NOVEL UNIDIRECTIONAL SLOT ANTENNA WITH A VERTICAL WALL

Abstract

A novel slot antenna that consists of an H-shaped slot encompassed by a rectangular metallic wall and a pair of C-shaped slots outside the wall is proposed. It features a unidirectional pattern, small electrical dimensions and medium gain. The H-shaped slot radiates as an inductively loaded magnetic dipole while the induced electric currents on the vertical wall radiates as electric dipoles. The front-to-back ratio (FBR) of the antenna can be controlled by proper constructive and destructive interferences of radiating fields of the magnetic and electric dipoles. The size of the ground plane can be reduced by the use of the C-shaped slots that confine the currents to the proximity of the metallic wall. Two prototype antennas operating at 2.4 GHz were designed. By adjusting the structure parameters, the front-to-back ratio of the antenna can be conveniently altered. The first prototype has an impedance bandwidth (BW) of 3.8% for SWR ≤ 2, a 4.6 dBi gain, a 10-dB FBR and a ground size of 0.84λ0 × 0.64λ0 where λ0 is the free-space wavelength at the center frequency. The corresponding figures of the second prototype are 1.83%, 4.1 dBi, over 20 dB and 0.64λ0 × 0.64λ0. Both antennas have a height of 0.128λ0.