A Water Dense Dielectric Patch Antenna

A novel water dense dielectric patch antenna (DDPA) fed by an L-shaped probe is proposed and investigated. In contrast to the water antennas in the literature, including the water monopole and the water dielectric resonator antenna, the operation mechanism of the proposed water DDPA is similar to the conventional metallic patch antenna. The antenna is excited in a mode like the TM₁₀ mode of the rectangular patch antenna. An L-shaped probe, which is widely used for the conventional patch antenna, is used to excite the water DDPA. A study on the bandwidth performance of the proposed design reveals that wide bandwidth can be achieved for the antenna by choosing a thick supporting substrate between the water patch and the ground plane. A prototype is fabricated to confirm the correctness of the design. An impedance bandwidth of 8%, maximum gain of 7.3 dBi, radiation efficiency up to 70%, and symmetrically unidirectional patterns with low backlobe and low cross polarization levels are obtained. Furthermore, owing to the transparency of the water patch, the proposed water DDPA can be conveniently integrated with the solar cells to realize a dual-function design. Measurements on the prototype demonstrate that the existence of the solar cells does not significantly affect the performance of the antenna and vice versa.