Investigation of Compact Dielectric Monopole Antenna Integrated with 3D Printed Horn for UWB Applications

A novel broadband portable Dielectric Resonator Antenna (DRA) with integrated unshorted horn and broadside radiation pattern is implemented for ultra-wideband (UWB) and Electromagnetic sensor applications. A rectangular DRA composed of TMM 10i (Dielectric constant 9.8 and loss tangent 0.002) material is mounted over four supporting pillars to separate the DRA from the ground plane. A conical shaped horn with the copper foil conductor is used as a reflector to increase the gain and realize stable radiation pattern over the wide frequency range. The horn and supporting pillars are fabricated by a 3-D printer using light weight thermoplastic composite polymer Poly-Lactic Acid (PLA). The proposed antenna contributes measured VSWR (2:1) impedance bandwidth of 106% ranging from 6.8 GHz to 22.2 GHz for a Quasi-TM111, mode with a low cross-pol level which ensures its linear polarization. The measured peak gain of the DRA is 7.8 dBi at 14 GHz, while estimated average efficiency is more than 88%. The measured average group delay of the proposed antenna is similar to 1.5 ns within operation band. The proposed antenna is suitable for UWB operation and other broadband applications having omnidirectional coverage and stable radiation pattern ranging from C-band to K-band.