2019/2020 Session

DATE : 4th December 2019

EXPERIMENTATION : Design and develop a 3.5 GHz dipole antenna. Measure the S parameter of
the antenna.

LECTURER : Prof. Dr. MOHAMMAD TARIQUL ISLAM

GROUP MEMBERS :

1. AMIR MUSTAKIM BIN SUWANDI (A157973)

2. MUHAMAD AMIR BIN SA`ARI (A161488)

3. MUHAMMAD AIDIEL BIN ZULKIFLEY (A159788)

4. MUHAMMAD NIZAMMUDIN BIN MOHD DAUD (A162174)

5. NAQIB AIMAN BIN RAMLAN (A162157)

Assignment Dipole Antenna

A) Summary

An experiment was conducted to design a dipole antenna that can operate at 3.5 GHz of frequency and
the performance of the antenna was analysed using the network analyser device.

B) Literature Review

The dipole is the simplest type of antenna. It consists of two conductors of equal length oriented end-to-end
with the feedline connected between them. Dipoles is frequently used as resonant antennas. The
characteristics of a dipole antenna are based on the :

1. Relationship of wavelength and the physical length of conductor(copper wire) where,

C

f
C : Speed of light (3 * 10^8 m/s)

f : Operated frequency

2. For the practical application most of the wireless transmission system capture half-wave of
the desired frequency in which for dipole antenna design, with two separate conductor. This
will give each conductor captures quarter of the wave.

C) Methodology

1) Calculate the theoretical value of the wavelength for 3.5 GHz signal.
2) Cut copper wire with length of ¼ wavelength for two pieces. Ensure the tip of copper are
rubbed with sand paper to remove impurities.
3) Solder both copper wires to the core conductor and outer conductor. Solder the SMA
connector to the other end of the conductor.
4) Conduct a continuity test for the antenna.
5) Setup the network analyser.
6) Record the S-parameter of the dipole antenna based on the network analyser.
7) Compare the measured S-parameter with the theoretical value.
D) Result and Discussion

Theoretical result

1) wavelength calculations :

C 3  (10^8)
 =
f 3.5  (10^9)

= 8.57cm(full wave) /2

= 4.2857cm(half-wave)/2

= 2.14cm (quarter wave), the length used for each conductor of dipole antenna.

CST simulation result (S parameter, gain)

S1,1/abs,dB
5.00E+00
0.00E+00
1

8.434
1.531
2.062

3.655

4.717

5.7789998
2.5929999
3.1240001

4.1859999

5.2480001

6.3099999
6.8410001
7.3720002
7.9029999

8.9650002
9.4960003

-5.00E+00
-1.00E+01
Gain (dB)

-1.50E+01
-2.00E+01
-2.50E+01
-3.00E+01
-3.50E+01
-4.00E+01
Frequency (GHz)

Actual result : Suitable antenna design operation

1) Frequency : 3.288 Ghz

2) gain -15.06 db
Discussions

a) The total length of both conductor for standard dipole antenna need to have the same length as the
wavelength of the operated frequency, half. As the frequency increase, the size or length of the
antenna decrease(inversely reciprocal to each other).

b) Possible cause of result are :

i. The length difference between two wires of the dipole antenna not symmetrical.

ii. Total length of both conductor is not accurate or even close to, the reason been
because we used low precision standard ruler where the sensitivity only at 1milimiter
length to measure the length of each conductor.

iii. Consider parallax error or human error through out design process. Human viewing
perspective differ depend on light reflection, viewing angle and eye sensitivity.

iv. Soldering applied may slightly increase the length of either or both conductor as the
soldering paste also a conductive material. The soldering paste has different dielectric
value compare to copper conductor, hence resulting different value of radiation
strength.

Suggestion

This particular design experiment only to exposed students to 3.5Ghz dipole antenna design. If such
precise building of antenna demanded, particular machine need to be used so that human error excluded
from the equation(usually tested in proper anechoic chamber). Furthermore, not only the wavelength is
to consider in designing a dipole antenna, other characteristic also need to take account such as,
radiation pattern, gain measurement, phase measurement, polarization measurement, impedance
measurement, scale model measurement and SAR(Specific Absorption Rate) measurement.

E) Conclusion
The S parameter value of the built antenna was not meet the simulated value. Such antenna only suitable
for the operation of 3.288 Ghz frequency. Compare to simulated value that has been plotted by using
line graph, suppose that the antenna will experience resonant frequency about 3.5Ghz frequency where
the gain(dB) value will drop to its peak at -3dB(ideal) to -10dB(maximum range accepted).