Effects of a smaller unit cell planar EBG structure on the mutual coupling of a printed dipole array

A new smaller unit-cell planar electromagnetic bandgap (EBG) structure is proposed on low dielectric constant low-cost substrate (TMM: /spl epsiv//sub r/=4.5,thickness=25 mils) that has a stopband frequency at around 4 GHz. The proposed structure when placed in between a two-element printed dipole array results in over 13-dB reduction in mutual coupling and a significant improvement in antenna return loss bandwidth and gain pattern.