Review and Emerging Trends in Dielectric Resonator Antennas (DRAs) and the Development of a Novel PLA-Based Metamaterial DRA for Ku- and K-Band Applications

The increasing demand for compact, high-gain, and wideband antennas has driven significant interest in DRA due to their high efficiency and low loss characteristics. This review summarizes recent advancements in DRA technology, including geometries, feeding, dielectric materials, bandwidth (BW) enhancement methods, metamaterial integration, multiple input and multiple output (MIMO) configurations, and reconfigurable designs. Applications in 5 G/6G communications, satellite, radar, internet of things (IoT), biomedical, and millimeter-wave (mmW) technologies are discussed. A novel polylactic acid (PLA) based metamaterial DRA for Ku- and K-band operation is also presented, achieving operating BW of 14.71–18.32 and 22.52–23.44 GHz with a realized gain of 7.7 dBi. Its performance characteristics are compared analyzed.