Radioengineering (Dec 2009)
A Miniaturization Technique of a Compact Omnidirectional Antenna
Abstract
This paper discusses a miniaturization technique of a compact omnidirectional antenna. A slot loading technique is applied to a well-known low-profile antenna structure whose radiation characteristics are similar to equivalent monopole ones. An equivalent circuit which models the antenna input impedance including the slot effect is also developed in order to illustrate the antenna working principle. The typical dimensions (width x height) of the obtained antenna are λ0/11 x λ0/75 (λ0 is the free space operating wavelength) which makes it a miniature antenna that can be integrated inside small wireless sensor nodes using narrow band communication systems. Its performances are in accordance with classical fundamental limits, the operating bandwidth and efficiency are significantly reduced with the antenna size reduction.