Folded Meandered Monopole for Emerging Smart Metering and M2M Applications in the Lower UHF Band [Wireless Corner]

In this issue’s “Wireless Corner” column, the authors present a compact, low-cost antenna to be used in smart metering or smart grid devices in the lower ultrahighfrequency band. This low-frequency band has the advantage of providing larger coverage areas, but designing a compact antenna is challenging. The proposed antenna is a meander-line-folded monopole antenna that exhibits a stable radiation pattern and good radiation efficiency. The work shows how well the antenna performs despite material loading and when installed on a concrete wall.