Gain Enhancement of Dual-Layer Patch Antenna for WLAN Applications

Abstract

AbstractThis paper presents a gain enhancement of dual-layer patch antenna for WLAN applications. With help of conventional rectangular patch and modified structure, the dual-layer patch antenna achieves the required frequency of 5.4 GHz. For dual layer, air was used for second layer with height of 1.6 mm mounted on the first FR-4 substrate layer with height of 1.6 mm with dielectric constant of 4.3. The total height is 3.2 mm and radiating element is mounted on top layer with thickness of 0.035 mm. The 50 Ω impedance transmission line is fed with radiating element. Single layer −10 dB return loss is −34 dB which is simulated, fabricated, and measured. The VSWR value is <2 and corresponding gain and directivity are 4.12 dB and 5.35 dB, respectively, and bandwidth is achieved from 5.35 to 5.43 GHz. For dual layer −10 dB return loss is −29 dB, VSWR is <2, bandwidth from 5.38 to 5.54 GHz, gain and directivity are 7.57 dB and 7.51 dB, respectively, which is simulated with the help of 3D CSTMW software. The measurement result of single layer achieved is 5.38 GHz and return loss is −34 dB which is 20 MHz shifting because of indoor measurement. By observation dual-layer micro-strip patch antenna gives good result compared to the single-layer antenna. In this work, overall gain, directivity, and bandwidth are compared with single-layer and dual-layer patch antenna. The proposed antenna S-parameter measurement using keysight E5053A (100 kHz–14 GHz) vector network analyzer and then prototype single-layer antenna was fabricated. The dual-layer patch antenna gain and bandwidth is improved. This result proved better performance which is more suitable for WLAN applications.KeywordsDual layerGain enhancementPatch antennaWLAN