Multi-Mode High-Gain Antenna Array Loaded With High Impedance Surface

Abstract

A novel and simple broadband antenna array loaded with high impedance surface is proposed in this letter. The unit cell is composed of a main radiating patch and a pair of EBG arrays placed symmetrically at the two radiating edges of the main radiating patch. The main radiating patch is responsible for the original TM10 mode while the electromagnetic bandgap (EBG) arrays is for another resonant mode characterized as quasi-TM20 mode. Thus, wideband performance is obtained due to the combination of the two generated resonant modes. And on this basis, by adding symmetrical mushroom structures at the other two edges of the main radiating patch, the impedance bandwidth and sidelobe suppression are improved. The current distributions on the all metal patches are almost uniform, therefore high gains can be obtained during the whole operating bandwidth. The antenna array is formed by 4 × 4 unit cells and the prototype is fabricated to validate the design. The measured results show that the impedance bandwidth is broadened from 11.1 to 15.6 GHz with the peak-gain reaching as high as 18.8dBi. Besides, the proposed antenna is easy fabrication with low profile which provides great convenience in the actual beam and point-to-point communication applications.