PRINTED, INTEGRABLE, DIPOLE-SLOT DIVERSITY-ANTENNA SYSTEM FOR COMPACT, 5 GHz WLAN ACCESS POINT

A printed, diversity-antenna system embedded inside a compact, 5 GHz wireless local area network (WLAN) access point (AP) and integrated with the system printed circuit board (PCB) thereof is proposed. The antenna system comprises two closely packed antennas: one dipole and one open slot, which form into a hybrid of dipole and slot antennas. The antennas occupy a small size of 12.5 x 27 mm(2) and are etched on an inexpensive FR4 antenna substrate, which is situated above the AP system PCB by an air separation of distance 6.4 mm. In this case, the design makes use of the ground plane of the system PCB as an efficient reflector for both antennas and integrates the system PCB into an internal multiantenna solution for wireless AP applications. The dipole and the slot antennas were also positioned in such a way that the radiation with polarization diversity can be realized. The results showed that good input matching with a reflection coefficient of -14 dB over the 5 GHz bands was obtained. High-gain and directional radiation patterns were also observed. (C) 2011 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Microwave Opt Technol Lett 53:1087-1094, 2011; View this article online at wileyonlinelibrary.com. DOI 10.1002/mop.25911