Miniaturized Wideband Antenna Prototype Operating over the Ku-Band

A wideband antenna is proposed based on three-dimensional printing technology. The antenna was designed using the PREPERM 10 material, with permittivity [Formula: see text] = 10, where the overall height of the proposed prototype was maintained as 12.83 mm (0.51 [Formula: see text]), having a lateral dimension of 60 mm × 60 mm, at an operating frequency of 12 GHz ([Formula: see text] = 25 mm). The proposed antenna achieved a wide frequency bandwidth with a voltage standing-wave ratio (VSWR) of less than two, from 10 GHz to 15 GHz in the Ku-band, where the maximum directivity was 20 dBi over a reflection coefficient bandwidth of 50%. It showed a miniaturized non-uniform metasurface of 2.4 [Formula: see text] × 2.4 [Formula: see text] × 0.51 [Formula: see text] that was placed at 16.5 mm (0.66 [Formula: see text]) above the ground plane, which was 2.4 [Formula: see text] × 2.4 [Formula: see text] × 0.04 [Formula: see text] in dimension. Thus, the overall height of the proposed antenna system from the feed source was 29.33 mm (1.17 [Formula: see text]). The total weight of the system including the designed structures made of PREPERM 10 and ABS with copper-painted prototypes was 96 g and 79 g, respectively. The measured results were consistent with the simulated results, demonstrating the feasibility and effectiveness of the proposed method.