3082 IEEE TRANSACTIONS ON ANTENNAS AND PROPAGATION, VOL. 55, NO.
11, NOVEMBER 2007
antenna elements is similar in each frequency. Therefore, the radiation
gain is stable in the operating band (1.9–2.6 GHz). From the obtained
results, the meander-line-feed structure should also be treated as part
of the radiation structure, and the placement of coupled tuning stub
will also affect the antenna’s performance. This should be considered
in practical applications.
V. CONCLUSION
A novel high gain and wideband antenna comprising: two monopole-
radiating elements in series with loading coils and meander-line-feed
coupled structure has been proposed and implemented. Measurements
show that the structure indeed offers very impressive gain and band-
width characteristics. The impedance bandwidth is significantly im-
proved by selecting suitable dimensions of the meander-line-feed cou-
pled tuning stub for coupling of the electromagnetic energy from the
meander-line-feed to the whip antenna. For the optimal results obtained
in this study, the impedance bandwidth (1:2 VSWR) can reach nearly
700 MHz for the proposed antenna with designed operating frequencies
around 2.4 GHz, which is about nine times that of a corresponding con-
ventional 5/8-wavelength whip antenna. Within this wide impedance
bandwidth, the operating bandwidth with usable broadside radiation
patterns is still about 700 MHz. This antenna should find wide appli-
cations in wireless communication systems.
ACKNOWLEDGMENT
The author would like to thank C.-M. Peng for assisting with antenna
simulation, and Profs. C.-W. Hsue and Prof. C.-Y. Wu for assisting
with the physical problem discussion.
REFERENCES
[1] R. Jordan and C. T. Abdallah, “Wireless communications and net-
working: An overview,” IEEE Antennas Propag. Mag., vol. 44, no. 1,
pp. 185–193, 2002.
[2] D. Morris, P. Pangalos, and A. H. Aghvami, “Mobile terminal location
discovery schemes for a Beyond 3G inter-worked network,” in Proc.
6th IEEE Int. Symp. on a World of Wireless Mobile and Multimedia
Networks, 2005, pp. 1–5.
[3] K. Fujimoto and J. R. James, Mobile Antenna Systems Handbook.
Boston, MA: Artech House, 1994.
[4] N. P. Agrawall, G. Kumar, and K. P. Ray, “Wide-band planar monopole
antennas,” IEEE Trans. Antennas Propag., vol. 46, no. 2, pp. 294–295,
1998.
[5] E. Lee, P. S. Hall, and P. Gardner, “Compact wideband planar
monopole antenna,” Electron. Lett., vol. 35, no. 25, pp. 2157–2158,
1999.
[6] J.-F. Zürcher and F. Ė. Gardiol, Broadband Patch Antennas. Boston,
MA: Artech House, 1995.
[7] W. L. Stutzman and G. A. Thiele, Antenna Theory and Design, 2nd
ed. New York: Wiley, 1998.
[8] T. Huynh and K.-F. Lee, “Single-layer single-patch wideband mi-
crostrip antenna,” Electron. Lett., vol. 31, no. 16, pp. 1310–1312,
1995.
[9] K. Noguchi, M. Mizusawa, T. Yamaguchi, and Y. Okumura, “Numer-
ical analysis of the radiation characteristics of the meander line an-
tenna consisting of two strips,” IEEE AP-S Digest, vol. 3, no. 2, pp.
1598–1601, 1996.
[10] M. Ali, S. S. Stuchly, and K. Caputa, “A wide-band dual meander-
sleeve antenna,” J. Electromagn. Waves Applicat., vol. 10, no. 9, pp.
1223–1236, 1996.
[11] C.-W. P. Huang, A. Z. Elsherbeni, J. J. Chen, and C. E. Smith, “FDTD
characterization of meander line antennas for RF and wireless commu-
nications,” Progr. Electromagn. Res., vol. PIER 24, pp. 185–199, 1999.
[12] H. Nakano, H. Tagami, A. Yoshizawa, and J. Yamauchi, “Shortening
ratio of modified dipole antennas,” IEEE Trans. Antennas Propag., vol.
32, no. 4, pp. 385–386, 1984.
[13] A. Z. Elsherbeni, C. W. P. Huang, and C. E. Smith, “Wide band
meander line antenna for wireless communication systems,” in Proc.
Antennas and Propagation for Wireless Communications, IEEE AP-S
Conf., 2000, pp. 17–20.
0018-926X/$25.00 © 2007 IEEE
Compact Elliptical Monopole Antenna With Impedance
Bandwidth in Excess of 21:1
Shun-Shi Zhong, Xian-Ling Liang, and Wei Wang
Abstract—A compact CPW-fed monopole antenna composed of an ellip-
tical monopole patch and a coplanar trapeziform ground plane is intro-
duced. The simulated and experimental results demonstrate that this an-
tenna achieves a ratio impedance bandwidth of 21.6:1 for VSWR 2,
and exhibits a nearly omnidirectional radiation pattern, while its area is
only about 0 19 0 16 where is the wavelength of the lowest
operating frequency. By comparing with various designs, it is shown that
its bandwidth broadening comes from three factors: the optimum elliptical
monopole shape, a trapeziform ground plane and a tapered CPW feeder.
Index Terms—Coplanar waveguide (CPW), miniaturization, monopole
antenna, super-wideband.
I. INTRODUCTION
In the late 1950s and early 1960s, a family of super-wideband (SWB)
antennas with a ratio bandwidth more than 10:1 was developed by
Ramsey et al. and was called the frequency-independent antenna, ba-
sically including the equiangular spiral structures and the log-periodic
structures with the feature that these designs radiate different frequency
components from different parts of the antenna [1]. Recently, some
novel SWB designs have been proposed, which mainly include three
types. One is based on the Vivaldi tapered slot antenna [2], [3] or other
tapered traveling wave structures [4]. These structures may have higher
gain, but with somewhat large volume. The second type is the metal-
plate monopole antenna, e.g., the trapezoidal monopole antenna [5], the
planar inverted cone antenna (PICA) [6], and the leaf-shaped monopole
antenna [7], etc. These metal-plate monopole antennas need a perpen-
dicular ground plane, resulting in the increasing of antenna volume
and the inconvenience for integrating with monolithic microwave in-
tegrated circuits. The third type is the update printed monopole/slot
antenna, without a perpendicular ground plane. In [8], a printed cir-
cular disc monopole fed by a microstrip line is proposed for ultraw-
ideband (UWB) systems with a ratio bandwidth of about 3.5:1. In [9],
[10], the rectangular and circular monopole antennas with trapeziform
ground planes are proposed, achieving a bandwidth of more than 10:1
for VSWR  2: [11] presents a printed elliptical slot antenna with
an impedance bandwidth of about 15.4:1. In this communication, as
a remarkable improvement of those monopole antennas of [9], [10],
a novel printed design with an optimized elliptical monopole is intro-
duced, that can provide a more than 21:1 impedance bandwidth with
a compact size. The design of the proposed antenna and its simulated
and experimental results are presented. In addition, the understanding
for the bandwidth broadening is discussed.
II. ANTENNA DESIGN AND IMPEDANCE PERFORMANCE
The proposed printed monopole antenna is derived from the discone
antenna first developed by Kandoian in 1945 [12]. For the proposed
Manuscript received June 15, 2006; revised January 26, 2007. This work
was supported in part by the National Natural Science Foundation of China
under Grant 60571053 and in part by the Shanghai Leading Academic Disci-
pline Project under Grant T0102.
S.-S. Zhong and X.-L. Liang are with the School of Communication and In-
formation Engineering, Shanghai University, Shanghai 200072, China (e-mail:
shshzhong@163.com; xililiang@163.com).
W. Wang is with the East China Research Institute of Electronic Engineering,
Hefei, Anhui 230031, China.
Digital Object Identifier 10.1109/TAP.2007.908565
IEEE TRANSACTIONS ON ANTENNAS AND PROPAGATION, VOL. 55, NO. 11, NOVEMBER 2007 3083

TABLE I
COMPARISON OF IMPEDENCE BANDWIDTHS

Fig. 2. Simulated and measured VSWR.

Fig. 1. Geometry of the proposed elliptical monopole antenna.

other parameters are: b = 30 mm, t = 2:3 mm, Dmin = 9 mm,

antenna as shown in Fig. 1, an elliptical monopole of major axis a and Dmax = 140 mm, H = 75 mm, wtop = 1:0 mm, and wbottom =
minor axis b is designed to replace the disc of a discone antenna, and 2:7 mm. Two elliptical monopole antennas with a = 60 mm and a =
a trapeziform ground plane of top length Dmin , bottom length Dmax 120 mm and the same other parameters were fabricated and measured
and height H is designed to replace the cone, with a spacing t between by using the Agilent 8719 ES network analyzer. Fig. 2 also presents
them. Both the monopole and the ground plane are etched on the same a measured VSWR curve for a = 120 mm, showing a VSWR  2
side of a substrate with thickness h = 1:524 mm and relative permit- bandwidth of 0:41  8:86 GHz (21.6:1). There is some discrepancy
tivity "r = 3:48. The elliptical monopole is fed by a tapered CPW between the simulation and the experiment due mainly to the errors
feeder in the middle of the ground, where the total gap width G is fixed in processing and the effect of an N-type coaxial connector at Point
to 3.0 mm, but the top-width of the central strip is wtop = 1:0 mm B, which introduces a varying reactance, leading to the movement of
for 100
characteristic impedance at Point A and the bottom-width resonant points, especially for the highest one.
wbottom = 2:7 mm for 50
impedance at Point B while the width In Table I, the simulated and measured VSWR  2 bandwidths for
w between Points A and B is linearly tapered. Here the trapeziform two elliptical monopoles and other monopoles with rectangular and cir-
ground plane is used not only as a ground plane, but also as a com- cular shapes [9], [10] are listed. Comparing the measured bandwidths
ponent to form the distributed matching network with the monopole, of No.1 and No.2, it is seen that by adopting the tapered CPW (No.2),
which results in the wideband multiresonance characteristics of the the VSWR  2 bandwidth is enhanced by 10:7=6:3 = 1:7 times.
input impedance at the top point A, while the tapered CPW transmis- Comparing the calculated bandwidths of No.3 and No.4, it is shown
sion line smoothly transforms this impedance (about 100
) to 50
of that using the trapeziform ground plane instead of a rectangular one
an N-type connector at Point B. may broaden the impedance bandwidth to 11:0=7:2 = 1:5 times; while
By means of the simulation using CST Microwave Studio software comparing No.4/5 with No.6, it is noted that by selecting the ellip-
based on the finite integration technique (FIT) method, the impedance tical monopole with an optimum major axis a, the measured impedance
performances of the monopole antennas with different major axes are bandwidth is enhanced to more than 21:1, i.e., almost double. There-
calculated and compared. The proposed elliptical monopole with a = fore, the bandwidth broadening of the proposed antenna comes from
120 mm is of a maximum VSWR  2 frequency range from 0.40 to the optimum elliptical monopole shape, a trapeziform ground plane and
9.51 GHz, i.e., a ratio bandwidth of 23.8:1, as shown in Fig. 2, whose a tapered CPW feeder.
3084 IEEE TRANSACTIONS ON ANTENNAS AND PROPAGATION, VOL. 55, NO. 11, NOVEMBER 2007

Fig. 4. Simulated and measured gains.

is seen that this antenna has the nearly omnidirectional radiation char-
acteristics, while the cross-polarization level rises with frequency in-
crease owing to the horizontal components of the surface currents. The
measured gain in the broadside direction at 1  8 GHz and the simu-
lated one at 0:5  8 GHz are shown in Fig. 4. From 1 to 7 GHz, the
antenna gain monotonically increases from 0.4 to 4.0 dBi, and then de-
creases to 1.5 dBi as the frequency increases further.
It is noted that the area of this antenna is only about 0:19l 2 0:16l ,
while those of [8], [10], [11] are 0:46l 2 0:38l ; 0:37l 2 0:24l ,
and 0:39l 2 0:39l , respectively. Therefore, among these designs,
the proposed elliptical monopole antenna has the smallest area, which
principally comes from the use of the trapeziform ground plane and the
optimum elliptical monopole since both decrease the lowest operating
frequency.

IV. CONCLUSION
A novel SWB printed elliptical monopole antenna has been in-
troduced. By combining three techniques: an optimum elliptical
monopole patch, a trapeziform ground plane and a tapered CPW
feeder, the elliptical monopole antenna has achieved a measured ratio
bandwidth of 21.6:1 for V SW R  2 and exhibited a nearly omnidi-
rectional radiation pattern with the area of only about 0:19l 2 0:16l .
This printed antenna has a simple structure, thin profile, low cost and a
very wide impedance bandwidth, therefore it has been applied for the
electronic protection systems, etc., and will be an attractive candidate
for various civilian and military SWB applications.

REFERENCES
[1] V. Rumsey, Frequency Independent Antennas. New York: Academic
Press, 1966.
[2] P.-J. Gibson, “The Vivaldi aerial,” in Proc. 9th Eur. Microwave Conf.,
Brighton, U.K., 1979, pp. 101–105.
[3] E. Guillanton and J.-Y. Dauvignac et al., “A new design of tapered slot
Fig. 3. Simulated and measured radiation patterns. (a) f = 0:5 GHz, (b) f = antenna for ultra-wideband applications,” Microw. Opt. Tech. Lett., vol.
1:0 GHz, (c) f = 6:0 GHz, (d) f = 8:0 GHz. 19, pp. 286–289, Nov. 1998.
[4] Z. Ying and J. Anderson, “An ultra wideband cobra patch antenna,”
Proc. Inst. Elect. Eng. Microwave Antennas Propag., vol. 151, pp.
486–490, Dec. 2004.
[5] J.-A. Evans and M.-J. Ammann, “Planar trapezoidal and pentagonal
III. RADIATION PATTERNS AND GAIN
monopoles with impedance bandwidths in excess of 10:1,” in Proc.
IEEE Antennas and Propagation Society Int. Symp., Orlando, FL, Jul.
The radiation patterns of the elliptical monopole antenna were calcu- 1999, pp. 1558–1561.
[6] S. Y. Suh, W. L. Stutzman, and W. A. Davis, “A new ultrawideband
lated and measured in an anechoic chamber over the entire impedance printed monopole antenna: The planar inverted cone antenna (PICA),”
bandwidth. Fig. 3 gives the simulated and measured radiation patterns IEEE Trans. Antennas Propag., vol. 52, no. 5, pp. 1361–1365, May
at 1.0, 6.0, and 8.0 GHz as well as the simulated ones at 0.5 GHz. It 2004.
IEEE TRANSACTIONS ON ANTENNAS AND PROPAGATION, VOL. 55, NO. 11, NOVEMBER 2007 3085

[7] X.-F. Bai, S.-S. Zhong, and X.-L. Liang, “Leaf-shaped monopole an-
tenna with extremely wide bandwidth,” Microw. Opt. Tech. Lett., vol.
48, no. 7, pp. 1247–1250, Jul. 2006.
[8] J. Liang, C. C. Chian, X. Chen, and C. G. Parini, “Study of a printed
circular disc monopole antenna for UWB systems,” IEEE Trans. An-
tennas Propag., vol. 53, no. 11, pp. 3500–3504, Nov. 2005.
[9] X.-L. Liang, S.-S. Zhong, and W. Wang, “Tapered CPW-fed printed
monopole antenna,” Microw. Opt. Tech. Lett., vol. 48, no. 7, pp.
1242–1244, Jul. 2006.
[10] X.-L. Liang, S.-S. Zhong, and W. Wang, “UWB printed circular
monopole antenna,” Microw. Opt. Tech. Lett., vol. 48, no. 8, pp.
1532–1534, Aug. 2006.
[11] S. A. Evangelos and A. Z. Anastopoulos et al., “Circular and ellip-
tical CPW-Fed slot and microstrip-fed antennas for ultrawideband ap-
plications,” IEEE Antennas Wireless Propag. Lett., vol. 5, pp. 294–297,
2006.
Fig. 1. Initiate printed circuit realization of module.
[12] W. L. Stutzman and G. A. Thiele, Antenna Theory and Design, 2nd
ed. New York: Wiley, 1998.

The Dipole Radiating Integrated Module:

Experimental Results
Anatoly P. Gorbachev and Vladimir M. Egorov

Abstract—A novel printed circuit realization of a dipole radiating inte-

grated module (RIM) is combined with the method of moments. Practical
application is illustrated through the optimization of a dipole RIM input
VSWR. Experimental results are presented for 2.8 GHz microstrip radi-
ating element capable of performing a turnstile antenna as well as a phased
array. The peak cross-polarization level in the upper hemisphere is at least
12 dB below the peak co-polarization level.
Index Terms—Antenna theory, dipole antennas, method of moments
(MoM), microstrip antennas, optimization process.
I. INTRODUCTION
It is well known that printed dipole radiating element with an in-
tegrated microstrip balun is one type of radiating integrated module
(RIM) capable of performing various phased arrays. For example, con-
crete dipole arrays have been analyzed and constructed as described in
[1] and [2].
The basic printed circuit balun proposed in [3] has been developed
and integrated with printed dipole element in many papers [4]–[6]. The
ground plane of RIM is connected to the SMA outer conductor and
dipole arms through a quarter wavelength pedestal of balun as depicted
in Fig. 1. This pedestal is printed so as to form a balanced transmission
line. The width W , of these balanced line conductors is selected to be
roughly at least three times that those W 1, of the feed line which is
used to excite the dipole antenna. The characteristic impedance of the
balanced line may be calculated by modeling the conductors as a pair
of coupled microstrip lines on a suspended substrate operating in the
odd mode. The distance A, from the coupled lines to the bottom ground
plane is considered to be relatively large compared to the spacing D ,
between the coupled lines. The dipole radiating element with line width
Manuscript received October 7, 2006; revised March 10, 2007.
The authors are with the Radio Received and Transmitted Devices Depart-
ment, Novosibirsk State Technical University, Novosibirsk 630092, Russia
(e-mail: apgor@ref.nstu.ru).
Fig. 2. Printed circuit realization of proposes RIM.
2
W , is integrated with the balun structure by forming the arms of the
dipole as extensions of the balanced line conductors.
However, the above-mentioned RIM are themselves badly adapted
to an antenna made up of two dipoles perpendicular to each other and
arranged so that their axes intersect at their midpoints (the “turnstile”
antenna proposed in [7]). The cause of this difficulty is an impossibility
of realization a longitudinal slot between balanced line conductors be-
cause of turning the feed line on the back.
This communication present a novel RIM which is better adapted
itself to manufacturing of turnstile antenna. In the particular configu-
ration investigated, the arms of the dipole are formed as extensions of
the feed line conductor and an open circuited quarter wavelength stub
as depicted in Fig. 2. In order to experimentally validate the novel RIM
concept, we have designed, fabricated, and tested a dipole antenna, and
the results are presented below.
II. RIM CONFIGURATION AND PRINTED IMPLEMENTATION
A printed configuration of RIM proposed is depicted in Fig. 2 (patent
pending). Ground plane (dimensions G1, G2) is connected to the “E2-
116/1” Russian adapter outer conductor and a quarter wavelength bal-
anced line open circuited on the radiating end. On the other side of the
dielectric substrate, the “E2-116/1” inner conductor is connected to a
microstrip feed line which is used to excite the left-hand arm of the
printed dipole, the right-hand arm of whose is connected to an open
circuited quarter wavelength stub. The substrate of thickness 1.5 mm
is made of Russian dielectric “SAM-E” with complex relative permit-
tivity "r = 2:50 j 0:0006. The longitudinal slot of width D and length

B + W 2 was made out in the clearance between balanced line conduc-

Color versions of one or more of the figures in this paper are available online
at http://ieeexplore.ieee.org.
Digital Object Identifier 10.1109/TAP.2007.908566 tors to be symmetrical.

0018-926X/$25.00 © 2007 IEEE