A wideband antenna with a folded patch feed

The need for wireless connectivity of home, office and portable equipment has pushed for better antenna designs with a larger bandwidth. The microstrip patch antenna is a very popular choice for many wireless communications devices because of its low profile, light weight, and low cost. However, the impedance bandwidth of a conventional microstrip patch antenna is only a couple of percent. Several bandwidth enhancement techniques for microstrip patch antennas have been developed, and, recently, a new feeding method that can dramatically improve the impedance bandwidth of a patch antenna has been proposed, namely, the folded patch feed. A rectangular U-slot patch antenna with a folded patch feed is shown to have an impedance bandwidth of 53.54% (VSWR≤2) (Chiu, C.Y. et al., IEEE Antennas and Wireless Propag. Lett., vol.2, p.130-2, 2003). We propose to adopt the folded patch feed to an E-shaped patch antenna. Easier fabrication, smaller size and wider impedance bandwidth (73.78%) are achieved compared to the original design reported by Chiu, C.Y. et al. The proposed antenna suitable for mass production.