Performance enhancement of microstrip patch antenna using metamaterial cover

A patch antenna (or microstrip antenna) is a type of radio antenna with exclusive features like low profile, low volume, very low power consumption, compactness and ease of fabrication. Due to these factors or capabilities, patch antennas are able to overcome the rising demands in the field of wireless communication like high gain, high power, maximized throughput and low losses. Metamaterials are the synthetic materials that are engineered to have some exclusive properties those are not found in any naturally existing materials. These materials possess their properties due to their structure and not because of the material they are composed of. The stacking of patch antennas i.e. the use of one patch over other is an effective method to improve their performance for the dual frequency and broadband operation which is required in most of the high frequency wireless applications. The closure between the two conducting surfaces subjected to an excitation will lead to a strong mutual coupling between them. This is the reason for the bandwidth enhancement and the use of it for operation at multiple frequencies. The objective of the work presented in the paper is to study the performance of the patch antenna by stacking its dielectric with a metamaterial. The paper presents a theoretical study of the use of metamaterial superstrates to improve the performance of patch antennas. The output parameters of patch antenna without and with the metamaterial superstrate were obtained using MATLAB and their comparison is done to understand the effect of the metamaterial when it is used in a patch antenna.