Design and analysis of broadband planar slot antenna design for future communication networks

Abstract

This study aimed at the design and analysis of broadband planar slot antenna for future communication networks such as 5generation wireless communication systems and beyond. The Ansys High-frequency Structure Simulator (HFSS 19) version (2019) is used in the development and simulation modeling of the antenna. The HFSS software is based on the finite element method (FEM) for solving electromagnetic field problems. The main data used in this simulation tool are shapes and dimensions of the desired model as well as feeding techniques. The proposed antenna in this study is the broadband planar slot antenna. It is a compact multiband resonance antenna with very good impedance bandwidth. Consequently, the conception and the simulation of a new low cost rectangular planar antenna is performed based on the theoretical equations to find out the initial antenna dimensions. The study found that the proposed antenna has near stable radiation patterns across the operating bandwidth albeit with high cross polarization patterns in the high frequency range (above 10 GHz) due to the asymmetrical nature of the antenna. A link budget analysis showed that the antenna can work effectively as a WLAN antenna. Again, the path loss is less than 75 dB over the entire 150 m chosen for the analysis. Key recommendations included the need for future work to look into implementing the antenna as a circularly polarized antenna to solve the issues of polarization. It was also recommended that techniques to make the antenna reconfigurable should be explored to avoid the need for extra signal processing circuits to switch between frequencies when the antenna is deployed in a device.