Effect of Loading Split-Ring Resonators in a Microstrip Antenna Ground Plane

This study presents a new, simple method for improving the front-to-back (F/B) ratio of a microstrip patch antenna (MSA) based on surface wave suppression. The back radiation of the MSA is significantly reduced by using the meandered ground plane edges and placing split-ring resonators (SRRs) in the middle of the meandered slots. By loading SRRs near the center of the meandered ground plane edges, some parts of the diffracted back-lobe power density can be reduced further. Compared to the F/B ratio of a conventional MSA with a full ground plane of the same size, an improved F/B ratio of 18 dB has been achieved experimentally for our proposed MSA.