Design of Low-Cost Miniaturized Metamaterial-Based Circular Split-Ring Monopole Radiating System for LTE Applications

Abstract

A compact low-cost metamaterial circular monopole antenna for LTE applications is presented here. This paper addresses an asymmetric circular split-ring radiator for 2.6[Formula: see text]GHz (LTE-7 band), 3.5[Formula: see text]GHz (LTE-22 band). The design here employs split rings with varying split gaps in the consecutive ring layers of the radiating element which helped in achieving better impedance matching for obtaining multiband operation. The work presented here demonstrates the feasibility of achieving double negative material property, without loading the SRR’s separately in the system. The antenna was modeled using a 1.6[Formula: see text]mm thick FR-4 lossy material. The simulated results were compared with measured results and found to be in good agreement with each other. Employing asymmetric split ring as radiator helped in achieving 29% of size reduction in the patch layer. The modified split-ring radiator achieved directional radiation pattern and minimum side-lobe levels with a peak gain of 1.29 and 0.204[Formula: see text]dB at the lower band and upper band, respectively. The compact dimension [Formula: see text] of the radiating system makes it suitable for LTE-WLAN/Wi-Max applications.