Mutual coupling between metal strip dipole antennas on electrically thick, finite size dielectric substrates

It is demonstrated that the mutual coupling between metal strip dipole antennas on electrically thick, finite size dielectric substrates may be accurately predicted by a finite-element numerical method using large computer resources. The results of the analysis are compared with experimentally determined mutual impedances and show good agreement. Two folded dipole arrays have been considered: the first with the antennas collateral and the second with the antennas collinear. It is shown that, although the antennas are considered to be ideally fed dipoles in the analysis, the results of such an analysis can be used to predict the mutual coupling of a practical antenna element to a high degree of accuracy. Finally, the effect of the central element on the coupling between the outer elements is discussed.<>