Inkjet-Printed Millimetre-Wave PET-Based Flexible Antenna for 5G Wireless Applications

Abstract

This paper presents a millimetre-wave (mm-wave) flexible antenna designed on Polyethylene Terephthalate (PET) substrate for the 5th generation (5G) wireless applications. The antenna geometry comprises of a T-shaped patch integrated with symmetrically designed slot arrangements. The defected ground structure (DGS) concept is utilised for bandwidth enhancement and a coplanar waveguide (CPW)-fed slotted monopole antenna is embedded within an aperture cut inside the ground plane. The measurements of the inkjet-printed antenna prototype depict an impedance bandwidth of 26-40 GHz, consistent omnidirectional radiation pattern and a peak gain of 7.44 dBi at 39 GHz. The conformity and flexibility suggest potential applications of the proposed antenna in future 5G applications especially in wearables such as uniform or casual clothing.