ANTENNA ARRAY ENHANCEMENT USING MUSHROOM-LIKE ELECTROMAGNETIC BAND GAP (EBG)

A double elements micro-strip antenna with mushroom-like electromagnetic band gap (EBG) inserted between elements have been investigated. The performances of the antenna before and after the EBG are inserted between the micro-strip patches are analyzed. FR4 substrate with dielectric constant of 4.7 and 1.6mm thickness was simulated at operating frequency of 5.8GHz. The results shown that the performance of the array changes if EBG parameters such as EBG size, spacing between EBG, number of column of the EBG inserted between the elements and also the thickness of the substrate are changed. The simulation results shows that by inserting (3x3) mm(2) mushroom-like EBG with spacing of 0.6mm between EBG elements, the side-lobe (SL) improved from -19.dB to -24dB with 0.3dB gain increment and back radiation pattern reduced significantly. Meanwhile, by inserting (3x4.5) mm(2) mushroom-like EBG the mutual coupling improved from -30.87dB to -52.78dB. Overall, this paper provides significant guidelines in enhancing the performance of the antenna array integrated with mushroom-like EBG.