Progress In Electromagnetics Research, PIER 84, 407436, 2008

APPLICATION OF ARTIFICIAL GROUND PLANES IN

DUAL-BAND ORTHOGONALLY-POLARIZED
LOW-PROFILE HIGH-GAIN PLANAR ANTENNA
DESIGN
A. Foroozesh, M. Ng Mou Kehn, and L. Shafai
Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering
University of Manitoba
75A Chancellors Circle, Winnipeg, MB R3T 5V6, Canada
AbstractApplication of articial ground planes in design of compact
cavity-resonance dual-band high-gain antennas is presented. The
articial ground plane consists of periodic strip grating on grounded
dielectric slab. A code based on method of moment (MoM) is
developed to analyze and design such articial ground planes. The
reection parameters obtained using the MoM code are employed to
characterize the surface impedance of the articial ground plane for
dierent incident angles and both TE and TM polarizations. Then,
this impedance surface is used in transverse equivalent network (TEN)
model of the cavity-resonance antenna with high-permittivity dielectric
superstrate. Using TEN model radiation properties of such antennas
are analyzed. Finally, the antenna with the compact size is designed to
demonstrate the maximum directivity. An interesting characteristic of
this antennas is that when the antenna ground plane acts as an articial
magnetic conductor the height of the antenna is almost reduced by a
factor of two, while its directivity is increased by about 1 dB compared
to the conventional antennas of this class having PEC ground plane.

1. INTRODUCTION
Articial surfaces nd numerous applications in antenna design and
microwave engineering [1]. One of these applications is low-prole highgain cavity-resonance antenna design when such a surface is used as the
ground plane [24]. Although, the superstrate used in [2] was a highly
reective frequency reective surface (HR-FSS) consisting of periodic
patches, it was shown in [5, 6] that other cavity-resonance antennas
with high-permittivity dielectric superstrates can be made low-prole

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Foroozesh, Ng Mou Kehn, and Shafai

using articial ground planes. An articial ground plane usually

consists of a grounded dielectric slab loaded by periodic metallic
patches, rings or other frequency selective surface (FSS) shapes. In
practical applications, these periodic structures must be truncated. On
one hand, using limited number of unit cells degrades the performance
of the antenna and prevents achieving the expected high-gain [5, 6]. On
the other hand, conventional full-wave analysis (such as MoM, FEM
and FDTD) of large periodic structures in presence of the excitation
antenna is cumbersome, time-consuming and needs excessive computer
memory due to the extensive meshing involved. However, in this
research area, some interesting designs have been reported using fullwave analyzers and commercial software packages in [7, 8].
The transverse equivalent network (TEN) model is a promising
CAD-tool for estimating the far-eld radiation properties such as the
directivity and radiation patterns of cavity resonance antennas [7, 9
13]. Its accuracy have been compared with the full-wave analysis
methods such as MoM in [1315]. It has also shown excellent agreement
with other complicated methods based on Greens function calculations
in [9, 10] or leaky-wave analysis in [16]. Yet, it is not time-consuming in
comparison with the full-wave analysis methods such as FDTD, FEM
or MoM. A rigorous analytic method, similar to the method introduced
in [10], has been addressed in [17] which conrms the versatility
of this method in predicting the far-eld properties of this class of
antennas. Another interesting method of homogenization of periodic
structures, employed in the substrate and superstrate of antennas, has
been developed and addressed in [18].
In this paper, the concept of the cavity-resonance antennas with
articial ground plane and dielectric superstrate is introduced rst.
This problem is formulated using the TEN model. Then, an in-house
developed MoM code is presented which treats periodic strip grating
on a grounded dielectric slab. This code is employed to design an
articial ground plane acting as an AMC at a certain frequency for xpolarized incident waves and as an articial electric conductor (AEC)
at twice that frequency for y-polarized incident waves. Next, this
articial ground plane is used in a cavity-resonance antenna resulting
in a dual-band orthogonal polarized high-gain antenna.
2. TEN MODEL OF THE CAVITY RESONANCE
ANTENNA
A horizontal electric Hertzian dipole embedded in an air-gap layer, over
a ground plane at a height h, and covered by a dielectric superstrate
layer is shown in Fig. 1. It is assumed that the ground plane surface,

Progress In Electromagnetics Research, PIER 84, 2008

409

Figure 1. (a) Antenna conguration geometry and (b) TEN model of

the antenna.
air gap layer and dielectric cover are innite in the transverse direction.
Using the TEN model, this antenna is simplied to the structure
consisting of sections of transmission lines terminated by a load as
shown in Fig. 1(b). In this model the electric Hertzian dipole is
considered as a probe, which receives the electric eld signal caused
by the plane wave at far eld. Having this approach, the applied
electric eld on this probe is proportional to the voltage Vh , which is
the voltage at the distance h from the load impedance. Vh can be
found using two sets of linear equations as follows [12].


Vs I2 Rs
I2


Vh
Ih


=


A B
C D

A
B

C
D





I0 ZL
I0

I0 ZL
I0


(1)


,

(2)

where A, B, C and D are the elements of the ABCD matrix of the

entire cascaded transmission lines and the load, while A
, B
, C
and
D
are the elements of the ABCD matrix of the portion below the
Hertzian dipole (Fig. 1). Other quantities shown in Fig. 1 are dened

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Foroozesh, Ng Mou Kehn, and Shafai

as
VsT E = 1,

VsT M = VsT E cos(i )

RsT E = 0 / cos(i ),

RsT M = 0 cos(i )

rn rn sin2 (i )
TM
Rcn = 0
rn

0 = 0 /0 ,

TE
Rcn
= 0 


n = k0

rn
rn rn sin2 (i )

rn rn sin2 (i ),

(3)

where n = 1 and 2 are indices corresponding to the air gap and

dielectric superstrate layer, respectively. Lets assume that the
horizontal electric Hertzian dipole is placed at the origin and in the
J direction as follows
J = x
cos(J ) + y sin(J ),

(4)

the corresponding far-eld electric components are calculated as below

E T E = E = V T E J . = V T E sin(J )
E

TM

= E =

h
h
TM

Vh J .( z)

= VhT M cos(J )

(5)

which are consistent with the results obtained in [12]. Throughout

this study, the antenna directivity is calculated using the following
formula [9]


4 sin2 ()|VhT E ()|2 + cos2 ()|VhT M ()|2
.
(6)
D(, ) =  /2

sin() |VhT E ()|2 + |VhT M ()|2 d
0
3. MOM ANALYSIS OF THE PERIODIC CONDUCTING
STRIPS ON A GROUNDED DIELECTRIC SLAB
Analysis of the scattering from periodic gratings has attracted the
attention of many researchers [1922]. Other types of periodic
structures with two- or three-dimensional periodicity can be analyzed
using dierent numerical techniques such as the ones introduced in
[2325]. They may also nd interesting applications [26, 27].
In this section method of moment analysis of electromagnetic
scattering by a periodic strip grating on a grounded dielectric slab,
shown in Fig. 2, for arbitrary plane incident wave is presented. The
extracted reection properties using this method are employed to
characterize impedance surface of this periodic structure for both
T E z and T M z polarizations, and for various incident angles. The
impedance surface is in turn used in TEN model of the cavity resonance
antenna presented in the next section to extract its far-eld radiation
properties.

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411

Figure 2. Periodic strip grating on a grounded dielectric slab. (a)

3-D view. (b) Side view.
3.1. Expansion of Electric Strip Currents into
Entire-Domain Basis Functions
The x-directed electric surface current density over the 0th strip of the
periodic conducting strips array is expressed as
jkx0 x jky y

Jx (x, y) = e

Nx


ap fxp (x),

for |x|

lx
2

(7)

bp fyp (x),

for |x|

lx
2

(8)

p=0
jkx0 x jky y

Jy (x, y) = e

Ny

p=0

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Foroozesh, Ng Mou Kehn, and Shafai

where phase variations along x and y are dened with respect to the
origin. Due to the periodicity in the x direction and according to
Floquets theorem corresponding phase constant in the x direction can
be represented in a discrete form as
kxm = k0 sin(0 ) cos(0 ) +

2m
dx

(9)

where 0 and 0 determine the direction of the incident wave. The

phase propagation along the y direction is
ky = k0 sin(0 ) sin(0 ).

(10)

The surface current can be expanded into a product of a series

of cosine functions and a function satisfying edge condition [28]. The
proper basis functions are selected as the ones introduced in [16, 17],
i.e.,


2

lx
2x
p
p
,
(11)
x+
(j) cos
fxp (x) = 1
lx
lx
2

fyp (x) = 1

2x
lx

2

(j) cos

p
lx

lx
x+
2


.

(12)

The Fourier transform of the pth x- or y-directed surface current

basis function fsp (x) is signied as f
sp (kx ) and calculated as
f
sp (kx ) =

lx /2

lx /2

fsp (x)ejkx x dx,

(13)

where s can be x or y. Thus, the Fourier transform of Eqs. (11) and

(12) are


p+kx lx
pkx lx
J
J
(
)
(
)
l
1
1
x
2
2
(1)p
(14)
+
f
xp (kx ) =
2
p + kx lx
p kx lx


lx
p + kx lx
p kx lx
p

(1) J0 (
fyp (kx ) =
) + J0 (
) .
4
2
2

(15)

The Fourier transforms of the surface currents presented above,

are used in the next part, where spectral domain analysis is studied.

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413

3.2. Spectral Electric Field Radiated by Strip Current

Upon Fourier transforming the electric surface current discussed above,
into the spectral kx domain, we have



ap f
bp f
J( (kxm ) = ax
xp (kxm ) + ay
yp (kxm ),
Nx

p=0

Ny

(16)

p=0

m = , 1, 0, 1, .
This surface current corresponds to the discrete spectrum of the
periodic structure. The f
sp (kxm ) serves as the driving excitation for
the grounded dielectric bare slab without the strips. The spectral
eld radiated by this spectral basis strip current (located in the
layer above the slab) into the region above the grounded substrate
is obtained from the numerical Greens function of the unloaded
multilayer structure [18, 19], i.e.,


EwJsp (kxm ) = GJEsw .f
sp (kxm ).

(17)

where the w subscript may denote either x or y component of

the spectral E-eld, and the superscript Js signies the type and
component of the excitation current. The superscript of the Greens
 indicates the current source type and component, while the
function G
subscript represents the eld type and component.
3.3. Spatial Electric Field Radiated by Entire Strip Array
Due to the periodicity along x with period dx , the inverse transform
from spectral kx to spatial x domain only requires a summation over
discrete spectral components dened in Eq. (10). Hence, the inverse
transform of the spectral electric eld of Eq. (17) is written as


1 


Js
Js
Js
a
x Exp (kxm ) + a
y Eyp (kxm ) ejkxm x ,
(18)
u
E up =
dx m
m = , 1, 0, 1, .
where u
denotes transverse components. The summation performs
through all integers of m. In fact, Eq. (18) constitutes the spatial
transverse component of the electric eld radiated by the s-directed
spatial pth basis strip current fsp (x). Eventually, the total transverse
spatial electric eld radiated by both electric current components Jx

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Foroozesh, Ng Mou Kehn, and Shafai

and Jy is expressed as
u
EuJs

= ax

Nx


ap ExJpx

+ ay

p=0

Ny


bp Eypy .

(19)

p=0

3.4. Spectral Excitation Current Source and its Radiated

Electric Field
Depending on the polarization of the incident plane wave on the strip
array, dierent types of spectral excitation current sources are entailed.
ex

Let this excitation current source be denoted generally by K
x,y , where
K can be either J (electric) or M (magnetic), and the subscript can
be either x or y labeling the component of the current. In the same
manner as was shown in Eq. (17), the spectral electric eld radiated
by this excitation source is expressed as

Ks 
ex
ex

E
w = GEw .Ksp

(20)

evaluated at (kx = kx0 , ky = ky0 ), being the forcing wavenumber of

the incident plane wave, constituting the fundamental Floquet mode
as well. The spatial eld is correspondingly


ex + a E
ex ejkx0 x ,


u
Euex = ax E
(21)
y y
x
which is in the form of the excitation plane wave pertaining to a single
(fundamental) Floquet mode. This source eld is determinable with a
ex

known excitation current K
x,y .
The total spatial electric eld in the region above the strip array
is ultimately written as
Eutot = EuJs + Euex

(22)

3.5. Galerkin Weighting of Boundary Condition

The boundary condition requires the component of the total electric
eld tangential to the PEC strips to vanish on the strip surface (at
z = 0). Applying this boundary condition on zeroth strip results in


lx
lx
tot
=0
(23)
Eu x
2
2
Upon performing Galerkin weighting, a total number of equations
that equals the number of unknown coecients of the basis functions

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415

expanding the strip currents are generated. This system of equation

can be cast into a matrix equation:
I ] = [V ]
[Z][

(24)

where the matrices involved in Eq. (24) are dened as follows. The
are determined as
elements of [Z]

Zqp =

lx
2

l2x

u
EuJps sfsq (x)dx,

(25)

where u is the transverse direction and consisting of both x and y

directions. s is the direction of the current basis function and can be
either x or y. The elements of [I ] are unknown current basis function
coecients and are determined as

a0
..
.

a
,
(26)
I = Nx
b
0
.
..
bNy Nx +Ny +2
The elements of [V ] can be determined as

Vq =

lx
2

l2x

u
Euexp sfsq (x)dx.

(27)

3.6. Numerical Results

In this part, some numerical results are shown to validate the in-house
developed code based on method of moment (MoM) presented earlier
in this section. Then, using this MoM code, the characteristics of a
periodic strip grating on a grounded dielectric slab is studied versus
frequency for various incident angles.
As the rst example, a periodic structure is considered as shown in
Fig. 2 with the dimensions of lx = 5 mm, dx = 10 mm and t = 1.59 mm.
The dielectric is assumed to be lossless with relative permittivity of
2.5. Corresponding reection phase versus frequency of this periodic
structure due to normal incidence is shown in Fig. 3. As can be seen,
there is an excellent convergence for dierent number of Floquet modes
and basis functions. Similarly, there is good agreement (< 8%) between
the results obtained using the in-house MoM code and commercial

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Foroozesh, Ng Mou Kehn, and Shafai

Figure 3. Reection phase for normal incident angle, subject to the

plane wave with (a) T Ey and (b) T My polarization. The corresponding
structure is shown in Fig. 2 with dimensions of lx = 5 mm, dx = 10 mm
and t = 1.59 mm. The dielectric is lossless with relative permittivity
of 2.5. 2M + 1 is the total number of Floquet modes. 2(N + 1) is
the total number of basis functions in x and y direction, respectively
(Nx = Ny = N ).

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417

FEM-CAD (Ansoft HFSS) and TLM-CAD (Microstripes). This type

of frequency shift has been also observed for the reection phases
obtained for the designed AMC with metallic square patch unit cells
in [31]. In [31], results obtained using commercial MoM-CAD software
package (Ansoft Designer) were compared against those obtained using
commercial FEM-CAD (Ansoft HFSS) and TLM-CAD (Microstripes)
software packages. Interestingly, the reection phase variation versus
frequency shown in Fig. 3(a) is consistent with those shown in [31] in
the sense that the resonant frequency (zero reection phase) obtained
using the FEM-CAD is the lowest while that obtained using the MoMCAD is the highest.
Another periodic grating metallic structure is considered with the
dimensions of lx = 5.54 mm, dx = 6 mm and t = 1.59 mm (Fig. 2). The
dielectric is assumed to be lossless with relative permittivity of 2.5. The
reection phase coecients versus frequency for various incident angles
and both T Ez and T Mz polarizations in principal planes ( = 0 and
= 90 ) are shown in Figs. 4 and 5. The reection phases shown in
Fig. 4 are responses to the incident wave having x-polarized electric
eld components (perpendicular to metallic strips). For this case, the
resonant frequency (fr ), where the reection phase is zero occurs at
9.5 GHz. The reection phase shown in Fig. 5 are responses to the
incident wave having y-polarized electric eld components (parallel
to metallic strips). For this case, however, the resonance does not
occur and the reection phase remains about PEC reection phase
(180 ). The physical description of this fact will be explained in the
next section.
4. ARTIFICIAL GROUND PLANE DESIGN
In this section, the antenna structure shown in Fig. 1 is considered
with PEC, PMC or articial ground planes. The far-eld radiation
properties of these dierent antenna congurations are studied using
the TEN model described in Section 2.
4.1. Antenna with PEC Ground Plane
When the ground plane is PEC in Fig. 1(a), the load impedance
in the transmission line model is zero (ZL = 0). The antenna
directivity versus air-gap height and superstrate thickness is shown
in Fig. 6 for r = 9.8. The maximum directivities of this antenna
conguration for dierent r superstrate layers, are listed in Table 1.
The same search space as illustrated in Fig. 6 is performed to obtain
the maximum directivity for other values of superstrate dielectric

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Foroozesh, Ng Mou Kehn, and Shafai

Figure 4. Reection phase of the conducting periodic strip on

grounded dielectric slab versus frequency for various incident angles.
(a) T E z at = 90 and (b) T M z at = 0 . Note that the electric
eld of the incident wave does not have any y-directed component.
The corresponding structure is shown in Fig. 2 with the dimensions of
lx = 5.54 mm, dx = 6 mm and t = 1.59 mm (Fig. 2). The dielectric is
lossless with relative permittivity of 2.5.

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419

Figure 5. Reection phase of the conducting periodic strip on

grounded dielectric slab versus frequency for various incident angles.
(a) T E z at = 0 and (b) T M z at = 90 . Note that the electric
eld of the incident wave does not have any x-directed component.
The corresponding structure is shown in Fig. 2 with the dimensions of
lx = 5.54 mm, dx = 6 mm and t = 1.59 mm (Fig. 2). The dielectric is
lossless with relative permittivity of 2.5.

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Foroozesh, Ng Mou Kehn, and Shafai

Figure 6. Directivity versus air-gap height (d1 /0 ) and dielectric

superstrate thickness (d2 /e ) for the cavity resonance antenna shown
in Fig. 1 with PEC ground plane. Superstrate relative permittivity is
2 = 9.8.
permittivity. These maxima are obtained for air-gap heights (d1 ) and
dielectric superstrate thicknesses (d2 ) as shown in Tables 2 and 3. One
should note that the values presented in Tables 2 and 3 correspond
to the rst resonance which introduces
the lowest prole design. One

also should note that e = 0 / r , where 0 is free space wavelength

at the operating frequency and r is the relative permittivity of the
superstrate, respectively. As can be seen in Tables 2 and 3, the
maximum directivities are obtained for the dielectric thicknesses of
about quarter-wavelength ( e /4) and air-gap heights of about halfwavelength ( 0 /2). This is consistent with the resonance conditions
presented in [9]. For all cases studied in this part, the Hertzian dipole
is placed at the height of h/2, as the maximum voltage Vh , supposedly,
occurs at this height [9]. The corresponding radiation patterns of the
above-mentioned antenna congurations are shown in Fig. 7.
The directivity of this antenna conguration ranges from 14.62 dBi
to 16.88 dBi, for the superstrate having the lowest relative permittivity
(5.5) to the highest relative permittivity (9.8). This is consistent with
the previous studies such as [7, 8].

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421

Figure 7. Radiation patterns of the antenna shown in Fig. 1 with

PEC ground plane for dierent superstrate relative permittivities.
4.2. Antenna with PMC Ground Plane
When the ground plane is PMC in Fig. 1(a), the load impedance in
the transmission line model is imaginary innity (ZL = j). The
antenna directivity versus air-gap height and superstrate thickness is
shown in Fig. 8 for r = 9.8. The same search space as illustrated in
Fig. 8 is performed to obtain the maximum directivity for other values
of superstrate dielectric permittivity. The maximum directivities of
this antenna conguration for various superstrate layers with dierent
dielectric permittivities, are listed in Table 1. These maxima are
obtained for air-gap heights (d1 ) and dielectric superstrate thicknesses
(d2 ) as addressed in Tables 2 and 3. The values presented in Tables 2
and 3 correspond to the rst resonance which introduces the lowest
prole design. As can be seen in Tables 2 and 3, the maximum
directivities are obtained for both air-gap heights and dielectric
thicknesses of about quarter-wavelength of their corresponding media.
For all cases studied in this section, the Hertzian dipole is placed on
the PMC ground plane, as the maximum voltage Vh occurs at this
height. The corresponding radiation patterns of the above-mentioned
antenna congurations are shown in Fig. 9.
The directivity of this antenna conguration ranges from 12.11 dBi
to 14.18 dBi, for the superstrate having the lowest relative permittivity
(5.5) to the highest relative permittivity (9.8). The directivity in
each case has been decreased at least by about 2.5 dB, compared to

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Foroozesh, Ng Mou Kehn, and Shafai

Figure 8. Directivity versus air-gap height (d1 /0 ) and dielectric

superstrate thickness (d2 /e ) for the cavity resonance antenna shown
in Fig. 1 with PMC ground plane. Superstrate relative permittivity is
2 = 9.8.

Figure 9. Radiation patterns of the antenna shown in Fig. 1 with

PMC ground plane for dierent superstrate relative permittivities.

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423

its counterpart with PEC ground plane. This is consistent with the
previous studies using FEM-CAD full wave analysis (Ansoft-HFSS) for
such class of antennas [4, 5].
4.3. Antenna with Articial Ground Plane
The periodic strip grating on a grounded dielectric slab is considered
as the articial ground plane in this paper as shown in Fig. 2. The
in-house developed MoM code presented in Section 3, was employed to
design the articial ground plane here. The dimensions of the periodic
strip grating on the grounded dielectric slab are as follows. Periodicity
(dx ) is 6 mm, strip width (lx ) is 5.54 mm, and the dielectric thickness
(t) is 1.6 mm. The relative permittivity of the dielectric is 2.5. This
articial ground plane works in two dierent modes, namely AMC and
AEC. This ground plane acts as an AMC for the x-polarized incident
wave showing reection phase of zero at normal incidence. As well
it acts as an AEC for the y-polarized incident wave showing reection
phase close to 180 . These two modes are studied below in more details.
The results presented in this section are obtained at frequencies of 9.5
and 19.0 GHz for AMC and AEC modes, respectively.
4.3.1. Antenna with Articial Ground Plane in AMC Mode
The reection phase versus incident angle is shown in Fig. 10 for both
T E z and T M z polarizations, when the articial ground plane works
in AMC mode. In this mode, the electric eld of the incident wave
is x-directed. Intuitively, this is expected, since the periodic strips
exhibits capacitive behavior to the x-polarized incident wave [32]. This
capacitance is in parallel with the grounded dielectric slab having
inductive characteristics. Therefore, the resonance occurs and the
periodic structure demonstrates reection phase close to zero, resulting
in a high impedance surface. Surface impedances corresponding to
both TE and TM polarizations are shown in Fig. 11. In fact these
surface impedances are the load impedance in the TEN model (Fig. 1)
and they have been calculated as follows [15],
ZLTM = Z0TM

1 + TM
1 TM

(28)

where Z0TM is the characteristic impedance of the air-gap region. The

same formula applies for the TE polarization. One should note that
the load impedance is both polarization and angular dependent.
As can be seen in Fig. 11, the AMC surface impedance is high
at normal incidence. However, at corresponding grazing angles the

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Foroozesh, Ng Mou Kehn, and Shafai

Figure 10. Reection phase versus incident angles of the structure

shown in Fig. 2 in AMC mode with dimensions of dx = 6 mm,
lx = 5.54 mm, and t = 1.6 mm. The relative permittivity of the
dielectric is 2.5 and the operating frequency is 9.5 GHz.

Figure 11. Surface impedance magnitude of the structure shown in

Fig. 2 with dimensions of dx = 6 mm, lx = 5.54 mm, and t = 1.6 mm.
The relative permittivity of the dielectric is 2.5. Operating frequency
is 9.5 GHz.

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425

Figure 12. Directivity versus air-gap height (d1 /0 ) and dielectric

superstrate thickness (d2 /e ) for the cavity resonance antenna shown
in Fig. 1 with AMC ground plane. Superstrate relative permittivity is
2 = 9.8.
surface impedance is very low. This is consistent with the fact
that reection phase is about 180 for TE polarization (Fig. 10).
Interestingly, the surface impedance magnitude is about 400 for TM
polarization as shown in Fig. 11. This is consistent with the fact that
the reection phase is almost uniform and about 90 at grazing angle
for this polarization. Therefore, the surface impedance magnitude is
about that of free space as supposed to be. The surface impedance
phase is 90 and constant over the incident angles. Thus, the surface
is high impedance and inductive. This is consistent with the fact that
the reection coecient phase is always positive from very close to zero
at normal incidence to about 180 at grazing angles.
Consider the above-mentioned articial ground plane in AMC
mode, as described above, for the antenna conguration shown in
Fig. 1. The excitation is an x-polarized electrical Hertzian dipole.
The antenna directivity versus air-gap height and superstrate thickness
is shown in Fig. 12 for r = 9.8. The maximum directivities of
this antenna conguration for various superstrate layers with dierent
dielectric permittivities, are listed in Table 1. These maxima are
obtained for air-gap heights (d1 ) and dielectric superstrate thicknesses
(d2 ) as addressed in Tables 2 and 3. The values presented in
Tables 2 and 3 correspond to the rst resonance which introduces
the lowest prole design. As can be seen in Tables 2 and 3,

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Foroozesh, Ng Mou Kehn, and Shafai

the maximum directivities are obtained for both air-gap height and
dielectric thickness of about quarter-wavelength of their corresponding
media. For all cases studied in this section, the Hertzian dipole is
placed on the AMC ground plane, as the maximum voltage Vh occurs
at this height. The corresponding radiation patterns of the abovementioned antenna congurations are shown in Fig. 13.

Figure 13. Radiation patterns of the antenna shown in Fig. 1 with

AMC ground plane for dierent superstrate relative permittivities.
The directivity of this antenna conguration ranges from 15.38 dBi
to 17.89 dBi, for the superstrate having the lowest relative permittivity
(5.5) to the highest relative permittivity (9.8). This shows signicant
improvements, since in each antenna of this class with the introduced
AMC ground plane, not only the air-gap height has been reduced by
about half compared to its counterpart with a PEC ground plane,
leading to low-prole design, but also the directivity has been increased
by about 1 dB. This is not the case for antennas with PMC ground
plane, and this property can be attributed to the angular polarization
dependency of the AMC surface, acting similar to PMC at close-tonormal incident angles while similar to PEC at grazing incident angles.
4.3.2. Antenna with Articial Ground Plane in AEC Mode
The reection phase versus incident angle is shown in Fig. 14 for
both T E z and T M z polarizations, when the articial ground plane
works in AEC mode.
In this mode, the electric eld of the
incident wave is y-directed. The periodic strips exhibits inductive

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427

behavior to the y-polarized incident wave [32]. This inductance

is in parallel with the grounded dielectric slab having inductive
characteristics, too. Therefore, the resonance does not occur. Instead,
the equivalent inductance of the two parallel inductances introduces a
lower inductance value resulting in a low impedance surface. Surface
impedances corresponding to both TE and TM polarizations are shown
in Fig. 15. As before, these surface impedances are the load impedance
in the TEN model (Fig. 1) and they have been calculated using
Eq. (28).

Figure 14. Corresponding reection phase versus incident angles

of the structure shown in Fig. 2 in AEC mode with dimensions of
dx = 6 mm, lx = 5.54 mm, and t = 1.6 mm. The relative permittivity
of the dielectric is 2.5 and the operating frequency is 19.0 GHz.
As can be observed in Fig. 15, the corresponding surface
impedances to AEC surface is low at normal incidence ( 1 ). For the
TE polarization, the surface impedance magnitude decreases toward
zero (PEC) at grazing angles, since the reection phase increases
toward 180 . For the TM polarization, however, the surface impedance
magnitude increases at grazing angles, since the reection phase
decreases from 179.6 to 171 . Nevertheless, the impedance is still
considered low ( 30 ). The surface impedance phase is 90 and
constant over the incident angles. Thus, the surface is low impedance
and inductive. This is consistent with the fact that reection coecient
phase is always positive and about 180 for all incident angles.
Consider the above-mentioned articial ground plane in AEC
mode, as discussed above, for the antenna conguration shown in

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Foroozesh, Ng Mou Kehn, and Shafai

Figure 15. Surface impedance magnitude of the structure shown in

Fig. 2 with dimensions of dx = 6 mm, lx = 5.54 mm, and t = 1.6 mm.
The relative permittivity of the dielectric is 2.5. Operating frequency
is 19.0 GHz.
Fig. 1. The excitation is a y-polarized electrical Hertzian dipole. The
antenna directivity versus air-gap height and superstrate thickness
is shown in Fig. 16 for r = 9.8. The maximum directivities of
this antenna conguration for various superstrate layers with dierent
dielectric permittivities, are listed in Table 1. These maxima are
obtained for air-gap heights (d1 ) and dielectric superstrate thicknesses
(d2 ) as addressed in Tables 2 and 3. The values presented in Tables 2
and 3 correspond to the rst resonance which introduces the lowest
prole design. As can be seen in Tables 2 and 3, the maximum
directivities are obtained for air-gap height about half-wavelength and
dielectric thickness of about quarter-wavelength of their corresponding
media. For all cases studied in this section, the Hertzian dipole is
placed at the air-gap height of (d1 /2) from the AEC ground plane,
as the maximum voltage Vh is supposed to occur at this height [9].
The corresponding radiation patterns of the above-mentioned antenna
congurations are shown in Fig. 17.
The directivity of this antenna conguration ranges from 14.61 dBi
to 16.87 dBi, for the superstrate having the lowest relative permittivity
(5.5) to the highest relative permittivity (9.8). They are very close to
their counterpart cases with a PEC ground plane. This is expected
since the reection coecient phase of the AEC surface is very close
to 180 (PEC surface) for a wide range of incident angles.

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429

Figure 16. Directivity versus air-gap height (d1 /0 ) and dielectric

superstrate thickness (d2 /e ) for the cavity resonance antenna shown
in Fig. 1 with AEC ground plane. Superstrate relative permittivity is
2 = 9.8.

Figure 17. Radiation patterns of the antenna shown in Fig. 1 with

AEC ground plane for dierent superstrate relative permittivities.

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Foroozesh, Ng Mou Kehn, and Shafai

Table 1. Antenna directivities for dierent ground planes and

dielectric superstrate permittivities.
r
9.8
8.8
6.8
5.5

PEC
16.88
16.45
15.46
14.62

PMC
14.18
13.77
12.85
12.11

AMC
17.89
17.44
16.32
15.38

AEC
16.87
16.45
15.44
14.61

Table 2. Air-gap heights corresponding to maximum antennas

directivities addressed in Table 1. The lengths are normalized to the
free space wave length (d1 /0 ).
r
9.8
8.8
6.8
5.5

PEC
0.49
0.49
0.49
0.49

PMC
0.25
0.25
0.24
0.24

AMC
0.25
0.24
0.24
0.24

AEC
0.49
0.49
0.49
0.49

Table 3. Dielectric thicknesses corresponding to maximum antennas

directivities addressed in Table 1. The lengths are normalized to the
corresponding wave-length in each dielectric (d2 /e ).
r
9.8
8.8
6.8
5.5

PEC
0.26
0.26
0.25
0.24

PMC
0.25
0.25
0.24
0.24

AMC
0.23
0.26
0.26
0.25

AEC
0.26
0.25
0.25
0.24

4.3.3. Antenna with Articial Ground Plane in Dual-Mode

As it was discussed above, this antenna conguration can work in dualfrequency and dual-polarization mode. Top-view of such conguration
is shown in Fig. 18. One should note that the air-gap height and
superstrate dielectric thickness must be selected properly. It was shown
that for the AMC and AEC mode the air-gap height is about a quarter
and half wavelength, respectively. The thickness of the superstrate

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431

Figure 18. Top-view of the dual-polarized antenna conguration with

articial ground plane.

Figure 19. Product of the antenna directivities in AEC and AMC

modes, versus air-gap height and dielectric thickness. Superstrate
The corresponding antenna
relative permittivity is 2 = 9.8.
conguration is shown in Fig. 18.
dielectric is about a quarter wavelength for both cases. Therefore, the
AMC mode is selected for the lower frequency (9.5 GHz), and the AEC
mode is selected for the upper frequency (19.0 GHz). One should note
that the upper frequency is twice as the lower frequency. Therefore, the
air-gap height can be kept the same for both frequencies. However, the

432

Foroozesh, Ng Mou Kehn, and Shafai

dielectric thickness cannot be maintained quarter-wavelength for both

modes. Thus, an objective function consisting of the multiplication of
the directivities in tow modes is considered. The function values versus
dielectric thickness and air-gap height is shown in Fig. 19. One should
note that the dielectric thickness and air-gap height are normalized to
the corresponding wavelength media operating at the lower frequency
(9.5 GHz). The maximum occurs at the corresponding values of
d1 = 0.2450 and d2 = 0.135e for lower frequency (fr = 9.5 GHz).
The directivity of 14.05 dBi is achieved. At the higher frequency
(2fr = 19.0 GHz), the directivity of 17.10 dBi is achieved. Obviously,
the corresponding values of d1 = 0.490 and d2 = 0.27e are obtained.
The results are summarized in Table 4. Dual-band orthogonally
polarized conguration is obtained at the expense of about 3 dB loss in
directivity for AMC mode. The above results were obtained when the
electric Hertzian dipole is xed at h = /8 above the ground. In this
case, is the wavelength of the the lower frequency (9.5 GHz). This
is because of the fact that in practical applications a single microstrip
antenna can be used as the excitation for both modes. Therefore, both
x-polarized and y-polarized electric Hertzian dipoles must have the
same height from the articial ground plane. The radiations patterns
of this antenna conguration are shown in Fig. 20. These results are
obtained when the relative permittivity of the superstrate dielectric is
9.8.

Figure 20. Radiation patterns of the designed antenna in two dierent

modes. Superstrate relative permittivity is 2 = 9.8.

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433

Table 4. Properties of the optimized dual-band orthogonally polarized

antenna.
Ground plane mode
AMC
AEC

Directivity
14.05 dBi
17.10 dBi

d1 /0
0.245
0.490

d2 /e
0.135
0.270

frequency
9.50 GHz
19.0 GHz

Interestingly, in spite of changing the electric Hertzian dipole

positions, the antennas still demonstrate as high directivity as 17.1 dBi,
slightly larger than the one shown in Table 4. Although the resonance
condition introduced in [9] species certain height for the excitation
probe, it has been shown for a certain range of probe heights the high
directivity can be maintained [4, 33].
5. CONCLUSION
A conventional cavity resonance antenna, consisting of a Hertzian
dipole embedded in an air-gap region, over a PEC or PMC ground
plane and beneath the dielectric superstrate was analyzed using the
TEN model. The advantage of selecting PMC over PEC ground place
is in its more compact-size, where the antenna height is reduced by
a factor of two. Its drawback is in a gain loss of 3 dB. An articial
surface was synthesized to be employed as the ground plane instead of
the PEC or PMC ground plane. The articial ground plane consisted
of a grounded dielectric slab loaded by a periodic strip grating. This
surface can act as an AMC at one frequency for a given polarization and
as an AEC at the doubled frequency for the orthogonal polarization.
In the introduced antenna conguration, when the ground plane works
at AMC mode, not only the antenna height is reduced by half but also
its directivity increased by about 1 dB compared to its conventional
part with PEC ground plane. It also maintains the same features of
the conventional antenna with the PEC ground plane, when it works
at AEC mode. Using these features of the synthesized surface, a
dual-band orthogonally polarized high-gain compact resonance cavity
antenna was designed. One can maintain the thickness of the highpermittivity superstrate dielectric xed to design a dual-band antenna
at the expense of antenna directivity loss by about 3 dB at AMC mode
at the lower frequency.

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Foroozesh, Ng Mou Kehn, and Shafai

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