5G Antenna Gain Enhancement Using a Novel Metasurface

Abstract

This article presents a Sub-6 GHz microstrip patch antenna (MPA) with enhanced gain using metamaterial (MTM) superstrate. The source MPA operates at 4.8 GHz and has a peak gain of 5.3 dBi at the resonance frequency. A window-shaped unit cell is designed and investigated through the material wave propagation technique. The unit cell shows an EpsilonNear Zero (ENZ)-Mu Very Large (MVL) behavior around 4.8 GHz. The unit cell has a fourfold geometry which makes it a polarization independent metamaterial. A double layer antenna is designed by placing a 4×4 MTM slab as a superstrate above the MPA at a height of 0.208?0; where ?0 is the free-space wavelength at the resonance frequency of the antenna. Impedance matching and gain of the source antenna is improved using the metamaterial. The simulation as well as measurement results show that novel antenna system has a peak gain of 7.68 dBi at 4.8 GHz and an impedance bandwidth of 0.22 GHz. The overall dimension of the antenna is 75×60×15 mm3. The proposed antenna operates in the Sub-6 GHz band and is suitable for 5G applications.