Simulation Study of Microstrip Patch Antenna with a Trident-shaped Slot for 5G Applications

This study analyzes a microstrip patch antenna with a trident-shaped slot to meet the growing bandwidth demands and high-frequency electromagnetic radiation requirements for 5G applications while minimizing fabrication complexity. Performance improvement in previous works was possible at the expense of higher fabrication size, leading to higher costs. The inclusion of the proposed trident-shaped slot resulted in an enhancement of gain, directivity, and radiation efficiency by 3.4 dB, 3.29 dB, and 2.7%, respectively. This improvement indicates a highly focused radiation pattern with a larger portion of the input power efficiently radiated into space. Meanwhile, a slight reduction in S11 (return loss) and VSWR suggests improved impedance matching due to the trident-shaped slot. In addition, for better performance, the physical parameters of the antenna: feedline width, substrate dimensions (length and width), and ground length, were varied and optimized. The S11 is -24.02 dB, which exhibits improved impedance matching, while a voltage standing wave ratio (VSWR) of 1.13 demonstrates that the transmitted signal is not reflected, and power transmission efficiency is excellent. The gain of 8.32 dB indicates good directionality for high-frequency applications. The radiation efficiency of 87.51% indicates an excellent radiation of electromagnetic waves. The bandwidth from 29.16 GHz to 29.72 GHz, a 0.56 GHz frequency range, ensures near-ideal performance across its operating spectrum. This comprehensive analysis may guide the researchers in fabricating a highly efficient Trident-shaped Slot Microstrip Patch Antenna for the increasing bandwidth and data rate requirements of 5G applications on security-oriented devices, while minimizing the antenna's cost and fabrication size.