Slotted planar patch antenna array design for 5G applications

The millimetre-wave communication technique has drawn great attention in the research community and the industry as a key technology in a fifth generation (5G) mobile communications systems. However, as the 5G mobile communication is going to use higher frequency bands beyond the traditional ones, then there will an essential need for a higher gain antenna for 5G to overcome the path loss due to the atmospheric absorption of electromagnetic waves at higher frequencies. Hence, this article focuses on designing antennas that work on the frequency band of 11 GHz, which is one of the 5G frequency band candidates. The design aims to achieve a higher gain and to observe the visibility of the design in terms of cost, size, and performance. The proposed patch antenna resonates at 11 GHz and designed on low cost 1.6 mm FR4 substrate which has a compact structure of 20×40 mm2, 40×40 mm2, and 80×40 mm2 for a single element, 1×2 array antenna, and 1×4 array antenna, respectively. Also, the antennas have a realized gain of 2.95, 4.6, 6.17 dBi for a single element, 1×2 array antenna, and 1×4 array antenna, respectively. In this work, CST Microwave Studio 2018 is used for simulation and analysis for various parameters such as return loss plot, gain plot, radiation, and pattern. Finally, the simulated model is fabricated, and the measured result is correlated with simulation results for verification. © 2020 National Institute of Optoelectronics. All rights reserved.