A wideband L-probe patch antenna array with wide beamwidth

The design and characteristics of a wide-beamwidth, wide-bandwidth patch antenna fed by an L-shaped probe is presented. The novelty in this design is the incorporation of a folded patch with a U-shaped cross section, the dimensions of which can be optimized to achieve an impedance bandwidth of 20% (SWR < 1.5) and a H-plane beamwidth of 103/spl deg/. The antenna finds application as a cellular base station antenna covering both CDMA and GSM bands from 824-960 MHz.