Multiband Stepped Antenna for Wireless Communication Applications

In this paper, a novel design of a coplanar waveguide fed (CPW) triple-band antenna is introduced. An ultra-wideband (UWB) characteristic is achieved by the initial design through the cut of a stepped shape from the lower part of the initial radiating patch and through the use of a truncated ground plane. A transition from the UWB to multiband function is assured by etching a simple ring inside the radiating patch. The antenna is printed on the low-cost FR4-substrate having a compact size of 0.162λ0×0.123λ0×0.008λ0 at 1.57 GHz. The design and the analysis of the antenna were done using the commercially software CST Microwave StudioTM while the fabricated prototype was tested and measured by using a R&S®ZNB Vector Network Analyzer. The measurements show that the fabricated prototype resonates between 1.57-2.33 GHz (38.97%), 5.84-6.41 GHz (9.31%), and 7.93-10.88 GHz (31.37%). Besides, the proposed antenna has consistent measured radiation patterns characteristics and it also reveals an acceptable realized gain and a high efficiency over the working ranges. Hence, the designed antenna can be a good candidate for many wireless communication systems.