A compact MACE shaped ground plane modified circular patch antenna for ultra-wideband applications

A compact mace shaped ground plane modified circular patch antenna for ultra-wideband applications is designed and investigated. The structure has a compact size of 14×18×1.6 mm³ and is etched out on an easily available, low-cost (FR4) flame retardant substrate with εr = 4.4, μ = 1 with 0.025 dielectric loss. The fractional bandwidth (S11 <-10 dB) of the presented antenna structure is 118% (3.1 to 12.13 GHz). The simulated result shows that the maximum gain is 3.2 decibels with maximum radiation efficiency equal to 78%. The presented compact antenna with a good radiation pattern satisfies the monopole characteristics. Measured and simulated Co-polarization and Cross(X)-polarization are in relatively good agreement with the selected operating frequencies. In order to construct the layout and stimulate the antenna's characteristic behavior over the Ultra-wideband frequency range, the CST simulator is used. The measured values validate the proposed antenna's attributes as forecasted in the CST simulation with minor deviations in frequencies. All these properties show that the proposed structure finds its applications in WiMAX-band 3.5, 5.5 GHz, WLAN-band 5.2, 5.8 GHz, X band (8-12 GHz), space communication and other wireless communication services.