Design of High Gain and Broadband Antennas at 60 GHz for Underground Communications Systems

A new broadband and high gain dielectric resonator antenna for millimeter wave is presented. The investigated antenna configuration consists of a periodic square ring frequency selective surfaces on a superstrate, an aperture-coupled scheme feed, an intermediate substrate, and a cylindrical dielectric resonator. This antenna is designed to cover the ISM frequency band at 60 GHz (57 GHz–64 GHz). It was numerically designed using CST microwave Studio simulation software package. Another prototype with a plain dielectric superstrate is also studied for comparison purposes. A bandwidth of 13.56% at the centered frequency of 61.34 GHz and a gain of 11 dB over the entire ISM band have been achieved. A maximum gain of 14.26 dB is obtained at 60 GHz. This is an enhancement of 9 dB compared to a single DRA. HFSS is used to validate our antenna designs. Good agreement between the results of the two softwares is obtained. With these performances, these antennas promise to be useful in the design of future wireless underground communication systems operating in the unlicensed 60 GHz frequency band