Arshad Karimbu Vallappil

This paper proposes a novel wideband 1-to-4-way Wilkinson power divider (WPD) designed for operation in the ultra- wideband (UWB) frequency band. The proposed power divider operates in the frequency range of 3-8GHz. The design process started with conventional WPD design and evolved based on three stages of a 1-to-2 way power divider, incorporating 100Ω resistors and two delta-stubs for each stage. Delta-stubs are introduced in the WPD design for enhanced operational bandwidth and impedance- matching characteristics. The proposed power divider is designed using an FR4 substrate with a thickness of 0.76mm and εr of 4.3, respectively. The proposed design exhibits equal power split at all ports, good insertion-loss of approximately -6 ± 2dB, and return- loss of below -10 dB over the operating frequency band. Moreover, good impedance-matching, and isolation performance have been obtained over the desired frequency band. The proposed WPD was initially modeled mathematically and then designed and optimized using CST microwave studio (CST-MWS). The proposed design can be used in the next-generation UWB-Internet of Things (UWB-IoT) antenna array systems.

In this paper, a compact design and new structure of bowtie antenna with dual-band characteristics for the 5G and public safety bands in intelligent transport systems (ITS) is presented. The antenna consists of a double-sided bowtie radiating patch with partial ground plane. A triangular complementary split-ring resonator (TCSRR) metamaterial (MTM) structure was etched on the radiating patch, to develop a dual band and a single notch band between 3.85 and 4.65 GHz. The proposed antenna had an overall size of 36 × 36 mm² and was fabricated using a FR4 substrate with a thickness and dielectric permittivity (ε_r) of 1.6 mm and 4.3, respectively. CST microwave studio software was used for the design of antenna. The measured frequency results show impedance bandwidths of 3.45–3.85 GHz and 4.65–5.4 GHz, for a voltage standing wave ratio (VSWR) less than 2. The proposed antenna operates at 3.5 GHz and 4.9 GHz, providing bandwidths of 400 MHz and 750 MHz, respectively, which cover the 5G and public safety bands. A prototype was fabricated and measured based upon optimal parameters, and the experimental results showed consistency with the simulation results. The proposed antenna provided a simulated/measured gain of 5.64 dBi/5 dBi and 4 dBi/3.7 dBi at 3.5 GHz and 4.9 GHz, respectively. The enhanced bandwidth and better gain results of the proposed antenna make it an ideal candidate for an ITS operating in the 5G and public safety bands.

In this paper, the design, simulation, fabrication, and characterization study of a low-cost and directional hybrid four-element (2 × 2 configuration) Minkowski–Sierpinski fractal antenna array (MSFAA) for the high-efficiency IEEE 802.11ax WLANs (Wi-Fi 6E) and the sub-6 GHz 5G wireless system is presented. Each element of the array is separated by 0.7 λ₀. The complete four-element fractal antenna array system includes designing the single-element Minkowski–Sierpinski fractal antenna using two different substrates for performance comparison and an equal-split Wilkinson power divider (WPD) to achieve power division and to form a feed network. The single-element antenna, four-element fractal antenna array, and WPDs are fabricated using a flame-resistant (FR4) glass epoxy substrate with a dielectric constant (ε_r) of 4.3 and thickness (h) of 1.66 mm. For performance comparison, a high-end Rogers thermoset microwave material (TMM4) substrate is also used, having ε_r = 4.5 and h = 1.524mm, respectively. The designed four-element fractal antenna array operates at the dual-band frequencies of 4.17 and 5.97 GHz, respectively. The various performance parameters of the antenna array, such as return loss, bandwidth, gain, and 2D and 3D radiation patterns, are analyzed using CST Microwave Studio. The fabricated four-element antenna array provides the bandwidth and gain characteristic of 85 MHz/4.19 dB and 182 MHz/9.61 dB at 4.17 and 5.97 GHz frequency bands, respectively. The proposed antenna array design gives an improvement in the bandwidth, gain, and radiation pattern in the boresight at both frequencies. In the IEEE 802.11 ax WLANs (Wi-Fi 6E) deployments and the upcoming 5G wireless and satellite communication systems, it is critical to have directional antenna arrays to focus the radiated power in any specific direction. Therefore, it is believed that the proposed dual-band four-element fractal antenna array with directional radiation patterns can be an ideal candidate for the high-efficiency IEEE 802.11ax WLANs (Wi-Fi 6E) and the upcoming 5G wireless and satellite communication systems.

A compact triple-band operation ultra-wideband (UWB) antenna with dual-notch band characteristics is presented in this paper. By inserting three metamaterial (MTM) square split-ring resonators (MTM-SSRRs) and a triangular slot on the radiating patch, the antenna develops measured dual-band rejection at 4.17–5.33 GHz and 6.5–8.9 GHz in the UWB frequency range (3–12 GHz). The proposed antenna offers three frequency bands of operation in the UWB range, which are between 3–4.17 GHz (~1.2 GHz bandwidth), 5.33–6.5 GHz (~1.17 GHz bandwidth), and 8.9–12 GHz (~3.1 GHz bandwidth), respectively. The higher resonating frequency band can be tuned/controlled by varying the width of the triangle slot, while the medium operational band can be controlled by adjusting the width of the SSRR slot. Initially, the simulated S-parameter response, 2D and 3D radiation patterns, gain, and surface current distribution of the proposed UWB inverted triangular antenna has been studied using epoxy glass FR4 substrate having parameters ε_r = 4.3, h = 1.6 mm, and tan δ = 0.025, respectively. In order to validate the simulation results, the proposed UWB antenna with dual-notch band characteristics is finally fabricated and measured. The fabricated antenna’s return-loss and far-field measurements show good agreement with the simulated results. The proposed antenna achieved the measured gain of 2.3 dBi, 4.9 dBi, and 5.2 dBi at 3.5 GHz, 6.1 GHz, and 9.25 GHz, respectively. Additionally, an in-depth comparative study is performed to analyze the performance of the proposed antenna with existing designs available in the literature. The results show that the proposed antenna is an excellent candidate for fifth-generation (5G) mobile base-stations, next-generation WiFi-6E indoor distributed antenna systems (IDAS), as well as C-band and X-band applications.

This article proposes a dual‐band combined Minkowski–Sierpinski carpet fractal antenna for next generation satellite communications, wireless body area networks and C‐band applications. The antenna was designed using CST microwave studio which works on the FDTD method and fabricated using FR4 epoxy glass substrate (ɛ_r = 4.3 and h = 1.6 mm). The proposed antenna resonates at 4 GHz and 5.9 GHz frequency bands, respectively. The simulated and fabricated results for various parameters like radiation pattern, reflection coefficient (S₁₁), gain, and directivity are presented. The measured −10 dB impedance bandwidth and gain for the fabricated antenna are 120 MHz/0.4 dBi and 160 MHz/6.2 dBi at 4 GHz and 5.9 GHz frequency bands, respectively, which are very practical. The proposed unique antenna design gives an improvement in the bandwidth, gain, and radiation pattern.