) again to improve the impedance bandwidth. Proposed antenna achieves fractional bandwidth around 83% covering the UWB frequency range from 4.40 to 10.60 GHz (S₁₁ < ?10 dB) having 4.5/6/7/8/9.3/10.2 GHz resonant frequencies. Also, antenna is capable to send low‐distortion Gaussian pulses with fidelity factor more than 95% in time‐domain. Measured gain and half power beam width (HPBW) are 6.1‐9.1 dBi and 44°‐29° in 4.40‐10.60 GHz band, respectively, which show an improvement of 1‐3 dBi in gain and half power beam‐width is reduced by 5°‐10° when compared with previously designed antennas. Experimental results show good agreement with CST simulation.     

A beam scanning Fabry–Pérot cavity antenna for millimeter‐wave applications

A beam scanning Fabry‐Pérot cavity antenna (FPCA) for 28 GHz‐band is presented in this article. The proposed antenna consists of a slot‐fed patch antenna and several layers of perforated superstrates with different dielectric constant. The beam of the antenna can be controlled by moving the superstrate over the antenna. By increasing the offset between the feeding antenna and the superstrate, a larger tilt angle can be obtained. The size of the antenna is 0.95λ₀ × 0.95λ₀ × 0.48λ₀ at 28.5 GHz. The results show the proposed antenna achieves an impedance bandwidth (S₁₁ < ‐10 dB) of 10.5% (27.2‐30.2 GHz), and the beam can be scanned from 0° to 14° in the yoz‐plane with the offset changed from 0 mm to 2 mm. The gain of the antenna is enhanced by 5 dBi in comparison with the feeding antenna without the superstrate, which ranges from 10.91 to 11.53 dBi with the different offset. The proposed antenna is fabricated and shows a good agreement with simulated result.     

Wideband circularly polarized hybrid dielectric resonator antenna with bi‐directional radiation characteristics for various wireless applications

In this article, a wideband circularly polarized (CP) dielectric resonator (DR) over an asymmetric‐slot radiator based hybrid‐DR antenna is proposed with bi‐directional radiation characteristics. Bi‐directional CP radiation of the dual sense is obtained using a rectangular‐DR over asymmetric‐rectangular‐slot radiator with L‐shaped feed line. The asymmetric‐slot radiator feed by L‐shaped stub with the coplanar waveguide is used for generating two orthogonal modes, namely TE ^x _δ11 and TE^y_1δ1 in the combined (rectangular‐DR and asymmetric‐slot radiator) hybrid‐DR antenna, which is verified by the distribution of electric field inside the rectangular DRA. The measured reflection coefficient bandwidth (S₁₁ < ?10 dB) and axial ratio (AR) bandwidth (AR < 3 dB) of the hybrid‐DR antenna are 80.5% (1.87‐4.39 GHz) and 43.8% (1.75‐2.73 GHz), respectively. The antenna radiation is in the broadside (θ = 0°, ? = 0°) direction as well as in the backside (θ = 180°, φ = 0°) direction with equal magnitudes in both the directions. Right‐handed and left‐handed CP waves are achieved respectively, in the boresight (+Z) and the backside (?Z) directions. The proposed CP hybrid‐DR antenna gives an average gain of 3.55 dBic and radiation efficiency of 95.0% in both directions. The proposed antenna covers various wireless useful bands such as ISM 2400 band, Wi‐Fi, Bluetooth, and Wi‐MAX (2.5‐2.7 GHz).     

Metamaterial‐based antennas for integration in UWB transceivers and portable microwave handsets

Two planar antennas based on metamaterial unit‐cells are designed, fabricated, and tested. The unit‐cell configuration consists of H‐shaped or T‐shaped slits and a grounded spiral. The slits essentially behave as series left‐handed capacitance and the spiral as a shunt left‐handed inductance. The unit‐cell was modeled and optimized using commercial 3D full‐wave electromagnetic simulation tools. Both antennas employ two unit‐cells, which are constructed on the Rogers RO4003 substrate with thickness of 0.8 mm and ε_r = 3.38. The size of H‐shaped and T‐shaped unit cell antennas are 0.06λ₀ × 0.02λ₀ × 0.003λ₀ and 0.05λ₀ × 0.02λ₀ × 0.002λ₀, respectively, where λ₀ is the free–space wavelength. The measurements confirm the H–shaped and T–shaped unit‐cell antennas operate across 1.2–6.7 GHz and 1.1–6.85 GHz, respectively, for voltage standing wave ratio (VSWR) < 2, which correspond to fractional bandwidth of ～140% and ～ 145%, respectively. The H‐shaped unit‐cell antenna has gain and efficiency of 2–6.8 dBi and 50–86%, respectively, over its operational range. The T‐shaped unit‐cell antenna exhibits gain and efficiency of 2–7.1 dBi and 48–91%, respectively. The proposed antennas have specifications applicable for integration in UWB wireless communication systems and microwave portable devices. © 2015 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Int J RF and Microwave CAE 26:88–96, 2016.     

Compact broadband circularly polarized slot‐patch antenna array

A simple design of circularly polarized slot‐patch antenna array with broadband operation and compact size is presented in this article. The antenna element consists of a circular slot and a semicircular patch, which are etched on both sides of a substrate. For the gain and axial ratio (AR) bandwidth enhancement, its array antennas are implemented in a 2 × 2 arrangement and fed by a sequential‐phase feeding network. The final 2 × 2 antenna array prototype with compact lateral dimension of 0.8λ_L × 0.8λ_L (λ_L is the lowest frequency within AR bandwidth) yielded a measured impedance bandwidth of 103.83% (2.76‐8.72 GHz) and a measured AR bandwidth of 94.62% (2.45‐6.85 GHz). The peak gain values within the AR bandwidth are from 2.85 to 8.71 dBi. A good agreement between the simulated and measured results is achieved. This antenna array is suitable for multiservice wireless systems covering WiMAX, WLAN and C‐band applications such as satellite communications.     

Compact tri‐band MIMO antenna based on quarter‐mode slotted substrate‐integrated‐waveguide cavity

A compact tri‐band multiple‐input‐multiple‐output (MIMO) antenna based on a quarter‐mode slotted substrate‐integrated‐waveguide (SIW) cavity is proposed. By etching a wide slot, a single SIW cavity is divided into two sub‐cavities with the same size. They are fed by coaxial ports to form two MIMO elements and high antenna isolation can be achieved by this slot. To obtain multi‐band operations, two narrow slots are cut in the upper sub‐cavity and the other two slots are etched in the lower sub‐cavity. Three eighth‐mode resonances with different areas can simultaneously occur in these antenna elements. A prototype with the overall size of 0.34λ₀ × 0.34λ₀ has been fabricated. The measured center frequencies of three operating bands are 2.31, 2.91, and 3.35 GHz, respectively. The measured gain at above frequencies is 4.52, 4.29, and 4.57 dBi, respectively. Moreover, the measured isolation is higher than 16.7 dB within the frequency of interest.     

Design of a compact orthogonal fed self‐diplexing bowtie‐ring slot antenna based on substrate integrated waveguide

In this article, a novel design of compact cavity‐backed slot antenna based on substrate integrated waveguide (SIW) technology is presented for dual‐frequency communication services. A single layer printed circuit board is applied to implement the proposed antenna. The bowtie‐ring slot engraved on the SIW square cavity is excited using two orthogonal microstrip feed lines to operate at two distinct frequencies (6.62 GHz and 11.18 GHz). The proposed antenna allows each of these frequencies to be designed independently. A prototype of the proposed cavity‐backed antenna that radiates at both 6.62 GHz and 11.18 GHz is fabricated and measured. The port isolation better than 29.3 dB is achieved by utilizing the transmission zeros (TZs), which are produced due to the orthogonal feed lines, TE₁₁₀ mode and coupling between the TE₁₂₀ and TE₂₁₀ modes. The measured peak gains of the proposed diplexing antenna are 5.77 dBi and 5.81 dBi at lower and upper resonating frequencies, respectively. The proposed dual‐frequency antenna exhibits the front‐to‐back‐ratio (FTBR) and cross‐polarization level greater than 26 dB and 21 dB, respectively, at both resonating frequencies.     

A dual‐polarized cross‐dipole antenna with wide beam and high isolation for base station

In this paper, a dual‐polarized cross‐dipole antenna with wide beam and high isolation is designed and analyzed for base station. The proposed antenna consists of two planar cross dipoles with four square patches, two L‐shaped microstrip lines, two ground plates, four parasitic patches, and a reflector. The square patches are placed between the center of cross dipoles to couple with L‐shaped microstrip lines. By introducing the parasitic patches, the wide beam can be realized. The measured results show that the proposed antenna achieves an impedance bandwidth (|S₁₁| < ?10 dB) of about 18.7% (1.9‐2.35 GHz) and an isolation better than 30 dB. A measured gain of 5.7 dBi and a half‐power beamwidth over 120° at the center frequency are obtained. Furthermore, the size of the proposed antenna is only 0.5λ₀ × 0.5λ₀ × 0.22λ₀ (λ₀ is wavelength at the center frequency).     

Design of a low‐profile broadband antenna with E‐shaped patch cells

This article presents a low‐profile broadband antenna. The E‐shaped metal cells are utilized on the top layer, which is excited by the microstrip line through the coupling slot in the ground plane. The characteristics of the E‐shaped patch cell and antenna are extensively investigated and presented. Dual resonances with close proximity are obtained to realize wideband impedance matching. An attractive feature is found that the bandwidth of the antenna exhibits good correlation with the inductance. The interesting analysis is presented by directly loading inductors to the antenna, and the bandwidth shrinks quickly with larger inductance loaded. Therefore, the antenna proposed in this article has good potential in bandwidth tuning applications. A typical bandwidth from 5.1 to 6.7 GHz is achieved by the fabricated antenna with a maximum measured gain of 10.4 dBi. Meanwhile, the antenna remains a low profile of 0.09 λ _g.     

A vertex‐fed hexa‐band frequency reconfigurable antenna for wireless applications

Present article embodies the design and analysis of an octagonal shaped split ring resonator based multiband antenna fed at vertex for wireless applications with frequency‐band reconfigurable characteristics. The proposed antenna is printed on FR4 substrate with electrical dimension of 0.4884 λ × 0.4329 λ × 0.0178 λ (44 × 39 × 1.6 mm³), at lower frequency of 3.33 GHz. The antenna consists of SRR based vertex fed octagonal ring as the radiation element and switchable reclined L‐shaped slotted ground plane. Antenna achieves six bands for wireless standards viz: upper WLAN (5.0/5.8 GHz), lower WiMAX (3.3 GHz), super extended C‐band (6.6 GHz), middle X band (9.9 GHz—for space communication), and lower K_U band (15.9 GHz—for satellite communication systems operating band). Stable radiation patterns are observed for the operating bands with low cross polarization. The proposed design achieves hexa band characteristics during switching ON state of PIN diode located at reclined L‐shaped slot in the ground plane. Experimental characteristic of antenna shows close agreement with those obtained by simulation of the proposed antenna.     

Metasurface‐based low‐profile high‐gain substrate‐integrated Fabry‐Pérot cavity antenna

A metasurface‐based substrate integrated Fabry‐Pérot cavity (FPC) antenna is presented for improved radiation performance associated with the low profile. A novel partially reflective planar (PRS) artificial magnetic conductor (AMC) structure is proposed as the upper reflector of the substrate integrated FP resonant cavity. A microstrip patch antenna is embedded inside the cavity as a feed. The proposed antenna is designed to operate at 9.35 GHz with the maximum realized gain of 14.2 dBi and the overall profile of λ₀/10 (λ₀ is the operating wavelength in free space). The low‐profile performance of the proposed design outperforms any previous substrate‐integrated FPC antenna design with this gain performance. The influences of the FP cavity on the reduction of the antenna profile and the enhancement of the antenna gain are also investigated. Good agreement between the measured and simulated results validates the feasibility of the analysis and design approach.     

Compact wide band directional antenna using cross‐slot artificial magnetic conductor (CSAMC)

In this article a novel wide‐band artificial magnetic conductor (AMC) based wideband directional antenna is presented for ultra‐wideband (UWB) applications. The proposed novel cross‐slot AMC (CSAMC) achieves wide ±90° reflection phase bandwidth of 4.07 GHz (44.69%) and is used as a reflector. The overall antenna structure is designed with 4 × 4 CSAMC unit cell array and has very compact size of (0.584λ₀ × 0.584λ₀). The proposed structure improves the radiation properties and exhibits 91.5% (3.13‐8.41 GHz) impedance bandwidth (VSWR ≤2). Additionally, it results in significant improvement in gain and front to back ratio. The proposed antenna is fabricated and its measured performance is in good agreement with simulation results.