Inkjet Printed Metamaterial Loaded Antenna for WLAN/WiMAX Applications

In this paper, the design and performance analysis of an Inkjet-printed metamaterial loaded monopole antenna is presented for wireless local area network (WLAN) and worldwide interoperability for microwave access (WiMAX) applications. The proposed metamaterial structure consists of two layers, one is rectangular tuning fork-shaped antenna, and another layer is an inkjet-printed metamaterial superstate. The metamaterial layer is designed using four split-ring resonators (SRR) with an H-shaped inner structure to achieve negative-index metamaterial properties. The metamaterial structure is fabricated on low-cost photo paper substrate material using a conductive ink-based inkjet printing technique, which achieved dual negative refractive index bands of 2.25–4.25 GHz and 4.3–4.6 GHz. The antenna is designed using a rectangular tuning fork structure to operate at WLAN and WiMAX bands. The antenna is printed on 30 × 39 × 1.27 mm3 Rogers RO3010 substrate, which shows wide impedance bandwidth of 0.75 GHz (2.2 to 2.95 GHz) with 2 dB realized gain at 2.4 GHz. After integrating metamaterial structure, the impedance bandwidth becomes 1.25 GHz (2.33 to 3.58 GHz) with 2.6 dB realized gain at 2.4 GHz. The antenna bandwidth and gain have been increased using developed quad SRR based metasurface by 500 MHz and 0.6 dBi respectively. Moreover, the proposed quad SRR loaded antenna can be used for 2.4 GHz WLAN bands and 2.5 GHz WiMAX applications. The contribution of this work is to develop a cost-effective inject printed metamaterial to enhance the impedance bandwidth and realized the gain of a WLAN/WiMAX antenna.     

Square-tooth split ring resonator – a novel metamaterial for bandwidth and radiation improvement in microstrip-based radiating structure design

A square multiband truncated microstrip patch antenna was investigated using a square-tooth split ring resonator for multiband applications in both S- and C-bands. The square-tooth split ring resonator is formed from metallic inclusions in a substrate to create a metamaterial. We introduce a new square-tooth split ring resonator which increases the radiation of the antenna as well as the bandwidth. This new design creates a slow wave structure. The square-tooth addition to the split ring resonator works like a slow wave structure. The square-tooth split ring resonator design is compared with the simple split ring resonator design. The square-tooth design has four bands with center frequencies of 3.88, 4.81, 5.4, and 5.62 GHz, whereas design with the simple split ring resonator has just three bands with center frequencies of 3.88, 4.74, and 5.50 GHz. The bandwidth is increased by 20% to 30% using the square-tooth split ring resonator compared to the simple split ring resonator.     

A Compact Flexible Circularly Polarized Implantable Antenna forBiotelemetry Applications

With the help of in-body antennas, the wireless communication among the implantable medical devices (IMDs) and exterior monitoring equipment, the telemetry system has brought us many benefits. Thus, a very thin-profile circularly polarized (CP) in-body antenna, functioning in ISM band at 2.45 GHz, is proposed. A tapered coplanar waveguide (CPW) method is used to excite the antenna. The radiator contains a pentagonal shape with five horizontal slits inside to obtain a circular polarization behavior. A bendable Roger Duroid RT5880 material (ε_r = 2.2, tanδ = 0.0009) with a typical 0.25 mm-thickness is used as a substrate. The proposed antenna has a total volume of 21 × 13 × 0.25 mm³. The antenna covers up a bandwidth of 2.38 to 2.53 GHz (150 MHz) in vacuum, while in skin tissue it covers 1.56 to 2.72 GHz (1.16 GHz) and in the muscle tissue covers 2.16 to 3.17 GHz (1.01 GHz). GHz). The flexion analysis in the x and y axes was also performed in simulation as the proposed antenna works with a wider bandwidth in the skin and muscle tissue. The simulation and the curved antenna measurements turned out to be in good agreement. The impedance bandwidth of −10 dB and the axis ratio bandwidth of 3 dB (AR) are measured on the skin and imitative gel of the pig at 27.78% and 35.5%, 13.5% and 4.9%, respectively, at a frequency of 2.45 GHz. The simulations revealed that the specific absorption rate (SAR) in the skin is 0.634 and 0.914 W/kg in muscle on 1g-tissue. The recommended SAR values are below the limits set by the federal communications commission (FCC). Finally, the proposed low-profile implantable antenna has achieved very compact size, flexibility, lower SAR values, high gain, higher impedance and axis ratio bandwidths in the skin and muscle tissues of the human body. This antenna is smaller in size and a good applicant for application in medical implants.     

A simple dual-band microstrip-fed printed antenna for WLAN applications

A novel microstrip-fed dual-band printed antenna for wireless local area network (WLAN) is presented. The antenna comprises a rectangular and a circular radiating element, which generate two resonant modes to cover 2.4/5.2/5.8 GHz WLAN bands. The design was experimentally verified by constructing the antenna on a FR4 (ϵr = 4.4) dielectric substrate (47 mm x 26 mm x 0.76 mm) and measuring its impedance and radiation characteristics at both the bands. The measured 10 dB return loss (VSWR 2:1) bandwidth in the 2.4G Hz band is 550 MHz (2.1?2.65 GHz) and it covers the bandwidth required for 2.4 GHz WLAN. The 5.2/5.8 GHz resonant mode has a bandwidth of 950 MHz (5.15?6.1 GHz) covering 5.2/5.8 GHz WLAN bands. A rigorous experimental evaluation confirmed that the dual-band printed antenna maintained good radiation characteristics with minimum cross-polarisation levels.     

Complementary split ring resonator metamaterial to achieve multifrequency operation in microstrip-based radiating structure design

Following recent findings on metamaterials, a miniaturized microstrip patch antenna loaded with a complementary split ring resonator (CSRR) was investigated for multiband operation. The proposed structure has a CSRR loaded in the base of the antenna to improve its performance and to make it a metamaterial. Metamaterials exhibit qualitatively new electromagnetic response functions that cannot be found in nature. The CSRR-loaded base allows simultaneous operation over several frequencies. Here, a total of seven bands were achieved by loading the patch antenna with the CSRR. The seven bands were centered around frequencies of 4.33 GHz, 5.29 GHz, 6.256 GHz, 7.066 GHz, 7.846 GHz, 8.86 GHz, and 9.75 GHz. Design results were obtained by using a high-frequency structure simulator that is used for simulating microwave passive components.     

Compact coplanar waveguide-fed ultra-wideband monopole-like slot antenna

A simple and compact coplanar waveguide (CPW)-fed ultra-wideband (UWB) monopole-like slot antenna is presented. The proposed antenna comprises a monopole-like slot and a CPW fork-shaped feeding structure, which is etched onto an FR4 printed circuit board (PCB) with an overall size of 26 mm x 29 mm x 1.5 mm. The simulation and experiment show that the proposed antenna achieves good impedance matching, consistent gain, stable radiation patterns and consistent group delay over an operating bandwidth of 2.7?12.4 GHz (128.5%). Furthermore, through adding two more grounded open-circuited stubs, the proposed antenna design features band-notched characteristic in the band of 5?6 GHz while maintaining the desirable performance over lower/upper UWB bands of 3.1?4.85 GHz/6.2?9.7 GHz.     

Frequency Reconfigurable Antenna for Portable Wireless Applications

In this paper, the design and experimental evaluation of a hexagonal-shaped coplanar waveguide (CPW)-feed frequency reconfigurable antenna is presented using flame retardant (FR)-4 substrate with size of 37 × 35 × 1.6 mm³. The antenna is made tunable to three different modes through the status of two pin diodes to operate in four distinct frequency bands, i.e., 2.45 GHz wireless fidelity (Wi-Fi) in MODE 1, 3.3 GHz (5G sub-6 GHz band) in MODE 2, 2.1 GHz (3G Long Term Evolution (LTE)-advanced) and 3.50 GHz Worldwide Interoperability for Microwave Access (WiMAX) in MODE 3. The optimization through simulation modeling shows that the proposed antenna can provide adequate gain (1.44~2.2 dB), sufficient bandwidth (200~920 MHz) and high radiation efficiency (80%~95%) in the four resonating frequency bands. Voltage standing wave ratio (VSWR) < 1.5 is achieved for all bands with properly matched characteristics of the antenna. To validate the simulation results, fabrication of the proposed optimized design is performed, and experimental analysis is found to be in a considerable amount of agreement. Due to its reasonably small size and support of multiple frequency bands operation, the proposed antenna can support portable devices for handheld 5G and Wireless LAN (WLAN) applications.     

Compact wideband Koch fractal printed slot antenna

A compact wideband printed slot antenna, suitable for wireless local area network (WLAN) and satisfying the worldwide interoperability for microwave access (WiMAX) applications, is proposed here. The antenna is microstrip-fed and its structure is based on Koch fractal geometry where the resonance frequency of a conventional triangular slot antenna is lowered by applying Koch iterations. The antenna size inclusive of the ground plane is compact and has a wide operating bandwidth. The proposed second iteration Koch slot antenna operates from 2.33 to 6.19 GHz covering the 2.4/5.2/5.8 GHz WLAN bands and 2.5/3.5/5.5 GHz WiMAX bands. The antenna exhibits omnidirectional radiation coverage with a gain better than 2.0 dBi in the entire operating band. Design equations for the proposed antenna are developed and their validity is confirmed on different substrates and for different slot sizes.     

Design of a Compact Monopole Antenna for UWB Applications

In this paper, a low cost, highly efficient and low profile monopole antenna for ultra-wideband (UWB) applications is presented. A new inverted triangular-shape structure possessing meander lines is designed to achieve a wideband response and high efficiency. To design the proposed structure, three steps are utilized to achieve an UWB response. The bandwidth of the proposed antenna is improved with changing meander lines parameters, miniaturization of the ground width and optimization of the feeding line. The measured and simulated frequency band ranges from 3.2 to 12 GHz, while the radiation patterns are measured at 4, 5.3, 6 and 8 GHz frequency bands. The overall volume of the proposed antenna is 26 × 25 × 1.6 mm3 ; whereas the FR4 material is used as a substrate with a relative permittivity and loss tangent of 4.3 and 0.025, correspondingly. The peak gain of 4 dB is achieved with a radiation efficiency of 80 to 98% for the entire wideband. Design modelling of proposed antenna is performed in ANSYS HFSS 13 software. A decent consistency between the simulated and measured results is accomplished which shows that the proposed antenna is a potential candidate for the UWB applications.     

Gain-Enhanced Metamaterial Based Antenna for 5G Communication Standards

Metamaterial surfaces play a vital role to achieve the surface waves suppression and in-phase reflection, in order to improve the antenna performance. In this paper, the performance comparison of a fifth generation (5G) antenna design is analyzed and compared with a metamaterial-based antenna for 5G communication system applications. Metamaterial surface is utilized as a reflector due to its in-phase reflection characteristic and high-impedance nature to improve the gain of an antenna. As conventional conducting ground plane does not give enough surface waves suppression which affects the antenna performance in terms of efficiency and gain etc. These factors are well considered in this work and improved by using the metamaterial surface. The radiating element of the proposed metamaterial based antenna is made up of copper material which is backed by the substrate, i.e., Rogers-4003 with a standard thickness, loss tangent and a relative permittivity of 1.524 mm, 0.0027 and 3.55, correspondingly. The proposed antenna with and without metamaterial surface operates at the central frequency of 3.32 GHz and 3.60 GHz, correspondingly. The traditional antenna yields a boresight gain of 2.76 dB which is further improved to 6.26 dB, using the metamaterial surface. The radiation efficiency of the proposed metamaterial-based 5G antenna is above 85% at the desired central frequency.     

Triple-Band Circularly Polarized Dielectric Resonator Antenna (DRA) for Wireless Applications

This paper proposes a new dielectric resonator antenna (DRA) design that can generate circularly polarized (CP) triple-band signals. A triple-band CP DRA antenna fed by a probe feed system is achieved with metal strips structure on side of DRA structure. The design start with conventional rectangular DRA with F shaped metal strips on DRA structure alongside the feed. Then, the F metal strip is enhanced by extending the length of the metal strip to obtain wider impedance bandwidth. Further improvement on the antenna performance is observed by improvised the conventional DRA structure. The method of removing part of DRA bottom resulted to higher antenna gain with triple band CP. The primary features of the proposed DRA include wide impedance matching bandwidth (BW) and broadband circular polarization (CP). The primary features of the proposed DRA include wide impedance matching bandwidth (BW) and broadband circular polarization (CP). The CP BW values recorded by the proposed antenna were ∼ 11.27% (3.3–3.65 GHz), 12.18% (4.17–4.69 GHz), and 1.74% (6.44–6.55 GHz) for impedance-matching BW values of 35.4% (3.3–4.69 GHz), 1.74% (5.36–5.44 GHz), and 1.85% (6.41–6.55 GHz) with peak gains of 6.8 dBic, 7.6 dBic, and 8.5 dBic, respectively, in the lower, central, and upper bands. The prototype of the proposed antenna geometry was fabricated and measured. A good agreement was noted between the simulated and the measured results.     

Structural,dielectric and reflection analysis of ZnxMg1−xTiO3 ceramics synthesized using auto-ignition combustion method

Zinc-substituted magnesium titanate Zn_xMg_1?xTiO₃ (x?=?0.00–0.10, δx?=?0.025) solid solutions were synthesized using auto-ignition combustion process and characterized for structural, dielectric and reflection properties. X-ray diffraction analysis discovered the creation of single-phase MgTiO₃. Scanning electron microscopy (SEM) indicated the existence of low porosity closely packed grains. The study of the dielectric properties indicated that for Zn_xMg_1?xTiO₃ with x?=?0.05, a reasonably great combination of the relative permittivity (?_r) with value 16.60, loss tangent (tanδ) of 0.9?×?10^?3 and temperature coefficient of resonant frequency (τ_f) of ? 41.37 ppm/°C at 10 kHz was observed. The electromagnetic reflection analysis at microwave frequencies (12.4–26.5 GHz) revealed that composition x?=?0.05 shows maximum 90% reflection bandwidth of 5.60 GHz in the Ku frequency band and 4.59 GHz in the K frequency band. These materials with low to intermediate relative permittivity, low losses, and a minor negative temperature coefficient of resonant frequency might be utilized as a resonator, antenna, and filter substrate for next-generation communication devices.

     

Artificial Magnetic Conductor as Planar Antenna for 5G Evolution

A 5G wireless system requests a high-performance compact antenna device. This research work aims to report the characterization and verification of the artificial magnetic conductor (AMC) metamaterial for a high-gain planar antenna. The configuration is formed by a double-side structure on an intrinsic dielectric slab. The 2-D periodic pattern as an impedance surface is mounted on the top surface, whereas at the bottom surface the ground plane with an inductive narrow aperture source is embedded. The characteristic of the resonant transmission is illustrated based on the electromagnetic virtual object of the AMC resonant structure to reveal the unique property of a magnetic material response. The characteristics of the AMC metamaterial and the planar antenna synthesis are investigated and verified by experiment using a low-cost FR4 dielectric material. The directional antenna gain is obviously enhanced by guiding a primary field radiation. The loss effect in a dielectric slab is essentially studied having an influence on antenna radiation. The verification shows a peak of the antenna gain around 9.7 dB at broadside which is improved by 6.2 dB in comparison with the primary aperture antenna without the AMC structure. The thin antenna profile of λ/37.5 is achieved at 10 GHz for 5G evolution. The emission property in an AMC structure herein contributes to the development of a low-profile and high-gain planar antenna for a compact wireless component.     

Study on a terahertz modulator based on metamaterial with photoinduced vanadium dioxide film

Abstract

Applying the photoexcitation characteristics of vanadium dioxide (VO₂), a dynamic resonant terahertz (THz) modulation with the combination of a VO₂ film and a metamaterial was suggested to realize THz wave active manipulation. The designed metamaterial with structured copper rings arrays can realize a passband from 0.776 to 1.045 THz. When insulator–metal phase transition in VO₂ thin film, which is deposited on the other surface of the metamaterial substrate, is induced by optical pumping, the metamaterial/VO₂ film hybrid structure behaves as an absorber with absorption rates of 90% at 0.88 THz and the transmission energy decrease to less than 3%. Therefore, about 78% modulation depth and more than 250 GHz modulation bandwidth have been reached under the photoinducing. The simulation results illustrate the promise of using phase transition materials for efficient broadband fast response modulators for THz waves.     

Metamaterial-Based Compact Antenna with Defected Ground Structure for 5G and Beyond

In this paper, a unit cell of a single-negative metamaterial structure loaded with a meander line and defected ground structure (DGS) is investigated as the principle radiating element of an antenna. The unit cell antenna causes even or odd mode resonances similar to the unit cell structure depending on the orientation of the microstrip feed used to excite the unit cell. However, the orientation which gives low-frequency resonance is considered here. The unit cell antenna is then loaded with a meander line which is parallel to the split bearing side and connects the other two sides orthogonal to the split bearing side. This modified structure excites another mode of resonance at high frequency when a meander line defect is loaded on the metallic ground plane. Specific parameters of the meander line structure, the DGS shape, and the unit cell are optimized to place these two resonances at different frequencies with proper frequency intervals to enhance the bandwidth. Finally, the feed is placed in an offset position for better impedance matching without affecting the bandwidth The compact dimension of the antenna is 0.25 λL × 0.23 λL × 0.02 λL, where λL is the free space wavelength with respect to the center frequency of the impedance bandwidth. The proposed antenna is fabricated and measured. Experimental results reveal that the modified design gives monopole like radiation patterns which achieves a fractional operating bandwidth of 26.6%, from 3.26 to 4.26 GHz for |S11|<−10 dB and a pick gain of 1.26 dBi is realized. In addition, the simulated and measured cross-polarization levels are both less than −15 dB in the horizontal plane.     

Super Compact UWB Monopole Antenna for Small IoT Devices

This article introduces a novel, ultrawideband (UWB) planar monopole antenna printed on Roger RT/5880 substrate in a compact size for small Internet of Things (IoT) applications. The total electrical dimensions of the proposed compact UWB antenna are 0.19 λ_o × 0.215 λ_o × 0.0196 λ_o with the overall physical sizes of 15 mm × 17 mm × 1.548 mm at the lower resonance frequency of 3.8 GHz. The planar monopole antenna is fed through the linearly tapered microstrip line on a partially structured ground plane to achieve optimum impedance matching for UWB operation. The proposed compact UWB antenna has an operation bandwidth of 9.53 GHz from 3.026 GHz up to 12.556 GHz at −10 dB return loss with a fractional bandwidth (FBW) of about 122%. The numerically computed and experimentally measured results agree well in between. A detailed time-domain analysis is additionally accomplished to verify the radiation efficiency of the proposed antenna design for the ultra-wideband signal propagation. The fabricated prototype of a compact UWB antenna exhibits an omnidirectional radiation pattern with the low peak measured gain required of 2.55 dBi at 10 GHz and promising radiation efficiency of 90%. The proposed compact planar antenna has technical potential to be utilized in UWB and IoT applications.     

The effect of polyethylenimine on the microwave absorbing properties of a hybrid microwave absorber of Fe3O4/MWNTs

The hybrid microwave absorber of Fe₃O₄/multi-walled carbon nanotubes (MWNTs)modified with polyethylenimine (PEI) polymers was fabricated by chemical co-precipitation. The structure and morphology of hybrids are characterized by X-ray diffraction, Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy, and transmission electron-microscopy (TEM). The effect of PEI on the distribution of Fe₃O₄ nanoparticles and the microwave absorbing properties of hybrid microwave absorber of Fe₃O₄/MWNTs were investigated. The TEM results show that Fe₃O₄ nanoparticles are attached homogeneously on MWNTs, which indicates that the adding of PEI is effective to control the distribution of Fe₃O₄ nanoparticles on the surface of MWNTs. The microwave absorbing properties results show that the maximum reflection loss (RL) of PEI modified Fe₃O₄/MWNTs hybrids is improved significantly, which is ?30.69 dB at 7.24 GHz and ?10 dB bandwidth is 1.84 GHz. However, the RL of the Fe₃O₄/MWNTs without PEI is ?21.96 dB at 7.02 GHz and ?10 dB bandwidth is 1.2 GHz.     

Enhanced electromagnetic wave absorption properties of polyaniline-coated Fe3O4/reduced graphene oxide nanocomposites

Fe₃O₄-reduced graphene oxide-polyaniline (Fe₃O₄–RGO–PANI) ternary electromagnetic wave absorbing materials were prepared by in situ polymerization of aniline monomer on the surface of Fe₃O₄–RGO nanocomposites. The morphology, structure and other physical properties of the nanocomposites were characterized by X-ray diffraction, transmission electron microscopy, vibration sample magnetism, etc. The electromagnetic wave absorbing properties of composite materials were measured by using a vector network analyzer. The PANI–Fe₃O₄–RGO nanocomposites demonstrated that the maximum reflection loss was ?36.5 dB at 7.4 GHz with a thickness of 4.5 mm and the absorption bandwidth with the reflection loss below ?10 dB was up to 12.0 GHz with a thickness in the range of 2.5–5.0 mm, suggesting that the microwave absorption properties and the absorption bandwidth were greatly enhanced by coating with polyaniline (PANI). The strong absorption characteristics of PANI–Fe₃O₄–RGO ternary composites indicated their potential application as the electromagnetic wave absorbing material.     

Effects of composition on the microwave absorbing properties of FexNi100−x (x = 0–25) submicro fibers

The morphology and composition of a material have important influences on its electromagnetic parameters and microwave absorbing property. In this paper, the Fe_xNi_100?x (x?=?0–40) powders were prepared by an oxalate precipitation-thermal decomposition process. When x?=?0–25, the powders show submicro fibrous morphologies, however, when x?>?25, some granular particles appear due to the weak coordination ability of ethylenediamine with Fe²⁺ in the oxalate precipitation process. The electromagnetic parameters and microwave absorbing properties of the composites of the Fe_xNi_100?x (x?=?0–25) submicro fibers with 80?wt% paraffin were studied in 2–18?GHz. Compared with the Ni/paraffin composite, enhanced electromagnetic losses and microwave absorbing properties are observed for the Fe₁₀Ni₉₀/paraffin and Fe₂₅Ni₇₅/paraffin composites. The Fe₁₀Ni₉₀/paraffin shows the best microwave absorbing property that at the composite thickness of 2.0?mm, the effective bandwidth and minimum RL reach 3.78?GHz (12.21–15.99?GHz) and ?45.37?dB at 13.90?GHz, respectively. The excellent microwave absorbing property of the Fe₁₀Ni₉₀/paraffin composite is from its high loss factor and the quarter-wavelength cancellation mechanism.     

Wideband microstrip antennas with sandwich substrate

A broadband microstrip antenna with low?high?low (sandwich) dielectric constant substrate combination using a microstrip line-via feed is presented for ultra-wideband applications. The proposed antenna consists of three dielectric substrates; low dielectric constant substrates that contain the microstrip feed line as well as parasitic patches and a high dielectric constant substrate that contains the driven patch. To achieve a large impedance bandwidth, parasitic patches and microstrip line-via combination feed to the driven patch in the multilayered microstrip antenna are used. The proposed antenna designed, fabricated and measured on the sandwich substrate. The antenna has measured 10 dB return loss bandwidth of 46.9% and directive gain .5.2 dBi at boresight across the impedance bandwidth. The total height of antenna is 5.77 mm or 0.077λ ^{at 4 GHz.}