Effects of Finite Superstrate and Asymmetrical Ground on High Gain Superstrate Antenna

Abstract

In this paper, we present the effects of finite superstrates and asymmetrical grounds on the performance of high gain superstrate antennas. First, when the source of a superstrate antenna is located at an edge of a ground plane, that is, an asymmetric ground plane, the gain of the superstrate antenna can be made to match the gain of the superstrate antenna with a symmetrical ground plane using the PEC (E-plane asymmetric) or the AMC wall (H-plane asymmetric) near the edge. Second, the gain of the superstrate antenna, which has a ground plane with dimensions sufficiently close to infinite, is found to be roughly proportional to the reflection magnitude of a partially reflective surface (PRS). It is found that when the square ground size has a finite dimension of two wavelengths or less, the reflection magnitude of the PRS should have the optimum value for achieving maximum gain. Finally, the gain of the superstrate antenna is studied when the ground plane differs from a PRS. For the above three cases, the performances of the superstrate antenna are verified and compared by analysis, full-wave simulation, and measurement.