Stacked Metamaterial Patch Antenna Made of Low Permittivity Dielectrics

A new concept of “meta-lo” architecture is contributed to build compact and broadband stacked metamaterial patch antennas (SMPAs). The new antennas are featured with planar mushroom metamaterials that are all made of low permittivity dielectrics. These metamaterials work as good alternatives to conventional high permittivity dielectrics, enabling the new antenna to resonate at a much lower frequency. To examine the antenna performances, one SMPA is experimentally demonstrated. The new antenna is observed to have a broad bandwidth of 27% in a volume of 0.26λ×0.26λ×0.107λ. The average antenna gain is 7.1 dBi in the operating bandwidth. The compact and broadband SMPA inspired by the meta-lo architecture is promising to be used in the high-speed mobile communications.