Abstract:

This paper presents a novel broadband filtenna design for 5G applications. The filtenna structure comprise of a bow tie slot loaded path antenna with a four-pole lowpass filter structure on the feed-line. In addition, the defected ground structure method was applied to miniaturize the size and widen the operating frequency bandwidth. The proposed filtenna was designed and optimized with utilizing Keysight’s PathWave EM Design (EMPro) software. In addition, the filtenna design was analysed with utilizing four different substrates, which are Rogers RT5880, RO3003, RO4003 and RT6006, and the electromagnetic simulation results were presented. Moreover, the design was manufactured with utilizing Rogers RT5880 and the design was validated with the measurements. The developed filtenna operates at a centre frequency of 3.9 GHz and the operating frequency bandwidth of 2.86 to 4.89 GHz which yields a fractional bandwidth of 52%. Furthermore, the filtenna has a reflection coefficient better than -10 dB and the measured maximum antenna gain was 3.26 dBi. The filtenna has a compact size of 0.463λ_0×0.506λ_0 where λ_0 is the wavelength at the center frequency. The proposed filtenna can be utilized for 5G applications with its compact-size, low-cost and high-performance characteristics.

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