Investigations of metamaterial-based ultra-dense antenna arrays

Advances in technology will continue to require smaller circuitry to further reduce the overall size of current communication and sensor systems. One approach to achieve this reduction in size is to develop small, efficient and multi-band transmitting and receiving structures that will fit into restricted areas while simultaneously accommodating the desired frequencies and high data rates. A metamaterial-based antenna paradigm to achieve these often conflicting requirements is proposed. It is demonstrated that specifically designed radiating elements can be spaced much closer than the usual lambda/2 distance in an array configuration while maintaining reasonable overall radiation efficiency and directivity.