Miniaturization of a Microstrip Antenna Using a Compact and Thin Magneto-Dielectric Substrate

Miniaturization of a rectangular microstrip antenna using a magneto-dielectric substrate is discussed theoretically and experimentally. A compact magneto-dielectric substrate is designed using a metamaterial structure that can reduce the antenna dimensions by increasing the constitutive parameters of the substrate. Furthermore, the proposed structure is thin enough to be embedded in a single dielectric substrate. The area of the microstrip antenna with the proposed magneto-dielectric substrate at 2.4 GHz is reduced up to about 65% compared to a conventional dielectric microstrip antenna. The bandwidth of the miniaturized antenna is almost unchanged due to the increase of the magnetic permeability at the designed 2.4-GHz frequency. Finally, a fabricated version of the miniaturized antenna is tested and measured. The results of the measurement and simulation are in good agreement.