In this article, a single-layer frequency selective surface (FSS)-loaded compact coplanar waveguide (CPW)-fed antenna is proposed for very high-gain and ultra-wideband applications. At the initial stage, a geometrically simple ultra-wideband (UWB) antenna is designed which contains CPW feed lines and a multi-stub-loaded hexagonal patch. The various stubs are inserted to improve the bandwidth of the radiator. The antenna operates at 5-17 GHz and offers 6.5 dBi peak gain. Subsequently, the proposed FSS structure is designed and loaded beneath the proposed UWB antenna to improve bandwidth and enhance gain. The antenna loaded with FSS operates at an ultra-wideband of 3-18 GHz and offers a peak gain of 10.5 dBi. The FSS layer contains 5 × 5 unit cells with a total dimension of 50 mm × 50 mm. The gap between the FSS layer and UWB antenna is 9 mm, which is fixed to obtain maximum gain. The proposed UWB antenna and its results are compared with the fabricated prototype to verify the results. Moreover, the performance parameters such as bandwidth, gain, operational frequency, and the number of FSS layers used in the proposed antenna are compared with existing literature to show the significance of the proposed work. Overall, the proposed antenna is easy to fabricate and has a low profile and simple geometry with a compact size while offering a very wide bandwidth and high gain. Due to all of its performance properties, the proposed antenna system is a strong candidate for upcoming wideband and high-gain applications.
Keywords: FSS reflector; UWB antenna; compact antenna; gain improvement; high gain antenna.