Conducting sheets-loaded slot antenna for high gain and wide 3 dB gain-band operation

Abstract

This article presents the design and analysis of a high-gain rectangular slotantenna with an operating band (intersection between the 10 dB impedanceband and the 3 dB gain band) of 6–10 GHz with peak gain of ~12 dBi. Toachieve this, an offset fed slot antenna is loaded with two pairs of conductingsheets—a reflector-superstrate pair, and a pair of side sheets. The offset feedingof the slot provides wideband bidirectional radiation; subsequent reflector-sup-erstrate loading enables directional beam with higher gain and wider imped-ance bandwidth, and finally, the side sheet loading equalizes the gain overfrequency band, resulting in a wider operating 3 dB gain-band. The opti-mized antenna has size 2.28λ0 1.34λ0 0.46λ0at the mid-band fre-quencywhichinmeasurementprovides a 3 dB gain-band of 6.03–9.77 GHz(47.34%) with 12.04 dBi peak gain, verifying the simulation. This widegain-band antenna is superior to existing wideband-high-gain antennas asit provides high-peak gain and wide gain-band, which is more than 90% ofthe impedance band.