A Compact Stacked Dipole Antenna With Directional Radiation Coverage for Wireless Communications

A simple stacked metal slab antenna with directional broadside radiation coverage suitable for wireless applications is presented. The directional broadside radiation pattern is obtained by stacking the printed metal slab dipole antenna with the same element. The design utilizes the coupling of magnetic and electrical resonances of the coupled slabs to ensure directional radiation characteristics. The design has a front-to-back ratio of 15 dB and occupies an overall dimension of 44×18×4.8 mm³ when printed on a substrate of dielectric constant 4.4. Details of the design along with experimental, simulation, and finite-difference time-domain (FDTD) computed results are presented and discussed.