Dielectric resonator antennas supported by `infinite´ and finite ground planes

Dielectric resonator antennas have received an increased attention in recent years. For the convenience of feed, they are normally used with the support of a ground plane of a finite size. We report our experimental study of the size effect of the ground plane on a cylindrical dielectric resonator antenna coupled using a probe. The parameters studied include resonance frequency, radiation pattern, gain and bandwidth and they are compared with those obtained theoretically assuming the ground plane is of infinite size. It shows that the largest effect occurs when the diameter of the ground plane is small or less than one half of a wavelength