Low-cost PCB antenna for UWB applications

Abstract

This letter presents a low-cost knight's helm shape double-sided printed circuit board (PCB) antenna of size 3 cm/spl times/3 cm for ultra-wideband (UWB) application. The antenna has a return loss of more than 10 dB, constant group delay and gain flatness over the frequency range set by the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) for UWB application. Satisfactory performance was obtained using FR4 substrate, allowing low cost of production. This letter also addresses the experimental measurements of group delay and impulse response, which are commonly overlooked.