A Packaged Miniature Antenna for Wireless Networking Bedri A. Cetiner, L. Jofre, F. De Flaviis University of California at Irvine, Electrical and Computer Engineering Department 2237 Engineering Gateway, Irvine, CA 92697-2625 Phone: 949 824 6181, Fax: 949 824 3732 E-mail: bedri@uci.edu Abstract A novel miniature antenna structure (approaching the smallest fundamental size limits) having numerous qualities such as low cost, efficient circuit (broad bandwidth) and radiation characteristics (suitable for wide angular coverage) has been developed. Owing to its very small size and radiation performance, it is compatible for packaging constraints and can be easily integrated in a big variety of portable devices. In addition, the dual band behavior of the antenna makes it an excellent candidate to be used in communication equipment in which different radio modules are integrated. Experimental prototypes operating at different frequencies were built and measured. Comparison between measured data and simulated results are provided for both impedance behavior and radiation characteristics. Key Words: small antenna, communication systems, wireless networking, packaging. I. Introduction The new emerging standard of radio interfaces (Bluetooth, Hiperlan, etc..) allows a broad kind of home and handheld electronic devices to be rapidly interconnected into ad hoc networks. Building these new wireless networks also represents, however, a number of new challenges, one of which is related to the antenna and radio link interface. In order to get low cost, compact and reliable RF units, a big effort has to be made to further reduce the actual antenna size, increasing its robustness at the same time. The current trends in communication systems to integrate different radio modules into same piece of equipment and miniaturization of every possible component require small size multi-band antennas. In addition, the need to employ antenna diversity on the communication system to improve receiver performance is another factor that drives demand for small antennas. A novel miniature antenna (diameter<0.1λ and thickness<0.03λ) compatible with the packaging constraints and easily integrable in a large variety of portable devices, having dual band characteristic is presented in this paper. The design landmarks as well as the impedance characteristics and radiation behaviors of the novel antenna are presented. Antenna prototypes operating at different frequencies have been designed, fabricated and tested for validation and prototyping purposes. Very good agreement between numerical and experimental results has been obtained with frequency bandwidths of up to 13%. An embedded geometry adapted to the common chip dimensions (10x10x1.3mm), designed for dual-band operation covering frequency range from 5.3 GHz to 6.3GHz are presented and its circuital and radiation characteristics are discussed. The miniaturization of communication system components such as semiconductors, filters, resistors, capacitors, etc. is mainly limited by technology issues such as tightly controlled clean room facilities. Reduction of antenna size, on the other hand, can be obtained at the cost of antenna performances: narrower bandwidth, low gain and efficiency. The reason is that the antenna’s electrical dimensions, gain and bandwidth are related through fundamental physical laws [1]. So the key issue of designing a small size antenna is to exploit the limits of fundamental laws. Various techniques have been used to reduce the size, increase the bandwidth, and shape the radiation pattern of antennas, such as using of high permittivity material [2], shorting pins or walls [3], slot etching [4] and stacking several layers [5]. Our proposed antenna, so called the dime antenna, has a structural geometry that combines the