Compact CPW-fed circular patch flexible antenna for super-wideband applications

This study proposes a coplanar waveguide-fed circular monopole antenna that is designed by ink-jetting conductive silver particle ink on photo paper. The antenna comprises a slotted circular patch and a reduced symmetrically slotted ground plane that is etched rectangularly. The slotted circular patch and ground plane provide the design flexibility with a broad bandwidth, substantial gain over 1.66-56.1 GHz frequency band, and relatively consistent radiation pattern. The fractional bandwidth (%BW) of this antenna is 188.5% that is covering industrial, scientific, and medical (ISM) bands, ultra-wideband, wireless local area network (WLAN) band, worldwide interoperability for microwave access (WiMAX) band, and various frequencies of upcoming fifth-generation technology. The total size of the antenna is only 34 x 25 mm(2), with an electrical dimension of 0.18 lambda x 0.13 lambda at 1.66 GHz. The bandwidth ratio (BR) is 33.81:1, and the bandwidth dimension ratio (BDR) is 7462, which is the highest among the flexible super-wideband antennas reported so far. It is a low profile, lightweight, and low-cost antenna that is accommodating a broad frequency spectrum for extended wideband communication. The measured results show good agreement with the simulations.