Small size cylindrical dielectric resonator antenna array for 802.11a WLAN

A 1 × 3 element linear array of cylindrical dielectric resonator antenna (CDRA) is designed and presented for 802.11a WLAN system applications. The two elements of CDRA array are excited by rectangular shaped aperture slots placed on the ground plane, while the slots themselves are excited through the microstrip line. The third element (i.e., central CDRA) is excited through the mutual coupling of two radiating elements by its sides; this mechanism enhances the bandwidth of the array by 10%. Designed antenna array is fabricated and tested. Using the CST microwave studio and fabricated prototype, directivity of 10.5 and 10.8 dBi respectively has been achieved for operating frequency of 5.6 GHz. Good agreement is achieved between the simulated and measured results. The comparison between the proposed and previous work is also reported in this article.