This article presents a historical review of the research carried out on dielectric resonator antennas (DRAs) over the last three decades. Major research activities in each decade are highlighted. The current state of the art of dielectric-resonator-antenna technology is then reviewed. The achievable performance of dielectric resonator antennas designed for compactness, wide impedance bandwidth, low profiles, circular polarization, or high gain are illustrated. The latest developments in dielectric-resonator-antenna arrays and fabrication techniques are also examined.

Dielectric Resonator Antennas: A Historical Review and the Current State of the Art

A novel coplanar waveguide (CPW)-fed compact ultrawideband (UWB) microstrip antenna is proposed for ultrawideband applications. The proposed antenna posseses a method to minimize the monopole antenna by loading of inverted L-strip over the conventional monopole patch antenna to lower the height of the antenna. The ground was vertically extended toward two sides of the single radiator. Therefore, the large space around the radiator that is usually wasted can be effectively saved. The antenna is practically fabricated and simulated. Measured results show a good agreement with simulated results. The prototype with overall size of $25 \times 25 \times 1.6\ {\hbox{mm}}^3$ achieves good impedance matching, constant gain, stable radiation patterns, and constant group delay over an operating bandwidth of 2.6-13.04 GHz (10.44 GHz).

A CPW-Fed Compact UWB Microstrip Antenna

An up-to-date literature overview on relevant approaches for controlling circuital characteristics and radiation properties of dielectric resonator antennas (DRAs) is presented The main advantages of DRAs are discussed in detail, while reviewing the most effective techniques for antenna feeding as well as for size reduction Furthermore, advanced design solutions for enhancing the realized gain of individual DRAs are investigated In this way, guidance is provided to radio frequency (RF) front-end designers in the selection of different antenna topologies useful to achieve the required antenna performance in terms of frequency response, gain, and polarization Particular attention is put in the analysis of the progress which is being made in the application of DRA technology at millimeter-wave frequencies

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Dielectric Resonator Antennas: Basic Concepts, Design Guidelines, and Recent Developments at Millimeter-Wave Frequencies

This paper presents the design of a compact split ring resonator (SRR) loaded coplanar waveguide (CPW) fed ultrawideband circular monopole antenna having frequency notch characteristics. The electromagnetic coupling of the SRR with the CPW yields the frequency notch. Fabricated prototypes were measured and compared with simulations and good agreement was obtained. The impedance and radiation plots confirm the suppression of the desired notch frequency. A theoretical formulation to calculate the notch frequency is also proposed and validated.

Compact SRR loaded UWB circular monopole antenna with frequency notch characteristics

A novel compact ultrawideband (UWB) printed slot antenna with three extra bands for various wireless applications is presented. The low-profile antenna consists of an octagonal-shaped slot fed by a beveled and stepped rectangular patch for covering the UWB band (3.1-10.6 GHz). By attaching three inverted U-shaped strips at the upper part of the slot in the ground, additional triple linear polarized bands can be realized covering GPS (1520-1590 MHz), part of GSM (1770-1840 MHz), and Bluetooth (2385-2490 MHz). Simulated and measured results are presented and compared, which shows that the antenna has a stable radiation pattern both at the triple and the whole of the UWB bands.

Compact UWB Printed Slot Antenna With Extra Bluetooth, GSM, and GPS Bands

A novel ultra-wideband printed monopole antenna with a band-notch characteristic and stable omnidirectional radiation is presented. The antenna design adopts a bevelled square patch as a monopole, a double-feed technique and a microstrip feeder embedded with an inverted U-shaped slot. Good agreement between simulation and experiment shows that the proposed antenna achieves an impedance bandwidth of 3.05-5.15 and 6.02-10.84 GHz for VSWRles2, a stable omnidirectional radiation and a low cross-polarisation level.

Compact omnidirectional band-notch ultra-wideband antenna

In this paper, a new dielectric resonator antenna (DRA) is introduced for wideband applications, where a simple L-shaped dielectric resonator (DR) is excited by a conformal inverted-trapezoidal patch connected to a microstrip line. It is observed that the impedance bandwidth can be expanded by using an inserted intermediate substrate, an L-shaped DR, and an inverted-trapezoidal patch feed mechanism. The experimental and numerical results were carried out and compared, showing a good agreement. The measured results demonstrate that the proposed DRA achieves an impedance bandwidth of about 71.4% for VSWR les 2, covering the frequency range from 3.87 to 8.17 GHz. Furthermore, this antenna provides a stable broadside radiation pattern across the operating bandwidth.

Wideband L-Shaped Dielectric Resonator Antenna With a Conformal Inverted-Trapezoidal Patch Feed

A dielectric resonator antenna formed by a U-shaped dielectric resonator and a conformal elliptical patch feed is proposed for wideband communication applications. Simulated results agree well with measured ones, showing good performance in terms of bandwidth and radiation patterns. The measured impedance bandwidth of S11≤−10 dB is about 72%, covering the frequency range 3.82–8.12 GHz. It has a gain of 4.3–7.6 dBi over the whole operating band with a ground size of about 1.2 λ0×1.2 λ0, λ0 being the central operating frequency.

Broadband U-shaped dielectric resonator antenna with elliptical patch feed

This paper presents a new design of wide slot antenna for various wideband applications. The proposed printed antenna consists of a slot and a turning stub, both formed by a binomial curve function; thus, various bandwidths (BWs) can be obtained based on the structure with different binomial curves. Some key parameters affecting the antenna performance have been analyzed and discussed in detail as an antenna design guideline. To validate the theoretical design, six prototypes of various binomial-curved slot antennas were designed, fabricated, and measured. Good agreement between the simulated results and the measured ones is observed. The results demonstrate that the proposed type of antenna can obtain a BW range from 9.8% to 99.7% for VSWR ≤ 2 by selecting various binomial-curved slots, which may provide a convenience for various wideband antenna designs. Moreover, the proposed type of antenna owns a simple structure and a stable gain of about 3-5.5 dBi, which is very suitable for wideband wireless system applications.

Printed Binomial-Curved Slot Antennas for Various Wideband Applications

This paper introduces a rectangular grating waveguide slot array antenna that provides a method for the design of satellite communication (SATCOM) receiving antennas. By integrating the radiating slots with a rectangular grating waveguide, which functions as a frequency-selective transmission line, the antenna realizes an extra filtering response. The operation bandwidth and out-of-band rejection of the antenna can be tuned by adjusting the rectangular grating waveguide parameters. In order to verify the proposed design concept, a prototype $Ku$ -band eight-slot rectangular grating waveguide slot array antenna is designed, fabricated, and measured, and its performance is compared with that of the conventional eight-slot rectangular waveguide slot array antenna. The results show that the proposed antenna works well in the receiving frequencies of 12.25–12.75 GHz and suppresses the realized gains with additional measured 14.8–21.3 dB in the transmitting frequencies of 14.0–14.5 GHz, which confirms its extra filtering response. Simultaneously, the measured antenna efficiency of the proposed antenna (68.3%–88.8%) is similar to that of the conventional antenna (66.9%–84.6%).

Li-Na Zhang

Papers

Compact omnidirectional band-notch ultra-wideband antenna

Wideband L-Shaped Dielectric Resonator Antenna With a Conformal Inverted-Trapezoidal Patch Feed

Broadband U-shaped dielectric resonator antenna with elliptical patch feed

Printed Binomial-Curved Slot Antennas for Various Wideband Applications

Rectangular Grating Waveguide Slot Array Antenna for SATCOM Applications