This article has been accepted for publication in a future issue of this journal, but has not been

fully edited. Content may change prior to final publication. Citation information: DOI 10.1109/TAP.2018.2870428, IEEE
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1

A Wide Beam-width and Wideband

Magneto-Electric Dipole Antenna
Guangwei YANG, Student Member, IEEE, Jianying LI, Member, IEEE, Jiangjun YANG, and S.G. ZHOU,
Member, IEEE

Abstract—In this paper, a wideband magneto-electric (ME)

dipole antenna with wide beam-width both in the E-plane and H-
plane is investigated. The proposed antenna, which is a differen-
tial one, has a simple structure and can realize wide beam-width
in the E-plane and H-plane in whole operating bandwidth. This
antenna is easy to manufacture and low cost. The antenna consists
of a pair of Г-shaped metal plates, a Г-shaped fed line, and six
metal columns. The Г-shaped metal plates and metal columns
change the current distribution which changes the radiation
performance of the proposed antenna. Some parameters which
effect on the performances of the antenna are studied. The
proposed antenna achieves the impedance bandwidth (≤ -10 dB)
of about 81.1% (3.3 – 7.8 GHz). The half-power beam-width
(HPBW) of the proposed antenna is obviously broadened. The
HPBW is 215° in the E-plane and 186° in the H-plane at 5.5
GHz. Besides, the cross polarization of the antenna is very low.
The antenna is fabricated and measured to verify the design. The Fig. 1. The three-dimensional view of the proposed antenna.
measured results are in good agreements with the simulated one.
Good radiation characteristics of the new ME dipole antenna
have been obtained in the whole frequency band.
radiation beam-widths of the E- and H-planes are both broad-
Index Terms—half-power beam-width, wide beam, wideband,
magneto-electric, dipole antenna. ened in the paper [6]. The antenna is based on a two–layer
stacked electromagnetic coupling microstrip patch antenna.
The upper patch of the antenna is loaded with two arc gaps
I. I NTRODUCTION and three stubs. The 3 dB beam-width of the E- and H-planes
remain stable and are about 120°. In [7], a novel wideband
IDE beam-width antennas have attracted much atten-
W tion over the past decade, because these antennas have
been applied in various wireless communication environments,
linearly tapered slot antenna with beam-widths is presented.
A pattern bandwidth of 35 % and more than 117° 3-dB beam-
widths of E- and H-plane patterns in that band are achieved
such as cellular communication systems, radar systems, and by the proposed antenna. A low-profile and wide beam-width
target tracking in military applications [1-3]. To satisfy the microstrip antenna is presented in [8]. Four isolated micro
requirements of both bandwidth and beam-width in practical patches are proposed as the radiation components and are
applications, such as increasing coverage area, different kinds excited by a compact differential-fed network. By increasing
of antennas are proposed in the literature. For instance, a the distance between the micro patches, the beam-width in E-
bowtie dipole antenna with wide beam-width for base station plane could be broadened. The 3dB beam-width of the antenna
application is described in [4]. The bowtie dipole element reaches 116°. Besides, using multi-layered substrates [9-11],
above the ground plane and a metallic bridge are used for wide the parasitic radiators [12] and operating at higher order modes
beam-width. The radiation beam-width of the antenna is 115° [13] are good for improving the 3dB beam-width. However, it
in the H-plane and below 31° in the E-plane. A hybrid zeroth- is very difficult for the wideband antenna that the wide beam-
order resonance (ZOR) patch antenna with a broad E-plane width capability in H- and E-planes is realized in the whole
beam-width is presented in [5]. The E-plane beam-width of operating frequency bandwidth.
the antenna is broadened by combining the TM010 mode and
the ZOR mode. The E-plane half power beam-width of the In recent years, the magneto-electric dipole antenna has
proposed antenna is 115° and broadened by 53%, compared been studied and applied in wireless communications, espe-
with that of the conventional rectangular patch antenna. The cially in wireless base stations. Because it has many advan-
tages, such as a symmetrical radiation pattern, a wide band-
This work has been supported by a grant through the National Science width, low cross-polarization, and most importantly, constant
Foundation of China (No. 61401356). It is supported by Excellent Doctorate gain and radiation pattern within the operating band. Different
Foundation of Northwestern Polytechnical University. types of the magneto-electric dipole antennas are discussed
The authors are with the School of Electrical and Information, North-
western Polytechnical University (NWPU), Xi’an, 710129, China, (E-mail in the literature. The magneto-electric dipole antenna which
guangweiyang@mail.nwpu.edu.cn and jianyingli@nwpu.edu.cn). has a wideband and high gain is presented firstly in [14]. A

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TABLE I
O PTIMIZED D IMENSIONS OF THE P ROPOSED A NTENNA

Parameter Lg Ws Lp Wp Lc Wf
40, 6, 20, 9, 10, 2,
Units (mm)
0.73λ 0.11λ 0.37λ 0.16λ 0.18λ 0.04λ
Parameter Ls Hf Hz Ha Hp Hc
4.4, 10, 6, 15, 9, 5.5,
Units (mm)
0.08λ 0.17λ 0.11λ 0.27λ 0.16λ 0.10λ
λ is the free space wavelength at the center frequency of 5.5 GHz.

Fig. 2. Configuration of the proposed antenna.

wideband directional antenna composed of a shorted bowtie

patch antenna and an electric dipole is presented in [15].
Through this composition, an equivalent magnetic dipole due
to the shorted bowtie patch antenna and an electric dipole
are excited together. Almost equal radiation pattern in the
E- and H-planes is obtained. In reference [16], a wideband
dual-band magneto-electric dipole antenna is designed and Fig. 3. Steps to realize proposed antenna (Ant. 1-3): (a) a general ME dipole
antenna, (b) the ME dipole antenna with two metal plates, (c) the ME dipole
studied. A U-shaped electric dipole antenna is employed to antenna with two metal plates and six metal columns.
generate the dual band for the WLAN. A differentially fed
magneto-electric dipole antenna is proposed in [17]. It is not
only simpler in structure, but also better in performance than The organization of the paper is as follows. The antenna
previous designs. Due to the symmetry of the structure and the structure, design evolution, and working principle are de-
excitation, the radiation pattern was symmetric with respect scribed in Section II. Parametric studies are discussed in
to both the E-plane and H-plane. Besides, a linearly polarized Section III. The performance of the antenna and the measured
magneto-electric dipole with wide beam-width in H-plane is results are investigated in Section IV. The comparison and
studied in [18]. The antenna with stable wide beam-width of discussion are presented in Section V. Finally, a summary
120° in H-plane is achieved across the impedance bandwidth together with concluding remarks is presented in Section VI.
of 41 %. A magneto-electric dipole antenna with a dynamic
beam-width control in H-plane is presented in [19,20]. The II. A NTENNA D ESIGN AND P RINCIPLE
pattern reconfiguration of the antennas is achieved by control A. Antenna geometry
the on/off-state of the PIN diodes. The beam-width of the
antennas in H-plane is ranged from 81° to 153° [19] and 80° The geometry of the proposed antenna is given in Fig.
to 160° [20], respectively. However, a wide beam-width of 2. The ground plane and six metal columns are made of
the magneto-electric dipole antenna in H- and E-plane is not aluminum, while all other parts are made of copper with
presented. thickness of 0.3 mm. All dimensions of the proposed antenna,
which are optimized by simulation, are shown in Table I. The
To address the problems above, this paper presents a novel antenna generally consists of a pair of Г-shaped metal plates,
and simple method to broaden the beam-width of the magneto- a Г-shaped fed line, and six metal columns. Its structure is
electric dipole antenna. The three-dimensional view of the very simple and symmetrical about both xoz− and yoz−planes.
proposed is shown in Fig. 1. Comparing with the general Compared with the general magneto-electric dipole antenna
magneto-electric dipole antenna, the beam-width in H- and [14], the electric dipole consists of a pair of horizontal plates
E-plane of the proposed antenna is broadened by the Г- and vertical plates. The metal columns are placed below the
shaped metal plates and six metal columns. Since the current vertical walls at equal distances along the x−axis direction.
distribution of the antenna is changed by these structure. It The Г-shaped fed line is excited by the 50 ohm coaxial
conserves the advantages of popular magneto-electric dipole connector. The ground plane is in square shape, the side length
antenna including wide bandwidth, low cross-polarization, is Lg. The antenna is connected to the RF part by the coaxial
and simple structure. However, in the same time, it presents cable.
new advantages of low cost, small size, stable wide beam-
width in H- and E-planes in the whole operating band. These
many features prove the proposed antenna to be an attractive B. Step to realize the proposed antenna
candidate for base stations and phased arrays in future mobile For explaining the design process of the proposed antenna
communication systems. clearly, three steps depicting the evolution structure are shown

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Fig. 4. The simulated the performance of three type antennas (a) the reflection
coefficient (≤ -10 dB); (b) the 3 dB beam-widths in both H- and E-planes
(H-P. and E-P.).

Fig. 6. The principle of the wide beam-width in the proposed antenna.

adding the vertical plates and the metal columns to change

the current distribution on the conventional ME dipole antenna
[21]. As shown in Fig. 6 (a) the horizontal current on the Ant.
1 is produced on the ME dipole plates. In xoy−plane, the
current on the Ant. 1 is given by

Fig. 5. The radiation patterns of three types antennas in H- and E-plane at J 1 = J1 x (1)
5.5 GHz.
As shown in Fig. 6 (a), the vertical plates are added in the
in Fig. 3. The dimensions of the above antennas are consistent. Ant. 3. The current distribution on the antennas is changed.
The simulated results of three antennas, including S11 and The vertical and horizontal currents are produced on the
radiation patterns are shown in Fig. 4 and Fig. 5. Ant. 1 has antennas. In order to optimize the current distribution at the
only a pair of the classical magneto-electric dipole like [14], low frequencies, the six metal columns are placed below the
which is a conventional ME dipole antenna. A pair of the vertical walls at equal distances along the x-axis direction [22].
vertical plates is added in Ant. 2. The magneto-electric dipole Hence, the current on the Ant. 3 is given by
consists of the horizontal and vertical parts. The operating
band is broadened and it is the most important that the beam- J 1 = J1 x + J2 e j 4 z (2)
widths in E- and H- planes are broadened compared to the
where
Ant. 1 as shown in Fig. 5. In order to realize the stable πW p
radiation patterns and wider beam-width of the antenna in the 4=
cosθ (3)
λ
whole operating band, six metal columns are placed below
where J1 is the current density of the horizontal current on
the vertical walls at equal distances along the x-axis direction
conventional ME dipole antenna. J is the current density of
in Ant. 3. The wide band and wide beam-width ME dipole
the horizontal current and the vertical current of the proposed
antenna is achieved by changing some simple structures of
antenna. Hence, the vector potential is given by [23]
the general ME dipole antenna. However, S11 in the whole
operating band is degraded. Since the impedance matching e−jβr
∬
0
at high frequency band is affected by the metal columns. The A = −µ Je jβr ·r dS 0 (4)
4πr S
electric dipole performance is only improved, and the magneto
dipole performance is little affected. The radiates field is given by

C. Operating mechanism E = − jω A − (− jωA· r) r (5)

It is very challenging to control the beam-width for the where β is the propagation constant in free space, r is far-field
conventional ME dipole antennas because of the difficulty in distance, r 0 is the distance of the current in the patch, S is the
manipulating the current distribution on the radiation aperture. space of the patch. In the E-plane, the normalized radiation
However, the beam-width controlling can be achieved by pattern of the proposed antenna is got as follow

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Fig. 8. The electric field distributions of the Ant. 1 and Ant. 3 in the H- and
E-plane at 5.5GHz.

III. PARAMETRIC S TUDIES

The antenna is simulated and optimized in the full wave
simulator Ansoft HFSS [25]. To better understand the design
rules of the proposed antenna, we conduct a set of parametric
Fig. 7. The simulated surface currents distribution of the proposed antenna
studies in this section to demonstrate the design dimensions
at low and high frequencies. influence on the antenna performance. Here, we examine the
impact of varying the width of the feed line ( Wf ), the gap of
the electric dipoles ( Ws ), the length of the vertical part of the
electric plate ( Hp ), the height and radius of the metal columns
1 + cosθ
FE (θ) = + Bsinθ (6) ( Hc and Rc ), and the distance between the metal columns
2 ( Lc ) and the number of the metal columns on reflection
It is as shown in Fig. 6 (a), FE (θ) is the radiation pattern coefficient (S11 ), gain, and radiation pattern. During each
of the proposed antenna. B is the complex coefficient which parametric study, one of the parameters sweeps while others
are decided by the parameters of the vertical plates and six remain the same as the optimized values given in Table I.
metal columns. For a monopole over the ground plane, the
radiation pattern is equal in any plane containing the z-axis A. The width of the feed line ( Wf )
[24]. Therefore, in the H-plane (Fig. 6 (b)), FH (θ) is chosen Fig. 9 shows simulation results for the reflection coefficient,
as the radiation pattern of the proposed antenna, which can be gain, and the beam-width at different width of the feed line
expressed as Wf ranging from 2.0 to 3.0 mm. The widest frequency band
as well as widest beam-width is obtained when Wf equals 2.5
FH (θ) = 1 + Bsinθ (7) mm, which is approximately input impedance matching. As
can be seen, changing the values of Wf leads to mismatch
Based on the above analysis, the operating principle of the
input impedance and decrease the frequency bandwidth. And
proposed antenna can be verified in current distribution. For
the gain in the higher frequency band reduces. However, it
the conventional ME dipole antenna, the radiation pattern is
has little effect on the beam-width at different frequency in
only controlled by the horizontal current like in Fig. 7 (a).
the bandwidth.
The vertical plates and six metal columns are added for the
proposed antenna. The current distribution of the proposed
antenna is changed. The radiation pattern is produced by the B. The gap of the electric dipoles ( Ws)
horizontal and vertical currents like in Fig. 7 (c). Therefore, the Fig. 10 shows simulation results of the reflection coefficient,
beam-width of the ME dipole antenna is broadened. However, gain, and the beam-width at different gap of the electric dipoles
the peak radiation at boresigth (at about zero degrees) and the Ws ranging from 5.4 to 6.6 mm. It is significant that the reflec-
front-to-back radiation ratio degrade. Since the vertical current tion coefficient changes with the variation of Ws. The widest
on the vertical plates would strengthen and the horizontal frequency band as well as widest beam-width is obtained when
current on the ME dipole plates would weaken in the middle Ws equals 6.0 mm, which is approximately input impedance
bandwidth. Fig. 8 shows the electric field distributions of matching. As can be seen, changing the values of Wf leads
the conventional antenna and the proposed antenna in the to mismatch input impedance and decrease the frequency
H- and E-planes at 5.5 GHz. By comparing the electric field bandwidth. When the value of Ws changes higher, the input
distributions of two antennas, it is significant that the beam- impedance is mismatching at high frequency band and the
width of the proposed antenna is broadened by the above impedance bandwidth moves to low frequencies. Otherwise,
method in the H- and E-planes. the impedance bandwidth moves to high frequencies and the

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Fig. 9. The simulated the performance of the proposed antenna with the Fig. 11. The simulated the performance of the proposed antenna with the
variation of Wf (a) the reflection coefficient (≤ -10 dB) and gain; (b) the 3 variation of Hp (a) the reflection coefficient (≤ -10 dB) and gain; (b) the 3
dB beam-widths in both H- and E-planes. dB beam-widths in both H- and E-planes.

Fig. 10. The simulated the performance of the proposed antenna with the Fig. 12. The simulated the performance of the proposed antenna with the
variation of Ws (a) the reflection coefficient (≤ -10 dB) and gain; (b) the 3 variation of Hc (a) the reflection coefficient (≤ -10 dB) and gain; (b) the 3
dB beam-widths in both H- and E-planes. dB beam-widths in both H- and E-planes.

frequency band changes narrower. However, it is little function D. The height and radius of the metal columns (Hc and Rc)
for the gain and beam-width at different frequency in the
bandwidth. Fig. 12 shows simulation results for the reflection coeffi-
cient, gain, and the beam-width at different height of the metal
columns Hc ranging from 5.0 to 6.0 mm. It is significant that
C. The length of the vertical part of the plate(Hp) the reflection coefficient changes with the variation of Hc.
Fig. 11 shows simulation results for the reflection coeffi- The widest frequency band as well as widest beam-width is
cient, gain, and the beam-width at different distance of the obtained when Hc equals 5.5 mm, which is approximately
length of the vertical part of the plate Hp ranging from 8.0 input impedance matching. As can be seen, changing the
to 10.0 mm. It is not significant that the reflection coefficient values of Hc leads to mismatch input impedance and decrease
changes with the variation of Hp except for 10.0 mm. It is the frequency bandwidth. When the value of Hc changes lower,
significant that the gain changes when the parameter is 10.0 the input impedance is mismatching at low frequency band
mm. The vertical plates attach with the metal columns when and the impedance bandwidth moves to high frequencies. The
the value of Hp is 10.0 mm. The frequency band changes frequency band is decreased. When the vertical plates attach
narrowly. The gain is very low in the low frequency band and with the metal columns, the gain could change to very low
high in the high frequency band. Meanwhile, the beam-width in the low frequency band and high in the high frequency
of the antenna at different frequency makes narrower in H- band. However, it is little function for the beam-width at dif-
and E-planes in the bandwidth. As can be seen, changing the ferent frequency in the bandwidth. Otherwise, the impedance
values of Hp leads to decrease the beam-width at different bandwidth moves to high frequencies and the frequency band
frequency in H- and E-planes. The beam-width makes wider changes narrower when the value of Hc changes higher. The
at low frequency band in E-plane and narrower at high fre- beam-width in H- and E-planes changes narrower at different
quency band when the value of changes lower. The impedance frequency in the bandwidth.
bandwidth changes narrower a little at high frequency band. It Fig. 13 shows simulation results for the reflection coeffi-
is significant that the beam-width changes with the variation of cient, gain, and the beam-width at different height of the metal
Hp The widest frequency band as well as widest beam-width columns Rc ranging from 0.6 to 1.6 mm. It is significant
is obtained when Hp equals 9.0 mm, which is approximately that the reflection coefficient changes with the variation of
the whole impedance bandwidth. Rc. The widest frequency band as well as widest beam-width

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Fig. 13. The simulated the performance of the proposed antenna with the Fig. 14. The simulated the performance of the proposed antenna with the
variation of Rc (a) the reflection coefficient (≤ -10 dB) and gain; (b) the 3 variation of Lc and the number of the metal columns (a) the reflection
dB beam-widths in both H- and E-planes. coefficient (≤ -10 dB) and gain; (b) the 3 dB beam-widths in both H- and
E-planes.

is obtained when Rc equals 1.1 mm, which is approximately

input impedance matching. As can be seen, changing the
values of Rc leads to mismatch input impedance and decrease
the frequency bandwidth. When the value of Rc changes
lower and higher, the input impedance is mismatching at
low frequency band and the impedance bandwidth moves to
high frequencies. Besides, it is a little function for the gain
and beam-width at higher frequencies in the bandwidth. The
beam-width in H- and E-planes changes narrower at higher
frequencies in the bandwidth when the value of Rc changes
higher. Hence, the gain changes higher.

Fig. 15. The simulated the performance of the proposed antenna with the
E. The distance between the metal columns ( Lc ) and the variation of Lg (a) the reflection coefficient (≤-10 dB) and gain; (b) the 3 dB
number of the metal columns beam-widths in both H- and E-planes.
Fig. 14 shows simulation results for the reflection coeffi-
cient, gain, and the beam-width at different distance between impedance matching. As can be seen, changing the values
the metal columns Lc ranging from 5.0 to 20.0 mm and number of Lg leads to mismatch input impedance or decrease the
of the metal columns ranging from 2 to 5. It is not significant frequency bandwidth. When the value of Lg would change
that the gain changes with the variations of the distance and the lower, the input impedance weakens in low frequency band.
number except in the low frequency band. It is not significant When the value of Lg would change higher, the frequency
that the operating frequency bandwidth changes the variations bandwidth is reduced. Besides, it is a little function for the gain
of the distance and the number except for 20 mm and 2 and beam-width at higher frequencies in the bandwidth. The
metal columns. However, the input impedance matching in beam-width in H- and E-planes changes narrower at higher
the bandwidth is different. When the distance reduces or the frequencies in the bandwidth when the value of Lg changes
number increases, the input impedance matching in the low higher.
frequency band changes weakly. It is significant that the beam-
width at different frequency in the bandwidth changes the IV. A NTENNA M EASUREMENT
variations of the distance and the number. When the distance
To verify the proposed antenna’s performance, an antenna
reduces and the number increases, the beam-width in H- and
prototype was fabricated and measured. Fig. 16 shows a
E-planes changes wider. However, the beam-width in E-plane
photograph of the fabricated antenna prototype. The antenna
changes narrower in the middle and higher frequency bands
is verified in the microwave anechoic chamber, shown in Fig.
when the distance is 6.0 mm and 5.0 mm and the number is
17. In this section, we present the measured and simulated
3 and 5.
results of the antenna prototype at different frequencies in the
operating frequency band.
F. The size of the ground plane (Lg) Measured and simulated S11 , efficiency, directivity, and peak
Fig. 15 shows simulation results for the reflection coeffi- gain of the proposed antenna are in good agreement as shown
cient, gain, and the beam-width at different size of the ground in Fig. 18. Measured and simulated results are agreed basically
plane Lg ranging from 35 to 45 mm. It is significant that with slight discrepancies led by the fabrication tolerances and
the reflection coefficient changes with the variation of Lg. the approximate boundary conditions in the computational
The widest frequency band as well as widest beam-width is domain. The results show -10 dB impedance bandwidths of
obtained when Lg equals 40 mm, which is approximately input about 81.1% (3.3 – 7.8 GHz). Meanwhile, the peak gain of

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Fig. 18. The simulated and measured S11 and peak gain of the antenna; the
simulated directivity and efficiency of the antenna.

TABLE II
Fig. 16. The photograph of the antenna.
T HE HPBW WITH D IFFERENT F REQUENCIES IN THE BANDWIDTH

Frequency HPBW in H-plane HPBW in E-plane

(GHz) Sim. Mea. Sim. Mea.
3.5 103° 94° 123° 125°
4.0 102° 100° 139° 130°
4.5 116° 117° 184° 189°
5.0 133° 138° 210° 211°
5.5 178° 186° 214° 215°
6.0 173° 172° 224° 217°
6.5 142° 108° 220° 205°
7.0 96° 87° 204° 189°
7.5 85° 83° 132° 106°

The cross-polarization radiation characteristics in the high

frequency band are better than the ones in low frequency band.
However, the cross polarization patterns have a discrepancy
Fig. 17. The testing picture in the microwave anechoic chamber. between the simulated and measured results. This discrepancy
is mainly because the signal level of the measured cross
polarization is faint and it is easily interfered by the other
the antenna is from 2.8 to 6.2 dBi and from 2.0 to 5.3 dBi, signal in the anechoic chamber.
with the frequency from 3.3 to 7.8 GHz, for measurements and The measured and simulated HPBWs with different frequen-
simulation, respectively. The difference between the simulated cies in the bandwidth are shown in Table II. It could be found
and measured gains is less than 1 dB. However, the gain curves in the table that the variations of the beam-widths were only a
from measurements and simulation exhibit similar trends and few degrees for the measured and simulated results. However,
match very well. The gain in the middle operating frequency the performance of the wide band and wide beam-width in
band is lower than one in other operating frequency band. H- and E-planes is realized by the proposed antenna. The
Since the beam-width of the antenna is wider in this oper- beam-widths in E-plane are wider than the ones in H-plane
ating frequency band. The simulated efficiency in the whole in the whole operating bandwidth. The widest beam-width of
frequency band is more than 80%. The simulated directivity the proposed antenna is 186° in H-plane and 215° in E-plane
of the antenna is shown in Fig. 18 (b). It is significant that the at 5.5 GHz. And the narrowest beam-width of the proposed
directivity is low in the middle bandwidth. antenna is 83° in H-plane and 106° in E-plane at 7.5 GHz.
Measured and simulated radiation patterns of the proposed
antenna with different frequencies in the whole operating
bandwidth are depicted in Fig. 19 and in good agreement. V. C OMPARISON AND D ISCUSSION
They show unidirectional and stable radiation patterns over the Table III compares key data of the proposed antenna with
operating bandwidth. Due to the symmetry of the structure, it that of a representative sample for various types of ME
is easy to understand that the radiation patterns are almost dipole antennas. Compared with the slot antenna in [26], the
symmetrical in the H-plane (yoz-plane) and E-plane (xoz- proposed antenna has a lower gain but much wider operating
plane) at the any frequency. As with most ME-dipole antennas bandwidth, lower profile, low cost, and wider beam-width in
have a symmetrical structure, the low cross-polarization radia- the whole operating bandwidth. Compared with the substrate
tion characteristics of the proposed antenna could be obtained. integrated antenna in [27], the proposed antenna has wider

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Fig. 19. The simulated and measured radiation patterns of the antenna at different frequencies.

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TABLE III
C OMPARISON OF D IFFERENT ME D IPOLE A NTENNAS AND P ROPOSED A NTENNA

S11 <-10dB
Antenna Center freq. Dimension impedance HPBW/θ (deg) Peak gain Front-to-back
Ref.
type (GHz) (mm3 ) bandwidth with E-plane H-plane (dBi) ratio (dB)
beam-width
20.5×16× 49%
[26] slot antenna 10.5 107<θ<125 77<θ<85 6.5 10
10 (7.8~ 13.2)
Substrate integrated 20.5×16× 13.5%
[27] 45.4 123<θ<126 220<θ<227 5.2 16
antenna 10 (42.3~ 48.4)
13.0%
[6] Microstrip antenna 6.8 40×40×2.1 114<θ<120 118<θ<120 5.5 15
(6.3~ 7.2)
34.8%
[28] ME dipole 2.3 94×80×26 94<θ<104 94<θ<105 4.8 12
(1.9 ~ 2.7)
65.7%
[29] ME dipole 3.0 68×56×20 75<θ 65<θ 5.0 8
(2.0~ 4.0)
100×100× 41%
[18] ME dipole 3.1 78<θ<80 115<θ<130 6.3 23
42 (2.4~ 3.7)
112×112× 54%
[30] ME dipole 2.6 / / 9.4 20
20 (1.8~ 3.3)
130×130× 46%
[31] ME dipole 2.4 / / 9.4 22.8
21 (1.8~ 3.0)
81.1%
This work ME dipole 5.5 40×40×16 106<θ<217 83<θ<186 5.3 8.5
(3.3~ 7.8)

impedance bandwidths, smaller size, as well as lower cost. VI. C ONCLUSION

Moreover, the proposed antenna does not suffer the need for a In this paper, a novel differentially driven magneto-electric
complicated feeding structure unlike this antenna. Compared dipole antenna with wideband, wide beam-width and simple
with the microstrip antenna in [6], the proposed antenna has structure has been demonstrated. The special ME-dipole for-
a higher profile but much wider operating bandwidth, lower mation of the antenna enables to change the current distribu-
cost, and wider beam-width. Compared with the magneto- tion of the antenna. The vertical current and the horizontal
electric dipole antenna with stable wide beam-width in E- current on the Г-shaped metal plate are co-produced by the
and H-plane in [28] and the ME-dipole antenna with H- antenna. The beam-width of the antenna is broadened by the
plane beam-width in [18], which have similar structure, the vertical current and horizontal current. Moreover, the improved
proposed antenna has a lower gain but much wider operating structure of the antenna is still capable to achieve stable
bandwidth, small size, and wider beam-width in E- and H- wide operating bandwidth with good polarization purity. A
planes in whole operating bandwidth. The magneto-electric prototype was designed, fabricated, and measured to verify the
dipole antenna in [29] has stable wide beam-width and a design, which shows that the impedance bandwidth (≤ -10 dB)
slightly smaller size. However, the proposed antenna can of about 81.1% (3.3 – 7.8 GHz), symmetrically unidirectional
achieve a wider operating bandwidth, even with wider beam- radiation patterns with low cross polarization, and wide beam-
width in E- and H-plane in whole operating bandwidth. In width in E-plane and H-plane in the operating bandwidth are
addition, compared with the magneto-electric dipole antenna in achieved. The HPBW of the E- and H- planes is 215° and 186°
[30] and [31], they have similar structure with our antenna and at 5.5 GHz, respectively. The proposed method is effective
a higher gain. However, our antenna has a small size, wider for improving the radiation performance of the ME dipole
operating bandwidth and wider beam-width in E- and H-planes antenna. The proposed antenna is a good candidate for the
in the whole operating bandwidth. However, our antenna has a antenna elements of the wide-angle scanning phased array and
small size, wider operating bandwidth and wider beam-width base stations in future mobile communications.
in E- and H-planes in the whole operating bandwidth. Besides,
the Front-to-back ratio in this work is lower than the one
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0018-926X (c) 2018 IEEE. Personal use is permitted, but republication/redistribution requires IEEE permission. See http://www.ieee.org/publications_standards/publications/rights/index.html for more information.
This article has been accepted for publication in a future issue of this journal, but has not been fully edited. Content may change prior to final publication. Citation information: DOI 10.1109/TAP.2018.2870428, IEEE
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0018-926X (c) 2018 IEEE. Personal use is permitted, but republication/redistribution requires IEEE permission. See http://www.ieee.org/publications_standards/publications/rights/index.html for more information.
This article has been accepted for publication in a future issue of this journal, but has not been fully edited. Content may change prior to final publication. Citation information: DOI 10.1109/TAP.2018.2870428, IEEE
Transactions on Antennas and Propagation
11

Shi-Gang Zhou received the B.Eng. and Ph.D.

degrees in electronic engineering from Xidian Uni-
versity, Xi’an, China, in 2005 and 2010, respectively.
From 2010 to 2013, he joined as a Research Scientist
with the Temasek Laboratories, National University
of Singapore (TL@NUS), Singapore. Currently, he
is an Associate Professor with the School of Elec-
tronics and Information, Northwestern Polytechnical
University (NWPU), Xi‘an, China. His research in-
terests include high-efficiency antenna array, wide-
band antenna array, multiband antenna array, phased
array, broadband electrical small antenna, and numerical computation electro-
magnetic.

0018-926X (c) 2018 IEEE. Personal use is permitted, but republication/redistribution requires IEEE permission. See http://www.ieee.org/publications_standards/publications/rights/index.html for more information.