Compact and Broadband Substrate Integrated Dielectric Resonator Antenna Suitable for 5G Millimeter-Wave Communications

To date, few broadband DRAs can cover n257, n258, n260, and n261 bands with a small physical footprint (e.g., <
$0.4\lambda _{0}\times 0.4\lambda _{0}\times 0.15\lambda _{0}$
, where
$\lambda _{0}$
is the free-space wavelength at 28GHz). This article proposes a compact and broadband substrate-integrated dielectric resonator antenna (SIDRA) suitable for 5G millimeter-wave band applications. Four operating modes from three resonators, including TE111 and TE131 modes from the DR, slot mode from the H-shaped feeding slot, and patch mode from the inserted ring patch, are excited to achieve a bandwidth of 61.9% (24-45.5 GHz) with a compact size of
$0.37{\lambda }_{0}\times 0.37{\lambda }_{0}\times 0.125{\lambda }_{0}$
. The proposed DRA can be extended to an array with
$\sim 0.5 \lambda _{0}$
element interval to obtain wide-angle beam scanning capability. A
$1\times 4$
SIDRA array was simulated, achieving beam-scanning area of ±45° and ±32° at the frequencies of 28/39 GHz. Further, the DRA array was fabricated and tested. It offers a measured 10-dB bandwidth (|S11| ≤ −10 dB) of ~60.4% (23.5-43.7 GHz), in which the gain varies between 10.1 to 12.5 dBi.