Investigation of 3-D Printed, Electrically Small, and Thin Magnetic Dipole Antenna

A novel design of electrically small, extremely thin, and horizontally polarized magnetic dipole antenna is proposed. It is composed of multiple folded arms packed in an extremely thin height of 0.0016λ, with the electrical size ka of 0.276. The radiation efficiency is 87% from the simulation. The radiation properties are investigated, and its operation as a small magnetic dipole antenna is confirmed. A three-dimensional printing technology is used for building the prototype due to the complexity of the proposed structure. The experimental results show good agreement with the computed expectation values.