International Journal of Electronics Engineering, 2 (2), 2010, pp.

295 – 298

Study of Slot Inserted Inverted Patch — Rectangular

Microstrip Antenna for Wireless Applications
P.A. Ambresh, P. M. Hadalgi, and P. V. Hunagund
Department of P.G. Studies and Research in Applied Electronics, Gulbarga University, Gulbarga,
Karnataka-585106, India, E-mail: ambreshpa@rediffmail.com, hadalgipm@rediffmail.com.

Abstract: In this article, an innovative design approach that improves the characteristics of conventional rectangular microstrip
antenna is presented. Antenna design adopts fundamental techniques such as direct contact probe feeding, inverted patch
structure with air packed dielectric substrate and slots inserted patch are the design conditions. The antenna has been fabricated
and measured for the EM-Study such as impedance bandwidth, return loss, radiation pattern and antenna gain measurement.
The antenna is designed for the Worldwide interoperability for Microwave access (WiMax) application operating in the
frequency range of 3.3 – 3.5 GHz, RADAR application and European fixed satellite services (3-4 GHz) and is structured as
Slots Inserted Inverted Patch — Rectangular Microstrip Antenna (SIIP-RMSA). Measurement results show single band property
of SIIP-RMSA with an achievable impedance bandwidth of 7.93% (at 3.78 GHz), with the return loss (RL) of – 27 dB and
attained gain of 5.45 dB with 5% of size reduction.
Keywords: Inverted Patch, Single Band, Microstrip Antenna, Radio Spectrum, Probe Fed, WiMax, EM-Study, European
Fixed Satellite Services.

1. INTRODUCTION L is supported by a FR4 dielectric superstrate with a dielectric

For decades the microstrip antenna has been intensively used
in the field of wireless communication and is found as a
class of new-style antenna which is developed in the early
1970 s. In contrast to the ordinary antennas, it exhibits a
variety of qualities such as low volume, light weight, low
profile, cost reliable, easy to conform with carrier and robust
when mounted on the rigid surfaces [1] – [3]. However, the
inherently narrow bandwidth and low gain [4] of this kind
of antenna tends to prohibit its wider applications. As it is
well-known, a simple conventional microstrip antenna has
impedance bandwidth of about 3% or less with respect to
centre frequency. Hence, this poses a problem for antenna
designer to meet the requirements such as to offer size
reduction, increment in gain, bandwidth of conventional
microstrip antenna, etc. [5]-[6]. There are plentiful and
renowned methods to increase the gain, bandwidth of
antennas including increase of the substrate thickness, the
use of a low dielectric substrate, the use of air packed
dielectric substrate, various impedance matching and feeding
techniques, the use of multiple resonators and the use of slot
antenna geometry [7] – [13]. However, the bandwidth and
the size of an antenna are generally mutually ambiguous
properties, that is, upgrading one of the characteristics
normally results in degradation of the other.
2. ANTENNA DESIGN STRUCTURE
The design structure of Slots Inserted Inverted Patch —
Rectangular Microstrip Antenna (SIIP-RMSA) is depicted
in Fig. 1. The proposed antenna having width W and length
permittivity of єr and thickness h, with air packed dielectric
substrate є o with a thickness of ∆ is sandwiched between
the superstrate and ground plane. An Aluminium plate with
the dimension Lg and Wg with thickness of h1 is used as a
ground plane. Table 1 shows the optimized antenna design
parameters obtained for the proposed antenna. The proposed
antenna is designed to operate in the frequency range 2 to
4 GHz. The artwork of the proposed antenna is carried out
by means of computer software AutoCAD 2006 to achieve
better accuracy and the fabrication is carried out using
photolithography method. The fabricated patch and the
ground plane were fixed firmly together with plastic spacers
along the four corners of the antenna. The patch also
integrates two horizontal and a vertical slots on the same
radiating element (patch), the slots are inserted in parallel
on the non-radiating and radiating edges of the patch
symmetrically with respect to the centerline (x and y-axis)
of the patch. When the energy is applied to the SIIP-RMSA,
current flows in the patch and this current is not confined to
the edges of the slot but rather spread out over the patch.
The broader slots are selected because they are more efficient
in improving impedance bandwidth when compared to
narrow slots [14]. The dimensions of the slots are taken in
terms λ0, where λ0 is the free space wavelength. The patch
is fed by direct contact probe feeding method along the center
line of Y-axis at a distance fp from the top edge of the patch
as shown in Fig. 1. The feed point is selected based on the
equations as mentioned [15] along x and y-axis.
296 International Journal of Electronics Engineering

The benefit of using air as dielectric medium below

inverted patch structure offers bandwidth increment,
penetration through the substrate can be avoided, to
accommodate the active devices and to have direct contact
of co-axial probe with respect to patch and the ground plane,
while the application of using superstrate with inverted patch
is to offer a gain enhancement and also it minimizes radiation
losses as there is no necessary of drilling a hole through the
patch. Use of parallel slots also reduces size of the patch.
On the other hand, the use of superstrate provides the
necessary protection for the patch from the environmental
effects. These techniques offer easy patch fabrication
especially for antenna array structures.

3. EXPERIMENTAL RESULTS AND DISCUSSION

The designed frequency for Conventional Microstrip
Antenna (CMSA) is 3.85 GHz. The impedance bandwidth
over return loss (RL) less than – 10 dB is measured for
2 – 4 GHz band of frequency. The measurements are taken
on Vector Network Analyzer (Rohde and Schwarz, Germany
make ZVK model 1127.8651). The plot showing the
Fig. 1: View of Design Structure of SIIP-RMSA variation of return loss (RL) versus frequency (GHz) of
CMSA and SIIP-RMSA is presented in Fig. 2. The results
Table 1
show that designed CMSA offers bandwidth at the expense
Optimized Antenna Design Parameters
of return loss (3% at RL = – 15 dB), and gain of 3 dB. On
Parameters CMSA SIIP-RMSA the other hand, when the slots are inserted on the same patch
(Dimensions in mm) (Dimensions in mm)
keeping the feed point location fixed, it is found that the
Length and Width antenna resonates at the lower frequency of 3.78 GHz, which
of Patch, (L, W) (17.76, 23.28) (17.76, 23.28)
is fairly close to the designed frequency 3.85 GHz offering
Permittivity-FR4,
( є r) 4.4 4.4 increment in bandwidth of 7.93%, achieving return loss (RL)
Thickness of of – 27 dB with an attained gain of 5.45 dB, and also 5% of
superstrate, (h) 1.6 1.6 size reduction. For the measurement of radiation pattern,
Permittivity of the antenna under test (AUT), i.e. the proposed antenna and
Air, ( є o) 1 1
standard pyramidal horn antenna are kept in the far field
Air Gap, (∆) 8.5 8.5
region. The AUT, which is the receiving antenna, is kept in
Length and Width of
ground plane, (Lg, Wg) (40, 40) (40, 40) phase with respect to transmitting pyramidal horn antenna.
Aluminium The received power by AUT is measured from 0° to 180°
thickness, (h1) 1 1 with the rotational steps of 10°. Notably, as shown in Fig. 3,
Slot Length, the radiation characteristics of the proposed antenna display
(Ls1, Ls2, Ls3) – (17.14, 1.1, 17.14)
good broadside radiation patterns. The 3 dB half power
Slot Width,
(Ws1, Ws2, Ws3) – (2.86, 2.51, 2.86) beamwidth (HPBW) of SIIP-RMSA is found to be 42°.
Slot Spacing, (S1, S2, (5.17, 4.01, 4.01, Figure 4 shows the input impedance characteristics of SIIP-
S3, S4, S5, S6, S7) – 5.17, 1.68, 9.7, 1.68) RMSA having a single loop at the center of the Smith chart
Feed Point fulfilling the property of better impedance matching and
Location, (fp) 4.2 4.2 single band property.
Study of Slot Inserted Inverted Patch — Rectangular Microstrip Antenna for Wireless Applications 297

Fig. 2: Variation of Return Loss (RL) Versus Frequency (GHz) of CMSA and SIIP-RMSA

Fig. 3: Radiation Pattern of CMSA (3.85 GHz) and SIIP-RMSA (3.78 GHz)

4. CONCLUSION
From the experimental study, it is found that the impedance
bandwidth of SIIP-RMSA is 7.93% by inserting the slots in
the radiating patch in comparison with conventional
rectangular microstrip antenna having impedance bandwidth
of 3%. By using superstrate and varying the slot length and
width, the gain enhancement of 5.45 dB is achieved with 5%
of size reduction. The improved impedance bandwidth, gain
and size reduction is achieved by inserting slots on the patch.
Designed antenna finds application in WiMax services,
RADAR application and European fixed satellite services
covering the frequency range of 3-4 GHz.

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