Microstrip-line-fed rectangular microstrip antenna with open end meandering slots in the ground plane for compact broadband operation

In this paper, microstrip-line-fed rectangular microstrip antenna with open-end meandering slots in the ground plane for compact broadband operation is presented. The proposed design consists of a rectangular patch which is fed by a 50-Ω center fed microstrip-line feed. Three identical narrow open-end meandering slots were embedded in the antenna's ground plane parallel to the rectangular patch's radiating edge. Experimental study is carried out by varying the length of the open-end meandering slots. Using open-end meandering slots in the ground plane, the resonant frequency of the antenna is greatly lowered with large enhancement in bandwidth when compared with conventional microstrip antenna. With the proposed design, an extreme reduction of 82.9% in the antenna size is obtained with a wide bandwidth of 40%. © 2007 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Microwave Opt Technol Lett 49: 824–827, 2007; Published online in Wiley InterScience (www.interscience.wiley.com). DOI 10.1002/mop.22267