Bandwidth enhancement of millimeter-wave microstrip patch antenna array for 5G mobile communication networks

Abstract

This paper proposed enhancing the bandwidth of a millimeter wave microstrip patch antenna (MPA) and its array for a 5G mobile communication network. The proposed antenna is designed and fabricated on a Rogers RT Duroid 5,880 substrate with a standard thickness of 0.5 mm, a relative dielectric constant of 2.2, and a tangent loss of 0.0009. With a center frequency of 28 GHz, a measured return loss of -21.37 dB, a bandwidth of 1.14 GHz, and a gain of 6.27 dBi, the proposed single element operates in the local multipoint distribution service band. The proposed antenna is designed and manufactured as an array of 1×2 and 1×4 elements. The 2-element MPA array has a measured bandwidth of 1.207 GHz and a gain of 7.76 dBi, higher than that of a single element. The 4-element MPA array achieved a measured bandwidth of 2.685 GHz and a gain of 9.87 dBi, which is higher than the 2-element and single-element arrays at 28 GHz. This demonstrates that the array of antennas improves gain and bandwidth significantly. Hence, the proposed antenna and array are suitable for 5G mobile communication networks due to their small size.