A New Class of Compact Linear Printed Antennas

A new miniaturization methodology suitable for printed linear antennas is presented. Miniaturization is accomplished by replacing a linear radiator element of a conventional antenna with a compact continuously varying-impedance profile governed by a truncated Fourier series. A design example of a printed half-wavelength dipole antenna is designed and realized in microstrip technology. The performance of the proposed antenna is compared with its equivalent uniform dipole to highlight the performance equivalency. With a 25% reduction in the dipole arm length, both antennas show a measured peak gain and a fractional bandwidth of 5.4 dBi and 16%, respectively at 2.5 GHz; hence, the overall electrical performance is preserved. It will be shown that the design procedure is systematic and accurate. The proposed approach has potential for achieving advanced frequency characteristics, such as broad- and multi-band antenna responses.