Electrically Compact SRR-Loaded Metamaterial Inspired Quad Band Antenna for Bluetooth/WiFi/WLAN/WiMAX System

Abstract

In this paper, we reveal a concept of low-profile Split Ring Resonator loaded metamaterial inspired antenna for Bluetooth/WiFi/WLAN/WiMAX communication systems. The antenna’s overall dimensions are 30 × 31 mm2 where two metamaterial unit cells are placed parallel to each other and a zig-zag feed line is connected with the SubMiniature version A connector. The defected ground technique was used to improve the antenna’s operational bandwidth. The computer simulation technology Microwave Studio was used to design and perform the numerical investigation, and the antenna was fabricated on FR-4 dielectric material. The Agilent N5227A VNA and anechoic chamber-based Satimo Star Lab were used to measure the antenna’s scattering parameters, voltage standing wave ratio, gain, efficiency and radiation patterns. The proposed metamaterial antenna had 200 MHz (2.40–2.60 GHz) and 390 MHz (3.40–3.79 GHz) overall bandwidth, which are similar to the simulated data. The measured results were applicable for Bluetooth (2.40–2.485 GHz), WiFi (2.4 GHz), WLAN (2.40–2.49 GHz and 3.65–3.69 GHz), and WiMAX (3.40–3.79 GHz) applications. The antenna’s average gain was 1.50 dBi, with the maximum and minimum gains of 2.25 dBi and 0.88 dBi, respectively, in addition to omnidirectional radiation patterns at operating bands.