Miniaturized Dual-Band Metamaterial-Loaded Antenna for Heterogeneous Vehicular Communication Networks

Abstract

The design of a dual-band monopole antenna exploiting the concepts of metamaterial loading is presented in this paper. A left-handed metamaterial (LHM) is designed to reduce the size of a simple monopole antenna and realize multiple resonance characteristics. The proposed LHM-loaded monopole antenna operates at two distinct frequencies, viz. 2.45 and 3.6 GHz making the antenna suitable for ISM and WLAN/WiMAX communications in an automotive environment. Furthermore, the proposed LHM offers at least 19% frequency reduction in comparison with the reference monopole antenna. The measured reflection coefficient bandwidth is 10 and 8% at both the frequency bands with a positive gain greater than 3 dBi. The suitability of the proposed antenna for heterogeneous vehicular communications is verified in simulation using a 3D car model. The effect of the vehicle’s body on the radiation pattern is studied. The prototype antenna is fabricated, and the simulation results are validated using experimental measurements.

KEYWORDS:

• Automotive antennas
• Metamaterial
• Miniaturized antennas
• Vehicular communications

Additional information

Notes on contributors

E. M. Malathy

E M Malathy is an associate professor in the Department of Information Technology at Sri Sivasubramanian Nadar (SSN) College of Engineering. She was awarded PhD at the College of Engineering, Guindy, Anna University. She completed ME (System Engineering and Operation Research) from the College of Engineering, Guindy, in the Department of Computer Science and Engineering. She received her bachelor degree in electronics and instrumentation engineering from the Government College of Technology, Coimbatore, India. She has 19 years of teaching experience.

I. R. Praveen Joe

I R Praveen Joe is presently an associate professor of computer science and engineering at KCG College of Technology, Chennai. He has 17+ years of teaching and research experience in engineering. He obtained his MCA degree from Loyola College, Chennai, ME degree from College of Engineering, Guindy, Chennai, and PhD degree from Madras Institute of Technology, Anna University, Chennai. His research areas include data mining, web services, and optimization techniques. He is presently a recognized research supervisor at Anna University, Chennai. E-mail: [email protected]

P. Ajitha

P Ajitha is an associate professor in the School of Computing, Sathyabama Institute of Science and Technology, Deemed University, and she completed PhD from the same institution. She graduated with distinction in BE in Electronics and Instrumentation Engineering (BE) in the year 1998 from Government College of Technology, Bharathiar University, Tamil Nadu, India. She pursued her master’s degree in computer science in the year 2001 from Arulmigu Kalasalingam College of Engineering, Madurai Kamaraj University, Tamil Nadu, India. E-mail: [email protected]