seen, and the 10-dB return-loss impedance bandwidth is almost unchanged. It can be concluded that the presence of the RF shielding metal case causes small or negligible effects on the performances of the proposed antenna.The effects of the antenna ground plane on the antenna performances were also studied. The measured results for three different side lengths of G ϭ 22, 26, and 30 mm for the antenna ground plane are shown in Figure 4. It is first seen that the obtained impedance bandwidths for G ϭ 26 and 30 mm are about the same. On the other hand, for the case with a smaller side length (see G ϭ 22 mm in the figure), the impedance matching of the antenna is quickly degraded. This is largely because, with a smaller side length, the antenna ground plane can no longer function as an effective shielding plate for blocking the possible fringing EM fields of the antenna from contacting the system ground plane. In this case, large effects on the antenna performances due to the presence of the RF shielding metal case are expected.The radiation characteristics of the proposed antenna studied in Figure 2 were also measured. Figure 5 plots the measured radiation patterns at 2442 MHz, the center frequency of the 2.4-GHz WLAN band. It is observed that broadside radiation patterns are generally obtained, except that a small dip is seen in the broadside direction. This small dip is mainly contributed by the long feeding strip and the shorting strip of the antenna. Other frequencies over the operating band were also measured, and the obtained radiation patterns were found to be similar to those plotted here, indicating that stable radiation patterns are obtained for the proposed antenna. The antenna gain was also measured, and the result is shown in Figure 6. A stable antenna gain level of about 2.9 dBi over the operating band is obtained.
CONCLUSIONA novel compact shorted patch antenna suitable to be mounted above the system ground plane of a wireless communication device for WLAN operation has been proposed, constructed, and tested. The constructed prototype occupied nearly no valuable board space of the system ground plane or circuit board of the wireless device. In addition, the results clearly show that even with the presence of a RF shielding metal case placed under the antenna, the variations in the impedance matching of the antenna are small or negligible. This indicates that the associated components of the wireless device can be placed on the system ground plane or circuit board under the antenna, with the performances of the antenna almost unaffected. It is thus expected that a compact integration of the proposed antenna with associated components in the wireless device can be obtained.