Measurements of Balun and Gap Effects in a Dipole Antenna

In the present paper, design and analysis of a 2.4 GHz printed dipole antenna for wireless communication applications are presented. Measurements on return loss and radiation pattern of this antenna configuration are included in this investigation. The printed dipole is combined with the feeding structure of a microstrip via-hole balun and is fabricated on an FR-4 printed-circuit-board substrate. Two inevitable discontinuities are introduced by this antenna architecture in the form of right-angle bends in the microstrip feed line and in the dipoleʹs gap, respectively. The impact of mitering these bends in the reflection coefficient, resonance bandwidth and radiation pattern of antenna has been investigated by means of simulation and experiment.