Investigation of Compact Dielectric Monopole Antenna Integrated with 3D Printed Horn for UWB Applications

Abstract

Abstract A novel broadband portable Dielectric Resonator Antenna (DRA) with integrated unshorted horn and broadside radiation pattern is implemented for ultra-wideband (UWB) and Electromagnetic sensor applications. A rectangular DRA composed of TMM 10i (Dielectric constant 9.8 and loss tangent 0.002) material is mounted over four supporting pillars to separate the DRA from the ground plane. A conical shaped horn with the copper foil conductor is used as a reflector to increase the gain and realize stable radiation pattern over the wide frequency range. The horn and supporting pillars are fabricated by a 3-D printer using light weight thermoplastic composite polymer Poly-Lactic Acid (PLA). The proposed antenna contributes measured VSWR (2:1) impedance bandwidth of 106 % ranging from 6.8 GHz to 22.2 GHz for a Quasi-TM111 mode with a low cross-pol level which ensures its linear polarization. The measured peak gain of the DRA is 7.8 dBi at 14 GHz, while estimated average efficiency is more than 88 %. The measured average group delay of the proposed antenna is ~ 1.5 ns within operation band. The proposed antenna is suitable for UWB operation and other broadband applications having omnidirectional coverage and stable radiation pattern ranging from C-band to K-band.