PERFORMANCE ANALYSIS OF A RECTANGULAR MICROSTRIP PATCH ANTENNA ON DIFFERENT DIELECTRIC SUBSTRATES

Abstract

The sizes and weights of various wireless electronic systems (e.g. mobile handsets) have rapidly reduced due to the development of modern integrated circuit technology. A Microstrip antenna (MSA) is well suited for wireless communication due to its light weight, low volume and low profile planar configuration which can be easily conformed to the host surface. However, MSAs suffers from low bandwidth. MSA bandwidth is greatly affected by the dielectric substrate material used in its design. Larger bandwidth can be achieved by using a thicker substrate with a lower dielectric constant value. In this paper, the effect of various dielectric constants on rectangular microstrip patch antenna performance is investigated. By keeping the substrate thickness constant over various dielectric constants, simulations were carried out using MATLAB® and Antenna Magus software. The results show that the dielectric constant effectively determines the performance of MSAs.

Keywords: Microstrip Antennas (MSAs), Dielectric Constant