A Modified Multiband Planar Antenna for Wireless Commnunications

Abstract

In this paper, a multiband rectangular planar antenna for WLAN and WiMAX, satellite applications is proposed. The proposed folded C-shaped and L-shaped meander grid is compact with dimensions of 30 mm × 17.9 mm × 1.6 mm compared to state-of-art designs. The fabrication was performed for the optimized sizes. The fabricated planar antenna was printed on both sides of an FR4 substrate and consists of the L-shaped meander grid and a C-shaped strip. The Lshaped meander grid strip is printed on the front surface of the board, while the C-shaped strip is printed on the back side of the substrate. These two strips are connected electrically without via/hole. Mutual coupling between the two strips provides broad bandwidth. The simulated and measured results indicate that antenna resonates at 3.5 GHz, 5.5 GHz, 8.4 GHz, and 10.4 GHz for multiband applications. The measured results suggest that this design competes with existing designs with high bandwidth and minimum return loss. The measured voltage standing wave ratio of the designed antenna is less than 2 for all resonant frequencies. During the simulation and measurements, the proposed antenna was observed to have an omnidirectional radiation pattern for the entire operating frequency band. Due to its significant performance, it is suitable for multiband operations.