Directivity enhancement of miniaturized microstrip patch antenna using metamaterial cover

The variation in the spacing height of a metamaterial cover over the slotted patch antenna is reported to improve its directivity. HFSS software is used for simulations. An antenna is designed with a metamaterial cover to work in three bands within the frequency range of 1-4 GHz. A comparative result analysis of the effect of varying the spatial height of the metamaterial cover over patch antenna is shown theoretically. The proposed novel slotted patch antenna design has triband operation in the frequency range of 1-4 GHz with the miniaturized overall antenna size of the dimension 52.5 mm x 36.5 mm x 1.56 mm, that is equivalent to miniaturized design reported to our knowledge so far. For the very first time, the concept of Newton's divided difference method is applied for evaluating the performance parameters of the antenna. A global formula is developed to indicate the relationship of the directivity with the spatial height. The designed model has various applications in the field of satellite, aeronautical and optical communications mainly in the frequency range of L and S band.