Impact of ground plane serrations on radiation and impedance characteristics of a slot antenna over a conductive back plane

Thinness and placement-insensitivity are necessary qualities for RFID and wearable antennas as well as those used in many other applications. An antenna can be made indifferent to the material on which it is placed by shielding it with a conductive back plane. Slot antennas and planar dipole antennas are common choices for thin, placement-insensitive designs. They can be manufactured in a very economical fashion because both feed connections are on the same plane. However, when the conductive back plane is applied to a thin slot or dipole antenna, the bandwidth is significantly reduced. In the case of the slot antenna, this bandwidth reduction is due in part to reactive energy stored in parallel plate modes. The stored energy can be reduced by treating the edge of the ground plane with serrations. Our primary goal is to show the design trade-offs between bandwidth and thickness for the conductor-backed, serrated slot antenna. In our analysis we use simulations which we validate through measurements. Two bandwidth measures, L-network matched and intrinsic, are used to evaluate impedance bandwidth across many design variations. Finally, the far-field radiation is investigated to shed light on the underlying mechanisms affecting impedance.

Name thesis:degree_name

M.S.

Level thesis:degree_level

Thesis

Discipline thesis:degree_discipline

Electrical & Computer Engr

Grantor

University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign

Year dc:date

2015

Author dc:creator

• Young, Matthew A

• slot antenna
• radio-frequency identification (RFID)
• wearable antenna

Statement dc:rights

• Copyright 2015 Matthew Young

Language dc:language

en

Handle dc:identifier

http://hdl.handle.net/2142/78795

OAI identifier oai:identifier

oai:www.ideals.illinois.edu:2142/78795