Efficiency enhancement of microstrip antenna by elevating radiating edges of patch

A new structure for a microstrip patch antenna fabricated on a highly lossy and thin FR4 substrate is presented. Elevated radiating edges of the metallic patch with notches as inductive loading form the patch antenna. This structure effectively reduces the dielectric loss and enhances the radiation efficiency. The proposed antenna has been designed and tested at 3.1 GHz as an example. It showed increased radiation power levels of more than 3 dB in both E- and H-plane radiation patterns when compared with those of a conventional planar patch antenna, indicating enhanced radiation efficiency.