Dual-band Microstrip Antenna for 5G mm Wave Systems

Abstract

In recent years, the fast development of fifth-generation (5G) wireless communication technology has led to an increasing need for small-sized, high-gain, and multi-band antennas that can operate efficiently in the millimeter-wave spectrum. In this paper, we have designed a miniaturized dual-band microstrip patch antenna integrated with a metamaterial structure for 5G millimeter-wave communications. We have developed the metamaterial patch antenna through the systematic development of a conventional microstrip patch antenna to a slot-loaded antenna, two patches, and finally a metamaterial patch antenna. The proposed metamaterial layer design consists of concentric split-ring resonators along with a hexagon-shaped element, where the outer ring radius is 1.3 mm and the inner ring radius is 1.0 mm, with a 0.1 mm gap. We have maintained the optimized distance of 1.2 mm between the radiating patch and the metamaterial layer. Simulations show that the proposed antenna performs very well at 28.00 GHz and 40.95 GHz, which are significant frequencies in 5G millimeter-wave bands. The antenna provides return losses of -25.66 dB and -20.20 dB, impedance bandwidths of 1.53 GHz and 3.10 GHz, and realized gains of 9.0 dBi and 11.3 dBi for the lower and upper operating bands, respectively. Comparison shows that the use of the metamaterial layer increases impedance-matching performance, lower-band bandwidth, and gain, especially at the higher frequency band. Therefore, it can be concluded that the antenna design is a suitable choice for the development of compact 5G millimeter-wave communication systems.