A Novel Low Profile Rectangular Microstrip Patch Antennafor L-Band Applications Using High Permittivity Substrate

Abstract

A novel low-profile and miniaturized patch antenna on a substrate material of high dielectric constanthas been designed, fabricated and tested in an indigenous laboratory. It is highly important to reduce thesize of patch antenna as it limits the reduction of the sizes of the devices using this antenna. A number oftechniques have been given for the size reduction of patch such as DGS (Defected Ground Structure), useof fractals and the use of metamaterials but in this paper the technique of high permittivity substrate hasbeen implemented. The substrate as well as this conventional antenna has been prepared locally inPakistan.A ceramic material of chemical composition {(Sr0.5Pb0.25Ca0.25)-Tio3-3Bi2O3.TiO2} having ahigh dielectric constant has been used in the substrate of the antenna. The fabricated prototype wasinvestigated experimentally for important parameters using Vector Network analyzer. The total measureof the antenna is 20.5x26.5x1.5 mm3. The antenna presented a large bandwidth of 186 MHz (1070-1256MHz) in L-Band with a Return Loss of 21.10 dB at resonance. The VSWR (Voltage Standing Wave Ratio)remained under the standard value of 2 in the whole operating range. The proposed antenna may beemployed in GPS (Global Positioning System) devices, Amateur Radio, Terrestrial Mobile Communication,Aeronautical and Maritime Mobile and other Military and Low Earth Orbit Satellite Communications.