A broadband probe-fed patch antenna with a bent ground plane

A novel design of a broadband probe-fed patch antenna with a bent ground plane is presented. Broadband operation is obtained by placing a planar rectangular patch above a bent ground plane and feeding the patch using a probe feed. By adjusting the bent angle of the ground plane, the impedance bandwidth (1:1.5 VSWR) of the proposed antenna can be increased from 2.9% to 16.1%, and the H-plane 3-dB beamwidth is tunable from 44/spl deg/ to 58/spl deg/. Details of the antenna designs and experimental results are presented and discussed.