Design of a high-directivity Electromagnetic Band Gap (EBG) resonator antenna using a frequency-selective surface (FSS) superstrate

In this paper, we introduce a novel design for a high-directivity Electromagnetic Band Gap (EBG) resonator antenna that utilizes a frequency-selective surface (FSS) superstrate. The above type of superstrate is proposed as an alternative to an EBG type of dielectric superstrate-investigated previously by the authors-to reduce its height and facilitate the fabrication process. Although FSS superstrate and the patch antenna comprise a composite resonator, we begin by investigating the FSS structure characteristics first before dealing with the combination. We vary several important parameters, such as the distance between the FSS superstrate and the ground plane of the antenna, and the dimensions of the FSS superstrate, to determine their effect on the resonant frequency and the quality factor of the unit cell of the FSS. The above study enables its to derive some guidelines for an optimum array size of the FSS superstrate that eventually leads to a maximum directivity for the FSS antenna composite, as evidenced via a comparison of the quality factors of the FSS, the unit cell, and the composite. It is demonstrated that the directivity of the antenna with an optimized array size of the FSS superstrate increases by 17.29 to 24.92 dBi for three different strip-dipole lengths, as compared to that of the patch antenna alone (maximum 6 dBi). (C) 2004 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.