MAMA: a new methodically designed broadband microstrip antenna using off-the-shelf components

The current paper proposes a new, simple, methodical approach to broadband microstrip antenna design. The approach relies on a reformulation of the antenna-design problem as an impedance-matching problem, in which the antenna is considered to be the matching device required to match the feed line to air. Thus, impedance-matching techniques, such as Chebyshev transformers and a Klopfenstein taper, are employed to determine the antenna parameters necessary to satisfy a set of specifications. Simulation results as well as measured results show that the proposed matched-to-air microstrip antennas (MAMAs) qualify as a new class of broadband microstrip antennas, which have the advantages of relying on a systematic approach (as opposed to the usual trial-and-error procedures that are now prevalent), as well as being very easy to fabricate, using inexpensive off-shelf components.