Compact wide band antenna for smart grid application

Although the definition of smart grid still in the making, the use of two-way communication devices as part of the communication network in distribution power grid is established. Bi-directional communications improves power delivery and maximize the use of available grid capacity at various levels of demand. Successful transition of the current structure of the power distribution grid into a smarter one is dependent on several key developments. One of the key advances in the two-way communication is enabled by powerful and compact antenna design that can be cheaply and easily implemented in small communication devices. The antenna design and simulation was carried out using ANSYS´ HFSS software which is the industry-standard simulation tool for 3-D full-wave electromagnetic field simulation. The paper presents a novel compact low profile wide bandwidth microstrip antenna. The total size of the antenna is 20mm × 10mm × 2mm. This new design offers a wide fractional frequency bandwidth of about 40% with a gain from 3dB-4.3dB over the frequency band (5GHz - 7.5GHz). The application of the antenna suits many communication sensory units currently proposed for interfacing with home and industry energy harvesting devices.