A compact low-profile ME-dipole antenna fed by planar wideband balun

doi:10.23919/JSEE.2026.000133

Abstract

Abstract:

A wideband low-profile magneto-electric (ME) dipole antenna is proposed in this paper. In order to reduce the profile of ME-dipole antenna, a planar wideband balun with metallic holes connection is proposed to replace the formal feeding structures. Four resonant modes are excited in the ME-dipole for wide impedance matching bandwidth. By combing the wideband balun with multi-mode ME-dipole, an impedance bandwidth of 81.3% (2.7−6.4 GHz) for voltage standing wave ratio (VSWR) less than 2.5 is achieved. This antenna structure is designed based on the multi-layer printed circuit board (PCB) technology, with the advantage of low cost and easy to fabricate. The overall size of the fabricated antenna is (0.5×0.5×0.061)λ_L (λ_L is the wavelength of low frequency). The radiation patterns of this antenna are measured with an average gain of 5.3 dB in each resonant modes. In addition, the average radiation efficiency of this antenna is more than 75%, and the cross polarization is lower than −20 dB over the whole frequency band.

Key words: compact antenna, planar balun, magneto-electric (ME)-dipole, low profile

Jianyin Cao, Chenyang Yao, Hao Wang, Yan Wang. A compact low-profile ME-dipole antenna fed by planar wideband balun[J]. Journal of Systems Engineering and Electronics, 2026, 37(4): 1196-1201.

Figures/Tables 13

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Parameter	Value	Parameter	Value	Parameter	Value
$ {W}_{1} $	22	$ {L}_{1} $	48	$ {R}_{4} $	2
$ {W}_{2} $	18	$ {L}_{2} $	6	$ D $	56
$ {W}_{3} $	4.1	$ {L}_{3} $	8	$ {W}_{f} $	1.86
$ {W}_{4} $	3.5	$ {L}_{4} $	9	$ {W}_{r} $	1.26
$ {W}_{5} $	1.4	$ {R}_{1} $	1.05	$ {W}_{\text{c}} $	0.2
$ {W}_{6} $	0.5	$ {R}_{2} $	1.05	$ {S}_{\text{c}} $	0.24
$ {W}_{7} $	2	$ {R}_{3} $	1.55	$ {R}_{r} $	7.33

Reference	Antenna type	Bandwidth/% (VSWR<2)	Dimension/λ_L λ_L: λ at low frequency	Substrate integrated	Cross-polarization in normal direction/dB	Peak gain/dBi
[16]	ME-dipole antenna with Γ-shaped shorted patch	75.6	0.488×0.618×0.068	No	−24	6.8
[17]	Bowtie patch ME-dipole with Γ-shaped feeding	110	0.643×0.337×0.083	Yes	−24	8.5
[18]	Rectangular window and Γ-shaped meandering unit	48.5	0.606×0.303×0.061	Yes	−20	10.9
[19]	Dipole antenna with suspended metasurface	33.6	1.083×1.083×0.057	Yes	−25	6
[20]	Slotted dipole antenna with artificial magnetic conductor	40	0.95×0.95×0.095	Yes	−26	11.5
[21]	Slot-loaded patch antenna	52.7	0.515×0.346×0.062	No	−	9.9
[22]	ME-dipole antenna with bended Γ-shaped feeding	50.3	0.726×0.629×0.071	No	−28	7
[23]	Triple-layer ME-dipole with Γ-shaped feeding and reflector	133.3	0.75×0.75×0.55	No	−15	8.8
This work	ME-dipole antenna with planar wideband balun	35.9 (VSWR<2) 81.3 (VSWR<2.5) 35.7(VSWR<2)	0.5×0.5×0.061	Yes	−20	6