Compact printed two dipole array antenna with a high front-back ratio for ultra-high-frequency radio-frequency identification handheld reader applications

A printed two-dipole array antenna with a high front-back ratio is proposed for ultra-high-frequency (UHF) radio-frequency identification handheld readers. The proposed antenna is a parasitic dual-element array with the ends of both elements folded back towards each other for additional coupling. The antenna features a compact size of 89 mm × 87 mm and works properly with satisfactory gain and total efficiency in the wide UHF band of 860-960 MHz. Furthermore, the front-to-back ratio of 15-26.8 dB, the peak gain of 3.7-4.4 dBi and the total efficiency of more than 80% in the Federal Communication Commission (FCC) band make the proposed antenna attain high performance in the FCC band.