A TE-mode Rectangular Microstrip Patch Antenna Excited by Coplanar L-strip Feed

Abstract

This paper proposes a coplanar L-strip feeding technique to excite the dominant transverse electric (TE) mode in a rectangular microstrip patch antenna. To excite the dominant TE 10 mode, the patch and ground layers are composed of artificial magnetic conductor (AMC) unit cells, and the L-strip is fashioned so that it is coplanar with the AMC patch layer. Two TE-mode microstrip patch antennas are full-wave analyzed and fabricated, one in which the AMC patch is centered with respect to the ground plane and one in which the AMC patch is shifted laterally with respect to the ground plane to improve radiation pattern symmetry. Measured results from the fabricated antennas are discussed and compared to the simulations. The proposed antennas successfully excite the dominant TE 10 mode while having at least 11% impedance bandwidth, 8 dBi gain, and stable broadside radiation patterns.