High permitivity dielectric microstrip dipole antenna

Abstract

A miniature microstrip dipole antenna is constructed on a high permitivity dielectric substrate for compactibility with microwave monolithic integrated circuit (MMIC) technology. The antenna comprises two dipole arms coupled to opposite faces of the substrate. The dipole arms are coupled to a microstrip transmission line through a tapered balun. The tapered balun comprises two conductors on opposite faces of the substrate which are coupled to corresponding dipole arms. The conductors are separated laterally (with respect to the width of the face of the substrate) a calculated distance, and are gradually tapered. This allows the balun to efficiently transform unbalanced signals at the microstrip transmission line to balanced signals at the plurality of dipole arms. Alternatively, the balun allows balanced signals at the dipole arms to be efficiently transformed to unbalanced signals at the microstrip transmission line. To achieve additional radiation directivity, a ground plane is coupled to and parallel with a back face of the substrate. By using a high dielectric substrate, the cavity formed between the substrate and the ground plane is relatively very shallow.