V-band patch-fed rod antennas for high data-rate wireless communications

This paper presents the design and the prototyping of a patch-fed dielectric rod antenna at V band. The proposed antenna requires small space on printed circuit boards and eliminates the difficulty for a millimeter-wave probe feed. The details of simulation and manufacturing are described and measurements are conducted to examine the antenna performance. The patch and the rod have been fabricated using Duroid substrates and Teflon respectively. The impedance bandwidth of the antenna is 3 GHz. Its measured gain is up to 16 dBi at 61 GHz. Radiation characteristics, circular polarizations and beam tilting are also examined and discussed. As the proposed antenna can achieve high gain with relatively low profile, multiple patch-fed rods can be built as a beam-switching array or a multiple-input-multiple-output array for high data rate wireless communications.