Application of Dielectric-Artificial Magnetic Conductor Composite Substrate to Design Miniaturized P-Band Microstrip Antenna for Wireless Underground Sensor Network

In the modern era of wireless Internet of Things designing a planar antenna at relatively low frequency (P-band) with positive gain and high efficiency is exacting task. In this letter, a planar P-band microstrip antenna (a simple rectangular patch of size 0.16λ
₀
×0.20λ
₀
×0.01λ
₀
, smaller than classical quarter-wave patch) for wireless underground sensor network (WUSN) is proposed. The proposed structure yields high gain with the judicious use of four shorting vias, which are collocated along the side edges of the patch with a composite substrate (dielectric-artificial magnetic conductor). The results shows that the designed antenna resonates at 413 MHz with gain and efficiency of 3.1 dBi and 75%, respectively, with a 10 dB impedance bandwidth of 2% (408–416 MHz)