MUTUAL COUPLING REDUCTION BETWEEN MICROSTRIP ANTENNAS USING ELECTROMAGNETIC BANDGAP STRUCTURE

When the number of antenna elements is placed in forming the arrays, mutual coupling between the antenna elements is a critical issue. This is particularly concern in phase array antennas. Mutual coupling is a potential source of performance degradation in the form of deviation of the radiation pattern from the desired one, gain reduction due to excitation of surface wave, increased side lobe levels etc. EBG (Electromagnetic Band Gap) structure (also called as Photonic Bandgap Structure PBG) not only enhances the performance of the patch antennas but also provides greater amount of isolation when placed between the microstrip arrays. This greatly reduces the mutual coupling between the antenna elements. The radiation efficiency, gain, antenna efficiency, VSWR, frequency, directivity etc greatly improves over the conventional patch antennas using EBG. The EBG structure and normal patch antenna is simulated using IE3D antenna simulation software.