Application of combined electric- and

magnetic-conductor ground planes for antenna

performance enhancement
de plan de masse
Application de combines

electriques
et magnetiques
pour lamelioration
du rendement des antennes
Alireza Foroozesh and Lotfollah Shafai
This paper investigates the application of three different ground planes for antenna performance enhancement. They are the conventional perfect electric
conductor (PEC), the perfect magnetic conductor (PMC), and their combination. A half-wavelength dipole in free space is considered as the reference
case, and its performance over these ground planes is investigated and compared. It is shown that by using a combined PMC-PEC ground plane, one
can achieve a better performance. Next, a microstrip patch antenna is considered as the source and is placed over a high-impedance surface (HIS) or an
artificial magnetic conductor (AMC). Here too, adding a PEC ground plane on the periphery of the HIS or AMC improves the antenna gain significantly.
As well, the superiority of AMC ground planes, consisting of grounded dielectric slabs loaded with periodic metallic patches without shorting pins (vias),
is investigated in detail. Simulation results show that use of such artificial ground planes can enhance the microstrip patch antenna gain and bandwidth
remarkably. These enhancements are confirmed by measurement, and high gains of 10.4 dBi and input impedance bandwidths of 28% are measured.
Cet article examine lapplication de trois plans de masse pour lamelioration du rendement de lantenne. Ils sont le classique conducteur e lectrique (PEC),
le conducteur magnetique parfait (PMC), et leur combinaison. Un dipole demi-longueur donde dans lespace libre est considere comme le scenario de
reference, et ses performances sur ces plans de masse sont e tudiees et comparees. Il est demontre qu`a laide dun combine de plan de masse PMC-PEC,
on peut realiser une meilleure performance. Ensuite, une antenne microruban patch est considere comme la source et est placee au-dessus de la surface
a` haute impedance (HIS) ou dun conducteur magnetique artificiel (AMC). Ici aussi, lajout dun plan de masse PEC a` la peripherie de la HIS ou AMC
ameliore le gain dantenne de mani`ere significative. De plus, la superiorite des plans de masse AMC, composes de dalles dielectriques reliees a` la terre et
chargees de plaques metalliques periodiques sans broches court-circuit (vias), est e tudiee en detail. Les resultats de simulation montrent que lutilisation
du plan de masse artificiel peut ameliorer le gain des antennes micro strip et la bande passante remarquablement. Ces ameliorations sont confirmees par la
mesure. Des gains de 10.4 dBi et une bande passante dimpedance dentree de 28 % sont mesures.
Keywords: artificial ground plane; artificial magnetic conductor; dipole antenna; electromagnetic band-gap structure; high-impedance surface; microstrip
patch antenna; perfect electric conductor; perfect magnetic conductor; periodic structure

Introduction

Microstrip patch antennas have been used extensively in wireless

communication because of their light weight and ease of fabrication and integration with the electronics [1]. However, they are narrowband (<5%) and have low gains (6 dBi) [2]. Since the invention of high-impedance surfaces with forbidden frequency bands, or
the so-called high-impedance-surface electromagnetic band-gap structures (HIS-EBGs) [3], researchers in electromagnetics have reported
their characterization, design and applications in microwave components and antennas [4][5]. The application of these surfaces in planar
antennas in general, and microstrip patch antennas in particular, where
the perfect electric conductor (PEC) ground plane is replaced by an
HIS, has been promising. It has been shown that these artificial ground
planes can improve the input impedance matching [3] and increase
the bandwidth [6], due to their elimination of the adverse effects introduced by the PEC ground-plane reverse images. Several practical
examples, applications and designs are addressed in [3][7]. However,
the HIS-EBG structures with shorting vias have drawbacks. One is
due to the soldering of joints of such vias, which introduces bumps on
their surface, which in turn introduce an air gap between the HIS-EBG
and the dielectric layer of the source patch. Thus, attempts have been
Alireza Foroozesh and Lotfollah Shafai are with the Department of Electri-

cal and Computer Engineering, University of Manitoba, Winnipeg, Manitoba,

Canada R3T 5V6. E-mail: {alireza, shafai}@ee.umanitoba.ca.

Can. J. Elect. Comput. Eng., Vol. 33, No. 2, Spring 2008

made to use periodic patches, without vias, as the building blocks of

the impedance surfaces [4], [8][14]. These structures are also known
as artificial magnetic conductors (AMCs) [4], [8], reactive impedance
substrates (RISs) [9] or uniplanar compact photonic band-gap structures (UC-PBGs) [13], depending on their operating frequency range
and functionality.
To fundamentally establish the combined PMC-PEC ground-plane
concept, initially the properties of a half-wavelength dipole over PEC
and PMC ground planes are investigated. It is observed that when
the dipole is over a PEC ground plane, its directivity is increased
significantly, while its radiation efficiency is reduced. On the other
hand, when the antenna is placed over a PMC ground plane, its input impedance improves significantly. However, its directivity is not
as high. Thus, to draw on the advantages of the two, a combined PMCPEC ground plane is designed with the PMC beneath the antenna and
the PEC on the periphery. It is observed that by using such a combined
ground plane, both input impedance bandwidth and directivity can be
improved. In the following sections, detailed studies are conducted for
such antennas, where the HIS or AMC surfaces are used to simulate
the PMC ground plane.
To synthesize an HIS or AMC surface, their unit cells must be selected and characterized first. Two different unit cells are considered
here for HIS-EBG and AMC synthesis, respectively. The former consists of a metallic square patch grounded via a cylindrical shorting pin,

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CAN. J. ELECT. COMPUT. ENG., VOL. 33, NO. 2, SPRING 2008

Figure 1: A half-wavelength dipole over different ground planes with dimensions l =

63 mm, Ls = Ws = 108 mm and hs = 3 mm. Dipole thickness or diameter is
0.63 mm.

(a)

(a)

(b)
Figure 3: Radiation patterns of the antennas shown in Fig. 1 at resonant frequency:
(a) E-plane; (b) H-plane.

Table 1
Dimensions, resonant frequency, return loss and maximum
directivity at boresight for a half-wavelength dipole antenna
(Ld = 6.3 cm 0.44) with three different PEC
ground-plane sizes (Fig. 4(a))

(b)

Antenna1
Antenna2
Antenna3

Le (cm)
12.6 (0.9)
15.75 (1.12)
18.9 (1.35)

fr (GHz) |S11 | (dB) Do (dBi)

2.27
0.225
9.14
2.35
0.25
9.75
2.35
0.25
9.75

Figure 2: Return loss and input impedance of the antennas shown in Fig. 1.

while the latter consists of the same unit cell without the shorting pin.
Their characteristics are studied and compared. Then, periodic structures of these unit cells are used as ground planes of a microstrip patch
antenna and are investigated to determine the advantages and disadvantages of each. Two fabricated prototypes of microstrip patch antennas
with HIS ground planes without shorting pins are also studied experimentally, and the results are shown and compared. The last section
provides the conclusions.
II Dipole antennas over PEC and PMC ground planes
Fig. 1 shows a half-wavelength dipole over a finite ground plane. Three
different cases are considered; namely, the case when the dipole is in
free space (ground plane is transparent), and those when it is over PEC
and PMC ground planes. The dimensions of the ground planes are selected to be the same as those in [9] to facilitate comparison of the results. The return loss (|S11 |) and input impedances are shown in Fig. 2,
and radiation patterns are shown in Fig. 3. The results are obtained

using the XFDTD software package [14] and are in good agreement
with those presented in [9]. Next, the dipole antenna performance with
different ground-plane sizes, and over PEC, PMC and the combined
PMC-PEC, as shown in Fig. 4, is investigated. The |S11 | value is computed with respect to a 50 port.
1. PEC ground plane: For three different PEC ground-plane sizes,
the corresponding resonant frequencies, minimum return loss
(|S11 |) and peak directivities are provided in Table 1. The return
loss (|S11 |) versus frequency and radiation patterns is shown in
Fig. 5. As can be seen, the input impedance matches are poor,
and the radiation efficiencies are low. However, the directivities
are as high as 9.75 dBi.
2. PMC ground plane: For the same PMC ground-plane dimensions, the results are shown in Table 2. The return loss (|S11 |)
versus frequency and radiation patterns is depicted in Fig. 6. As
shown, the input impedance matches are improved significantly
in comparison to the PEC cases. However, the directivities are
lower, even though they are higher than that of a dipole in free
space. As well, the resonant frequencies are decreased slightly.

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89

(a)
(a)

(b)

(b)

(c)
Figure 4: A half-wavelength dipole antenna (Ld = 6.3 cm 0.44) over (a) PEC,
(b) PMC and (c) combined PMC-PEC ground planes.

(c)
3. Combined PMC-PEC ground plane: According to the results of
the previous two cases, by using a PMC under the source antenna, better input impedance matches are obtained. As well, the
PEC ground planes offer better directivities than the PMC counterparts. Therefore, by using a combination PMC-PEC ground
plane, as shown in Fig. 4(c), one can expect better performances
for both return loss and directivity. The PMC ground is at the
centre, below the antenna, and the PEC is on its periphery. The
results are reported in Table 3. The return loss versus frequency
and radiation patterns is shown in Fig. 7. The directivity is as
high as 9.75 dBi, while the return loss at the resonance is the
same as that of the PMC ground plane. Thus, the advantages of
both PMC and PEC ground planes are obtained. This is an important concept, since it is used later in this paper to enhance the
performance of microstrip antennas over combined AMC-PEC
ground planes, yielding important practical antenna designs.

III

HIS-EBG and AMC design

The unit cells of the periodic structures under study are shown in
Figs. 8(a) and 8(b), with and without shorting pin, respectively. Cor-

Figure 5: (a) Return loss vs. frequency. Copolar radiation patterns in (b) E-plane and
(c) H-plane for a half-wavelength dipole antenna, shown in Fig. 4(a). Dimensions are
provided in Table 1.

responding reflection coefficient phases, for different incident angles

and polarizations, are shown in Figs. 9 and 10. It is assumed that the
z-direction is normal to the surface of the structure. The resonant frequency, where the reflection coefficient phase is zero, is 6.1 GHz for
the normal incidence. As shown in Figs. 9(a) and 10(a), the TEz -TEz
reflection coefficient phase for different incident angles is the same for
both periodic structures, with and without the shorting pins. This phenomenon has also been observed for normal incidence in [12] and [15].
However, the TMz -TMz reflection coefficients are different. The HIS
resonant frequency shifts to lower frequencies in the periodic structure with shorting pins (Fig. 9(b)), while shifting to higher frequencies for the periodic structure without shorting pins (Fig. 10(b)). One
should note that corresponding reflection coefficient magnitudes for
the above-mentioned periodic structures are close to unity and are not
addressed here for the sake of brevity.
The frequency range for which the reflection phase is between 90
and +90 is defined as the AMC bandwidth [3], [8], [16][17]. This is

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CAN. J. ELECT. COMPUT. ENG., VOL. 33, NO. 2, SPRING 2008

(a)

(a)

(b)

(b)

(c)

(c)

Figure 6: (a) Return loss vs. frequency. Copolar radiation patterns in (b) E-plane and
(c) H-plane for a half-wavelength dipole antenna, shown in Fig. 4(b). Dimensions are
provided in Table 2.

due to the fact that the reflected wave is not out of phase with the
incident wave in this frequency range. According to this definition,
it is observed that the reflection phase of the TEz -TEz polarizations
shows less angular sensitivity than the TMz -TMz polarizations. As
shown in Figs. 9 and 10, with the growing oblique incidence up to
60 , the resonant frequency still resides in the AMC bandwidth in
the TEz -TEz polarization case. However, this does not occur for the
TMz -TMz polarizations. For these structures, the cross-polar reflection coefficient magnitudes, TEz -TMz and TMz -TEz , are much lower
than unity (<50 dB) and are not reported here. The periodic moment
method (PMM) feature of Ansoft Designer was employed to extract
the reflection phases shown above [18].
A high-impedance surface consisting of 20 18 unit cells is shown
in Fig. 11. The reflection coefficient phase when this surface is illuminated as the load of a C-band waveguide is shown in Fig. 9(a). As
shown, the measured phase is closer to the curve obtained for the uni-

Figure 7: (a) Return loss vs. frequency. Copolar radiation patterns in (b) E-plane and
(c) H-plane for a half-wavelength dipole antenna, shown in Fig. 4(c). Dimensions are
provided in Table 3.

form plane wave incident at a 45 angle, rather than at the normal

incidence. This is due to the fact that at 6.1 GHz (resonant frequency),
the waveguide phase constant (g ) is closer to the phase constant of
the uniform plane wave in the free space when incident at 45 . It is
calculated as follows:
p

g = k2 kc2 =

s
1

kc
k

2
,

(1)

where g , k and kc are the waveguide phase constant, wavenumber

in free space and cut-off wavenumber of the waveguide, respectively.
The first propagating mode in the waveguide is TE10 , and the standard
C-band waveguide has dimensions 3.485 1.580 cm2 . Hence,
kc =

=
= 90.1 m1 .
a
3.485 102

(2)

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91

Table 3
Dimensions, resonant frequency, return loss and maximum directivity at boresight for a half-wavelength dipole
antenna (Ld = 6.3 cm 0.44) with three different combined PMC-PEC ground-plane sizes (Fig. 4(c))
Antenna1
Antenna2
Antenna3

Lm (cm)
10.8 (0.77)
10.8 (0.77)
10.8 (0.77)

Le (cm)
12.6 (0.9)
15.75 (1.12)
18.9 (1.35)

fr (GHz)
2.15
2.15
2.18

|S11 | (dB)
6.9
6.5
6.5

Do (dBi)
8.4
9.2
9.75

Table 2
Dimensions, resonant frequency, return loss and maximum
directivity at boresight for a half-wavelength dipole antenna
(Ld = 6.3 cm 0.44) with three different PMC
ground-plane sizes (Fig. 4(b))

Antenna1
Antenna2
Antenna3

Le (cm)
12.6 (0.9)
15.75 (1.12)
18.9 (1.35)

fr (GHz) |S11 | (dB) Do (dBi)

2.1
7.0
6.53
2.1
6.9
4.65
2.05
6.7
4.08

(a)

(a)

(b)
Figure 8: Unit-cell geometries: (a) HIS-EBG unit cell; (b) AMC unit cell. The periodicity
is p = 8.2 mm, and the square-patch side length is s = 8 mm. The dielectric substrate
thickness is 1.59 mm, and its relative permittivity is 2.5.

(b)
Figure 9: Reflection coefficient phase for HIS-EBG structure consisting of unit cells shown
in Fig. 8(a): (a) TE-TE polarization; (b) TM-TM polarization.

Also, at 6.1 GHz, the wavenumber in free space is

2f
2 6.1 109
k = =
=
= 127.76 m1 .
c
3 108

(3)

Hence, the phase constant of the waveguide at 6.1 GHz from (1) is
s
2 s

2
kc
90.1
1
= 1
= 0.7090 = cos (44.85 ). (4)
k
127.76
Therefore, g = k cos(44.85 ). This shows that the phase constant
experienced by the HIS-EBG structure in the waveguide at 6.1 GHz is
close to the phase constant produced by a wave incident obliquely at
about 45 in free space. The discrepancies observed in Fig. 9(a) can be
explained as follows. In the case of waveguide illumination, the electric field has a cosine distribution, while it is assumed to be uniform
in free-space simulations. The cross-section of the waveguide is not an
integer number of the unit-cell size of the periodic structure. Yet, in
PMM simulations an integer number of unit cells must be considered.
In the case of waveguide, all outer boundary conditions are close to

PEC (waveguide side walls which are good conductors), yet Floquets
boundary conditions account for periodicity in PMM simulations.
There are different ways to investigate whether or not a periodic
structure acts as an EBG in the desired frequency range. In this paper, two methods are employed. In the first method, the truncated periodic structures are placed in ideal TEM waveguides (Fig. 12). Some
researchers have used periodic structures to implement the TEM waveguide concept [19]. However, in the present work, the ideal TEM
waveguide is used only for the purpose of simulating the incident
plane wave propagating in the x-direction (Fig. 12). PMC and PEC
surfaces are used as the ideal TEM waveguide side walls, as shown in
Fig. 12. In order for the launched wave to pass through the periodic
structure, from one wave port toward the other, the cross-section of
the TEM waveguide must be slightly larger than the unit-cell height.
The periodic structures that are truncated to six unit cells and placed
in TEM waveguides are shown in Fig. 12. The reflection and transmission coefficients are also calculated for the case of three unit cells.

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CAN. J. ELECT. COMPUT. ENG., VOL. 33, NO. 2, SPRING 2008

(a)
Figure 11: HIS-EBG structure consisting of 20 18 unit cells.

(a)
(b)
Figure 10: Reflection coefficient phase for AMC structure consisting of unit cells shown
in Fig. 8(b): (a) TE-TE polarization; (b) TM-TM polarization.

The results are shown in Fig. 13. The periodic structure with shorting
pins introduces a band gap in the frequency range of 3.57 GHz. It
is interesting that even three unit cells can produce such a wide band
gap (Fig. 13(a)). However, the periodic structure without shorting pins
does not introduce any band gap within this frequency band, since the
transmission coefficient magnitude is almost unity in this frequency
band (Fig. 13(b)).
In order to obtain the band gap in all transverse directions, the second method employs an irreducible Brillouin zone diagram. Since the
periodic structure without shorting pins does not show any band gap
in the truncated cases, there is no point in burdening the computational
load by calculating a band-gap diagram in the irreducible Brillouin
zone for this case. Therefore, only the periodic structure with shorting
pins is considered here. This can be done by introducing two sets of
linked periodic boundary conditions for the adjacent walls of a rectangular cylinder, as shown in Fig. 14(a). The two ends are terminated
by the perfect matched layer (PML) absorbing boundary condition and
the unit cell. By extracting the pertinent eigenfrequencies of this structure for each set of (kx , ky ), the dispersion diagram is obtained as depicted in Fig. 14(b). The eigenmode solver of Ansoft HFSS has been
employed to extract the frequencies for each propagating mode shown
in Fig. 14(b) [18]. As can be seen, a band gap has appeared in the frequency range of 57 GHz. One could expect surface wave suppression
in all directions in this frequency band if this engineered substrate were
used as the ground plane [3], [8], [20].
Hereafter in this paper, the HIS periodic structure with shorting
pin is called HIS-EBG surface, and that without shorting pin is called
AMC surface.

(b)
Figure 12: Truncated periodic structures in TEM waveguides: (a) unit cells consisting of
patch with vias; (b) unit cells consisting of patch without vias.

IV

Reference microstrip patch antenna

The microstrip patch antenna used as the reference is depicted in

Fig. 15. The antenna is considered with four different conducting
ground-plane sizes as listed in Table 4. The input impedance bandwidth is calculated for 10 dB return loss and is addressed in Table 4,
while the gain and |S11 | versus frequency are shown in Fig. 16. As
can be seen, all gains are below 7 dBi. As examples of the typical radiation patterns, those of Antenna4 obtained at the resonant frequency
(6.4 GHz) are shown in Fig. 17. It is evident that in the E-plane there
is a dip at the boresight, and the maximum directivity is not achieved
at = 0 . However, the H-plane patterns are almost symmetric. The
radiation patterns in the E- and H-planes do not coincide, and the Hplane patterns are narrower, due to the finite size of the ground planes.
All simulation results reported hereafter are obtained with the Ansoft Designer software package (MoM-CAD tool) [18].

FOROOZESH / SHAFAI: COMBINED ELECTRIC- AND MAGNETIC-CONDUCTOR GROUND PLANES

93

(a)
(a)

(b)
Figure 13: Transmission and reflection coefficient magnitudes for the periodic structures: (a) unit cells with shorting pins in Fig. 12(a); (b) unit cells without shorting pins
in Fig. 12(b).

(b)
Figure 14: (a) Unit cell of an HIS-EBG structure (with vias) in a rectangular cylinder
with proper boundary conditions. (b) Dispersion diagram obtained using the irreducible
Brillouin zone.

Microstrip patch antenna on combined artificial

ground planes

The configuration of a microstrip patch antenna on a combined ground

plane consisting of an HIS (or AMC) and conducting ground plane
is illustrated in Fig. 18. This configuration provides a better insight
into the practical configuration discussed in the following sections. It
is also a more practical representation of the previous cases for halfwavelength dipoles with combined PMC-PEC ground planes. As can
be seen, a source patch is placed over an HIS (or AMC) ground plane
to improve its input impedance, and the PEC ground plane of the HIS
(or AMC) system is extended to increase the antenna gain. Therefore,
a combination of both artificial and conventional ground planes is used
to improve the antenna characteristics.
V.A

Microstrip patch antenna on combined HIS-EBGPEC

ground plane
The geometry of a microstrip patch antenna on an HIS-EBG structure
combined with an extended PEC ground plane is shown in Fig. 19. The
HIS-EBG ground plane consists of 7 6 unit cells with dimensions as
shown in Fig. 8(a). Two unit cells are slightly perturbed to accommodate the excitation probe. Patch dimensions of these two unit cells are
8 7 mm2 .
The microstrip patch antennas discussed in Section IV are used here
as the reference antennas. Since the HIS bandwidth is in the range of
5.46.6 GHz, the source microstrip patch operates in the appropriate

bandwidth. This microstrip patch antenna is investigated when it is

placed over four different ground planes as listed in Table 5. Dimensions of these ground planes and their corresponding antenna input
impedance bandwidth are tabulated.
The main properties of these antennas are shown in Fig. 20, which
includes the return loss and gain versus frequency. As can be seen,
the input impedance bandwidth is increased to 28% for the best case
(Antenna1). The antenna gain is also increased to about 8.5 dB for the
best case (Antenna4). The radiation patterns obtained at the resonant
frequencies (6.55 GHz) are also improved, as shown in Fig. 21 for Antenna4, and the E-plane boresight dip has disappeared. Thus, the peak
gains occur almost at = 0 .
There are drawbacks to using patches with shorting pins. One is the
appearance of a moderate sidelobe at the elevation angle of 40 in the
E-plane. The other is the increase in the cross-polarization level, due
to currents on the shorting pins (z-axis) as well as the currents on the
periodic patches in the undesired direction (y-axis in our case).
V.B

Microstrip patch antenna on combined AMC-PEC

ground plane
The geometry of a microstrip patch antenna on an AMC surface with
an extended PEC ground plane is depicted in Fig. 22. The AMC ground
plane consists of 76 unit cells with dimensions as shown in Fig. 8(b).
The structure shown in Fig. 22 is the same as the one shown in Fig. 19,

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CAN. J. ELECT. COMPUT. ENG., VOL. 33, NO. 2, SPRING 2008

(a)

(a)

(b)
Figure 15: Reference microstrip antenna geometry: (a) side view with d = 1.59 mm and
Arlon Diclad 522 material with r = 2.5; (b) top view with antenna dimensions.

(b)
Figure 16: (a) Return loss and (b) gain of the antennas listed in Table 4.

Table 4
Reference microstrip antenna properties with
different ground planes

Antenna1
Antenna2
Antenna3
Antenna4

Antenna ground-plane size

(Lx Ly )
57.4 49.2 mm2
60 60 mm2
70 70 mm2
80 80 mm2

Impedance
bandwidth
2.4%
2.4%
3.1%
3.1%

except that the shorting pins of the periodic patches have been removed. The reference microstrip patch antennas are the same as those
used previously. The basic dimensions of the ground planes and input
impedance bandwidth are listed in Table 6. As can be seen, the input impedance bandwidth has been increased to 27.78% for Antenna1,
which has only an AMC ground plane without a PEC ground-plane extension. For the remaining antennas, the input impedance bandwidth
has been increased to 25.35%, where the PEC ground plane is extended beyond the AMC surface.
The main properties of these antennas are shown in Fig. 23, which
includes the return loss and gain versus frequency. The antenna gain
is increased remarkably to as high as 10.8 dBi for all three different
cases. As well, the radiation-pattern shapes have improved significantly, as shown in Fig. 24. These patterns belong to Antenna4, as
listed in Table 6, and are obtained at resonant frequency (6.4 GHz).
As can be seen, the boresight dips and the sidelobe at 40 , both of
which were present in the case of antennas over an HIS-EBG, have
disappeared. The peak gain occurs close to = 0 , and the half-power
angles are considerably closer to each other than in the case of HISEBG ground planes. Therefore, the main beams are nearly symmetric.
The primary drawback is the enhancement of the cross-polar level.
However, the level is less than in the case of HIS-EBG ground planes.

Figure 17: Front radiation patterns of Antenna4 as listed in Table 4.

VI

Measurement results

As mentioned earlier, error-free fabrication of the HIS-EBG as a microstrip antenna ground plane is difficult because of its shorting vias.
Conventional fabrication tools in the laboratory also cause an air gap
between the antenna and the HIS-EBG substrates. As well, it was
shown in the previous section that the performance of AMC ground
planes is generally better. Hence, measurement results were obtained
only for a microstrip antenna over an AMC-PEC ground plane. Antenna4, with results as tabulated in Table 6, was considered. The fabricated antenna consisted of two parts, namely, the microstrip source
patch and the artificial ground plane. These two parts were held together tightly by eight screws around the outside, as shown in Fig. 25.
To permit study of the air-gap sensitivity between these two layers,
two different pairs were fabricated, using configurations depicted in

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95

Table 5
Dimensions of the antenna ground planes consisting of HIS with vias (HIS-EBG)

Antenna1
Antenna2
Antenna3
Antenna4

Number of cells
(shown in Fig. 8(a))
76
76
76
76

HIS-EBG size
(mm2 )
57.4 49.2
57.4 49.2
57.4 49.2
57.4 49.2

Antenna ground
plane (Lx Ly )
57.4 49.2 mm2
60 60 mm2
70 70 mm2
80 80 mm2

Impedance
bandwidth %
28.11
9.88
13.13
17.32

Unit-cell dimensions are as shown in Fig. 8(a).

(a)

(a)

(b)

(b)

Figure 18: Description of an antenna placed on an AMC ground with an outer PEC
ground plane: (a) side view; (b) top view.

Figure 19: Microstrip antenna geometry on HIS-EBG ground plane with unit cells as
shown in Fig. 8(a): (a) side view with d = 1.59 mm and Arlon Diclad 522 material with
r = 2.5; (b) top view with antenna dimensions.

Fig. 26. In the first configuration, the source patch antenna was etched
on one side of a dielectric layer, with the other side blank. The second piece, however, consisted of the periodic metallic patches and the
ground plane, as shown in Fig. 26(a). In the second configuration, the
source patch antenna and periodic metallic patches were etched on two
sides of a single dielectric sheet. The second piece consisted of only
the ground plane, as depicted in Fig. 26(b).
The measured return loss and gain versus frequency of both antennas are shown in Figs. 27(a) and 27(b), respectively. As can be seen in
Fig. 27(a), the input impedance bandwidth has been increased significantly for both cases (up to 29% for 10 dB return loss). The antenna
gains are about 10.4 dBi for both cases at 6.1 GHz. Note that this is
the AMC resonant frequency. These measured results for the above
two different fabrication models are in good agreement and show that
the air-gap effects between the two layers of the antenna are negligible. The measured radiation patterns are shown in Fig. 28. As can be
observed, the copolar patterns in the two cardinal planes coincide to a
good angular extent. Also, the cross-polarization levels are very low in
both cardinal planes.
VII

Conclusions

In this paper, both half-wavelength dipole and microstrip patch antennas above conventional (PEC) and artificial (PMC or AMC) ground

planes were studied. It was shown that by using a combined PMC-PEC

ground plane, the antenna properties can be improved significantly.
The PMC ground improved the antenna input impedance, thereby increasing its bandwidth, and the PEC increased its directivity. For best
results, the combination must be set up such that the PMC ground is
placed directly under the radiating antenna and the PEC is extended
beyond the PMC surface. To make this concept practical, two different
periodic structures were used to act as HIS or AMC structures. These
were basically grounded dielectric slabs loaded by periodic metallic
patches either with or without shorting pins. The structures were designed, characterized and studied in detail. Then, the combined AMCPEC grounds were developed by selecting a finite section of the periodic structures and extending the PEC ground beyond it. Next, the PEC
ground of a conventional microstrip patch was replaced by these combined PMC-PEC grounds and the result was investigated. It was shown
that the microstrip antenna performance was improved considerably
by employing these artificial ground planes. Also, the superiority of
the periodic patches without shorting pins was illustrated. The results
showed that for enhancement of the antenna gain, the suppression of
surface waves in HIS structures with shorting pins is not necessarily an
advantage over HIS structures without shorting pins. Measured results
of two fabricated antennas were presented to demonstrate the validity
of the proposed concept and to verify the usefulness of artificial ground
planes for antenna performance enhancement.

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CAN. J. ELECT. COMPUT. ENG., VOL. 33, NO. 2, SPRING 2008

Table 6
Dimensions of the antenna ground planes consisting of HIS without vias (AMC)

Antenna1
Antenna2
Antenna3
Antenna4

Number of cells
(shown in Fig. 8(b))
76
76
76
76

AMC size
(mm2 )
57.4 49.2
57.4 49.2
57.4 49.2
57.4 49.2

Antenna ground
plane (Lx Ly )
57.4 49.2 mm2
60 60 mm2
70 70 mm2
80 80 mm2

Impedance
bandwidth %
27.78
25.35
25.35
25.35

Unit-cell dimensions are as shown in Fig. 8(b).

(a)
Figure 21: Radiation patterns of Antenna4 as listed in Table 5.

(a)

(b)
Figure 20: (a) Return loss and (b) gain of the antennas listed in Table 6.

Acknowledgements
The authors wish to thank Mr. Cory Smit for fabrication of the antennas used in this research, Mr. M. Fallah-Rad for fabrication of the
HIS-EBG structure, and Mr. B. Tabachnick for performing the antenna
measurements in the University of Manitoba Antenna Laboratory.

References

(b)
Figure 22: Microstrip antenna geometry on AMC ground plane with unit cells as shown in
Fig. 8(b): (a) side view with d = 1.59 mm and Arlon Diclad 522 material with r = 2.5;
(b) top view with antenna dimensions.

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(a)

Figure 25: Photograph of the two prototype antennas (one seen from the top, and the
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(a)
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Figure 23: (a) Return loss and (b) gain of the antennas listed in Table 4.

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Figure 26: Two different configurations of Antenna4 as fabricated and tested.

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Figure 24: Radiation patterns of Antenna4 as listed in Table 6.

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Alireza Foroozesh received the B.Sc. degree from Tehran

Polytechnique, Tehran, Iran, in 1996, the M.Sc. from the Iran
University of Science and Technology, Tehran, Iran, in 1999,
and the Ph.D. degree from the University of Manitoba, Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada, in 2007, all in electrical engineering. From May 2000 to July 2002 he was a researcher with the
Antenna Laboratory at the Iran Telecommunication Research
Center (ITRC), where he was involved with projects related
to antenna designs and measurements. He is currently a postdoctoral fellow with the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering at the University of Manitoba. His research
interests include analysis and modelling of periodic structures

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CAN. J. ELECT. COMPUT. ENG., VOL. 33, NO. 2, SPRING 2008

(a)

(a)

(b)

(b)

Figure 27: Measured results: (a) return loss and (b) gain vs. frequency for the two different
configurations of Antenna4 as shown in Table 6, namely, Antenna4a and Antenna4b, as
shown in Figs. 26(a) and 26(b), respectively.

Figure 28: Measured radiation patterns: (a) Antenna4a and (b) Antenna4b, as shown in
Figs. 26(a) and 26(b), respectively.

and their applications in antennas and microwave systems, antenna theory and design, and
applied electromagnetics. Dr. Foroozesh was the recipient of a Young Scientist Travel
Grant and a Best Student Paper award for his paper on a high-gain, wide-band, microstrip antenna, presented at the 2007 International Symposium on Antennas and Propagation (ISAP 2007) in Nigata, Japan.

Lotfollah Shafai completed the B.Sc. degree at the University

of Tehran, Tehran, Iran, in 1963 and M.Sc. and Ph.D. degrees
in the Faculty of Applied Sciences and Engineering, University of Toronto, Toronto, Ontario, Canada, in 1966 and 1969,
all in electrical engineering. In November 1969, he joined the
Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering, University of Manitoba, Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada, as a sessional
lecturer, assistant professor (1970), associate professor (1973),
and professor (1979). Since 1975, he has made a special effort
to link university research to industrial development by assisting industries in the development of new products or in establishing new technologies. To enhance the University of Manitobas contact with industry, in 1985 he assisted in establishing the Institute for Technology
Development and was its Director until 1987, when he became the head of the Electrical

Engineering Department. His assistance to industry was instrumental in establishing an

Industrial Research Chair in Applied Electromagnetics at the University of Manitoba in
1989, which he held until July 1994. He has been a participant in nearly all Antennas
and Propagation symposia and participates in the review committees. He is a member of
URSI Commission B and was its chairman during 19851988. In 1986, he established
the Symposium on Antenna Technology and Applied Electromagnetics, ANTEM, at the
University of Manitoba, which is currently held every two years. He has been the recipient of numerous awards. In 1978, his contribution to the design of a small ground station
for the Hermus satellite was selected as the 3rd Meritorious Industrial Design. In 1984,
he received the Professional Engineers Merit Award, and in 1985, The Thinker Award
from Canadian Patents and Development Corporation. From the University of Manitoba,
he received Research Awards in 1983, 1987, and 1989, the Outreach Award in 1987, and
the Sigma Xi Senior Scientist Award in 1989. In 1990 he received the Maxwell Premium
Award from IEE (London) and in 1993 and 1994 the Distinguished Achievement Awards
from Corporate Higher Education Forum. In 1998 he received the Winnipeg RH Institute
Foundation Medal for Excellence in Research. In 1999 and 2000 he received the University of Manitoba Faculty Association Research Award. He has been an elected Fellow of
IEEE since 1987 and was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society of Canada in 1998. He
was a recipient of the IEEE Third Millennium Medal in 2000 and in 2002 was elected a
Fellow of the Canadian Academy of Engineering and Distinguished Professor at the University of Manitoba. He holds a Canada Research Chair in Applied Electromagnetics and
is International Chair of URSI Commission B.