Design of a 3.8-GHz Microstrip Patch Antenna for Sub-6 GHz 5G Applications

This paper presents a design of a centre-fed Rectangular Microstrip Patch Antenna (RMSA) that resonates at exactly 3.8 GHz. The effect of the dielectric material's choice, substrate height, dielectric constant, and the substrate material is on the RMSA for a constant resonant frequency while maintaining signal integrity and reducing signal loss. The antenna's gain and input return loss are improved by adjusting the upper and lower bounds of the height of the dielectric substrate. Results show that a maximum bandwidth of 350 MHz, a gain of 7.77 dBi, and input return loss (Sii) of below - 33 dB were obtained. Furthermore, a smaller dielectric constant below 2.5 and a Voltage Standing Wave Ratio (VSWR) below 2 dB will conveniently provide a wider bandwidth (BW) of over 250 MHz which is convenient to meet frequency range 1 (FR1) bandwidth expectation.