Gain enhancement of dipolar antennas employing EBG media

Different methods based on Electromagnetic Band-Gap materials are used to enhance the directivity of dipoles with a back reflector and compared. The EBG media consist of a periodic arrangement of dielectric cylinders that are excited either inside or at the edge of the band-gap by a half-wavelength dipole, while a ground plane with finite size acts as reflector against backscattering. The strengths and weaknesses of the two methods are assessed considering both square and triangular lattices.