Improving patch antenna performance through resonators : Insights into and benefits of dielectric and conductive materials and geometric shapes.

Abstract

This paper investigates the usefulness of combining dielectric and conductive materials with various geometries to build resonators and enhance patch antenna performance when considering the decoupled design approach. Three materials (distilled water, glycerin, and graphite) and fifteen geometries are considered. The obtained results through numerical simulations show how the selected materials and geometries can be combined to strategically design resonators that can effectively confine electromagnetic fields, shift the resonant frequency, improve antenna directionality and effective gain, facilitate multi-band operation, broaden the bandwidth, and improve impedance matching and the radiation pattern. Overall, the analyses and discussions offer insights and guidelines for combining dielectric and conductive materials with several geometries to build a resonator that can improve patch antenna performance when a low-quality substrate is considered.