IEEE ANTENNAS AND WIRELESS PROPAGATION LETTERS, VOL.

10, 2011

963

Metamaterial-Based Electrically Small Multiband Planar Monopole Antennas

Dimitrios K. Ntaikos, Nektarios K. Bourgis, and Traianos V. Yioultsis, Member, IEEE
AbstractWe present electrically small multiband planar antennas for wireless applications, enhanced by negative permeability metamaterial rings. The presence of the rings results in a signicant reduction of the operation frequency. Two different feeding methods (microstrip and coplanar) are considered, resulting in efcient, entirely planar structures. Index TermsElectrically small antennas, metamaterials, multiband antennas, printed antennas.

I. INTRODUCTION EFT-HANDED metamaterials are articial materials that exhibit simultaneously negative values of electric permittivity and magnetic permeability over a nite frequency band [1], [2]. The articial electric and magnetic properties of metamaterials can be exploited to enhance radiation properties of electronic or photonic circuits, including antennas. In particular, several metamaterial-based low-prole antennas have been successfully proposed [3][6], making use of some kind of metamaterial-like resonator close to the radiating structure. The basic idea behind this approach is that the radiating element is sensitive to the presence of the resonator due to coupling. The resonator alters the antennas radiation characteristics by effectively acting as a metamaterial shell that surrounds it [4]. By using a resonating element such as a split-ring resonator (SRR), with carefully selected geometric dimensions, one can obtain an electrically small antenna operating at wireless communication frequencies. The main purpose of this letter is to provide entirely planar metamaterial-enhanced low-prole antennas by combining an electrically small planar monopole antenna with a single SRR unit cell, thus creating a composite compact planar antenna structure with an enhanced bandwidth and also multiband (WiMAX) operation. We utilize the double SRR based on the fact that splits in the rings, placed opposite to each other, make the SRR resonant at wavelengths much larger than the dimensions of the rings due to the large capacitance in the gap between them. The combination of the monopole antenna and the SRR results in multiband operation, with the individual resonances being either monopole or SRR-related
Manuscript received July 13, 2011; revised August 12, 2011; accepted August 23, 2011. Date of publication September 19, 2011; date of current version October 03, 2011. The authors are with the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering, Aristotle University of Thessaloniki, Thessaloniki 54124, Greece (e-mail: dntaikos@auth.gr; nbourgis@auth.gr; traianos@auth.gr). Color versions of one or more of the gures in this letter are available online at http://ieeexplore.ieee.org. Digital Object Identier 10.1109/LAWP.2011.2167309

Fig. 1. (a) Geometric parameters of the SRR: cell width mm, cell mm, SRR width mm, SRR length mm, copper length mm, innerouter SRR gap mm, split-ring width for both SRRs mm. (b) Planar printed antennas after fabrication. Microstrip-fed gaps straight and L-shaped monopoles have a 3-mm monopole width, while coplanar straight and L-shaped monopoles have a 3-mm monopole width and a 0.3-mm monopole-ground gap for 50- characteristic impedance.

and able to be independently controlled. Hence, the design of the monopole and SRR can be considered quite separately, with only minimal modications required to make the entire antenna operational. The antenna characteristics seem also to be signicantly improved by using coplanar waveguide instead of microstrip feeds, while no additional matching network is required. II. DESIGN AND FABRICATION The double SRR unit cell used in the simulations is shown in Fig. 1(a), while fabricated antennas are shown in Fig. 1(b). Its geometric parameters strongly affect the magnetic resonant frequency [7]. First, the SRR structure has been simulated using a nite-element-based code developed in [8] to approximately determine the initial design parameters for resonance in the

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lowest resonant frequency of the SRR. The simulations of the complete antenna structures were performed with a standard nite element code. It has to be stated that placing the SRR close to the monopole antenna only slightly affects the resonant frequency, thus requiring only minimal modications and essentially separating the designs of the SRR and the composite SRRmonopole structure. Therefore, a simple additional ne-tuning design process has been employed to make small adjustments to the ring size since the presence of the monopole induces a slight shift to its resonant frequency. We have attempted several variations of the proposed SRR-enhanced monopoles, shown in Fig. 1(b). A critical variation is to increase the monopole length, without severely compromising the compactness of the antennas, by introducing L-shaped monopoles. The rationale behind this choice is that increasing the monopole length will not only affect the associated resonant frequency, but also the SRR-related resonance, since it will interact with the SRR in an increased overall length. Another interesting variation is to consider a coplanar waveguide feed, which is generally deemed better in terms of useful bandwidth, but in this case, the much closer proximity of the SRR to the top ground is further expected to affect the matching bandwidth. For improved compactness, a short ground version ( mm) was also implemented. III. SIMULATED AND EXPERIMENTAL RESULTS
Fig. 2. (a) Transmission versus frequency for a single SRR. (b) Magnetic permeability (real part), as a function of frequency for a single SRR.

vicinity of 2.45 GHz. The substrate used for the fabrication was the standard 1.6-mm-thick FR-4 circuit board, with relative permittivity , loss tangent at 2.45 GHz, and thickness of the copper layer 30 m. The reason for choosing a rectangular SRR over a similar circular one is its lower magnetic resonant frequency [9] and easier fabrication. It has to be noted that the simulation of the SRR unit cell has been performed by using port boundary conditions on the left and right sides to facilitate calculation of -parameters and parameter retrieval, while absorbing boundary conditions have been placed on the front, back, top and bottom planes of the unit cell to more accurately represent the effect and behavior of the single cell, as opposed to a more common periodic metamaterial structure. The transmission coefcient for the SRR unit cell is shown in Fig. 2(a), while the retrieved permeability is shown in Fig. 2(b). Obviously, the double SRR unit cell exhibits a magnetic resonant frequency around 2.45 GHz and a clear negative permeability region, acting as a small metamaterial sample that can be used to alter the radiation properties of the monopoles, in a way that is essentially similar to the structures in [4]. The SRR cell is then placed close to the monopole antenna and is magnetically coupled to it. Due to the coupling, the electric and magnetic elds of the monopole interact with the SRR by exciting both the inner and outer split rings. This excitation makes the SRR exhibit its metamaterial-like characteristics, thus providing a radiating mode that corresponds to the

We have compared the antenna monopole with and without the SRR to investigate the impact of the SRR on the reection coefcient. Simulated versus experimental results can be seen in Figs. 36. A comparison between the simulated and measured bandwidths for the compact antenna structures is presented in Table I. The agreement between the simulated and measured data is very good, although small discrepancies are observed. In particular, the small shift of the resonance frequency is probably due to the uncertainty and nonuniformity in the dielectric constant of FR-4 [10], fabrication limitations due to the small gaps, or the inuence of connector welding. However, there is a quite good agreement between simulated and measured values of the operational bandwidth. It is clear that the lowest resonant frequency of the composite antenna has been shifted toward the SRRs magnetic resonant frequency. This is due to primarily magnetic coupling of the SRR to the short monopoles near eld, but also capacitive coupling, with the SRR-monopole gap affecting both the resonant frequency and the SRR quality factor and, hence, the antenna bandwidth. Higher-order resonances are also observed in a bandwidth up to 8 GHz. The second one is a monopole resonance, i.e., at frequencies where its length is closer to , since it is also present in the cases without the SRR. The third resonance is also a clear higher-order SRR resonance, as this is not observed in the case of a simple monopole. The bandwidth of operation is quite narrow since the useful bandwidth is more or less controlled by the SRR geometric features, although it is also signicantly affected by its coupling to the monopole, which reduces the loaded of the SRR. This is more obviously demonstrated in the case of the L-shaped antennas, where the SRR is coupled to the monopole at approximately double length,

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Fig. 3. Simulated and measured results for the microstrip straight monopole. mm by mm. Other dimensions are The SRR is mm, mm, mm, mm. The circuit board is 26.6 mm wide by 21.8 mm long.

Fig. 5. Simulated and measured results for the coplanar straight monopole. The mm by mm. Other dimensions are mm, SRR is mm, mm, mm. The circuit board is 26.6 mm wide by 21.8 mm long.

Fig. 4. Simulated and measured results for the microstrip L-shaped monopole. mm by mm. Other dimensions are The SRR is mm, mm, mm, mm, and mm. The circuit board is 26.6 mm wide by 24.8 mm long.

Fig. 6. Simulated and measured results for the coplanar L-shaped monopole. mm by mm. Other dimensions are: The SRR is mm, mm, mm, mm, and mm. The circuit board is 26.6 mm wide by 24.8 mm long.

resulting in an increase of the matching bandwidth. More precisely, the two distinct segments of the monopole interact with the SRR through two different modes of operation, which are observed at almost the same frequency [9]. We also note that coplanar-fed monopoles provide a better bandwidth, which can be clearly attributed to the presence of the ground plane in much closer proximity to the SRR, a fact that further reduces the SRR quality factor and enhances bandwidth. The radiation patterns of the monopole alone and the composite antenna are also compared, and the results for the -plane ( and ) in the far eld at each antennas lowest resonance frequency are seen in Fig. 7. It is observed that the presence of the double SRR does not affect the essentially omnidirectional nature of the radiation patterns. IV. DISCUSSION We observe that without the ground plane, the composite antennas are about at 2.45 GHz, i.e., electrically

TABLE I SIMULATED AND MEASURED BANDWIDTH AT

10 dB

small compared to a monopole. However, to further assess compactness, we also calculate how close the measured quality factor is to the theoretical Chu limit [4], [11]. For this, we rst assess the radiation efciency as the ratio of radiated power, computed by integrating radiated power density

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IEEE ANTENNAS AND WIRELESS PROPAGATION LETTERS, VOL. 10, 2011

72.82, 30.63, 30.28, and 7.54, respectively. The values for the straight monopole cases are relatively high, while the L-shaped monopoles perform signicantly better, indicating that they more efciently ll their radiating sphere. The obtained value for the best case of the coplanar-fed L-shaped monopole is close to those reported in [4], and taking into account that the structures are planar, hence a large volume of the radiating sphere is not exploited, their compactness is considered very satisfactory. V. CONCLUSION We have proposed entirely planar electrically small antennas, enhanced by the concept of metamaterials, with increased operational bandwidths. Multiple frequency bands are obtained, either monopole or SRR-related, that can be controlled and designed independently and systematically. A particular feature in the case of L-shaped monopoles is the excitation of two ring modes, providing a decent reduction in operation frequency without a serious compromise in efciency and compactness. This could be further exploited in the design of small antennas with radiating parts close to the boundaries of the radiating sphere (a generally accepted route to miniaturization) and resonators in the interior or in the design and implementation of compact MIMO antennas.
Fig. 7. FEM predicted -plane patterns ( and ) in the fareld region, at each antennas lowest resonance frequency, referring to (a) Fig. 3, (b) Fig. 4, (c) Fig. 5, and (d) Fig. 6.

REFERENCES
[1] J. B. Pendry, A. J. Holden, D. J. Robbins, and W. J. Stewart, Magnetism from conductors and enhanced nonlinear phenomena, IEEE Trans. Microw. Theory Tech., vol. 47, no. 11, pp. 20752084, Nov. 1999. [2] D. R. Smith, W. J. Padilla, D. C. Vier, S. C. Nemat-Nasser, and S. Schultz, Composite medium with simultaneously negative permeability and permittivity, Phys. Rev. Lett., vol. 84, no. 18, pp. 41844187, 2000. [3] F. Qureshi, M. A. Antoniades, and G. V. Eleftheriades, A compact and low-prole metamaterial ring antenna with vertical polarization, IEEE Antennas Wireless Propag. Lett., vol. 4, pp. 333336, 2005. [4] A. Erentok and R. W. Ziolkowski, Metamaterial-inspired efcient electrically small antennas, IEEE Trans. Antennas Propag., vol. 56, no. 3, pp. 691707, Mar. 2008. [5] M. A. Antoniades and G. V. Eleftheriades, A broadband dual-mode monopole antenna using NRI-TL metamaterial loading, IEEE Antennas Wireless Propag. Lett., vol. 8, pp. 258261, 2009. [6] T. Kokkinos and A. P. Feresidis, Low-prole folded monopoles with embedded planar metamaterial phase-shifting lines, IEEE Trans. Antennas Propag., vol. 57, no. 10, pp. 29973008, Oct. 2009. [7] K. Aydin, I. Bulu, K. Guven, M. Kafesaki, C. M. Soukoulis, and E. Ozbay, Investigation of magnetic resonances for different split-ring resonator parameters and designs, New J. Phys., vol. 7, no. 168, 2005, DOI:10.1088/1367-2630/7/1/168. [8] D. Karatzidis, T. V. Yioultsis, and E. E. Kriezis, Fast analysis of photonic crystal structures with mixed-order prism macroelements, J. Lightw. Technol., vol. 26, no. 13, pp. 20022009, Jul. 2008. [9] M. Kafesaki, T. Koschny, R. S. Penciu, T. F. Gundogdu, E. N. Economou, and C. M. Soukoulis, Left-handed metamaterials: Detailed numerical studies of the transmission properties, J. Opt. A, Pure Appl. Opt., vol. 7, pp. S12S22, 2005. [10] R. S. Penciu, M. Kafesaki, T. F. Gundogdu, E. N. Economou, and C. M. Soukoulis, Theoretical study of left-handed behavior of composite metamaterials, Photon. Nanostruct., vol. 4, pp. 1216, 2006. [11] A. D. Yaghjian and S. R. Best, Impedance, bandwidth, and of antennas, IEEE Trans. Antennas Propag., vol. 53, no. 4, pp. 12981324, Apr. 2005. [12] R. W. Ziolkowski and A. Erentok, At and below the Chu limit: Passive and active broad bandwidth metamaterial-based electrically small antennas, Microw. Antennas Propag., vol. 1, no. 1, pp. 116128, 2007. [13] K. B. Alici and E. Ozbay, Electrically small split ring resonator antennas, J. Appl. Phys., vol. 101, no. 8, p. 083104, 2007.

over a closed surface that surrounds the antenna, to the input power, calculated by a similar integration on the input port. Computed values for the antennas shown in Figs. 36 are 0.238, 0.471, 0.481, and 0.905, respectively. Clearly, the coplanar-fed L-shaped antenna reaches a value of about 90%, which appears to be rather high for a resonator-based monopole. However, although the resonance is clearly due to the ring, the combination of the two excited modes seems to exhibit lower losses due to less coupled power. A further justication is that although the antenna is still compact, the monopole is not very small, and it is not surprising that the efciency approaches that of a monopole. It is also conrmed, by inspection of electric eld values, that in the case of the coplanar-fed monopole, the ground plane contributes more to the radiation due to its closer proximity. Therefore, less power is coupled to the ring compared to the microstrip-fed case, a fact that is also conrmed by inspecting eld values at the SRR gaps, justifying the higher values of efciency. By also considering that the antennas can be fully enclosed to a hypothetical sphere [12], [13] of radius equal to the radius of the circumscribed circle of the combined monopole-ring-ground structure, the ratios for the antennas shown in Figs. 36 are equal to 65.77, 22.73, 25.72, and 5.31, respectively, considering both the radiation efciency and the 3-dB bandwidth of the antennas [4], [13]. However, due to the presence of resonances that are closely spaced, it would be safer to consider 10-dB bandwidths to estimate the ratios , taking also into account the corresponding VSWR [11]. This gives the 10-dB-based values of