Compact, Broadband and High Gain Uniplanar Quasi-Yagi Microstrip Antenna for End-Fire Radiation

Abstract

This paper describes a uniplanar, compact, broadband, and high gain quasi-Yagi microstrip antenna to achieve radiation in the end-fire direction. The major elements of the proposed antenna include one element of each: reflector, ground plane (acts as another reflector), driven, and director. The concept of microstrip and Yagi-Uda antennas are coupled to lower the inter-element spacing, thus reducing the antenna dimensions along the boom length significantly. U-shaped reflector elements are used to reduce the lateral dimension of the antenna. The antenna's directivity is enhanced in the lower and upper-frequency bands with the help of reflectors and directors, respectively. A compact size of (0.52 × 0.22 × 0.009) has been achieved along with an impedance bandwidth of 46.5% for |S 11| < −10 dB and a peak gain of 6 dBi (with 1 dB variations) over the entire bandwidth. The novelty of the proposed uniplanar quasi-yagi MSA is proved by comparing the Figure of Merit (FoM) with the reported work. The proposed antenna is fabricated, and the measured results are in good agreement with the simulated results. The proposed uniplanar quasi-Yagi antenna is ideal for wireless applications that required end-fire radiation in 2G, 3G, 4G, Wi-Fi frequency bands, and portable direction-finding devices.