Applications of periodic structures and metamaterials for antenna design

Abstract

Nowadays, wireless telecommunication is playing an increasing role in almost every field. With the spread of IoT and 5G technologies, all electronic devices will communicate over a network and millions of devices can be connected to each other over such network. Due to this, the number of base stations will also increase significantly. As a result, even more antennas will be installed both indoors and outdoors. It follows that the use of smaller and more compact antennas and simpler and more reliable parameter tuning are of great importance to service providers as well as to equipment manufacturers, both in terms of design and antenna selection. Metamaterials are sub-wavelength structures that act as a homogeneous material to create electromagnetic properties that would not be possible with conventional materials. With the help of today's modern design and manufacturing technologies, it is possible to implement and manufacture such structures. In this article, the theoretical background and application possibilities of periodic structures and materials are presented, followed by the tuning of a split ring resonator and its application on a patch antenna.