A novel mushroom antenna with high gain using three dimensional printing.

In this paper, a novel mushroom antenna with high gain using three dimensional printing (3D printing) is proposed. The proposed antenna is comprised of the circular microstrip patch antenna and the mushroom lens by using 3D printing (the mushroom lens include the hemispherical mushroom hairstyle lens and the bowl shaped mushroom stalk). And the cambered internal surface of the bowl shaped mushroom stalk is painted in sliver conductive adhesive. The circular microstrip patch antenna is installed in the bowl shaped mushroom stalk. The good performance characteristics of the high gain depend on the directive of the hemispherical lens and the bowl shaped internal surface. The antenna is fabricated and measured, the antenna operates from 5.56 to 6.0 GHz for the reflection coefficient ≤−10 dB, and the maximum gain is 16.5 dBi at 5.8 GHz. In addition to this, the antenna is low cost, very cross polarization and easy fabrication. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]