Electrically small antennas represent one of the most challenging design problems for the antenna engineer. As electronic components and devices rapidly decrease in size, there is an increasing demand for physically smaller antennas. At some frequencies, the requirement for a physically small antenna does not necessarily translate into a requirement for an electrically small antenna. However, with decreasing physical size at any frequency, the design challenge increases because performance requirements are rarely relaxed. This presentation provides an overview of the theory, challenges and performance trade-offs associated with the design of electrically small antennas. Additionally, several electrically small antenna designs are presented with a specific focus on recent advances made in this field.

The presentation begins with an overview of the basic theory and concepts associated with electrically small antennas. This segment of the presentation provides an understanding of antenna performance limitations in terms of impedance, radiation patterns, bandwidth, efficiency, and quality factor. The presentation continues with a discussion of recent advances in the field of electrically small antenna design. Numerous techniques used to design self-resonant electrically small antennas are discussed. Techniques discussed include dielectric loading, impedance loading, linear loading (increasing wire length), top-loading, folded configurations, Genetic Algorithm optimization, etc. The resonant performance properties of numerous antenna configurations and types are presented and compared. The relationship between the antenna’s performance characteristics and its physical properties are discussed. Issues such as the significance of antenna geometry and current vector alignment in establishing the resonant properties of an antenna are considered. The presentation concludes with a discussion of recent advances in the design of low profile, conformal and integrated device antennas.

Steven R. Best received the B.Sc.Eng and the Ph.D. degrees in Electrical Engineering in 1983 and 1988, respectively, from the University of New Brunswick in Fredericton, NB Canada. In 1987 he joined Chu Associates in El Cajon, CA as Senior Electrical Engineer where he worked on the design and development of a number of antenna systems operating in the HF, VHF, and UHF through S-band frequency ranges. In 1990 he was appointed to the position of General Manager of Chu’s West Coast operation. In 1992 he relocated to Massachusetts and was appointed to the position of Vice-President and General Manager of D&M/Chu Technologies. In 1993 he co-founded and was Vice-President of Parisi Antenna Systems. In 1996 he joined Cushcraft Corporation as Director of Engineering and was appointed to the position of company President in 1997. In 2002 he joined the Air Force Research Laboratory, Sensors Directorate, Antenna Technology Branch (AFRL/SNHA) at Hanscom AFB where his engineering and research activities include electrically small antennas, wideband antennas, low-profile and conformal antennas, phased arrays and electromagnetic bandgap materials used in antenna design.

Dr. Best has over 16 years of experience in business management and antenna research, design and manufacture in both military and commercial markets. He is the author or co-author of over 80 papers in various journal, conference and industry publications. He frequently presents a three-day short course on antennas and propagation for wireless communications and he is the author of a CD-ROM series on antennas for wireless communication systems. Dr Best is a Senior Member of the IEEE, a member of Sigma Xi and a member of ACES. He is an Associate Editor for the IEEE Antennas and Wireless Propagation Letters and a Member-at-Large for the IEEE Boston Section.