Periodic array of complementary artificial magnetic conductor metamaterials-based multiband antennas for broadband wireless transceivers

This study presents the empirical results of a low-profile light-weight antenna based on a periodic array of the complementary artificial magnetic conductor metamaterial structure, which is realised by loading the antenna with E-shaped slits and inductive microstrip lines grounded using metallic via-holes. The finalised prototype antenna operates over a broadband of 0.41–4.1 GHz, which corresponds to a fractional bandwidth of 165.84%, and has dimensions of 40 × 35 × 1.6 mm3 or 0.054λ 0 × 0.047λ 0 × 0.0021λ 0, where λ 0 is free-space wavelength at operating frequency of 410 MHz. The finalised antenna has a peak gain and radiation efficiency of 4.45 dBi and 85.8%, respectively, at 2.76 GHz. At the lower operating frequency of 410 MHz, the gain and radiation efficiency are 1.05 dBi and 32.5%, respectively, which is normally highly challenging to realise with very small antennas. The planar nature of antenna enables easy integration with wireless transceivers.