Performance Analysis of Maple-Shaped Monopole Multiband Antenna on Various Substrate Materials

The interest for small-size wireless systems has been expanding for quite a few years and this has been made possible by adapting miniaturized antennas with a wide range of performance. Nature-inspired microstrip patch antennas are one of the best solutions to meet the demand for multiband frequencies. A maple-shaped monopole antenna is designed with multiband characteristics and the performance analysis on various substrate materials is carried out. The antenna works over the frequency bands of 3.19 GHz-4 GHz (S-band), 4 GHz-7-17 GHz (C-band), 8.09 GHz-12 GHz (X-band), and 12 GHz-13.81 GHz (Ku-band). The antenna design is simulated using HFSS and obtained the results of return loss, VSWR, gain, and bandwidth. A maximum operating bandwidth of 10.62 GHz and gain of 6.78 dB is achieved with benzocyclobuten as a dielectric substrate and maximum return loss of -57 dB at 8.9 GHz frequency when FR4 epoxy is used. The antenna prototype was made with low-cost FR4 epoxy as a substrate material and tested over the frequency range of 4.27 GHz-14.52 GHz to verify the proposed design. The proposed multiband antenna is suitable for applications in radio altimeters, RADAR, and satellite communications.