A patch antenna with wide band and wide beamwidth

Wideband wide beamwidth antennas play key roles in radio monitoring, and wideband wide scanning angle arrays design. This paper presents the design of a wideband patch antenna providing wide beamwidth. The antenna consists of a cross-shaped and two rectangular patches, and two vertical feeding structures in the differential configuration. All metal patterns are printed on laminates for easy fabrication purpose. The feeding structures, each with two exponential equation governed slots, create wideband impedance matching and wide beamwidth simultaneously. Simulation result shows that this antenna features a fractional bandwidth of 81.6% and a wide beamwidth, reaching its peak of 243° on the E-plane and 122° on the H-plane. Moreover, the antenna has a radiation efficiency more than 90% across the whole bandwidth. Because of its wide bandwidth and beamwidth, the proposed antenna can be utilized in radio signal monitoring, wide scanning angle antenna array construction.