Improvement of low-profile microstrip antenna performance by hexagonal-shaped SRR structure with DNG metamaterial characteristic as UWB application

Abstract

A metamaterial is any material engineered with a property not discovered in naturally occurring materials. Its existence is important in the development and application of modern technology in this century. Furthermore, Its characteristics such as high sensitivity and gain can be potentially applied in antenna technology. In this research, the metamaterial implementation was used to improve low-profile microstrip antennas as ultra-wideband (UWB) applications. The proposed metamaterial consists of variations of one to four hexagonal shape split ring resonator (SRR-H) elements. This study was carried out through simulation and experiments which were operated in the frequency range 0.05–9 GHz. Based on the results, the proposed antenna with the variation of the SRR-H elements provides increased performance than the without SRR-H. The highest double-negative (DNG) metamaterial characteristic of the SRR-H four-element structure provides the highest antenna performance compared to others. The given working frequency occurs at 5.98 GHz with an increase in bandwidth of 47.49% from without SRR-H. The antenna metamaterial structure also responds by providing an ultimate gain radiation pattern of 5.97 dBi at a 45-degree angle in the Quadrant II region. Thus, the performance of the proposed antenna shows the potential for use in UWB technology.

Keywords

• Metamaterial
• Microstrip antenna
• Hexagonal
• Double-negative
• Ultra-wideband