Performance Improvement of Substrate Integrated Cavity Fed Dipole Array Antenna Using ENZ Metamaterial for 5G...

Area of Science:

• Electromagnetics and Wave Propagation
• Metamaterials and Advanced Materials
• Antenna Theory and Design

Background:

• 5G communication systems demand high-gain, low-profile antennas.
• Traditional antenna designs face limitations in size and performance.
• Metamaterials offer novel solutions for antenna gain enhancement.

Purpose of the Study:

• To design and demonstrate a high-gain, low-profile dipole antenna array (DAA) for 5G applications.
• To investigate the use of epsilon-near-zero (ENZ) metamaterials for gain enhancement.
• To achieve a compact antenna solution with improved performance.

Main Methods:

• A semi-triangular dipole element was designed for impedance matching.
• A substrate integrated cavity (SIC) was used as a power splitter.
• Grounded coplanar waveguide (GCPW) facilitated impedance matching.
• Epsilon-near-zero (ENZ) metamaterial unit cells were integrated for gain enhancement.

Main Results:

• The antenna operates from 28.5 GHz to 30.5 GHz with an overall size of 2.58 λg.
• A gain improvement of 5 dB was achieved using ENZ metamaterials.
• The antenna reached a peak gain of 11 dBi at 29.5 GHz.
• Measured and simulated results demonstrated good agreement.

Conclusions:

• The proposed dipole antenna array effectively utilizes ENZ metamaterials for significant gain enhancement.
• The low-profile and compact design is suitable for 5G applications.
• The integration of SIC and GCPW provides a flexible feeding network and impedance matching solution.