Analysis of rectangular dielectric resonator antennas excited through a slot over a finite ground plane

Abstract

The dielectric resonator antenna (DRA) radiating element has been the subject of considerable interest due to its small size and high efficiency. The rigorous analysis of DRA elements, however, has been largely restricted to rotationally symmetric shapes. Various numerical techniques have been used in the analysis of the DRA. The surface integral equation with the method of moments (SIE/MoM) has been used to analyze a rotationally symmetric DRA. The finite difference time domain (FDTD) method has been used to analyze a rectangular DRA and cylindrical DRA with a staircased cell approximation. Here the rectangular DRA is considered over a finite ground plane with a microstrip slot excitation. The SIE/MoM is used with the RWG triangle basis function expansion. Using the triangle basis functions allows the modeling of arbitrarily shaped objects. Also, the FDTD method is used to analyze the same problem for the purpose of verifying both methods. The effect of the ground plane size and the dielectric substrate truncation is studied.