Design of a compact magneto‐electric dipole antenna with bandwidth and gain enhancement

Abstract

A compact magneto-electric (ME) dipole antenna has been designed to improve bandwidth and gain. The E-dipole and M-dipole elements have separate resonance modes, that is, the E-dipole operates from (4.5 to 5.15 GHz, and 5.36 to 6.4 GHz) and the M-dipole operates from (4.25 to 5.2 GHz). A ME dipole structure is generated when the (E + H) dipole structures are combined. For successful ME coupling, the E-dipole lengths are enlarged at the top and bottom, while truncated in the center. This configuration combines a wide impedance bandwidth with a high broadside radiation gain in a small package. The ME dipole element has a bandwidth of 42.44% from (3.1 to 3.6 GHz, and 4.7 to 6.2 GHz) and gain of 7.1 dBi when the isolated resonant modes of E-and M-dipoles are efficiently induced. To improve overall antenna performance, a metallic reflector is loaded at a height of H air = 8 mm, resulting in an increase in bandwidth of 82.35% from (2.5 to 6.0 GHz) and a gain improvement of 10.2 dBi. A constructed prototype antenna has been tested and found to be in good agreement with simulated results, to be potentially explored in wireless communication systems.