Bandwidth enhancement of a planar printed Quasi-Yagi antenna with size reduction

A compact planar printed quasi-Yagi antenna is presented. The proposed antenna consists of a microstrip line to slotline transition structure, a driver dipole and two parasitic strips. The driver dipole is connected to the slotline through coplanar stripline (CPS). The ground plane is modified by symmetrically adding two extended stubs to reduce the lateral size. Experimental and simulated results show that the proposed quasi-Yagi antenna has a wide bandwidth and good unidirectional radiation characteristics. Compared with conventional printed quasi-Yagi antennas, the width of the proposed quasi-Yagi antenna is reduced by approximately 16.7%. The proposed antenna presents an excellent end-fire radiation with a front-to-back ratio greater than 10 dB. Its measured bandwidth is from 3.6-11.6 GHz with a ratio of about 3.22: 1. A moderate gain, which is better than 4 dBi, is obtained. © 1963-2012 IEEE.