Investigation of Antenna-Integrated Transparent Socket Panel

This paper presents the first antenna-integrated socket that can be used in place of the commercial socket. The socket panel is made of K9 glass for the aesthetic purpose. It serves as the dielectric resonator (DR) loading for the integrated slot antenna fabricated in the ground plane. The socket (DR)-loaded slot antenna is directly fed by a coaxial cable at the slot center. Considering the practical scenarios, the antenna is investigated in three different cases, namely the socket panel, socket panel with plug, and socket panel with the plug and cable. For demonstration, the socket-loaded antenna is designed in 2.4-GHz WLAN band (2.40–2.48 GHz). The reflection coefficient, radiation pattern, antenna gain, and efficiency in each case are measured. Measured results show that the impedance bandwidth can cover the entire frequency band. The antenna can be potentially used as a camouflaged antenna or an attractive home or office decoration.