A simple low-profile magneto-electric dipole antenna element

By combining a horizontal planar dipole and a vertically oriented folded shorted patch antenna, a new low-profile magneto-electric dipole antenna is presented. The antenna is simply excited by a coaxial feed which works as a balun. A prototype was designed, fabricated and measured. Simulated and measured results agree well. An impedance bandwidth of 45.6% for SWR ≤ 1.5 from 1.86GHz to 2.96GHz was achieved. Stable radiation pattern with low cross polarization, low back radiation and an antenna gain of 8.1±0.8dBi was found over the operating frequencies. Also, the height of the antenna is only 0.169λ. In addition, the antenna is d.c. grounded which satisfies the requirement of many outdoor antennas.