2004 RF AND MICROWAVE CONFERENCE, OCTOBER 5 - 6, SUBANG, SELANGOR, MALAYSIA

Design of a Rectangular Microstrip Patch Antenna at 1 GHz

Z. 1. Dafalla, W.T. Y.Kuan, A. M. Abdel Rahman, and S. C . Shudakar
Multimedia University, Faculty of Engineering and Technology, Jalan Ayer Keroh, Lama, 75450 Bukit Beruang, Melakq Malaysia E-mail: zubeir.izaruku@,mmu.edu.my

Abslracl-Low profile Antennas support the operation of many modem communication systems. Microstrip patch antennas represent one family of compact antennas that offer a conformal nature and the capability of ready integration with communication system's printed circuitry. In this research a Rectangular Microstrip Patch Antenna has been designed at I GHz frequency. By using a transmission line model we demonstrated how one can accurately model and analyze microstrip line inset fed rectangular patch antenna by using microwave office software. Our results showed very low return loss and VSWR which are typical parameters used to study the behaviour of antennas. Keywords: Retum Loss, Rectangular Microstrip Patch Antenna.
1. I n t r o d u c t i o n

The rest of this paper is organized as follows: Section 2 is a general overview on antennas. Section 3 preserits the antenna feed line design. Section 4 gives Cie analysis of microtrip antenna design. The simulation results of the designed rectangular patch antenna are presented in section 5 and finally we conclude the paper in section 6 .

2. Overview on A n t e n n a
An antenna is the transitional radio between free-space and a guiding device [2, 31. In order to be able to design a good antennq it's crucial to consider some of the basic but yet important parameters that characterize all antenna designs.

2.1. Radiation P a t t e r n
The power radiated or received by an antenna is a function of the angular position and radial dislame from the antenna. The radiation pattern is best represented in the form of a three dimensional graph of power versus elevation and azimuth angles but more commonly, represented by E-plane or H-plane whwe one angle is held fixed while the other is varied as shown in Figure 2.

Microstrip antennas are used in high performance aircraft, spacecraft, satellite and missiles, where size, weight, cost, performance, ease of installation, and aerodynamic profile are constraints. Presently there are many other government and commercial applications, such as mobile radio and wireless communications that use microstrip antennas [I]. Microstrip antennas however have limitations in terms of bandwidth and efficiency, all imposed by the very presence of the dielectric substrate. In this research, a Microstrip antenna printed on a very thin film and separated from the ground-plane by foam was successfully designed.

*.loc*l

-.-mrao-w".,

Figure 2. A radiation pattem for a Microsnip Antenna

2.2. R e t u r n Loss
Return loss is a convenient way to characterize the input and output of signal sources. In other words, when the load is mismatched, not all the available power from generator is delivered to the load. This "loss" is termed as the return loss (RL) and is defined (in dB) as:

~,dpm"Som,

Figure I. Cross sectional view of a Microstrip Antenna

0-7803-8671-X/04/$20.00 02004 IEEE

145

RL = -20 log Irl(dB)

Where, Irl=

2.6. I n p u t I m p e d a n c e
(1)

v ; =_ z ,z , _ v.' z,+z,

Irl=reflection coefficient
V i =the reflected voltage

The input impedance of an antenna is seen as the impedance presented by the antenna at its input terminal or the ratio of the voltage to current at a pair of terminals or the ratio of the appropriate components of the electric to magnetic fields at a point.

vi =the incident voltage

2 , and Z , are Load and characteristic impedances respectively.
2.3. G a i n
Antenna gain, usually expressed in dB, simply refers to the direction of maximum radiation. Mathematically the maximum gain G is obtained by using Equation (2): G=qxD Where, q = efficiency and D = directivity.
2.4 Directivity

Where, R,. = real part, Xi" = imaginary parts The desired real part of the impedance is made up of the input resistance, (Ri.) which represents power dissipated through heat or radiation losses. The undesired imaginary part (Xi.) represents the reactance of the antenna and is the power stored in the near field ofthe antenna. [IO]

2.7 Polarization
(2)
The polarization of an antenna'refers to the polarization of the electric field vector of the radiated wave. It can also be understood as the orientation of the electric fields as observed from the source versus time. The common and typical types of polarization include the linear (horizontal or vertical), circular (right hand polarization or the l e e hand polarization). If the path of the electric field vector is back and forth along a line, it is said to be linearly polarized while circular polarization has its electric field vector remaining constant in length but rotates around in a circular path. [4, 51.

It is desirable to maximize the radiation pattern of the antenna response in a fixed direction to transmit or receive power.

3 . Designing t h e A n t e n n a Feed Line

Matching is usually required between the feed line and an antenna, because antenna input impedances differ from customary 50 ohm line impedance. Matching may be achieved by properly selecting the location of the feed line. However, the location of the feed may also affect the radiation characteristics. The Green's function technique can be used to determine the effect of the feed location both for microstrip and for coaxial feeds. For our design we chose coaxial feed method in the development of microstrip antenna because they remain among the most popular in many applications. Coaxial feed method is widely used because of its simplicity in fabrication and matching and it has low spurious radiation. Basically, the coaxial center conductor is attached to the antenna conductor. The location of the connector is found empirically for the given mode as that which yields the best match. A typical microstrip antenna using a coaxial connector is shown in Figure 4. The radiating elements and the feed lines are usually photo-etched on the dielectric substrate. There are numerous substrates that can be used to design the microstrip antennas and their dielectric constants are usually in the range

w-

Figure 3. Directivity ofan antenna Likewise, the directivity is dependent only on the shape of radiation pattern. It is always referenced to an isotropic point source as shown if Figure 3. A quantitative measure of this response is the directive gain of the antenna for a given direction [ 5 ] .
2.5. Antenna Efficiency

The antenna efficiency is defined as the ratio of total power radiated by the antenna to the input power of the antenna. Just like any other microwave components, an antenna may dissipate power due to conductor loss or dielectric loss. [6]

146

of2.2 5 & , i 12 . The one that are most desirable for antenna performance are thick substrate whose dielectric constant is in the lower end of the range because they provide better efficiency, larger bandwidth, loosely bound fields for radiating into space.

L = 0,4l*(&"fl+ 0 . 3 ) ( w / h + 0.264)
h
&mfl

(6)

-0.258)(w/h+0.8)

or

=
2f.

JG

- 2AL

(9)

Where L = Actual Length of the patch (mm) W = width of the patch (mm) ,uo=permeability o f free space AL =the extended patch length due to fringing effect Figure 4. Coaxial Feed Design The 3D view of our designed Microstrip patch antenna with its coaxial feed line is shown in Figure 5 .
18,2,~ .... i
~ ~

Since coaxial probe method is used, therefcre some parameters must be calculated. The matching impedance is 50ohm. To match this impedance, the connector must be place at a distance from the edge that match 5Oohm. Equations I 1 through 14 are used to calculate the exact position to place a port.

The wave number Figure 5: 3D View of the Coaxial Feed Design

4. M i c r o s t r i p A n t e n n a Design

3
C

(11)

Equations 4 through 14 have been used to determine the dimensions of the microstrip patch antennh. The most important parameters needed for the design of this antenna are the width and length of the patch antenna. An accurate value of the width and length affects the results very much.
(4)

R,. = cos-'(

E)4
x z

G, = input conductance, Z,, = input impedance, R," input resistance, Z. = characteristic impedance

Prtch

6 =the resonant frequency (equal to 1 GHz)

The effective relative permittivity (&mJ) is calculated from equation (5). &,+I E -1 =-+2 2 J
E, = relative

c = speed of light

26.4267mm

G i q z q

(5)

Figure 6. Microstrip Pech Surface Figure 6 shows the calculated position for the port.

permittiviry, h = height (mm)

147

5. Results a n d Discussion
In order to further verify on our theoretical calculations, we used microwaveoftice sofiware to simulate the designed antenna structure and the following observations were made:

However in reality, no antenna port i s perfectly matched. There will always be a slight mismatch.

Figure 9: Matching Impedance

~~

.~

.~

Figure 7: Return Loss Figure 7 shows the Return Loss of the Patch antenna against frequency. As can be observed from the figure, the return loss for antenna at 1 GHz is -27.2 dB. A negative value of return loss shows that this antenna had not many losses while transmitting the signals.

In order to match the port to the antenna, it must meet the 50n matching impedance. Therefore once the port is placed onto the patch, simulation is done. The Z [ I , I] parameter is a measure of the matching impedance value after simulation. From Figure 9, the matching impedance value is48.In. This result i s near to5OR (which i s the original value), so it shows that the port is well matched.

Smith Chsri

Figure 8: VSWR for the Patch Antenna Figure 6 shows the voltage standing wave ratio (VSWR) for the rectangular patch antenna using coaxial feed method at our design frequency o f 1 GHz. We mentioned in section 2 of this paper that a VSWR i s a measure of impedance mismatch. As can be observed from the graph, the VSWR obtained i s 1.1. This is considered a good value as the level of mismatch i s not very high. A high VSWR means the port is not properly matched. Thus, this value proves that the port of the antenna is properly matched. Figure IO. Smith Chart The smith Chart in Figure IO shows the impedance matching at the design frequency o f IGHz. To match an antenna, the impedance locus need to be shifted as near as possible to the center of the smith chart (matching point) to obtain a very low return loss at resonant frequency. As can be observed the impedance matching point is very close to the centre of the smith chart

148

7.Conclusion
A Rectangular Microstrip Patch Antenna has been successfully designed at the frequency of I GHz. It can be concluded from the above results that, designing a proper feed network and impedance matching are very important parameters in Microstrip Patch antenna design. Also choosing a proper position for terminating the feed line affects the overall performance of the antenna. Different types of feed methods affect the performance of an antenna. In this project, coaxial feed method is chosen. In the Future study we would like to look at how other types of feed network will affect the performance of microstrip antennas as compared to the coaxial feed line.

References
[ I ] K.L Wong & T.W Chiou A broadband single.. patch circularly polarized Microstrip antenna, IEEE Trans, Anfenna Propagation, 2000. [2] Kin-Lu Wong, Compact and Broadband Microstrip Antennas, John Wily & Sons, 2002. [3] S. Dey et al. A new Circular Patch Antenna, IEEE Antennas & Propageion Internorion,zl Symposium D g e s f ,(1 993). [4] N. Herscovici, New Considerations in the design of Microstrip Patch Antennas, IEEE Tram on Antennas & Propagation, Vol. 46, June 1998. [5] David M. Pozar, Microwave Engineering, John Wiley and Sons, 1998. [6] L. Lewin, Radiation from Discontinuities in Stripline, Proceedings of IEE, Vol.l07C, 1960, pp 167-170.

149