A novel enclosed cylindrical dielectric resonator antenna

Present and future communication systems impose strict requirements on the type and bandwidth of antennas. Wideband antennas which include an integrated filtering system are emerging to fulfil such requirements. We propose a dielectric resonator antenna (DRA) which is believed to be a suitable building block for such antennas. The new DRA consists of a dielectric resonator with high dielectric constant (ε_r=37) which is suspended in an open rectangular metallic cavity. Compared to the conventional dielectric resonator antenna (see Long, S.A. et al., 1983), this new structure has several advantages. These are: compact size; high efficiency; possibility of direct coupling between the antenna, through an aperture, to a dielectric resonator filter; possibility of the antenna being part of a dielectric resonator filter; circular polarisation; low interaction between elements in an array environment. The experimental antenna enjoys a new excitation technique, based on an end-loaded coaxial (SMA) line. This excitation is different from those proposed for other DRAs.