Aperture-coupled small microstrip antenna

Abstract

An aperture-coupled small microstrip antenna is described. The antenna is formed by short-circuiting a microstrip radiating element with a shorting pin to the ground plane and exciting the element with a microstrip feedline through an electrically small aperture. Two principal advantages of this design are that the size of the antenna is significantly reduced and that it is relatively easy to fabricate the antenna. Experimental data for the return loss and the radiation pattern of the antenna are presented to validate the design.