Microstrip-Fed Monopole Antennas Loaded With CRLH Unit Cells

The theory and implementation of a new family of monopole antennas loaded with composite right/left handed (CRLH) unit cells are presented. The proposed antennas have a number of narrow bands that is twice the number of unit cells and one wide band that is centered around the monopole original frequency. The new operating frequencies are below the original one and they are controlled by the unit cell dispersion relation. The proposed antennas occupy the same Chu sphere as the original monopole, all the operating frequencies have omni-directional radiation patterns, and matching is better than -10 dB. Three antennas are realized; the first is loaded with one distributed CRLH unit cell, the second is loaded with lumped components CRLH unit cell, and the third is loaded with two CRLH unit cells. All proposed antennas are fabricated and measured. Measurements and EM simulations confirm the proposed theory.