A Conformal, Planar Inverted F Antenna using Low-Cost Multilayer PET sheet for Vehicular Application

A planar inverted F antenna (PIFA) has been designed using low-cost PET sheets for vehicular application. Energy dispersive X-ray (EDX) and microstrip ring resonator method is used for material characterization of PET sheets. The dielectric properties of PET sheet are found to be є
r
=2.63 and tanδ =0.004 respectively. The planar PIFA antenna was designed and analyzed using ANSYSS HFSS software. It is evident from the analysis that the PIFA works at its fundamental mode (TM
10
) for desired frequency band. The proposed antenna is fabricated and tested in planar as well conformal conditions. A good match has been observed between the simulated and the measured results. The measured realized gain of the PIFA antenna on planar and conformal conditions was nearly same (≈ 6.0 dBi). As per the literature survey, it is evident that this is the first attempt to use the reported methodology for conformal PIFA design on PET sheets for vehicular application.