Design of Dual Band Microstrip Antenna Using Reactive Loading Technique

Abstract

The need in most communication devices to have two separate operating frequencies for a variety of applications cannot be over emphasized. Microstrip antennas, as part of its inherent characteristics, have the ability to resonate at multiple frequencies depending on the design requirement. In this paper, the design of a dual band microstrip antenna for bandwidth enhancement using reactive loading technique is presented. The designed antenna is of rectangular shape, planar and compact for application in mobile devices. The antenna has a miniature size of 44×41×1.6 mm^3, which resonated at a return loss of -19.619 and voltage standing wave ratio (VSWR) of 1.303 at 2.4 GHz, and -17.55 dB and VSWR of 1.301 at 5.2 GHz. The results show that the antenna has a corresponding bandwidth of 124.6 MHz and radiation efficiency of 86.1 % at 2.4 GHz and 119.8 MHz and radiation efficiency of 77.4 % at 5.2 GHz. The substrate used in the proposed antenna is the flame retardant/resistant four (FR-4) with a dielectric constant of 4.4 and a loss tangent of 0.023.