Advances in Impedance Matching Tools for Antenna Applications

Jussi Rahola
Optenni Ltd P.O. Box 42, FI-02211 Espoo, Finland jussi.rahola@optenni.com

AbstractOptenni Lab is a novel matching circuit optimization and impedance analysis tool designed especially for antenna applications. Optenni Labs matching circuit optimization includes advanced circuit synthesis methods, a component library and tolerance analysis. In addition, Optenni Lab provides tools for estimating the obtainable impedance and efciency bandwidths through matching circuits, and for estimating the worst-case isolation in multiport systems using the concept of electromagnetic isolation.

II. M ATCHING CIRCUIT DESIGN Matching circuit design in Optenni Lab is made fast and intuitive for the end user, who only species the antenna impedance (in Touchstone format), the desired frequency ranges and the number of matching components. In a matter of seconds, Optenni Lab proposes several optimized matching circuit topologies to the user. The circuits can be interactively tuned and the simulation results can be stored in various formats. Optenni Lab uses the power wave denition of S parameters which correctly describes the propagation of power in microwave networks with complex termination impedances [2], [3]. Thus, the matching circuit efciency is measured by the scattering parameter |S21 |2 , also representing the transducer power gain. Optenni Lab is not trying to get the best possible impedance match between the antenna and the generator, but instead it maximizes the power transferred from the generator to the load through the matching circuit [4], [5]. The generator impedance can be complex and frequency-dependent, for example determined from load-pull measurements. Optenni Lab supports multiband matching with variable efciency targets for the different bands. In addition to automatically generated geometries, the user can also specify the topology manually, using inductors, capacitors, resistors, transmission lines and two-port S parameter blocks. Also the S2PMDIF format is supported. In the optimization, stop band criteria can also be entered, which gives rise to a multiobjective optimization task [6]. Optenni Lab contains an easy-to-use component library of inductors and capacitors from leading component manufacturers, such as Murata, Taiyo Yuden and Coilcraft. The library is fully compatible with the optimization algorithms. Thus, it is easy to design and optimize matching circuit using accurate component models originally provided by the component manufacturers. These models take into account the frequency-dependent losses and parasitic effects in the components. In addition, the sensitivity of the results with respect to the component tolerances can be easily analyzed. Optenni Lab also contains a two-way link to CST STUDIO SUITETM [7] so that the results simulated in CST can be easily opened in Optenni Lab and the generated matching circuits can be transferred back to CST DESIGN STUDIO R . Additional interfaces to other software packages are also planned.

I. I NTRODUCTION In modern antenna design for mobile devices, matching circuits constructed using inductors and capacitors and perhaps also transmission lines are increasingly being used to improve the bandwidth and efciency of antennas. With matching circuits, broadband antennas can be designed much faster than by modifying the antenna geometry only. In addition, when the mechanics of the wireless device is changing, it is much easier to re-tune the antenna by changing the matching components than by modifying the antenna geometry. Thus, the use of matching circuits remarkably speeds up the antenna design process. In addition, matching circuits and thus the whole antenna system can easily be made tunable. When designing matching circuits it is important to consider the effect of component losses and tolerances. The losses in realistic components may actually give a better impedance match than ideal components, but of course at the expense of efciency. It is also critical to evaluate the effect of component tolerances to verify that the matching circuits can be mass manufactured within reasonable performance variation. There is a clear need for new tools to speed up the matching circuit design for antenna applications. As compared to lter design, antenna matching is a more difcult task because the load impedance is complex and highly frequency dependent and therefore the analytic matching solutions are of little use. In addition, also the generator impedance may be complex, making the problem even more difcult. Optenni Lab [1] is a novel matching circuit optimization and impedance analysis software designed especially for antenna applications. Optenni Lab incorporates latest advances in antenna analysis and circuit simulation, but the complexity is hidden from the user so that also non-specialists can easily use the software. Optenni Labs user interface is designed to be intuitive for which we have received a lot of positive feedback from our customers.

978-1-4673-0462-7/12/$31.00 2012 IEEE

III. E STIMATION OF IMPEDANCE AND EFFICIENCY

BANDWIDTH

V. C ONCLUSIONS Optenni Lab provides a fast and intuitive tool for optimizing matching circuits especially for antenna applications. The user does not have to choose the matching circuit topologies in advance as Optenni Lab provides automatically several optimized topologies to the user. In the optimization the user can use either generic components or a component library of commonly used inductors and capacitors from leading component manufacturers. Both approaches support tolerance analysis of the generated matching circuits. Optenni Lab also includes several innovative tools for analyzing the obtainable bandwidth through matching circuits. With these tools the user can rank antenna prototypes in an early design stage and select the best topology for tunable matching circuits. The electromagnetic isolation removes the effect of antenna matching in isolation calculations so that differently matched antenna systems can be compared in terms of isolation. Optenni Lab also contains innovative tools for teaching purposes, such as the impedance trace that shows how the components in a matching circuit transform the impedance at a given frequency. This tool combined with interactive tuning demonstrates to students and antenna engineers how matching circuits are operating in practice. Optenni Lab will be further developed based on recent scientic advances and customer requirements. In the near future we will focus on the development of multiantenna analysis tools, while continuing to put effort in the intuitiveness of our user interface. R EFERENCES
[1] Optenni Lab antenna analysis software, www.optenni.com. [2] K. Kurokawa, Power waves and the scattering matrix, IEEE Trans. Microw. Theory Tech., vol. MTT-13, no. 3, pp. 194202, Mar. 1965. [3] J. Rahola, Power waves and conjugate matching, IEEE Trans. Circuits Syst. II, Express Briefs, vol. 55, pp. 9296, 2008. [4] , Estimating the performance of matching circuits for antennas, in Proceedings of the EuCAP 2010 conference, Barcelona, April 12-16, 2010. [5] , Optimization of matching circuit for antennas, in Proceedings of the EuCAP 2011 conference, Rome, April 11-15, 2011. [6] , Antenna matching circuit optimization including stop band denitions, in Proceedings of the 2011 IEEE International Symposium on Antennas and Propagation and USNC/URSI National Radio Science Meeting, Spokane, WA, July 3-8, 2011. [7] CST STUDIO SUITE electromagnetic simulator, www.cst.com. [8] A. Yaghjian and S. Best, Impedance, bandwidth, and Q of antennas, IEEE Trans. Antennas Propagat., vol. 53, pp. 12981324, 2005. [9] J. Villanen, J. Ollikainen, O. Kivek as, and P. Vainikainen, Coupling element based mobile terminal antenna structures, IEEE Trans. Antennas Propagat., vol. 54, pp. 21422153, 2006. [10] J. Rahola, Bandwidth potential and electromagnetic isolation: Tools for analysing the impedance behaviour of antenna systems, in Proceedings of the EuCAP 2009 conference, Berlin, March 23-27, 2009. [11] , Estimating antenna bandwidth using the bandwidth potential and Q value techniques, in Proceedings of the 15th International Symposium on Antennas and Propagation, Macao, November 23-26, 2010. [12] J. Rahola and R. Valkonen, Using the concept of obtainable efciency bandwidth to study tunable matching circuits, in Proceedings of the EuCAP 2012 conference, Prague, March 26-30, 2012, to appear. [13] J. Rahola and J. Ollikainen, Analysis of isolation of two-port antenna systems using simultaneous matching, in Proceedings of the EuCAP 2007 conference, Edinburgh, November 11-16, 2007.

In addition to matching circuit optimization, Optenni Lab also provides innovative tools for estimating the obtainable bandwidth of antennas through matching circuits. As a starting point, the quality factor or Q of antennas can be estimated from the impedance data directly using the formulas presented in [8]. However, the concept of bandwidth potential [9], [10] offers a more realistic performance measure, as the Q factor analysis is only limited to single-resonant narrowband antennas [11] and is also very sensitive to measurement or simulation errors. The bandwidth potential calculation makes it possible to compare differently matched and even non-resonant antennas and it can be used in an early design stage to rank different antenna prototypes and concepts. It is also useful in interpreting the results of parameter sweeps as changing the antenna parameters typically changes the antenna impedance in a complex way so that direct visual estimation of the bandwidth is often misleading. The standard bandwidth potential calculation uses two ideal components for the estimation of the obtainable impedance bandwidth. To make the situation more realistic, the component losses can be taken into account in the calculation of the obtainable efciency bandwidth [12]. This technology is most useful in the selection of the best topology for tunable matching circuits. One or more components in a given circuit topology can be made tunable and thereafter an optimization maximizes the obtainable efciency bandwidth through the matching circuit. In the results it can be seen what kinds of efciencies can be obtained at various frequencies (and various values of the tuning components). IV. E LECTROMAGNETIC ISOLATION When studying the isolation in multiantenna systems, in some cases a seemingly good isolation is obtained as a result of poor antenna impedance match. Thus, the effect of the imperfect matching should be eliminated from isolation calculations. In Optenni Lab this can be done using the concept of electromagnetic isolation [13], which calculates the worstcase isolation of two-antenna system. In real systems the isolation will always be better than this, because there is always some impedance mismatch at the antenna ports. The concept of electromagnetic isolation can be used to see the effect of isolation-enhancing materials (e.g. metamaterials) to the antenna isolation. Metamaterials usually change the antenna input impedance and thus their effect on the isolation is difcult to evaluate from the raw impedance data. To make a fair comparison, the antennas should be re-tuned after the insertion of the metamaterial. In Optenni Lab this re-tuning is implicitly done in the electromagnetic isolation calculation. For lter and switches the electromagnetic isolation shows the lowest possible insertion loss (which might not happen at 50 Ohm termination).