Materials 2013, 6, 5058-5068; doi:10.

3390/ma6115058
OPEN ACCESS

materials
ISSN 1996-1944
www.mdpi.com/journal/materials
Article

A Near-Zero Refractive Index Meta-Surface Structure for

Antenna Performance Improvement
Mohammad Habib Ullah 1,2, Mohammad Tariqul Islam 1,* and Mohammad Rashed Iqbal Faruque 1
1
Institute of Space Science (ANGKASA), National University Malaysia, Bangi, Selangor 43600,
Malaysia; E-Mails: [email protected] (M.H.U.); [email protected] (M.R.I.F.)
2
Department of Electrical, Electronic and System Engineering, Faculty of Engineering and Built
Environment, National University Malaysia, Bangi, Selangor 43600, Malaysia

* Author to whom correspondence should be addressed; E-Mail: [email protected];

Tel.: +60-389-214-730; Fax: +60-389-216-856.

Received: 28 August 2013; in revised form: 26 October 2013 / Accepted: 1 November 2013 /
Published: 6 November 2013

Abstract: A new meta-surface structure (MSS) with a near-zero refractive index (NZRI) is
proposed to enhance the performance of a square loop antenna array. The main challenge
to improve the antenna performance is increment of the overall antenna volume that is
mitigated by assimilating the planar NZRI MSS at the back of the antenna structure. The
proposed NZRI MSS-loaded CPW-fed (Co-Planar Waveguide) four-element array antenna
is designed on ceramic-bioplastic-ceramic sandwich substrate using high-frequency
structure simulator (HFSS), a finite-element-method-based simulation tool. The gain and
directivity of the antenna are significantly enhanced by incorporating the NZRI MSS with a
7 × 6 set of elements at the back of the antenna structure. Measurement results show that the
maximum gains of the antenna increased from 6.21 dBi to 8.25 dBi, from 6.52 dBi to 9.05 dBi
and from 10.54 dBi to 12.15 dBi in the first, second and third bands, respectively. The effect of
the slot configuration in the ground plane on the reflection coefficient of the antenna was
analyzed and optimized. The overall performance makes the proposed antenna appropriate for
UHFFM (Ultra High Frequency Frequency Modulation) telemetry-based space applications as
well as mobile satellite, microwave radiometry and radio astronomy applications.

Keywords: near zero refractive index (NZRI); meta-surface structure (MSS); square loop;
multi band antenna; performance enhancement
Materials 2013, 6 5059

1. Introduction

In recent years, engineered materials have been used in antenna technology by several researchers.
After a pioneering investigation of numerous properties of artificial materials with negative permittivity
and permeability, substantial research attention has been turned to the use of meta-surfaces [1,2]. One of
the potential applications of meta-materials or meta-surfaces is enhancement of antenna performance [3,4].
Micro-strip patch antennas have become quite popular due such attractive features as low cost, light
weight, low profile, design simplicity and easy manufacturability [5]. However, these low-profile
patch antennas suffer from low gain and directivity, which limit the range of applications. High gain
and directivity are required for these antennas to be suitable for long distance applications. As a result,
several researchers have proposed numerous techniques to improve the gain and directivity of these
antennas in recent decades.
One of the most common techniques used to improve antenna gain and directivity is the use of
multiple patch configurations, but this approach can result in an unstable radiation pattern with
unexpected ripples [6]. Use of stacked/multilayer patches and/or air gaps between patches was
proposed to enhance the gain [7]; however, this method increases the overall antenna volume.
Frequency selective surface (FSS) and/or electromagnetic bandgap (EBG) structures were also
proposed by several researchers for antenna gain improvement [8,9]. Nevertheless, these techniques
increase the overall thickness of the antenna, or the enhancement of the antenna performance is
insufficiently improved and further improvement is still necessary. Partial reflective surfaces (PRS)
linked with an artificial magnetic conductor (AMC) were proposed to overcome the thickness problem
as well [10,11]. The total thickness is decreased using this approach, but the aperture efficiency
remains lower. A straightforward method for improving the patch antenna bandwidth and gain is to use
a thicker substrate that increases the fraction of total power excitation towards the surface wave. The
increased power of the direct radiation causes degradation of the radiation pattern and efficiency of
the antenna.
Artificial materials have been used in different forms to improve the antenna gain and
directivity [2,4,12]. A revolutionary study was performed on the use of left-handed materials (LHM) to
improve antenna directivity in which the Snell-Decartes laws were applied with an near-zero refractive
index (NZRI) over the superstrate [7]. Two typical types of directive antennas are parabolic antennas
and very large array antennas. The bulk and curved surface of parabolic antennas limit their use in
many commercial applications. Additionally, the complex feeding mechanism and losses in the
feeding network are two major disadvantages associated with large micro-strip array antennas [13].
One of most effective solutions to these problems is the use of a planar meta-surface embedded with
the patch antenna [12]. Many researchers have engineered NZRI materials for different
applications [14,15]. One of the most attractive properties of NZRI materials is that the
electromagnetic field inside a zero refractive index medium propagates with a near-zero phase variety.
Among the possible applications are microwave to optical frequencies for use in such as controllable
“smart” surfaces, miniaturized cavity resonators, novel wave-guiding structures, angular-independent
surfaces, and absorbers, among others. Meta-surfaces could be a potential candidate for substantial
antenna performance enhancement. The key features of the proposed NZRI meta-surface structure
(MSS) are low profile, ease of integration with active microwave components and coupling reduction
Materials 2013, 6 5060

between radiating elements in the antenna array [16]. Therefore, no cavity is necessary because the
meta-surface is directly illuminated by the antenna element. However, to transform this concept
effectively to smart antenna technologies, it is appropriate to assimilate the NZRI MSS with
micro-strip antennas.
In this paper, we propose the design and experimental analysis of a NZRI MSS-backed CPW-fed
2 × 2 square loop antenna array for multiband applications. Assimilation of the proposed NZRI MSS at
the back of the radiating patch significantly enhances the gain and directivity without increasing the
overall size. The radiation performance makes the proposed antenna suitable for UHF FM
telemetry-based space applications, mobile satellites, microwave radiometry and radio astronomy
applications. The gain and directivity profile meet the basic requirements of the antennas for these long
distance applications.

2. Design Specifications

The design of the proposed NZRI MSS-backed patch antenna was performed using a widely used
finite element method based on a three dimensional (3D) full-wave high-frequency structure simulator
(HFSS version 13.0.2). The proposed CPW-fed patch antenna is composed of a 2 × 2 square loop
element array on 2 mm thick ceramic-filled bioplastic high-permittivity (εr = 15) dielectric material
substrate backed by a 7 × 6 set of NZRI MSS and a slotted ground plane. The design procedure begins
with determination of the dimensions of the proposed antenna. The length and width of the proposed
antenna are chosen with the aid of a well-established mathematical formulation [17].
Figure 1 shows the design scheme of the array element and the MSS element of the proposed
antenna. The square loop of the array element is constructed with 2 mm thick symmetric lines and four
elements connected with a 2 mm wide and 68 mm long micro-strip feed line. A standard 50 Ohm SMA
connector is used to connect a coaxial probe at the end of the feed line for excitation. Generally, the
impedance bandwidth of the patch antenna degrades with the use of a high permittivity dielectric
substrate material. However, this shortcoming has been resolved by introducing square slots in the ground
plane. The effect of the slots in the ground plane on the reflection coefficient of the proposed NZRI MSS
antenna is shown in Figure 2. In the proposed design of the NZRI MSS, a four-petal shape was chosen,
which has been theoretically studied and analyzed using computer aided tools. The symmetrical and
uniformly distributed four-petal MSS elements are arranged in a 7 × 6 matrix pattern. The four-petal MSS
element is obtained by cutting 2 mm × 2 mm slots from the corners and the center of a rectangle. The shape
and distribution of the MSS elements was determined using the finite-element-method-based HFSS
optimization tool to achieve the expected permittivity and permeability. The constrained and
superlinearly convergent active-set algorithm used the HFSS optimization tool optimetrics to provide a
minimized cost function. The proposed MSS can be characterized as a meta-surface by determining the
effective parameters and refractive index. The common approach that determines any structure as a
meta-surface is a periodic homogenous structure distributed in a uniform pattern with the desired
property of a negative or near-zero index. Several techniques are used to retrieve the effective
parameters [18,19]. According to Snell’s law of refraction, a NZRI structure causes the
electromagnetic waves to emanate in any direction away from the primary source and to reflect nearly
parallel to the normal of the surface of this structure. This characteristic offers an outstanding
Materials 2013, 6 5061

technique for direction control and directivity increment. The effective parameters of the MSS are
obtained with the aid of a widely used finite-element-based and self-consistent method. The basic
concept of the effective index of refraction was taken from the well-known Snell’s law of refraction
for clear understanding. However, the effective refractive index of the proposed NZRI MSS was
determined by implementing the widely used mathematical formulation [20] neff   eff   eff . The
effective permeability (μeff) and effective permittivity (εeff) are shown in Figure 3a,b. The effective
epsilon and mu values were extracted with commonly used effective parameter retrieval
methods [19,21]. The effective permeability (μeff) and effective permittivity (εeff) are obtained from the
finite-element-method-based simulator HFSS version 13.0.2. It can be clearly observed that the
effective permeability is between zero and one in the bands of interest, as expected. With the aid of
Snell’s law [22], the refractive index n can be defined as that shown in Figure 3c. The refractive index
of the proposed MSS is close to zero in the operating bands. Therefore, the effective index of refraction
is negative in the 3.4 GHz to 3.6 GHz range. However, the value of the refractive index of the MSS is
close to zero and positive within the bands of interest, which are 0.4–0.9 GHz, 2.3–2.75 GHz and
4.6–4.9 GHz. The radiated electromagnetic field of the MSS element produces an internal oscillation,
which introduces an identical illumination that improves the overall radiation performance. One of the
vital issues in the MSS is interaction with the antenna element. In addition, the MSS reduces the
mutual coupling between the antenna array elements. The key approach used in the design is to excite
resonant oscillations in the MSS inclusion, and thus the fractional limpidity of the structure can be
maintained [23]. The flowing currents induced in the MSS elements at certain frequencies cancel each
other, thus permitting the incident wave to circulate. After the successful design and analysis of the
proposed NZRI MSS-backed square-loop array antenna, a prototype was fabricated using an LPKF
indoor Printed Circuit Board (PCB) prototyping machine. The fabricated prototype of the proposed
NZRI MSS-backed antenna is shown in Figure 4.

Figure 1. Design schematic of (a) the array element; (b) the meta-surface structure (MSS)
element of the proposed antenna.
Materials 2013, 6 5062

Figure 2. Effect of slot loading in the ground plane of the proposed near-zero refractive
index (NZRI) MSS antenna.

Figure 3. (a) Effective permeability; (b) effective permittivity; and (c) refractive index of
the proposed MSS.
Materials 2013, 6 5063

Figure 4. Photograph of the proposed NZRI MSS-backed antenna prototype.

3. Measurement Results

The fabricated prototype of the proposed MSS antenna is measured in a standard 5.5 × 5 × 3.5 m3
far-field anechoic measurement chamber for experimental verification of the predicted performance
parameters. The measured and simulated reflection coefficients of the proposed antenna with and
without the NZRI MSS are shown in Figure 5.

Figure 5. Reflection coefficients of the proposed array with and without the MSS.

Good agreement is observed between the simulated and measured reflection coefficients of the
proposed antenna. The resonances of the antenna without the MSS are slightly shifted toward higher
frequencies. However, the proposed and embedded NZRI MSS exhibits the measured bandwidths
(S11 < −10 dB) of 500 MHz (0.4–0.9 GHz), 450 MHz (2.3–2.75 GHz) and 300 MHz (4.6–4.9 GHz)
centered at 0.6 GHz, 2.5 GHz and 4.8 GHz, respectively. From the reflection coefficient (S11) graph, it
can be observed that the proposed antenna could be apposite for UHF FM telemetry-based space
applications, mobile satellite, microwave radiometry and radio astronomy applications. The key
features of the proposed antenna are the gain and directivity, as illustrated in Figure 6. A standard
three-antenna system with two identical horn antennas was used for gain measurement. The gains of
the two identical horn antennas are known, and a gain measurement system that follows well-known
Materials 2013, 6 5064

equations was used for three antennas. From the following equations, the gain of the three antennas
(under test) can be calculated because the gains of two horn antennas are known, R is the distance
between the two antennas and Pr is the radiated power.
Antenna 1 (horn) and Antenna 2 (horn):
 4πR   Pr 2 
G1  G2  20 log10    10 log10   (1)
    Pr1 
Antenna 1 (horn) and Antenna 3 (under test):
 4πR   Pr 3 
G1  G3  20 log10    10 log10   (2)
    Pr1 
Antenna 2 (horn) and Antenna 3 (under test):
 4πR   Pr 3 
G2  G3  20 log10    10 log10   (3)
    Pr 2 
For directivity D, the following equation [17] is used in which U is the radiation intensity and Prad is
the total radiated power:
4πU
D (4)
Prad

It can be clearly observed that the maximum gains are enhanced from 6.21 dBi to 8.25 dBi, from
6.52 dBi to 9.05 dBi and from 10.54 dBi to 12.15 dBi in the first, second and third operating bands,
respectively. The directivity of the proposed antenna with the NZRI MSS is considerably increased
compared with that of the antenna without MSS. From the directivity result, the NZRI MSS
assimilation increases the directivity by 2.99 dB to 4.17 dB, from 5.93 dB to 12.22 dB and from
9.81 dB to 13.23 dB in the first, second and third bands, respectively. The enhanced gain and
directivity make the proposed NZRI MSS-embedded antenna with low profile characteristics more
desirable than certain existing high-gain antennas [24,25]. For a better understanding of gain
enhancement, the surface current distribution over the radiating patch of the proposed antenna with and
without MSS combination is presented in Figure 7. It can be observed that the flowing current over the
radiating surface is stronger in the higher frequencies compared with that of the lower frequencies.
Moreover, it is evident that the intensity of the surface current over the radiating patch of the proposed
antenna with NZRI MSS is much higher compared with that of the antenna alone. The measured
radiation patterns of the proposed antenna in three resonance frequencies, i.e., 0.6 GHz, 2.5 GHz and
4.8 GHz, are shown in Figure 8. In addition to the improvement of gain and directivity, better
directional radiation patterns are realized from the MSS embedded antenna compared with those of the
antenna without the MSS. It can be observed that the magnitudes of the radiation pattern with the
NZRI MSS are higher compared with that of the antenna alone. Moreover, the radiation patterns of the
antenna alone are omni-directional, whereas more direct patterns are observed from the NZRI
MSS-incorporated antenna. The performance specifications of the proposed antenna with and without
the MSS are listed in Table 1. It is clear that the performance of the proposed antenna embedded with
NZRI MSS is significantly improved compared with that of the antenna without MSS.
Materials 2013, 6 5065

Figure 6. Measured (a) gain; and (b) directivity of the antenna with and without MSS.

Figure 7. Surface current distribution (a) without MSS; and (b) with MSS on the radiating
patch of the proposed array.
Materials 2013, 6 5066

Figure 8. Measured radiation pattern of the proposed NZRI MSS antenna at three
resonant frequencies.

Table 1. Performance specifications of the proposed antenna with and without MSS.
With MSS Without MSS
Parameter
1st Band 2nd Band 3rd Band 1st Band 2nd Band 3rd Band
Bandwidth 500 MHz 450 MHz 300 MHz 400 MHz 700 MHz 400 MHz
Maximum Gain 8.25 dBi 9.05 dBi 12.15 dBi 6.21 dBi 6.52 dBi 10.54 dBi
Maximum Directivity 4.17 dB 12.22 dB 13.23 dB 2.99 dB 5.93 dB 9.81 dB

4. Conclusions

A new NZRI MSS-embedded CPW-fed antenna is presented in this paper, and the proposed
antenna prototype was designed, fabricated and tested. The performance of the proposed antenna is
considerably improved by assimilating a 6 × 7 set of four-petal-shaped MSS elements at the back of
the antenna structure. A tradeoff between the gain and bandwidth is observed from the experimental
results from the proposed antenna with and without the MSS. Furthermore, a more directive radiation
pattern was observed from the MSS-based antenna compared with that of the patch antenna alone.
Materials 2013, 6 5067

Acknowledgments

The authors would like to thank Institute of Space Science, National University Malaysia
(ANGKASA UKM) for their support.

Conflicts of Interest

The authors declare no conflict of interest.

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