Objectives  In order to effectively improve the gain and bandwidth of antennae, a low-cost and tunable stacked microstrip antenna based on ferrite is proposed for WLAN.

  Methods  By adopting magnetic ferrite as the substrate of the microstrip antenna, its performance and response to external electromagnetic fields can be adjusted. Its directional characteristics can also be tuned via a laminated substrate structure to improve the gain. By arranging elliptical parasitic patches in a clockwise direction around the metal patch, the bandwidth characteristics of the antenna can be effectively improved.

  Results  The measured data and simulation results are in good agreement, covering the entire frequency band range of 5.15–5.35 GHz in the WLAN system. According to the test results, the relative bandwidth of the antenna in the C-band is 19% and its highest gain is 9.15 dBi.

  Conclusions  The results of this study can provide references for the design of miniaturized and magnetically tunable antennas.