A High-Gain Microstrip Magnetic Dipole Antenna Utilizing Slot-Loaded High-Order Mode for WLAN Applications.

A novel microstrip magnetic dipole (MMD) antenna is proposed to produce a high broadside gain utilizing slot-loaded high-order mode. Conventionally, MMD antennas yield patch currents in opposite directions when resonating in high-order modes. Radiations of these currents are out of phase and neutralize in the broadside direction, resulting in a low broadside gain. This work presents a method to reverse the out-of-phase currents by loading slots. An in-depth analysis is conducted to show the mechanism and effect of the slots. The proposed method is applied to a high-gain MMD antenna design for further gain enhancement. The improved antenna produces a large impedance bandwidth of 17.8% (5.1–6.1 GHz). A maximum broadside gain of 14.8 dBi is achieved within this bandwidth. The proposed antenna is promising for extending signal coverage of WLAN 5.5 GHz applications. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]