Design and Analysis of Magneto-Electric Dipole Antennas for Base Station Applications

Abstract

The Magnetoelectric Dipole (MED) Antenna is a complementary type of antenna that contains both magnetic and electric dipoles. This type of antenna radiates a symmetrical radiation pattern formed by combining the characteristics of both magnetic and electric dipoles in the broadside direction. Such an antenna usually has a very smooth radiation pattern with low polarization, making it more reliable for use in the wireless communication field. MED antennas can be developed using either metallic or printed techniques, depending on the application. Metallic MED antennas are typically larger and bulkier, while printed MED possess low-profile characteristics, making them more useful for applications where traditional antennas are impractical or visually prominent antennas are not required, such as in mobile phones, GPS devices, Wi-Fi routers, and more. Considering these characteristics, a Printed MED Antenna is proposed in this research for base station applications, including GSM (900 MHz/1800 MHz), lower and upper Wi-Fi bands, and LTE. In the past, much work has been done on MED antennas for different frequency bands, but challenges arose due to larger structures, which compromised the compactness of the antennas. In this research, a compact printed MED antenna is proposed for the frequencies 5.8 GHz, 2.45 GHz, 1800 MHz, and 900 MHz. The performance of all proposed designs are analyzed in terms of compactness, impedance matching, gain, and radiation efficiency. For the proposed designs, the size of the antenna at 5.8 GHz has been reduced by 5 times compared to the original antenna, with an improved gain of 11.64 dBi over a 2 GHz frequency band. The results of simulation and fabrication have proven the feasibility and efficiency of all the design models. This study delves into the investigation and detailed analysis of various feed shapes, along with the introduction of slots on the patch to improve the impedance matching of the antenna. The compactness, improved gain, and slotted patch design with different feed shapes make this antenna design unique and highly suitable for L-band, S-band, and C-band applications.