CRLH Transmission Line Based Compact Metamaterial Inspired Antenna for Wi-MAX Applications

In this paper, a new and compact open ended metamaterial (MTM) antenna based on composite right/left handed (CRLH) transmission line is presented. Compactness is achieved due to zeroth order resonance (ZOR) property of MTM. The proposed antenna has overall electrical size of 0.22λ
0
× 0.22λ
0
× 0.014λ
0
where λ
0
is wavelength calculated at 2.64 GHz and physical size of 25 × 25 × 1.6 mm
³
. The proposed antenna covers frequencies from 2.55-2.75 GHZ which is equivalent to 7.6 % fractional bandwidth (-10 dB). The main advantage of intended antenna is its high gain of 3.17 dBi at ZOR frequency 2.64 GHz with radiation efficiency 98.63%. A via less single layer coplanar waveguide (CPW) feeding technique gives the advantage of easy fabrication. Another advantage of this antenna is its exceptional low cross polarization level which is found as -52.9 dB for both the planes. Acceptable impedance matching, high gain, and satisfactory radiation pattern are obtained throughout the operation band, it makes antenna good candidate for working efficiently in 2.5 GHz Wi-MAX applications.