TWO ELEMENT MICROSTRIP ANTENNA ARRAY USING STAR SLOT ELECTROMAGNETIC BAND GAP STRUCTURE

Abstract

This paper deals with the performance of two element antenna array without and with electromagnetic band gap structures. The antenna arrays are using Mentor Graphics IE3D software and measurements have been taken using vector network analyzer. The dielectric substrate used in the design and fabrication of antennas is FR-4 glass epoxy. The unit cell of the electromagnetic band gap structure is star slot structure. The electromagnetic band gap structure structures applied in the ground plane of the microstrip antenna array are resulting in a remarkable decrease in mutual coupling to – 35.05 dB from – 17.83 dB of the conventional array antenna. The proposed microstrip antenna array is producing bandwidth of 25.18 % as against 2.35 % of conventional microstrip antenna array. The antenna array with electromagnetic band gap strucure is resonating at a fundamental frequency of 3.31 GHz; thereby achieving a virtual size reduction of 40.14 %. The proposed microstrip antenna array finds application in C band of the microwave frequency region.

Keywords

• bandwidth
• dielectric substrate
• mutual coupling
• radiation pattern
• resonant frequency
• return loss
• surface waves
• virtual size reduction