Practical antenna application of extremely anisotropic materials: Reality or fiction?

The paper presents an insight into recent authors' attempts to develop practical antenna applications based on extremely anisotropic materials. It summarises theoretical, numerical and experimental results which have been obtained during the last 3-4 years of research. Wire media has been exploited as a sample of extremely anisotropic material. Therefore, authors attempted to apply unique features of the medium in several antenna setups. More complex antenna structures have been thoroughly experimentally investigated and some preliminary conclusions have been derived.