IJCST Vol.

1, Issue 1, September 2010

ISSN : 2229-4333(Print) | ISSN : 0976-8491(Online)

Novel Dual-band CPW-fed Monopole Slot Antenna for

WLAN/WiMAX Applications
Davinder Parkash1, Dr. Rajesh Khanna2, Vikas Kumar1, Ankit Chaudhary1
1

Haryana College of Technology and Management, Kaithal

2
Thapar University, Patiala
E-mail : devinder@ieee.org , vikas_rs97@yahoo.com

Abstract : A novel dual-band design of a finite ground coplanar

waveguide (CPW)-fed monopole antenna is presented for
simultaneously satisfying wireless local area network (WLAN)
and worldwide interoperability for Microwave Access (WiMAX)
applications. The proposed antenna, comprising a rectangular
planar patch element embedded with two L shaped slots
and stair shape slot in the middle of the patch element. The
simulated -10 dB bandwidth for return loss is from 3.34 to
4.056 GHz and 4.736 to 5.432 GHz, covering some of the
WiMAX and WLAN bands. Prototypes of the obtained optimized
antenna have been designed and constructed. The parametric
study is performed to understand the characteristics of the
proposed antenna. Also, good antenna performances such as
radiation patterns and antenna gains over the operating bands
have been observed and simulated peak gain of the antenna
is 4.88 dBi at 4.3 GHz.
Index Terms : Dual-band antennas, Monopole antennas,
WiMAX and WLAN
I. Introduction
Multiband printed monopole antennas have aroused widespread
applications, especially in low power wireless communication
gadgets. In the era of modern wireless communication systems,
dual-band or multiband antennas with omni-directional
radiation characteristics play a vital role [1, 2]. Advances in
wireless communication technologies are placing greater
demands on higher antenna impedance bandwidth and smaller
antenna size. The design of broadband antennas has received
the attention of many antenna researchers due to their various
applications [3]. The currently popular designs suitable for
WLAN operation in the 2.4 GHz (2.42.484 GHz) and 5.2/5.8
GHz (5.155.35 GHz/5.7255.825GHz) bands and WiMAX
operation in the 2.5/3.5/5.5 GHz bands have been reported in
[1-14]. The planar monopole antenna has received much more
interest than others, due to its potential in providing the various
radiation features required for dual-band or multi-band, wide
bandwidth, low profile communication systems. However, these
kinds of antennas mostly need a large ground plane, which is
often printed on the opposite side of the substrate from the
radiating plane. Thus a via-hole connection is always necessary
for feeding the signal, and this increases the manufacturing
difficulty and cost. Recently, the coplanar waveguide (CPW)-fed
monopole antenna has become very popular in WLAN and
WiMAX systems, owing to its many attractive features such
as, wider bandwidth, low radiation loss, a simple structure of a
single metallic layer and easy integration with WLAN integrated
circuits [8].
In this paper, a proposed antenna design with CPW-feed
technology has been used to achieve dual-band operation for
both WLAN and WiMAX bands. The proposed dual band antenna
consists of a rectangular shaped patch element embedded with
two L shaped slots and stair-shape slot in the middle of the
patch element, capable of generating two separate bands with
w w w. i j c s t. c o m

good impedance matching conditions. This way, the antenna

can achieve a dual-band performance to simultaneously cover
the most commonly used 5.2 GHz WLAN and 3.5 GHz WiMAX
bands. Details of the proposed antenna design are described in
the paper, and simulated results are presented and discussed
in the following sections.
II. Antenna Design
Fig.1 shows the geometry of the proposed finite ground
coplanar waveguide (CPW) fed dual-band monopole antenna.
The proposed antenna was fabricated on FR4 substrate with
dielectric constant 4.4 and thickness 1.6 mm. The basis of the
antenna structure is chosen to be a rectangular patch element
with dimensions of width W and length L, and with a vertical
spacing of d away from the ground plane. A conventional CPWfed line designed with a fixed signal strip thickness Wf and a
gap distance of g between the signal strip and the coplanar
ground plane is used for exciting the radiating patch element.
Two finite ground planes with the same size of width Wg and
length Lg, are situated symmetrically on each side of the CPW
feeding line.

Fig. 1 Geometry of the proposed dual-band antenna

The final optimized dimensions of proposed antenna are: length
of the rectangular patch L=19.3mm, width of the rectangular
patch W=19.27mm, width of ground plane Wg=10.2 mm, length
of ground plane Lg=16.2 mm. Slot length are: L1=5.7mm,
L2=7.5mm, L3=10.2mm, L4=14.6 mm, L5=9.41mm and having
slot width of Ws=1mm. The space between the rectangular
patch and ground plane g=3mm and the feed line width of
the feeding port is Wf = 3mm and vertical spacing between
feed-line and ground plane d=1mm. The optimum parameters
are obtained with the aid of IE3D software. Total volume of the
proposed antenna is 0.6 cm3. Photograph of the fabricated
prototype is shown in Fig.2.

International Journal of Computer Science and Technology 21

IJCST Vol. 1, Issue 1, September 2010

ISSN : 2229-4333(Print) | ISSN : 0976-8491(Online)

5
0

Return Loss (dBi)

-5
-10
-15
-20
-25

g=2mm
g=3mm(optimized)
g=3.5mm
g=4.5mm

-30
-35
-40

Fig. 2 Photograph of the proposed antenna

III. Results And Discussion

The simulated parametric study results and return losses for
the proposed monopole antenna are obtained. The simulated
return losses are presented for the optimized set of antenna
parameters in Fig.3.The simulated impedance bandwidth of
the proposed antenna covers two impedance bandwidths, 3.34
to 4.056 GHz as the lower band and 4.736 to 5.432 GHz
as the upper band, respectively. It can cover the 5.155.35
GHz WLAN band, and 3.43.69 GHz WiMAX band of wireless
communication system.

Return Loss(dBi)

-5
-10

Frequency(GHz)

Fig. 4 Effect of variaition of gap between patch and ground

on return loss
It is observed from the simulation results study that by
decreasing the gap from the optimum value, the impedance
bandwidth decreases in both the bands. It is also observed from
simulation result that by increasing the gap from optimum value,
the bandwidth in lower-band increases whiles the bandwidth
decreases in upper frequency band. The optimal performance
is obtained for g = 3 mm.
The current distribution of the proposed antenna using IE3D
simulator is shown in Fig. 5. The surface currents mainly flow
along the lower edges of patch and over the lower edges of the
slot L1, L2 and L5 and along the signal strip line.

-15
-20
-25
-30

Simulated
3

Frequency(GHz)

Fig. 3 Simulated return losses of the proposed antenna

The parametric study is carried out by simulating the antenna
with one geometry parameter slightly changed from the
reference design while all the other parameters are fixed. Fig.
4 shows the variation on the return losses due to change in
gap between the patch element and ground plane i.e. g.

22 International Journal of Computer Science and Technology

Fig. 5 Simulated current distribution of the proposed

antenna.
The simulated radiation patterns of the proposed CPW-fed
monopole antenna are presented in Fig. 6-7 for different
frequencies at 3.5 GHz and 5.2 GHz. The simulated radiation
patterns cut in the azimuthal plane (x-y) is shown in Fig. 6(a)
and cut in the elevation plane (y-z) is shown in Fig. 6(b) for the
proposed antenna at the lower frequency band of 3.5 GHz
is presented and respectively radiation pattern at 5.2 GHz
frequency is shown in Fig.7.

w w w. i j c s t. c o m

IJCST Vol. 1, Issue 1, September 2010

ISSN : 2229-4333(Print) | ISSN : 0976-8491(Online)

10
0
-10
-20
-30
-40
-50
-60
-70
-70
-60
-50
-40
-30
-20
-10
0
10

0
30

330

60

300

90

270

240

120

210

150
180

(a) Elevation Plane

(b) Azimuthal Plane

90
120

-64

60

Fig. 7 : Simulated radiation patterns at frequency 5.2 GHz

-66
-68

30

150

The simulated gain of the proposed antenna is depicted in

Fig.8. In lower band 3.34 to 4.056 GHz the gain is 2.67 dBi
with variation in gain less than 1dBi. In upper band the gain
varies from 2.72 dBi to 4.04 dBi.

-70
-72
-74
-74

180

-72
-70
-68

330

210

-66
-64

240

300
270

(b) Azimuthal Plane

Fig. 6 : Simulated radiation pattern at frequency 3.5 GHz
The radiation pattern obtained in the x-y plane is nearly
omni-directional, and that in the elevation plane is similar
to monopole kind of antenna. Radiation performance of the
antenna is acceptable at all the frequency bands.

10
0
-10
-20
-30
-40
-50
-60
-70
-80
-70
-60
-50
-40
-30
-20
-10
0
10

IV. Conclusion
A dual-band monopole antenna covering WiMAX and WLAN
bands is proposed. The various parameters of the proposed
antenna are optimized through simulation. Prototype of the
proposed antenna has been designed, simulated and fabricated.
The simulated return loss bandwidths are observed to be 3.34
to 4.056 GHz and 4.736 to 5.432 GHz in the lower and upper
frequency bands respectively. The proposed antenna provides
nearly omni-directional radiation characteristics with moderate
gain and efficiency which is suitable for the next generation
wireless communication gadgets.

0
30

330

60

300

90

270

240

(a) Elevation Plane

w w w. i j c s t. c o m

120

210

150
180

Fig. 8 Simulated peak gain of the antenna against frequency

References
[1] Teng, P.L.; Chen, H.T.; Wong, K.L., Multi-frequency planar
monopole antenna for GSM/DCS/PCS/WLAN operation.
Microwave Optical Technol. Letters, vol. 36, 2003, p. 350
352.
[2] Lee, L.S.; Hall, P.S.; and Gardner, P, Compact wideband
planar monopole antenna. Electronics Letters, vol. 35,
1999, p. 21572158.
[3] Mazinani, S. M.; Hassani, H. R., A novel omni-directional
broadband planar monopole antenna with various loading

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IJCST Vol. 1, Issue 1, September 2010

ISSN : 2229-4333(Print) | ISSN : 0976-8491(Online)

plate shapes. Progress In Electromagnetics Research,

PIER, vol. 97, 2009, p. 241-257.
[4] Dakeya, Y., Suesada, T., Asakura, K., Nakajima, N., and
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[5] Kuo, Y.L.; and Wong, K.L, Printed double-T monopole
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[7] Chung, K.; Yun, T.; and Choi, J., Wideband CPW-fed
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[8] Liu, W.C, Broadband dual-frequency cross-shaped
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[9] Liu, W.C.; and Hsu, C.F, Dual-band CPW-fed Y-shaped
monopole antenna for PCS/WLAN application. Electronics
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[10] Chen, H.D.,; and Chen, H.T, A CPW-fed dual-frequency
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[11] Liu, W.C.; and Wu, C.M, Broadband dual-frequency CPWFed planar monopole antenna with rectangular notch.
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includes the analysis and design of microstrip antennas,

RFID application, application of metamaterials and Wireless
communication.
Ankit Chaudhary was born in Haryana, India in 1988. He
received B.Tech. degree from the Deptt. of Electronics and
Communication Engineering at Kurukshetra University,
Kurukshetra in 2010. His main research interest includes
the analysis and design of multiband antennas, application
of metamaterials and Wireless Communication.

Davinder Parkash was born

in Haryana, India in 1976. He
received B.Tech. and M.Tech.
degree from the Deptt. of
Electronics and Communication
Engineering at Kurukshetra
University, Kurukshetra and NIT,
Kurukshetra in 1999 and 2007
respectively. He is currently
working toward a P.hD. degree
at Thapar University, Patiala. He
is currently working as Assoc.
Prof. and M.Tech. Coordinator at
Department of Electronics and Communication Engineering
in Haryana College of Technology and Management, Haryana
(India). He received the Young Scientist Award from the
Governor of Punjab (India) for his research work in the field of
Antenna design. He has published 15 papers in national and
international journal/ conferences. His main research interest

24 International Journal of Computer Science and Technology

Dr. Rajesh Khanna was born in

Ambala, India. He received B.Sc.
(Engg.) Degree in Electronics &
Communication in 1988 from Regional
Engineering College, Kurukshetra
and M.E. degree in 1998 from Indian
Institute of Sciences, Bangalore. He
was with Hartron R&D centre till 1993.
Until 1999, he was in All India Radio as
Assistant Station Engineer. Presently
he is working as Professor in the
Department of Electronics & Communication at Thapar Institute
of Engineering & Technology, Patiala. He has published 80
papers in national and International journal/conferences. He
has worth Rs 1.5 crore projects to his credits. His main research
interest includes the analysis and design of antennas, Wireless
Communication, MIMO and Fractional Fourier transform based
wireless systems.
Vikas Kumar is a student of B.Tech.,
Elecronics and Communication
Engineeing, H.C.T.M. Kaithal, Haryana,
India. He has carried out a project on
Dual BAND MONOPOLE ANTENNA FOR
WLAN/WIMAX APPLICATIONS using
IE3D software.

Ankit Chaudhary was born in Haryana,

India in 1988. He received B.Tech.
degree from the Deptt. of Electronics
and Communication Engineering at
Kurukshetra University, Kurukshetra
in 2010. His main research interest
includes the analysis and design of
multiband antennas, application of
metamaterials and Wireless
Communication.

w w w. i j c s t. c o m