Dispersion Engineered Passive Matching Loads to Extend the Bandwidth of Electrically Small Antennas

The need for antennas that are at the same time broadband and electrically small has always been one of the open challenges in the area of antenna design and engineering, and it has recently become of tantalizing importance, given the growth of wireless communications and the demand for sophisticated electronic devices typically packing tens of antennas with different functionalities and frequencies of operation. Here we propose a research program to conceive, design and realize dispersion engineered matching loads capable of extending the bandwidth-efficiency product of electrically small antennas well beyond the Chu’s lower bound for a single-resonant passive, linear, time-invariant antenna. We will use passive, linear, time-invariant loading elements, but dispersion engineer their response in frequency through tailored circuit configurations to minimize the Q-energy of the antenna, enhancing the bandwidth without sacrificing the efficiency. We will explore various solutions to optimize the response of the antennas, and explore various relevant configurations of interest for commercial and defense applications, aiming at demonstrating operations beyond the Chu’s lower bound within practically viable and commercially appealing antenna setups.