Compact Pattern Diversity Antenna with 3-D Printed All-dielectric Superstrate for WLAN Access Points

ABSTRACT

This paper presents a four-port pattern diversity antenna with a 3-D printed all-dielectric superstrate for 5.2 GHz Wireless Local Area Network (WLAN) access points. The topology of four-port coaxial-fed circular patch antennas provides a beam tilt of ±45° and ±15° with an angular coverage of ±60°. The beam tilt is obtained through this unique topology, without the need for any additional phase shifting circuits. Then, a low-cost 3-D printed dielectric superstrate is designed to enhance and equalize the gain without compromising on the beam tilt and polarization purity of the antennas. The antenna module has an impedance bandwidth of 80 MHz (5.16 GHz–5.24 GHz), covering the IEEE 802.11ac band, for a gain of 9 dBi throughout the band and across the ports. The dielectric superstrate provides a gain enhancement of 3.8 dB for antennas 1 and 4, and 5.4 dB gain enhancement for antennas 2 and 3, respectively.

KEYWORDS:

• 3-D printing
• All-dielectric superstrate
• Four-port antenna
• Gain enhancement
• Pattern diversity
• WLAN

Additional information

Notes on contributors

S. Swapna

Swapna S received her undergraduate degree in electronics and communication engineering from the University of Kerala in 2011 and master's degree in VLSI design and embedded systems from National Institute of Technology Rourkela, Odisha, India in 2013. She is currently pursuing her PhD from Centre for Applied Research in Electronics, Indian Institute of Technology Delhi. Her research interests include pattern diversity antennas, additive manufacturing antennas and metamaterials.

G. S. Karthikeya

Karthikeya G S received his undergraduate degree in electronics and communication engineering in 2010 from Visvesvaraya Technological University, Belgaum. He received his master’s degree in microwave engineering from the University of Kerala in 2012. He worked as an assistant professor in Visvesvaraya Technological University from 2013 to 2016. He received his PhD degree at CARE, IIT Delhi in 2019. Currently, he is working as project scientist at CARE, IIT Delhi. He has authored or co-authored more than 50 articles in peer-reviewed journals and conference proceedings. He has also filed four Indian patents and two US patents. He is also co-author of the book, “Millimeter Wave Antennas for 5G Mobile Terminals and Base Stations” to be published by CRC Press. His research interests include mm Wave antennas for mobile terminals and base stations. E-mail: [email protected]

Shiban K. Koul

Shiban K Koul received the BE degree in electrical engineering from the Regional Engineering College, Srinagar, India, in 1977, and the MTech and PhD degrees in microwave engineering from the Indian Institute of Technology Delhi, New Delhi, India, in 1979 and 1983, respectively. He is currently emeritus professor at the Indian Institute of Technology, Delhi. He served as deputy director (Strategy and Planning) at IIT Delhi from 2012 to 2016 and mentor deputy director (Strategy and Planning, International affairs) at IIT Jammu from 2018 to 2020. He also served as the Chairman of Astra Microwave Products Limited, Hyderabad from 2009 to 2019 and Dr RP Shenoy Astra Microwave chair professor at IIT Delhi from 2014 to 2019. His research interests include: RF MEMS, high frequency wireless communication, microwave engineering, microwave passive and active circuits, device modelling, millimeter wave IC design and reconfigurable microwave circuits including antennas. He has successfully completed 38 major sponsored projects, 52 consultancy projects and 60 technology development projects. He has authored/co-authored 450 Papers, 11 state-of-the art books and 3 book chapters. He holds 13 patents and 6 copyrights. Prof Koul is Life Fellow of the IEEE, USA, Fellow of the Indian National Academy of Engineering, India, and Institution of Electronics and Telecommunication Engineers (IETE), India. He is the Chief Editor of IETE Journal of Research and Associate Editor of the International Journal of Microwave and Wireless Technologies, Cambridge University Press. He served as Distinguished Microwave Lecturer of IEEE MTT-S for the period 2012–2014. He also served as an AdCom member of the IEEE MTT-S from 2010 to 2018 and is presently a member of the Awards, Nomination and Appointments, MGA, M&S and Education committees of the IEEE MTT-S. Dr Koul is recipient of numerous awards. E-mail: [email protected]

Ananjan Basu

Ananjan Basu received the BTech degree in electrical engineering and MTech degree in communication and radar engineering from the Indian Institute of Technology Delhi (IIT DeIhi), India in 1991 and 1993, respectively, and the PhD degree in electrical engineering from the University of California at Los Angeles (UCLA), in 1998. He has been with the Centre for Applied Research in Electronics, IIT DeIhi as assistant professor (2000–2005) and associate professor (2005–2012), and professor (2013 onwards). His specialization is in microwave and millimetre-wave component design and characterization, reconfigurable and active antennas, microwave imaging and guided wave theory. E-mail: [email protected]