Dipole with left handed loading with optimised efficiency

Dipole loaded with left handed transmission lines allows operation with higher order mode current distributions and small size. Use in a meandered configuration can give polarisation orthogonal to the dipole length. In this paper a new printed implementation using distributed elements is proposed with improved efficiency. Comparisons are made between this antenna and previous antenna structures implemented with lumped and distributed elements, consisting of interdigitated capacitors and meandered line inductors. The simulated results show good input impedance match and radiation pattern typical of a dipole. This antenna also achieved an improved radiation efficiency of 73.84% and a gain of 0.809 dBi was obtained. Experimental results validate the performance of this antenna.