An investigation of a novel broadband dielectric resonator antenna

Recently, dielectric resonator antennas (DRA) have been proposed as an alternative to the popular microstrip patch. Since then, research has continued, extending their performance capabilities and confirming their potential as low profile and efficient antenna elements for array applications. Also a single-point fed dielectric resonator antenna has been reported, capable of radiating a circularly polarized signal with a much wider axial ratio bandwidth than a similar single-point fed microstrip patch. Further capability enhancements of a dielectric resonator antenna have recently been demonstrated by fabricating the antenna from ferrite material. With a properly biased static magnetic field, it has been shown to possess frequency tuning and polarization diversity properties. The purpose of this paper is to present a novel development of a DRA which possesses a much wider operational bandwidth than previously reported. This improvement can be accomplished with a simple slot feed and without an elaborate matching circuit or a complicated stacking procedure which is generally required by the microstrip patch.