24GHz paper based inkjet printed quasi Yagi-Uda antenna with new bowtie director

This paper presents a 24 GHz quasi Yagi-Uda antenna with a new bowtie director. The new bowtie director shape is introduced to improve the bandwidth of a typical Yagi-Uda antenna using a straight director by 240%. In addition to the enhanced impedance bandwidth, it makes its gain-bandwidth three times that of a standard Yagi-Uda antenna and demonstrates a measured 4 dBi gain. The presented inkjet printed paper based antenna operates at 24GHz which is one of the highest reported operating frequencies for an inkjet printed antenna on this lossy substrate. The paper substrate has been characterized for these frequencies. The measurement results indicate that the proposed design is highly suitable for low cost, environmentally friendly and flexible wireless applications.