Hexagonal Monopole Antenna with Modified Ground Plane for Sub-6 GHz Communication Applications

Planar hexagonal monopole antennas are often limited to uneven gain at the antenna boresight especially when the impedance bandwidth covers Sub-6 GHz frequencies. Direct-fed hexagonal antennas rarely achieve wider bands. A novel but simpler ground plane design is presented in this paper to achieve wider impedance bandwidth and improve the gain uniformity of a probe-fed Sub-6 GHz antenna at its boresight. The proposed technique involves reduction and geometrical modifications in a ground plane including removal of connector flanges. The proposed antenna design improves gain at antenna boresight and keeps it positive within the impedance bandwidth. Wider bandwidth covering N77/78bands within Sub-6 GHz frequencies is observed but with monopole radiation characteristics.