Feeding Techniques of a Millimeter-Wave Dielectric Resonator Antenna for 5G Applications: Experimental Investigations

Abstract In this article, an experimental investigation of a rectangular millimeter-wave dielectric resonator antenna (DRA) is performed by using several feeding techniques for 5G frequency band applications. Several feeding techniques are designed and investigated here to excite a ceramic material-based DRA. The DRA designed covers the entire band 30 GHz (24.3–27.5 GHz, 28 GHz, 30 GHz) of the 5G spectrum. The measured gain of the DRA is 7.1 dBi, 6.5 dBi and 6.0 dBi using microstrip line technique, aperture-coupled technique and probe feed technique, respectively. The physical dimensions of DRA used here is 0.25λ 0 × 0.22λ 0 × 0.12λ 0 for all the feeding techniques. The substrate dimensions are 0.50λ 0 × 0.50λ 0 × 0.02λ 0 which a full ground plane except for the probe feeding technique. The physical dimensions of both the DRA and substrate are calculated considering the antenna’s resonating wavelength. It has been found that the probe feed technique has generated a maximum input impedance of 70 Ohm, and a minimum impedance of 45 Ohm is obtained using microstrip line feeding. The performance of all feeding techniques is evaluated in terms of bandwidth and gain. This experimental study can be used to identify the best feeding technique for a DRA at 5G millimeter wave frequency band.