Design and fabrication of a multilayer metamaterial antenna with high-gain and good radiation patterns for WiFi and WiMAX applications

Abstract

This paper proposes a metamaterial-based multilayer antenna for WiFi and WiMAX applications. The multilayer structure is beneficial for achieving a gain of more than 15 dB. The substrate is made of FR-4, and the superstrate is Rogers RT/duroid 5880 with a dielectric constant of 2.2 and a loss tangent of 0.009. The desired metamaterial structure is realized using metallic square rings printed on the superstrate. The thickness of the substrate is 1.58 mm, and the overall area of the antenna is 105×72.5 mm2. Using an area-efficient multilayer configuration for this microstrip antenna, its gain is cost-effectively enhanced to more than 18 dB, and the shape of the radiation patterns is also appropriate. This antenna is fabricated and fully measured; the measurement and simulation results are in excellent agreement.