Broad Band and Multiband Microstrip Antenna.

ECE 8190-Advance Antenna Theory

Robin Raju 7717203

Bandwidth of an Antenna
Bandwidth of antenna: The bandwidth of an antenna is defined as the range of frequencies within which the performance of the antenna, with respect to some characteristic, conforms to a specified standard. [1] What are the Characteristics? Input impedance Radiation Pattern Polarization

[1]Balanis, Constantine A. Antenna theory: analysis and design/Constantine A. Balanis. J. Wiley, New York, 1982.

Comparison of Different Patch Shapes

Comparison of Various Regularly Shaped Broadband MSAs er = 1, h = 0.5 cm, and d = 0.12 cm[2]
[2] Garg, Ramesh. Microstrip antenna design handbook. Artech house publishers, 2001.

Broadbanding
One of the serious Limitations of Microstrip Antenna Narrow Bandwidth.
Typically fractions of centre Frequency f0 to a few Percent of f0.

So how to Improve the operating Bandwidth of a Microstrip Antenna??

BW volume = area height = length width height=1/er[1] Thus, operating bandwidth of the MSA can be enhanced by increasing the height of the patch or reducing the dielectric constant of the patch.

Let Us Increase The Height And Reduce The Dielectric Constant Of The Substrate[1]

What if we have do not have the option of changing the Dielectric?[2]

Suspended MSA

Equivalent MSA

Inverted Suspended MSA

Suspended MSA

Why use Inverted Configuration?

The top dielectric substrate acts as a protective layer that can be painted, so a separate radome is not necessary

Why Not use Inverted Configuration?

The total height of the patch from the ground plane is reduced, so the bandwidth is lower than the Suspended counterpart.

How Good is it to Increase Height for Bandwidth Improvement?

Increase in height increases the surface wave. Pattern Degradation. Increased Spurious Radiation. Higher order modes may develop along the thickness distorting the Radiation Characteristics and the impedance characteristics. Causes impedance matching problems due to increased input inductance.

Effect Of Increased Height On Impedance

Equivalent Circuit of RMSA with Coaxial Probe Feed.[3]

Input impedance plots of a rectangular patch suspended in air for three values of h ( ) 2, ( - - - ) 3, and ( - . - ) 4 cm.[2]

The Impedance Locus moves away from the real Axis as the height increases due to increase in Inductance of the probe

[3]du Toit, L. J., and J. H. Cloete. "Equivalent circuits for an electrically thick square patch directly fed by a coaxial probe or by a microstrip line." Antennas and Propagation Society International Symposium, 1988. AP-S. Digest. IEEE, 1988.

Probe Compensation
1. Use a series Capacitance with the probe[4] [6]

[7]

[5]

[8]

[4] Griffin, J. M., and J. R. Forrest. "Broadband circular disc microstrip antenna." Electronics Letters 18.6 (1982): 266-269. [5] Hall, P. S. "Probe compensation in thick microstrip patches." Electronics Letters 23.11 (1987): 606-607. [6] Fong, K. S., H. F. Pues, and M. J. Withers, Wideband Multilayer Coaxial Fed Microstrip Antenna Elements, Electronics Letters, Vol. 21, No. 11, 1985, pp. 497499. [7] Mak, C. L., K. F. Lee, and K. M. Luk, Broadband patch antenna with a T-shaped probe, IEE Proc. Microwaves, Antennas Propagation, Pt. H, Vol. 147, 2000, pp. 7376. [8] Luk, K. M., et al., Broadband Microstrip Patch Antenna, Electronics Letters, Vol. 34, 1998, pp. 14421443.

Electromagnetically Coupled MSA[9]

Possibility of placing the feed network closer to the ground plane, resulting in reduction of radiation from various transmission line discontinuities. At the same time the patch-ground plane spacing can be increased to obtain greater bandwidth. Match of the patch to the feed line is simply achieved by selecting an appropriate line-patch overlap. The absence of physical connections between resonator and feed line facilitates fabrication of the antenna.
[9]Splitt, G., and M. Davidovitz, Guidelines for the Design of Electromagnetically Coupled Microstrip Patch Antennas on Two-Layered Substrate, IEEE Trans. Antennas Propagation, Vol. AP-38, No. 7, 1990, pp. 11361140.

Design Curves
1. Given the bandwidth and resonant frequency specifications, the substrate parameters can be selected . 2. Having determined the substrate parameters, the patch dimensions for the specified resonant frequency 3. The optimal ratio t1min/t for the given t /eq, , can be obtained. Achievable BW~13-15%

Aperture Coupled MSA[10]

The top patch could be fabricated on a thick low dielectric substrate to enhance the BW, and the feed network on the other side of the ground plane could be on a thin high dielectric substrate to reduce radiation losses. Radiation from the feed network does not interfere with the main radiation pattern, since the ground plane separates the two substrates. Radiation from the feed network does not interfere with the main radiation pattern, since the ground plane separates the two substrates. The excess reactance of the antenna can be compensated for by varying the length Ls of the opencircuited microstrip stub. The input impedance is easily controlled by the size, shape, and position of the aperture.

[10] Pozar D M,A Microstrip Antenna Aperture Coupled to Microstrip Line, Electron. Lett, Vol 21,1985,pp 49-50

Equivalent Circuit Model for ACMSAs[11,12]

Transmission Line Equivalent of patch fed by a slot in the ground plane[11]

Simplified Equivalent Circuit Model of an aperture coupled Antenna[11]

An improved equivalent circuit for the aperture coupled microstrip antenna[12] [11] Himdi M., J P Daniel,C Terrer,Transmission Line Analysis of Aperture Coupled Microstrip Antenna, Electron. Lett., Vol. 25,1989,pp12291230. [12] Ittipiboon, A., et a., A Model Expansion Method of Analysis and Measurement on Aperture Coupled Microstrip Antenna, IEEE Trans., Antenna and Propagation, Vol. AP-39,1991,pp. 1567-1574.

Design Considerations
As the aperture length is increased, coupling increases, which results in an increase in the resonant input impedance. Increase in width also shows similar behaviour. Change in the Feed line Length changes the input reactance, thus can be used for reactance compensation. As the offset position along the length of the increases from its centre the coupling decreases. While it increases slightly with increase in misalignment along its width. With the increase in er of the dielectric the coupling increases. With the increase in the height the coupling decreases. Effect of Shape of the Aperture[13]:

Coupling can be increased by having a longitudinal arm, which creates a uniform field along the length of the slot.
[13] Ramesh Garg, Bharti B, Microstrip Antenna Handbook.

Concept of Broad Banding with Multiple Resonators

Further Improvement in Bandwidth Using Aperture Coupling.

By carefully selecting the resonance frequency of the patch and the Aperture the bandwidth can be enhanced, as demonstrated in [14], BW~22%

[14]Croq, F., and A. Papiernik. "Large bandwidth aperture-coupled microstrip antenna." Electronics Letters 26.16 (1990): 12931294.

L-Probe Feeding Technique for Broad Bandwidth[8]

Measured radiation patterns at 4.53GHz

Fig. 3. Far-field patterns at 4.5 GHz (W = 30mm,W = 25mm, L = 10 mm, L = 4:95 mm,H = 6:6 mm, andD = 2mm) (a)H-plane (b) E-plane Measured gain and S WR against frequency

BW~36% (SWR<2)

Design Considerations for L Probe Fed[9]

Wy Determines the resonant frequency. Input resistance increases with increase in Width Wx. As Lh increases input resistance and reactance increases. As Lv increases input resistance increaes and reactance becomes more Inductive. When D > 0 very less variation in the input impedance. Effect on Antenna Parameters: In the E -plane, the cross polarization is very low. Very Less Variation of co and cross polarization in H Plane with Variation in Lh. Shorter Lv produces smaller cross-polarized field in the H-plane; however, if is selected to be very small, it is difficult to match the antenna to the 50- coaxial feed. The cross-polarization in the H-plane with D<0 is higher than that with D>0; and
Smith-chart of the resonant input impedance under different Lh and Lv with W = 0.45 times wavelength [9]Y. X. Guo, C. L. Mak, K. M. Luk, and K. F. Lee, Analysis and design of L-probe proximity fed patch antenna, IEEE Trans. Antennas propagation., vol. 49, pp. 145149, Feb. 2001.

Planar Multiresonator Technique

Radiation pattern of two gap-coupled RMSA at frequencies 2.9 GHz, 3.0 Ghz, 3.1GHz

Input impedance For Different Spacing s Between the Patches

Two Equal Parasitic Patches

Two Un-Equal Parasitic Patches

Similar Extension to other edges

Design Considerations:
Choose the substrate parameters and dimensions of patches based on the required resonance and BW. The gap between the fed and parasitic patches depends primarily on er and h of the substrate. If the spacing is too small, then the coupling between the patches is more likely to lead to a bigger loop size in the impedance loci. On the other hand, a larger gap reduces the loop size thereby reducing the BW. The spacing increases with h and reduces with er . A good starting point for the value of the gap is around 0.8h for the radiating-edge gap-coupled RMSA and around 0.3h for the nonradiatingedge gap-coupled RMSA. The location of the feed point x for the coupled configuration is always shifted more toward the edge as compared to that of a single patch

Direct Coupling
Why? To obtain larger Coupling. Length of the strip > 2xh to avoid Hybrid Coupling Increased Width of the strip increases the coupling. BW ~ 18.3%

BW~18.3%

BW~24%

Gap Coupled Circular MSA

Other Patch Antenna with Parasitic Coupling

Stacked Resonators

Electromagnetically Coupled Probe feed Stacked Microstrip Patch Antenna

Aperture Coupled Stacked Broad Band Patch Antena BW ~75%

Stacked Multi Resonators

Broad Band Compact MSAs

Miniaturization Techniques Suited for Broad Band Characteristics of Microstrip Antenna. 1. Shorted MSAs 2. Partially Shorted 3. Single Shorting Pin MSAs 4. Slot Loaded MSAs 5. Slot and Short Loaded MSAs

Shorted MSAs

Shorted MSAs

Shorted Broadband MSA

Ref: Wood, C. "Improved bandwidth of microstrip antennas using parasitic elements." Microwaves, Optics and Antennas, IEE Proceedings H 127.4 (1980): 231-234.

Slot Loaded MSAs

U Slot Loaded MSA

The First Resonance : The first resonant frequency appears to be dominated by the first slot resonance in the dielectric substrate. The Second Resonance : The second resonant frequency is strongly related to the TM01 mode of the patch. The Third Resonance : indicates the existence of a mode in the xdirection of the patch ,that is for the current path those between the feed point and the Vertical Left and Vertical Right patch edges. The fourth resonant frequency is mainly the first resonant frequency of the slot in air, moderated by a y-directed resonance of the small pseudopatch formed inside the U-slot.
Weigand, S., Huff, G. H., Pan, K. H., & Bernhard, J. T. (2003). Analysis and design of broad-band single-layer rectangular U-slot microstrip patch antennas. Antennas and Propagation, IEEE Transactions on, 51(3), 457-468.

E Plane and H-Plane Pattern.

xx

BW=~47%

Multiband Antenna

The simplest way to operate at dual frequencies is to use the first resonance of the two orthogonal dimensions of the rectangular patch, ie., the TM100 and the TM010 modes. The obvious limitation of this approach is that the two different frequencies excite two orthogonal polarizations. Anyway, this simple method is very useful in low-cost short-range applications, where polarization requirements are not pressing.
Maci, S., and G. Biffi Gentili. "Dual-frequency patch antennas." Antennas and Propagation Magazine, IEEE 39.6 (1997): 13-20.

Multi Patch

Only a limited value of the frequency ratio, so that they are suitable for short-link transmit-receive modules or vehicular-satellite communications. Radar applications, such as SAR and multi-spectral scatterometers, often require a large separation between the frequencies, so that the multiresonator structure must involve patches of very different sizes.

Reactive Loading
connect a stub to one radiating edge, in such a way as to introduce a further resonant length that is responsible for the second operating frequency. a spur-line (notch loading) is an alternative way to introduce a multi frequency behavior that creates the same effect as the microstripl oading effect, with the advantage of reduced size

modify the resonant frequency of the other modes, by using shorting vias or lumped capacitors between the patch and the ground plane. reactive loading can be introduced by etching slots on the patch. The slot loading allows for a strong modification of the resonant mode of a rectangular patch, particularly when the slots are oriented to cut the current lines of the unperturbed mode.

Thank You