The Smallest Form Factor Monopole Antenna with Meandered Radiator for WLAN and WiMAX Applications

ABSTRACT

The demand for designing antennas having multiband operations along with very compact dimensions is increased recently. Compact and low-profile antennas are required which can be used with multiple communication standards in a portable device. This work presents the smallest form factor multiband antenna, which is very compact, low profile, and covers triple-band for wireless local area network (WLAN) and worldwide interoperability for microwave access (WiMAX) applications, simultaneously. The proposed smallest form factor antenna comprises two asymmetric meandered-shaped elements and a partial ground plane for triple-band operations. Designed on a standard and low-cost FR4 substrate, the physical size of the antenna is 20 × 20 mm² equivalent to 0.15 λ_° × 0.15 λ_° that has been found to be resonating in three bands, i.e. 2.4–2.53, 3.3–4.15, and 5.13–6.2 GHz. An experimental prototype shows that the antenna is satisfying the WLAN (2.40/5.20/5.80 GHz) bands and WiMAX (3.50/5.50 GHz) frequency bands and exhibits acceptable gain in the passbands, good radiation performance and advantageous radiation patterns in the resonant frequencies. The proposed smallest form factor antenna will establish its place for future wireless communication with its promising compactness and extraordinary performance.

KEYWORDS:

• Meandered antennas
• Multiband antennas
• Smallest form factor
• Very compact antennas
• WiMAX (worldwide interoperability for microwave access)
• WLAN (wireless local area network)

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Hamza Ahmad

Hamza Ahmad received a bachelor’s degree in electrical (communication) engineering from the University of Engineering and Technology, Peshawar, Pakistan, in September 2014, an MS degree in electrical engineering from NUST Islamabad, Pakistan in 2017. He was also a research fellow at RIMMS NUST, Islamabad, Pakistan from September 2016 to August 2017. Currently, he is a lecturer at Gandhara Institute of Science and Technology Peshawar, Pakistan.

Wajid Zaman

Wajid Zaman received an MS degree in electrical engineering from NUST Islamabad, Pakistan in 2017. His research interest includes multiband antennas, wideband antennas, and radome. He published various antenna papers in well-reputed journals and conference proceedings. Email: [email protected]

MuhibUr Rahman

MuhibUr Rahman received a bachelor’s degree in electrical (communication) engineering from the University of Engineering and Technology, Peshawar, Pakistan, in September 2014, an MS degree in electrical engineering from NUST Islamabad, Pakistan in March 2016. He worked as a research assistant in Lahore University of Management Sciences, and Dongguk University, Seoul, South Korea. Currently, he is working for his PhD degree in Polytechnique Montreal, Canada. He has published a number of index journals and conference proceedings and taken various patents. He is the active reviewer of well-known journals in the field of electromagnetics, RFIC, and antennas. He is awarded Publons top peer reviewer award for the year 2019 as well. His current research interest includes non-linear transmission lines, MIMO antennas, broadband power amplifiers, active and passive microwave circuits, feature extraction, and RFID-based miniaturized sensors. Email: [email protected]

Fauziahanim Che Seman

Fauziahanim Che Seman received the degree in electrical communication engineering from Universiti Teknologi Malaysia in 2001, the master’s degree from Universiti Tun Hussein Onn Malaysia in 2003, and the PhD degree from the Queen’s University of Belfast, UK, in 2011. After the master’s degree, she joined the Faculty of Electrical Engineering, Universiti Tun Hussein Onn Malaysia as a lecturer, where she is currently an associate professor with the Research Center of Applied Electromagnetic. She has published a number of index journals and conference proceedings and taken various patents. Email: [email protected]