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Defence Technology 10 (2014) 304e307
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Analysis of equivalent antenna based on FDTD method

Yun-xing YANG, Hui-chang ZHAO*, Cui DI
School of Electronic and Optical Engineering, Nanjing University of Science and Technology, Nanjing 210094, China
Received 14 January 2014; revised 17 February 2014; accepted 19 March 2014
Available online 31 July 2014

Abstract

An equivalent microstrip antenna used in radio proximity fuse is presented. The design of this antenna is based on multilayer multi-
permittivity dielectric substrate which is analyzed by finite difference time domain (FDTD) method. Equivalent iterative formula is modified
in the condition of cylindrical coordinate system. The mixed substrate which contains two kinds of media (one of them is air)takes the place of
original single substrate. The results of equivalent antenna simulation show that the resonant frequency of equivalent antenna is similar to that of
the original antenna. The validity of analysis can be validated by means of antenna resonant frequency formula. Two antennas have same
radiation pattern and similar gain. This method can be used to reduce the weight of antenna, which is significant to the design of missile-borne
antenna.
Copyright 2014, China Ordnance Society. Production and hosting by Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Keywords: Equivalent microstrip antenna; FDTD; Multi-permittivity dielectric

1. Introduction the weight of antenna. For this, a substrate with low

In recent years, antenna has drawn more and more atten-
tion with the increase in demand for military antennas [1,7].
Especially for missile-borne antenna, it is required to be
small in size and light in weight. In 1953,Deschamps pro-
posed the conception of microstrip antenna [2].The micro-
strip antenna has many advantages, such as light weight,
small size, and planar structure. Lots of work have been done
on its miniaturization [3,4].But few research focused on
decreasing the weight of antenna and leaving its basic pa-
rameters unchanged under the conditions of same size and
thickness.
In this work, another model is proposed. The aims of this
work are: a) to preserve the shape of antenna; b) to preserve
the of antenna electromagnetic parameters; and c) to decrease
* Corresponding author.
E-mail address: zhaohch@mail.njust.edu.cn (H.C. ZHAO).
Peer review under responsibility of China Ordnance Society.
permittivity and high permittivity media is taken the place of
the original substrate, in which air is used as a lower
permittivity media (high permittivity media can be any media
as its permittivity is higher than original media). The intro-
duction of the air media can effectively decrease the weight
of antenna. The analysis of equivalent antenna is based on
FDTD.
2. Equivalent antenna structure and FDTD analysis
In1966, K.S. Yee proposed the theory of FDTD [5].FDTD
is a novel method which can be used to intuitively and
succinctly describe Maxwell's equations. In this method, the
electric field and magnetic field are included in a three-
dimensional model (Yee cell). It is used for solving all the
problem of electromagnetic field. A circular antenna is
easily integrated into a warhead of bomb compared to
rectangle antenna. Therefore the formulae in Refs. [6,7]
should be amended in the cylindrical coordinate
system (see Fig. 1).

http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.dt.2014.07.005
2214-9147/Copyright 2014, China Ordnance Society. Production and hosting by Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.
 Y.X. YANG et al. / Defence Technology 10 (2014) 304e307 305

0 1 0 1
B 1 C 2  sDt n B 1 C 2Dt
Ern1 B C B C
@i 2; j; kA 2 sDtEr @i 2; j; kA 2 sDt

2        3 1
n12 1 1 n12 1 1 n12 1 1 n12 1 1
H i ; j ; k  Hz i ;j  ;k H4 i ; j; k  H4 i ; j; k 
6 z 2 2 2 2 2 2 2 2 7
6
4    7
5
1 Dz
i DrD4
2

0 1 0 1
1B 1C B 1C
Hrn2 B
1 C 2m  sDt n12 B 1 C 2Dt
@i; j 2; k 2A 2m sDtHr @i; j 2; k 2A  2m sDt

2        3 2
1 1 1 1 1
Ezn i; j 1; k  Ezn i ; j; k E4n i; j ; k 1  E4n i; j ; k
6 2 2 2 2 2 7
6
4  7
5
DrD4 Dz

Two medium exist in Yee grid (the permittivities are r1 ; r2 ). In FDTD iteration.
From Ampere circuital theorem, we have,
      
H vE 1 1
H*dl dS EdS 3 Ern2 i; j; k Ern1 i; j; k Ern i; j; k 5
c s vt 2
Assuming that the magnetic conductivities of two media
are the same. It can be known from the boundary condition The right side of Eq (5) can be extended to
of electromagnetic field that the normal component of
magnetic field on the Interface between the two media is
continuous, In cylindrical coordinate system, Eq. (3) could
be rewritten as
I
H*dl Hrn0:5 i; j 0:5; krDq  H4n0:5 i; j 0:5; k
c 4
Dr  Hrn0:5 i; j  0:5; krDq H4n0:5 i; j 0:5; kDr

Fig. 1. Yee cell. Fig. 2. Structure of substrate.

306 Y.X. YANG et al. / Defence Technology 10 (2014) 304e307

   
vE Xm X n
vE Ern1 i; j; k  Ern i; j; k
dS ij dSij
s vt i1 j1 ij
vt Dt
2 3
6 7
 411 r1 Dr1 Dq1 12 r1 Dr1 Dq2 :::::: mn rm Drm Dqn 5

6
   
m X
X n
Ern1 i; j; k  Ern i; j; k
sEdS sij EdSij
s i1 j1 ij 2
2 3
6 7
 4s11 r1 Dr1 Dq1 s12 r1 Dr1 Dq2 :::::: smn rm Drm Dqn 5

7
Substituting Eqs. (4), (6) and (7) into Eq. (3), we have, Fig. 3. Resonant frequencies of three antennas.

0 1 0 1
B 1 C 2eff  seff Dt n B 1 C 2Dt
Ern1 B C B C
@i 2; j; kA 2eff seff DtEr @i 2; j; kA 2eff seff Dt

2        3 8
1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1
Hzn2 i ; j ; k  Hzn2 i ; j  ; k H4n2 i ; j; k  H4n2 i ; j; k 
6 2 2 2 2 2 2 2 2 7
6
4    7
5
1 Dz
i DrD4
2

After the simplification,the equivalent permittivity can be
obtained
11 r1 Dr1 D41 12 r1 Dr1 D42:::::::::::::::::::: mn rm Drm D4n
eff
rdrd4
Through the analysis mentioned above, the structure of
antenna substrate can be designed, as shown in Fig. 2.
Fig. 3 shows that the resonant frequency of original antenna
is 3.10 GHz, and the resonant frequencies of the equivalent
antennas A and B are also remain unchanged. It can be
9 concluded from the resonant frequency formula that the
permittivity is the only factor which has effect on resonant
frequency when the radius of radiation patch and the working
mode remain the same. So two media can be treated as a single

3. Discussion of simulation

Through the above analysis, FR4 is chosen for original

substrate. The basic parameters of antenna are r 4:4,
R 15 mm, h 2 mm, r 13 mm. Eq (10) shows the rela-
tionship between two medium .Table 1 lists the parameters of
equivalent antennas

r1 R21 r2 R22 r R2
10
R 1 R2 R

Table 1
Parameters of equivalent antennas.
r1 r2 R1 R2
A 12.9 1 8.57 6.43
B 9.8 1 9.9 5.1
Fig. 4. S11 with different feed feint.
 Y.X. YANG et al. / Defence Technology 10 (2014) 304e307
Fig. 5. Original radiation pattern.
Fig. 6. Equivalent radiation pattern.
medium which has a same permittivity as that of original
medium. The results prove the accuracy of FDTD analysis.
Because the position of feed point was not changed in simu-
lation, the S11 parameters of the equivalent antenna
307
deteriorated compared to the original antenna. So the equiv-
alent antenna is not exactly equal to the original antenna. The
parameters can be improved by changing the position of feed
point. Fig. 4 shows the S11 parameters after changing the
position of feed point.
Fig. 5 and 6 show the radiation patterns of equivalent an-
tenna and original antenna. It can be seen from Fig. 5 and 6
that the direction and gain of equivalent antenna are similar
to those of the original one. This shows that the equivalent
antenna can replace the original antenna.
4. Conclusions
A method for decreasing the weight of antenna was pro-
posed in the paper. By means of analysis based on FDTD, air
medium and a higher permittivity medium are introduced to
take the place of original substrate. The simulation results
show that resonant frequency, radiation pattern and gain of
equivalent antenna did not change. The air media can be used
to reduce the weight of antenna.
Acknowledgement
The author would like to thank the National Natural Sci-
ence Foundation of China (Grant No. 6111168) for the
support.
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