Planar Inverted-F Antenna for Wireless

Applications
A Dissertation
Submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements
for the award of the degree
of

Masters of Technology
In

Electronics and Communication Engineering

(with specialization in Communication Systems)
Submitted by
Akshita

DEPARTMENT OF ELECTRONICS & COMMUNICATION

ENGINEERING
GRAPHIC ERA HILL UNIVERSITY
DEHRADUN-248001(INDIA)
JUNE, 2015
1

Candidates Declaration
I hereby declare that the work, which is being presented in the Dissertation, entitled Planar
inverted-F antennas for Wireless Applicationin partial fulfillment for the award of Degree of
Master of Technology in School of Electrical, Electronics &Communication Engineering
with Specialization in Communication Engineering, and submitted to the School of Electronics
& Communication Engineering, Graphic Era Hill University, Dehradun, is a record of my own
investigations carried under the Guidance of Mr. Utpal Dey (Assistant Professor), School of
Electrical, Electronics &Communication Engineering.
The contents of this Dissertation, in full or in parts, have neither been taken from any other
source nor have been submitted to any other Institute or University for award of any degree or
diploma.

AKSHITA

This is to certify that the above statement made by the candidate is correct to the best of my/our
knowledge.
Mr. Utpal Dey
(Assistant Professor)

The M.Tech Viva -Voce Examination of (AKSHITA) has been held

on ____________ and the Dissertation is satisfactory / unsatisfactory

Signature of Internal Examiner (s)

Signature of External Examiner (s)

Dr.Ved Prakash Dubey

2

(HOD)

To
My Parents

ACKNOWLEDGMENT

I am highly grateful to the Honble Vice-Chancellor, Graphic Era Hill University, Dehradun,
Uttarakhand for providing me this opportunity to carry out the present thesis work.
I would like to extend my gratitude to my guide Mr. Utpal Dey for his constant encouragement,
support and guidance. He would set doable but simultaneously challenging tasks before me
which kept me motivated for the whole year.
The help rendered by Dean, and the program chair of M.tech. ECE, Graphic Era Hill University,
Dehradun, Uttarakhand is greatly acknowledged. I also express my gratitude to other faculty
members of the department for their intellectual support throughout the course of this work.
The copious help received from the staff members of the Graphic Era Hill University, Dehradun,
Uttarakhand, for Laboratory is also acknowledged.
I am thankful to GOD and also thankful to my friends. Time spent with them after a days work
was always refreshing.
And above all my heartfelt gratitude is for my parents. They have stood by me at each and every
moment and made me believe in myself when I had doubts over it.

AKSHITA
10302003

S.N

NAME

PAGE

NO

1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
12
13
14

LIST OF TABLE
LIST OF FIGURES
LIST OF ABBRIVATIONS
NOTATION
CHAPTER 1 INTRODUCTION
1.1 INTRODUCTION
1.2 MOTIVATION
1.3 GOAL
1.4 MODIFICATION OF THE MAIN RADIATOR
1.5 MODIFICATION OF THE GROUND PLANE
1.6 RECONFIGURABLE APPROACH
CHAPTER 2 LITERATURE SURVEY
2.1 LITERATURE REVIEW
2.1.1 COPLANAR IFA WITH FIXED GROUND
SLOTS

15
16

2.2 BRIEF LITERATURE REVIEW

2.2.1 DESIGN AND ANALYSIS OF AN R-SHAPED
DUAL-BAND PLANAR INVERTED-F ANTENNA FOR

17
18
19
20
21
22
23
24
25
26

VEHICULAR APPLICATIONS
2.3 DESIGN ANALYSIS
2.3.1 INTRODUCTION
2.3.2 ANTENNA GEOMETRY
2.3.3 RESULTS
CHAPTER 3 ANTENNAS
3.1 INTRODUCTION
3.2 PRINCIPLE OF WORKING
3.3 RADIATIONS FROM ANTENNA
3.4 ANTENNA PARAMETERS
3.4.1 RADIATION PATTERNS

27

3.4.2 ANTENNA DIRECTIVITY

28

3.4.3 ANTENNA GAIN

29

3.4.4 RADIATION INTENSITY

30

3.4.5 ANTENNA BANDWIDTH

31

3.4.6 REFLECTION COEFFICIENT

32

3.4.7 VOLTAGE STANDING WAVE RATIO

33

3.4.8 SCATTERING PARAMETERS

34

3.4.9 INPUT IMPEDANCE

5

35

3.4.10 POLARIZATION

36

3.5 MICROSTRIP LINE THEORY

37

3.6 ANTENNA FIELD PATTERN

38

3.7 RECTANGULAR PATCH ANTENNA

39

3.8 INTERNAL ANTENNAS

40

3.9 INVERTED-F ANTENNA

41

3.9.1 SINGLE BAND PIFA

42
43

CHAPTER 4 METHODOGLOY
4.1 INTRODUCTION

44

4.1.1 FOLDED PLANAR INVERTED-F ANTENNA

45

4.1.2 FOLDED PIFA DESIGN

46

4.1.3 RESULTS AFTER SIMULATION

47

4.2 CONCLUSION & FUTURE SCOPE

48
4.3 INTRODUCTION
49
4.3.1 PROBE-FED SHORTED PATCH OR PLANAR
INVERTED-F ANTENNA (PIFA)
50
4.3.2 ANTENNA DESIGN
51
4.3.3 RESULTS AFTER SIMULATION
52
CHAPTER 5 CONCLUSIONS
53
5.1 CONCLUSIONS AND FUTURE SCOPE
54
REFERENCES

TABLE NO
TABLE 2.1
TABLE 3.1

LIST OF TABLES
TITLE
DIMENSION OF THE MICROSTRIP PATCH ANTENNA
ACCURACY OF SIMPLIFIED FREQUENCY CALCULATION

TABLE 4.1

FORMULA CALCULATED FREQ. (GHZ)

DIMENSIONS OF THE PROPOSED ANTENNA

PAGE NO

FIGURE
NO
FIGURE
2.1

LIST OF FIGURES
TITLE

NO
ANTENNA CONFIGURATIONS. (A) SINGLE GROUND
SLOT CIFA FOR DUAL-BAND OPERATION. (B) DOUBLE

FIGURE

GROUND SLOT CIFA FOR TRI-BAND OPERATION

MEASURED REFLECTION COEFFICIENT, |S11|, FOR

2.2

THE CIFA OF FIGURE 1.1(A) WITH AND WITHOUTA

FIGURE

SINGLE SLOT
MEASURED REFLECTION COEFFICIENT, |S11|, FOR

2.3

THE CIFA OF FIGURE 1.1(B) WITH AND WITHOUT A

FIGURE
2.4

PAGE

DOUBLE SLOT
FABRICATED PROTOTYPES OF THE MEANDERED-TAIL
CIFA. (A) TOP VIEW. (B) BOTTOM VIEW OF THE
SINGLE-GROUND-SLOTCIFA FOR DUAL-BAND
OPERATION. (C) BOTTOM VIEW OF THE DOUBLEGROUND-SLOT CIFA FOR TRI-BAND OPERATION
8

FIGURE

GEOMETRY OF THE PROPOSED ANTENNA

2.5
FIGURE

(DIMENSIONS IN CENTIMETERS)
COMPUTED AND MEASURED RETURN LOSS VERSUS

2.6
FIGURE

FREQUENCY
ALL PARAMETER OF THIS MICROSTRIP PATCH

2.7
FIGURE

ANTENNA IS GIVEN IN TABLE-1

RETURN LOSS OF MICROSTRIP PATCH ANTENNA

2.8
FIGURE

3-D RADIATION PATTERN OF THE MICROSTRIP PATCH

2.9
FIGURE

ANTENNA
POLAR RADIATION PATTERN PLOT OF MICROSTRIP

2.10
FIGURE

PATCH ANTENNA
TYPICAL TRANSMITTING AND RECEIVING ANTENNA

3.1
FIGURE

RADIATION MECHANISM

3.2
FIGURE

RADIATIONS FROM AN ANTENNA

3.3
FIGURE

SPHERICAL COORDINATE SYSTEM

3.4
FIGURE

RADIATION PATTERN OF AN ANTENNA

3.5
FIGURE

RADIATION PATTERNS (A) ISOTROPIC ANTENNA (B)

3.6

OMNI-DIRECTIONAL ANTENNA

FIGURE

(C) DIRECTIONAL ANTENNA

LINEAR, CIRCULAR AND ELLIPTICAL POLARIZATION

3.7
FIGURE

GEOMETRY OF A MICROSTRIP LINE (A) MICROSTRIP

3.8
FIGURE

LINE STRUCTURE (B) FIELD DISTRIBUTION

FRINGING ELECTRIC FIELD AROUND MICROSTRIP

3.9
FIGURE

PATCH (A) SQUARE (B) CIRCULAR

EQUIVALENT MAGNETIC CURRENTS ON THE EDGES

3.10
FIGURE

OF MICROSTRIP PATCHE(A) SQUARE(B)CIRCULAR

COAX FED MICROSTRIP PATCH ANTENNA

3.11
FIGURE

GEOMETRY OF L SHAPED ANTENNA

3.12
FIGURE

IMPACT OF SEPARATION OF G ON AN L-SHAPED

3.13

ANTENNA
9

FIGURE

USING THE SHUNT INDUCTOR TO MATCH THE

3.14
FIGURE

ANTENNA WITH G=6MM

GEOMETRY OF AN INVERTED-F ANTENNA

3.15
FIGURE

IMPACT OF SEPARATION S ON AN IFA

3.16
FIGURE

PIFA ANTENNA

3.17
FIGURE

THREE PIFA ANTENNAS WITH DIFFERENT WIDTHS

3.18
FIGURE

H=7MM
GEOMETRY OF THE PROPOSED PIFA

4.1
FIGURE

ANTENNA DESIGNED IN CST

4.2
FIGURE

SIMULATED AND MEASURED RETURN LOSSES FOR

4.3
FIGURE

THE PROPOSED ANTENNA

RADIATION PATTERN OF ANTENNA

4.4
FIGURE

GEOMETRY OF A PROBE-FED SHORTED PATCH

4.5

ANTENNA FOR BROADBAND AND DUAL FREQUENCY

OPERATIONS. THE DIMENSIONS GIVEN IN THE FIGURE

FIGURE

ARE IN MM
ANTENNA DESIGN OF L-SHAPED PROBE FED

4.6
FIGURE

ANTENNA IN CST
MEASURED AND SIMULATED RETURN LOSS OF THE

4.7

PROBE-FED SHORTED PATCH ANTENNA

SHOWN IN FIGURE 4.6 WITH A GROUND-PLANE SIZE

FIGURE
4.8

OF 18 80 MM2
MEASURED RADIATION PATTERNS OF THE PROBE-FED
SHORTED PATCH ANTENNA SHOWN IN
FIGURE 4.6. (A) F = 1739 MHZ, (B) F = 2463 MHZ

10

LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS

EBG

Electromagnetic Band Gap

RF

Radio Frequency

UWB

Ultra Wide Band

PBG

Photonic Band Gap

ERP

Effective Radiated Power

SMP

Shorted Metallic Patches

MRS

Metamaterial Reflecting Surface

FSS

Frequency Selective Surfaces

BW

Bandwidth

PBC

Periodic Boundary Condition

TEM

Transverse Electromagnetic

PEC

Perfect Electric Conducter

IFA

Inverted-F Antenna

PIFA

Planar Inverted-F Antenna

11

NOTATION
L

Length of Patch

Width of Patch

Effective Length

Electric Field

Magnetic Field

Wavelength

Frequency

Permeability

Efficiency
Zin

Input Impedance

ZL

Load Impedance

Zo

Characteristics Impedance

Reflection Coefficient
Relative Permittivity

Height of Substrate

S11

Return Loss

Yo

Length of the Inset Feed

ko

Wavenumber in Free Space

G1,G2

Conductance of Slot Antenna

G12

Mutual Conductance
12

VSWR

Voltage Standing Wave Ratio

13

[Type text]

CHAPTER 1. INTRODUCTION

1.1 Motivation
Internal antennas were introduced in the twentieth century and since then they are commonly
used in mobile phones. Internal antennas highly reduced the size and complexity of the mobile
phone designs. As we know that customers these days are more into buying a sleek phone thus
there is a constant research and development going on in designing an antenna which is compact
in size and can provide all the services efficiently.
Antennas for wireless communications are commonly developed in the planar geometry.
Although all the planar antennas may appear same, but there are more than one type of planar
antenna from the technical point of view. In the beginning small antennas were based on the
monopole configuration but as the research and development progressed, we now have many
alternate designs such as the popular planar inverted-f antenna (PIFA) and coplanar inverted-f
antenna(CIFA).
PIFA can be used for multiple applications related to mobile communications by altering or
achieving certain characteristics s fr as the design is concerned. These ever evolving features
motivates the designer to obtain multiple uses of PIFA such as LTE, GPS, GSM, PCS, DCS,
GPS, UMTS, WLAN and WiMAX.So keeping the design centered around GSM a multiband or
UWB PIFA is the need of the hour as far as multiple applications or services are concerned.

1.2 Goal
As electronic devices continue to shrink in size, the antenna designer is pushed toreduce the
antenna size as well.In general, there are two main considerations that govern planar antenna
designs; antenna miniaturization techniques and multiband operation. In antenna designs,
multiband operation can be achieved by modifications to the main radiator applied using two
strategies. The first strategy is to create several radiators for different resonances from a single
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[Type text]

feeder. The second strategy is to elongate the main radiators physical length to achieve multiple
resonant modes. However, creating several radiating branches may occupy more space, hence
making the antenna physically larger than the desired volume. For this reason, while designing a
multiband antenna, the designs must also apply miniaturization approaches.
Some Advantages of PIFA

The bandwidth of PIFA antenna is very small and is in the range of few megahertz. So it
is heavily used in wireless mobile handsets.

Low size allows it to use PIFA in mobile devices.

Multi band operation can be easily implemented by using any variable length multiple
slots on the patch of the structure.

The frequency of operation can be controlled easily by varying width of shorting pin
without changing the size of patch.

It is worth mentioning that generally for PIFA, the far field patterns are almost
omnidirectional, which is a desired propertyfor hand-held mobile phones.

1.3 Modification of the main radiator

The main radiator of a monopole/PIFA/CIFA type antenna plays a major role in determining the
resonant frequency of the antenna. For a small antenna, particularly the /4 radiator
configuration, miniaturization can be achieved in many ways. The main radiator arm can be
modified by changing its configuration in such a way that it occupies optimally the limited
area/volume provided for it. One of the design techniques to achieve multiband operation is to
have branches for the main antenna radiator. The branches are of monopole strips or arms to
create different current paths for different resonances. This technique allows the excitation of
multiple resonant frequencies at their fundamental mode. Multi-stacking or multi-layering is
another technique that offers similar operation as the multi-branching technique. Similarly, it is
capable of creating different current paths and thus different resonances.
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[Type text]

A multi-resonator configuration is also achievable through proper application of some sort of slot
or slit, sometimes also known as a notch geometry. In this approach, the radiator is modified in
such a way that its original geometry is introduced with fine-tuned defined configurations of
slots or slits. The resulting modification separates the main current stream into several other
paths, which in turn create different resonators. It is worthwhile to mention that designs utilizing
slots are not necessarily limited to straight lines or rectangular geometries. Other shapes have
also been proposed such as a U-slotted PIFA, a V-slot loaded patch antenna, a Z-shaped slot
antenna, or an open-ended Rampart-slot antenna.

1.4 Modification of the ground plane

As a result of the advancement in RF transceivers, the space allocated for its radiating element
has become smaller. The reduced space is due to the increase in the number of new circuitry
needed to provide better data channelling. The modification of the radiating elementin a compact
volume has been very challenging. An alternative solution is a better utilization of its ground
plane. Even though the geometry of the main radiating element plays a main role in determining
the resonant frequency and other performances of an antenna, the importance of the ground plane
as the natural complimentary agent to a radiating current must not be neglected. The
modification includes size variation, location of radiating element within the ground plane area
or inserting slots in the ground plane.
Variations in a finite ground plane size and geometry affect the performance of an antenna. The
resonant frequency of a conventional PIFA starts to converge to that of the case of an infinite
ground plane when the size of the finite ground plane is increased above a unit wavelength. Also,
the bandwidth increases with the length of the ground plane. With respect to the PIFA antenna
used in a cellular phone, it was shown that an increased bandwidth, especially with respect to the
lowest resonant frequency of operation, is achieved with a longer ground plane. With respect to
the complimentary role of ground plane to the main radiator, any modification to its geometry
should also affect the overall antenna performance. Inserting slots is one obvious example. The
insertion of ground slots creates some sort of discontinuity which causes the electric current

16

[Type text]

launched by the primary radiator to reroute its path along the conducting surface of the ground.
As a result, the electrical length of the ground is increased.
With the strong coupling from the radiator, the ground slots cause a considerable impact on the
input impedance. This positive impact includes the introduction of new resonances which are
advantageous for the multiband design

1.5 Reconfigurable approach

With multiband capability, reconfigurable antennas can utilize more efficiently the radio
frequency spectrum, facilitating better access to wireless services in modern radio transceivers.
Reconfigurable antennas are generally divided into two main categories: frequency tunable and
pattern diversity antennas. Furthermore, the selection of electronic switches is of paramount
importance. Depending on the type of antennas, switches such as RF MEMS, varactors and PIN
diodes can be used. The choice is governed by electrical specifications, fabrication complexity,
bias requirement, switching time, and price.

17

[Type text]

CHAPTER 2. LITERATURE SURVEY

2.1 Literature Review

2.1.1 Coplanar IFA with fixed ground slots
Coplanar inverted-F antennas (CIFA) feature a low profile, compact size, and easy
integrationwith an RF front-end. On the other hand, they feature a narrow operational bandwidth.
Several techniques to increase the operational bandwidth or achieve multiband operation can be
applied as discussed in [1, 2]. However, most of these techniques focus on modifications of the
radiating element to either provide several radiating branches or elongating the radiators
dimension to generate multiple resonant modes. This approach faces a problem when the antenna
has to be embedded into a small space as demanded by a compact transceiver.
An alternative technique to provide multiple resonant frequencies or bandwidth enhancement is
through a better utilization of the ground plane [3-10]. In this technique, secondary radiators are
formed by ground slots, which introduce new resonant frequencies or enhance the already
existing ones. The feasibility of this approach to enhance an impedance bandwidth has been
demonstrated for a planar inverted-F antenna (PIFA) [6-8]. It has been shown that with the
proper tuning of slot parameters, new resonant frequencies can be generated to provide
multiband operation or increase the bandwidth [7, 8]. In all of these designs, a coaxial probe was
used to feed the radiating patch. This configuration requires ground slots to be in close proximity
of the primary radiator to excite efficiently new resonances.
A shortfall of such a configuration is a limited means for tuning the slot dimensions. Also, the
restricted slot locations may limit the antenna integration with the RF circuitry [9]. Recently, an
alternative approach involving a CIFA and a microstrip feedline coupled to ground slots has been
proposed [10]. According to the work described in [10], the use of the microstrip feedline in
conjunction with the CIFA eliminates the shortcoming of a coaxial probe-fed patch. The reason is
that this feeder can be positioned arbitrarily on the printed circuit board (PCB) and thus offers a
more flexible coupling with ground slots to introduce new resonant frequencies. The work

18

[Type text]

presented in [10] considers a single ground slot and was limited to WLAN frequency bands. In
the following design, the work is extended to multiple ground slots and includes detailed
simulation and experimental investigations. The figure shown below shows two CIFA a) with
one ground slot and b) with two ground slots.
.

Figure 2.1 : Antenna configurations. (a) Single ground slot CIFA for dual-band operation. (b)
Double ground slot CIFA for tri-band operation.

Two configurations of CIFAs are introduced with two different ground slot outlines, asshown in
Figure 1.1. As observed in Figure 1(a), the introduced slots are open-circuited in one arm and
short-circuited at the other. The open-circuited arms of the ground slots are responsible for
introducing new resonances, while the short-circuited ones act as tuning stubs. The initial lengths
of the radiating arms are about one quarter-wavelength. The coupling locations along the
microstrip feedline are selected to avoid an adverse loading of the primaryradiator. The final
dimensions are obtained from a parametric analysis performed using CST
Microwave Studio. For the first configuration (Figure 1.2), an open-end slot with an optimized
distance of Ws Ls = 1 33 mm2 and at a distance of Hs = 4 mm from the upper ground edge
is designed. The second configuration (Figure 1.3) features two slots of dimension Ws1 Ls1 =
0.5 33 mm2 and Ws2 Ls2 = 0.5 13.2 mm2, respectively, placed at opposite edges. The
19

[Type text]

distance of both slots with respect to the upper ground edge are Hs1 = 4 mm and Hs2 =7.5 mm.
These two configurations indeed indicate that the microstrip feedline feed offers more flexibility
to the ground slot coupling than a coaxial probe operating in conjunction with a PIFA.

Figure 2.2 measured reflection coefficient, |S11|, for the CIFA of Figure 1.1(a) with and without
a single slot.

Figure 2.3 measured reflection coefficient, |S11|, for the CIFA of Figure 1.1(b) with and
without a double slot.

20

[Type text]

The performances of both the CIFA configurations are assessed in terms of their reflection
coefficients, radiation characteristics, and gain. Figure 2 shows the simulated and measured
reflection coefficients of the first slot configuration of the CIFA. The presented results validate
the proposed idea that the coupling of a single open-ended slot with a microstrip feedline is
capable of generating a new resonant frequency at about 5.5 GHz (900-MHz impedance
bandwidth with |S11| below -10 dB). Together with the fundamental resonance of the CIFA
radiator at 2.4 GHz, the dual-band CIFA can support the WLAN 2.4/5.5-GHz system.
There is good agreement between the simulation and experimental results. The simulated and
measured reflection coefficients for the CIFA configuration with a double ground slot are shown
in Figure 3. The presented results demonstrate a promising multiband operation of the CIFA.
The proposed technique introduces two additional resonant frequencies. The first one is above 3
GHz, and another one is above 5 GHz. The impedance bandwidths are quite wide and
accommodate not only the 2.4/5.5-GHz WLAN, but also include 2.5/3.5/5.5 GHz for WiMAX.
Again, there is a relatively good agreement between the simulated and measured results for the
reflection coefficients. In addition, the proposed coupling to the ground slots does not affect the
reflection coefficient performance of the CIFA around the original resonance of 2.4 GHz. This
means that the design procedure does not introduce any extra complexities. The fabricated PIFA
is shown in figure 2.4

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[Type text]

Figure 2.4: Fabricated prototypes of the meandered-tail CIFA. (a) Top view. (b) Bottom view of
the single-ground-slotCIFA for dual-band operation. (c) Bottom view of the double-ground-slot
CIFA for tri-band operation.

2.2 Brief Literature Review

Indefinite amount of work has been done in developing techniques for designing a PIFA for
various applications some of them are

2.2.1 Design and Analysis of an R-Shaped Dual-Band Planar

Inverted-F Antenna for Vehicular Applications
Mohmmd Ali [11] in his work proposed a dual-band R-shaped planar inverted-F antenna for
vehicular application. Utilization of this unique geometry dual-frequency operation is achieved
with a single feed. The proposed antenna operates in the 225- and 450-MHz bands. Input
impedance and return loss data as function of various antenna parameters are presented, which
show that parameters can be adjusted in order to obtain optimum tuning. Radiation pattern data
for the antenna mounted on the roof of two types of vehicles are given. The pattern in the lowfrequency band is essentially omnidirectional while that in the high-frequency band is directional
and normal to the antenna surface. With proper scaling, this antenna may be suitable for dualband GSM 900/1800-MHz phone applications. Fig 2.1 shows the proposed antenna

22

[Type text]

Figure 2.5 Geometry of the proposed antenna (dimensions in centimeters).

Figure 2.6 Computed and measured return loss versus frequency

23

[Type text]

2.3 Design Analysis

2.3.1 Introduction
Indefinite amount of work has been done in developing techniques for designing a PIFA for
various applications some of them area rectangular patch antenna was simulated at 2.4 GHz for
wi-fi applications. a microstrip patch antenna (conventional antenna) with specific resonant
frequency 2.45 GHz, substrate material are used FR4, dielectric constant (r) 4.3, and height of
the substrate is 1.6 mm. using this specific parameter I have calculated the length of patch and
width of the patch by transmission line formula.

2.3.2 Antenna geometry

Fig 2.7: All parameter of this microstrip patch antenna is given in table-1.

Table -2.1: Dimension of the microstrip patch antenna

Parameters

Values

Frequency (f)

2.45GHz
24

[Type text]

Substrate material

FR4

Dielectric constant (r)

4.3

Height of the substrate (h)

1.28mm

Length of the substrate

29.5mm

Width of the substrate

29.5mm

Width of the patch (mw)

2.7mm

Thickness of the patch

and ground plane 0.017mm

(mt)
Width of the feeding (y)

12mm

2.3.3 Results

Fig 2.8: Return loss of microstrip patch antenna

25

[Type text]

Fig 2.9: 3-D Radiation pattern of the microstrip patch antenna

The result of microstrip patch antenna designs as the return loss and the radiation pattern can
be obtained by using the simulator software CST Microwave Studio. Referring to the figure
2.4, from simulation, microstrip patch antenna shows the resonant frequency exactly
2.45GHz with return loss -21.49 dB and bandwidth 29.34 MHz

Fig 2.10: Polar radiation pattern plot of microstrip patch antenna

26

[Type text]

CHAPTER 3. ANTENNAS

3.1 Introduction
This chapter gives the a introduction about how antenna works and the quantitative evaluation of
the antennas. As per the official IEEE definition of an antenna given by Stutzman& Thiele [1]
follows the concept: That part of a transmitting or receiving system that is designed to radiate or
receive electromagnetic waves. In other words, antennas are metallic structures designed for
radiating & receiving electromagnetic energy. Fig 1.1 shows the typical Transmitting and
receiving antenna.

27

[Type text]

Figure 3.1 Typical Transmitting and receiving antenna

3.2 Principle of Working

An antenna works on the principle of a time varying current or an acceleration (or deceleration)
of charge. When an antenna intercepts a time varying electric and magnetic field , time
varying currents (accelerating charges) are produced on it. Fig 3.2 shows the basic principle
of radiation from an antenna.

28

[Type text]

Figure 3.2 Radiation Mechanism

3.3 Radiation from antenna

Figure 3.3 Radiations from an Antenna

29

[Type text]

Fig 3.3 shows the radiation from an antenna. The space aroud an antenna is associated with
field and energy. The field patterns change spatially and are associated with two types
of energy: radiating energy and reactive energy.

3.4 Antenna Parameters

3.4.1 Radiation Patterns
An antenna radiation pattern is a graphical representation of the radiation proprieties of the
antenna, depicted as a two dimensional cross section. This system has the following coordinates:
where,

Radius from the origin (r)

the polar angle, angle relative to the axis x
the azimuthal angle, angle relative to the axis z

Figure 3.4: spherical coordinate system

The radiation pattern of the antenna is divided into number of lobes. The lobes are separated by
areas, in which there is no radiation, null areas of the radiation pattern.
In the Figure 3.5 can be seen the following parts of the radiation pattern:

30

[Type text]

Direction of propagation: direction of maximum radiation of the antenna

Main lobe: Region of the radiation pattern that contains the direction of maximum

radiation
Secondary lobe: Any lobe other lobe than is not the main one. In many applications it

isnecessary to reduce the magnitude of the secondary lobes for a suitable design.
Side lobes: lobes that are adjacent to the main lobe
Back lobe: lobe which is in the opposite direction to the principal

Figure 3.5: Radiation pattern of an antenna

Types of Radiation Pattern

Isotropic: it represents the theoretical form of lossless antenna , in this radiation pattern

the density of the radiated power is the same in all directions.

Omni-directional: The Omni-directional antenna radiates and receives equally well in all

horizontal directions.
Directional: in this case the directivity of the antenna is concentrate in one given

direction.
Half-Power Beamwidth (HPBW)- the angular width of the main beam at the half-power

points.
First Null Beamwidth (FNBW) - angular width between the first nulls on either side of
the main beam.

31

[Type text]

(a)

(b)

(c)

Figure3.6: Radiation patterns (a) Isotropic antenna (b) Omni-directional antenna

(c) Directional antenna
3.4.2 Antenna Directivity
It is defined as the ratio of the antenna radiated power density at a distant point to the total
antenna radiated power (Prad) radiated isotropically.
D ( , )=

4 U0
Prad

3.4.3 Antenna Gain

It is defined as the ratio of the antenna radiated power density at a distant point to the total
antenna input power (Pin) radiated isotropically. Thus, the antenna gain, being dependent on the
total power delivered to the antenna input terminals, accounts for the ohmic losses in the antenna
while the antenna directivity, being dependent on the total radiated power, does not include the
effect of ohmic losses.
G ( , )=

4 U max
P

3.4.4 Radiation Intensity

The intensity of radiation is the power radiated per unit of solid angle in certain direction. The

32

[Type text]

Unit is watts per steradian. The relationship between radiation intensity K ( , )

power density

and radiated

P( , ) is,

K ( , )=P( , ) r 2

The total radiated power can be calculated by integrating the radiation intensity in all directions
of the space
W r = K ( , ) d W r = K ( ,) sin dd

3.4.5 Antenna Bandwidth

The frequency range, in which a given antenna parameter does not exceed certain limits, is
known as the bandwidth of the antenna. The bandwidth (BW) is the frequency range in which the
antenna parameters satisfy certain characteristics. The analytical expression of the bandwidth is:
BW =

f max f min
f0

and minimum frequencies respectively that limit the bandwidthand f0 is the center frequency.
Where fmax and fmin are the maximum

3.4.6 Reflection Coefficient

Assuming the amplitude of the incident wave is Vincident. At theantenna port, someof the energy
carried by the incidentwave is radiated by the antenna.In the meantime, the residual energy is
reflected at the port and travels back along thetransmission line. The amplitude of the reflected
wave is Vreflected.The reflection coefficient is given by:

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[Type text]

V reflected
V incident

3.4.7 Voltage Standing Wave Ratio

The other commonly used parameter, voltage standing wave ratio (VSWR), is directly defined
by the standing wave formed by the superposition of the incident and reflected waves.

VSWR=

V max
V min

The VSWR is the ratio of the amplitude of a partial standing wave at an antinodes(Maximum
voltage) to the amplitude at an adjacent node (minimum voltage), in anelectrical transmission
line. As the Vmax and Vmin are formed when the incident and reflected
waves areconstructively and destructively superimposed respectively. Above
equation can berewritten as:
VSWR=

1+
1

The relation between VSWR and G, or return loss, is a one-to-one

correspondence. The return loss of 10dB is a commonly used specification for
antennas. The corresponding VSWR is approximately 2: 1.

3.4.8 Scattering Parameters

At RF (Radio Frequency) and microwave frequencies direct measurements of impedance Z or
admittance Y is difficult due to the unavailability of equipment to measure total current or
voltage. Furthermore it is difficult to obtain perfect open/short conditions and the active devices
34

[Type text]

may be unstable under open/short conditions. A more consistent representation with the concepts
of incident waves, reflected and transmitted is the scattering matrix or S-parameters. Sparameters are the reflection and transmission coefficients between the incident and reflected
wave. These parameters describe completely a devices behavior under linear conditions at a
given frequency range. Each parameter is characterized by magnitude, gains or losses in decibels
and phase. Although they are applicable to any frequency, the S-parameters are primarily used
for networks operating at radio frequency (RF) and microwave frequencies. In general, for
practical networks the S-parameters change with the frequency, that is why the frequency should
be specified for any measurement of parameters S, as well as the characteristic impedance. In the
context of the S-parameters, dispersion refers to the way in which thecurrents and voltages that
are displaced in a transmission line are affected when they meet a discontinuitydue to the
introduction of a network in a transmission line. This amounts to an impedancewave meeting
with different characteristic impedance of the line.
The relation between the reflected waves, incident waves and scattering parameter matrix is
given by:

b1 S11 S 12 a1
=
b2 S 21 S 22 a2

Input Return loss:

2

Sii =

Power reflected port i

Power available at port i

Input Return Loss ( dB )=20 log S ii

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[Type text]

Insertion Loss:

S ji 2 =

Power transmitted port j

Power available at port i

Insertion Loss ( dB )=20 log S ji

3.4.9 Input Impedance

The input impedance is defined as the impedance presented by an antenna at its port or theratio
of the voltage to current at the port or the ratio of the appropriate components of the electricor
magnetic fields at a point. The input impedance Z A, given in the formula 2.1, consists in two
parts:

The real part RA known as the resistive part of the antenna

The imaginary part XA known as the reactance part of the antenna
ZA = RA() + jXA()

(3.1)

Generally the resistive part RA consists of two components:

The radiation resistance of the antenna (Rr):

Rr =

2 Prad
I A

(3.2)

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[Type text]

The loss resistance of the antenna (RL):

R L=

2( P Prad )
I A 2

(3.3)

Both components are related by the following equation:

RA = Rr + RL

(3.4)

This division allows us to distinguish between the power radiated by the antenna Pr (3.5) and
the power dissipated as heat PL (3.6), where I0 is the current value at the antennas port:
1
Pr= I 0 2 Rr ( 3 .5 )
2

1
PL = I 0 2 R L ( 3 .6 )
2

In addition, if the imaginary part of the input impedance X A() is zero at a certain frequency,it is
said that the antenna is resonant at this frequency.
3.4.10 Polarization
The polarization of an antenna is the polarization of the wave radiated by the antenna in agiven
direction. The polarization of a wave is determined by the geometrical shape of the endvector
representing the changes of the electric field depending on the time, in a given position.
Forwaves with sinusoidal variation that figure is generally an ellipse. Linear polarization occurs
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[Type text]

when the phase of two orthogonal components of the electric fielddiffer from an integer multiple
of radians, in this case the figure traced by the electric field is a line.Circular polarization

occurs when the amplitudes are equal and the phase difference between thecomponents is

or

3
2 , in this case the figure traced by the electric field is a circle. The polarization is

elliptical in other cases.

Fig. 3.7: Linear, Circular and Elliptical polarization

3.5 Microstrip Line Theory

Microstrip line is one of the most popular types of planar transmission lines. The main reasons
why this transmission line is so popular is that it can be fabricated by photolithographic
processes and it can easily be miniaturized and integrated with both passive and active
microwave devices. The design of a microstrip line [Figure 3.5 a] consisting of a conductor of
width W printed on a thin, grounded dielectric substrate of thickness h and relative permittivity.

38

[Type text]

Fig. 3.8: Geometry of a microstrip line (a) Microstrip line structure (b) Field distribution
This type of transmission line is formed by two conductors, the signal line and the groundplane,
separated from each other by the dielectric substrate. Besides the microstrip line is where allthe
fields are contained within a homogeneous dielectric region. Some fraction of this field linesare
radiated in the air region above the microstrip line. This is the reason why microstrip lines donot
propagate pure TEM modes. In most practical applications the dielectric substrate is electrically
very thin (h_) thereby the fields that propagate are quasi-TEM.

[(

)]

0.5
2
r+ 1 r 1
h
W
W
+
. 1+12
+ 0.004 1
when 1
2
2
W
h
h
refec =
0.5
r +1 r 1
h
W
+
. 1+12
when >1
2
2
W
h

Using the above formula we can calculate the wave length as follows,
strip =

0
refec

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[Type text]

Further we can determine the characteristic impedance of the microstrip line by the following
formula

0 strip =

60
8h W
W
ln
+
when 1
W 4h
h
refec
120
W
when > 1
h
W
W
+1.393+0.667 . ln
+1.444
h
h

refec

)]

Microstrip consists of a metal strip on a dielectric substrate covered by a groundplane on the

other side. Unlike stripline, the single ground plane shields the circuit ononly one side, but
normal packaged microstripwithin a receiver, for examplehasa second shielding ground
plane to reduce circuit interactions. The dielectric substrate retains most of the power because the
shielding ground plane is spaced a few substrate thicknesses away. Removing the shield in
antenna applications allows radiation from resonant cavities. We also discover feeding circuits
etched on the substrate radiate to some extent, but their radiation is comparatively small.
Microstrip patch antennas consist of metal patches large with respect to normal transmission-line
widths. A patch radiates from fringing fields around its edges. Impedance match occurs when a
patch resonates as a resonant cavity. When matched, the antenna achieves peak efficiency. A
normal transmission line radiates little power because the fringing fields are matched by nearby
counteracting fields. Power radiates from open circuits and from discontinuities such as corners,
but the amount depends on the radiation conductance load to the line relative to the patches.
Without proper matching, little power radiates.

3.6 Antenna Field Pattern

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[Type text]

The small size of microstrip antennas limits control of the pattern and we must use arrays of
patches to control its pattern seriously. Rectangular and circular are the most common shapes for
microstrip antennas and they radiate similar broad patterns. When we load the cavity to shrink its
size, it radiates wider beam width patterns that lower directivity. Patches consist of metal plates
suspended over large ground planes. We excite the cavity in a variety of ways that we discuss
later. Electric currents flow on the plate and on the ground plane around the antenna, and these
radiate. If we use vertical probes to excite the antenna from coaxial lines, the currents flowing on
these radiate and add to the pattern. We can reduce the antenna size by adding vertical shorting
plates or shorting pins near the feed pins, and these also radiate from the current flow on them.

Fig 3.9: Fringing electric field around microstrip patch (a) square (b) circular.
We simplify the problem of computing patch radiation by using magnetic currents along the
edges. Figure 3.9 illustrates the fringing electric fields around the edges of square and circular
patch antennas excited in the lowest-order cavity modes. The arrow sizes indicate the magnitude
of the fields. The square patch has nearly uniform fields along two edges we call the width, and a
sinusoidal variation along the other two edges, called the resonant length. The fields vanish along
a virtual electrically short-circuited plane halfway across the patches. On either side of the shortcircuit plane, the fields are directed in opposite directions.

41

[Type text]

Fig 3.10: Equivalent

magnetic currents on

the edges of microstrip

patches (a) square

(b) circular

3.7 Rectangular

Patch antenna

Although

equations

design

will

be

given below for single-

layer rectangular and

circularpatches, serious

design work should

use one of the excellent

available commercial

design codes. Their use reduces the need to modify the final dimensions using aknife to remove
metal or metal tape to increase the patches. Antennas can be builtwith tuning tabs, but the labor
to trim these increases cost. Tuning tabs are unsuitablefor arrays when the input port to
individual antennas cannot be accessed. As we addlayers to increase bandwidth, a cut-and-try
method becomes extremely difficult, andnumerical methods are a necessity.
Rectangular patch antennas can be designed by using a transmission-line model suitable for
moderate bandwidth antennas. Patches with bandwidths of less than 1%or greater than 4%
require a cavity analysis for accurate results, but the transmissionlinemodel covers most designs.
The lowest-order mode, TM10, resonates when theeffective length across the patch is a halfwavelength. Radiation occurs from the fringing fields. These fields extend the effective open
circuit (magnetic wall) beyondthe edge. The extension is given by
+0.300 W / H +0.262

=0.412 eff
H
eff 0.258 W / H +0.813

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[Type text]

where H is the substrate thickness, W the patch nonresonant width, and eff the
effectivedielectric constant of a microstrip transmission line the same width as the patch.A
suitable approximation for eff is given by

eff =

r +1 r 1
10 H
+
1+
2
2
W

1
2

Figure 3.11: Coax fed microstrip patch antenna

Where r is the substrate dielectric constant. The transmission-line model represents the patch as
a low-impedance microstrip line whose width determines the impedance and effective dielectric
constant. A combination of parallel-plate radiation conductance and capacitive susceptance loads
both radiating edges of the patch. Harrington [6, p. 183] gives the radiation conductance for a
parallel-plate radiator as

43

[Type text]

G=

( kH )
W
1
0
24

Where 0 is the free-space wavelength. The capacitive susceptance relates to the effective strip
extension:
B=0.01668

W
E
H eff

3.8 Internal Antennas

Mobile handset antennas are of two types, internal and external antennas. One of the main
disadvantages of external antenna is, it is very close to the users head and the radiation is
directly incident on the head making the specific absorption rate high. Whereas, Internal
antennas installed on the side of the PCB opposite to the human head prevents the interference.
The internal antennas depend on the type of mobile phones and changes have to be made for
each design. Therefore the antenna designed should be as smaller as possible to be fitted in the
handsets and should have acceptable performance.

3.9 Inverted-F Antenna

We know that a monopole antenna works pretty well for mobile applications. However, the
sizeof a monopole is too big to be adopted in most state-of-the-art phones. Naturally, Lshapedantennas as shown in Figure 3.1 were proposed as a measure to decrease the total height
of anantenna. While keeping the total antennas length, say, 70 mm, the antenna whip can be bent
into an L shape in different positions, thus providing a different separation, G, from the ground
plane. The dimension G is a critical parameter which decides the antennas impedance. Shown in
figure 3.9 are simulated results of a straight whip antenna and two L-shaped antennas. When
thehorizontal arm approaches the ground plane, the real part of the antennas impedance becomes
smaller. That means the impedance locus sweeps a larger circle on the Smith Chart. As the

44

[Type text]

impedance of a straight whip is around 100W, when the whip is bent and approaching the
ground, the matching of the antenna is actually improved at first. In this example, the antenna

Figure 3.12: Geometry of L shaped antenna

with the G equaling 14mm is the best matched one of all three. However, if the separation
between whip and ground is less than 14 mm, the matching starts to degrade. Either a shunt
inductor or a shunt capacitor can be used to match the antenna. A lumped inductor is used to
match the antenna with G6 mm. The dashed line, the solid line, and dotted linecorrespond to
three different matching values. For a shunt inductor, a smaller valuehas more impact on the port
impedance. A 6.8 nH inductor provides the best matching.

45

[Type text]

Figure 3.13: Impact of separation of G on an L-shaped antenna

46

[Type text]

Figure 3.13: Using the shunt inductor to match the antenna with G=6mm

By replacing the lumped inductor with a grounding metal strip, what we get is an inverted-F
antenna (IFA) as shown in Figure 3.13. The shape of the antenna element islike the letter F on
its side, that is why it is called inverted F. Shown in Figure 3.5are the results of two IFAantennas.
For the sake of consistency, the total whip lengthof both antennas is kept to 70mm if measured

47

[Type text]

from the feeding point to the endof the whip. The separations between the feeding and grounding
strips are chosento be 2mm and 5mm respectively.

Fig 3.14: Geometry of an inverted-F antenna

the grounding strip indeed functions as a shunt inductor. As the inductance of thegrounding strip
is decided by its total length, when the separation between thefeeding and grounding strips
becomes shorter, the distributed inductance becomesmaller, thus the grounding strip has more
impact.
As a rule of thumb, whenever the separation between the arm of an IFA antennaand ground gets
smaller, the grounding strip must be placed closer to the feeding stripto compensate for the
impedance change.

48

[Type text]

Fig 3.15: Impact of separation S on an IFA

In practice, designing a single band IFA antenna is quite easy. The following aresome design
steps:
Start with a strip a little longer than a quarter of wavelength. A 4mm gap betweengrounding and
feeding strips can be used as the starting point.Tune the antenna length to get a resonance, which
is slightly lower than the targetfrequency. Fine tune the antenna length again until the correct
resonant frequency is obtained.
Looking at Figures 3.14 and 3.15 more closely, the difference between resonantfrequencies can
be observed. When the antenna lengths are identical, an L-shapeantenna can work at a lower
frequency. Unlike an L-shapedantenna, whose resonant frequency is decided by its whole whip,
only a part of IFA antenna, is the active element. Theeffect of grounding and feeding strips can
be approximated by a shunt inductor and aseries inductor respectively. Of course, this is only a
coarse simplification, when thedistance between feeding and grounding strip become too short,
the distributed shuntcapacitance between two strips can also play a role in the antenna
performance.

49

[Type text]

An IFA antenna does not provide a lot of design freedom, so it is mostly used insingle-band
applications, such as GPS, BT, or WiFi. Although an IFA antenna issimilar to an L antenna with a
shunt matching inductor, there is a minor difference.Because the active length of an L antenna
starts from the feeding point, it can bedesigned to be smaller than an IFA antenna. An L antenna
also requires a smaller areaon the PCB, because it only needs one contact pad. The drawback of
an L antenna isthat the lumped matching inductor it requires has some inherent losses, thus the
efficiency of an L antenna is normally a few tenths of dB lower than an IFA antennas.If there is
enough board area for two pads, one for grounding and one for feeding, anIFA antenna is a better
choice, as it provides better efficiency and also saves amatching component, which costs a few
pennies.

3.10 Planar Inverted-F Antenna (PIFA)

Planar inverted F antennas (PIFA) are widely used antennas in mobile terminals. PIFA is an
improved version of a Monopole antenna. PIFA is realized by replacing a thin wire radiating
segment of an Inverted F antenna with a wide planar radiator.
Planar inverted-F antennas are attractive for use in small communication terminals such as
handheld radios because of the low profile electrical characteristics. The basic PIFA consists of a
ground plane, a top plate element, a feed wire feeding the resonating top plate, and a DCshorting plate that is connecting the ground and the top plate at one corner of the resonating
patch. The impedance matching of the PIFA is obtained by positioning of the single feed and the
shorting pin within the shaped slot, and by optimizing the space between feed and shorting pins.
PIFA has very large current flows on the under surface of the planar element and the ground
plane compared to the field on the upper surface of the element. The surfaces current distribution
of PIFA varies for different widths of short-circuit plates. The maximum current distribution will
be close to theshorting pin and decreases away from it.

50

[Type text]

The ground surface waves produce spuriousradiations leading to distortions in the main pattern,
or unwanted loss ofpower.Thesurface wave effects can be controlled by the use of photonic band
gap structures or simply by choosing air as the dielectric. It solves the disadvantage of
poorefficiency as well along with certain degree of bandwidth enhancement.
Substrates with high dielectric constant tend to storeenergy more than radiate it. This is
equivalent by modeling the PIFA as a lossy capacitor with high dielectric constant, thusreducing
the bandwidth. Similarlywhen the substratethickness is increased the inverse proportionality
ofthicknessto the capacitance decreases the energy stored in the PIFA. Theincrease in height
anddecrease of dielectric constant can beused to increase the bandwidth of the PIFA.
The main idea of designing the PIFA is to avoid using anyextra lumped components formatching
network. It avoids thedifferent losses such as ohmic losses, mismatch losses, feed line
transmission losses, edge power losses and external parasitic resonances. The radiation pattern of
the PIFA is the relative distribution of radiated power as a function ofdirection in space.
Radiation properties include the power flux density, phase, and polarization.
PIFA exhibits high directivities in the vertical andhorizontal states of polarization. It is useful in
certain wireless communications where the antenna orientation is not fixed and reflections are
present from the nooks in the surroundings

3.10.1 Single Band PIFA

Shown in Figure 3.6 is a planar inverted-F antenna (PIFA). PIFA antennas can bethought of as a
mutation of IFA antennas. Both IFA and PIFA antennas have a groundstrip and a feeding strip.
By replacing the radiating strip of an IFA antenna with apatch, we get a PIFA antenna. In most
cases, the patch of a PIFA antenna is above theground plane.
In all the following samples in this section, the width of both feeding andgrounding strip is 1
mm; the dimension of PCB, which is used as the ground, is 50mm*120 mm. If the PCB size is
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[Type text]

changed, the antenna response will change accordingly. The grounds impact on a PIFA antenna
is the same as that on an external antenna. In Figure 3.16, the dimension H is the distance
between a patch and a ground. The S is the edge-to-edge distance between feeding and
grounding strips. Similar to IFA antennas, the matching of antennas can be tuned by adjusting S.

Fig 3.16: PIFA Antenna

Lets start with single-band PIFA antennas. Shown in Figure 3.17 are simulated results of three
PIFA antennas. The dimension L of all three antennas is 50 mm, which is the same as the PCB
width. The dimension W of three antennas is 5 mm, 15 mm, and 25mm respectively. To best
match individual antennas, the dimension S, the distance between feeding and ground strips, is
tuned case by case. The optimal S for 5 mm, 15 mm, and 25mm patches are 1.5 mm, 4 mm, and
4mm respectively.

52

[Type text]

When the Wis 5 mm, the antenna is more like an IFA than a PIFA. With the increase inW, the
resonant frequency of a PIFA antenna decreases. This phenomenon gives us a hint that, unlike an
IFA antenna, the resonant frequency of a PIFA antenna is not solely decided by the patchs
length.

Fig 3.17: Three PIFA antennas with different widths H=7mm

For a PIFA antenna, the resonant frequency is proportional to the summary of its length and
width. A PIFAs width plus its length is roughly aquarter of a wavelength at its resonant
frequency.
When discussing a single band PIFA antenna, most books prefer to give a currentdistribution
which shows two clear current flows. Both of them start from the upper left corner and end at the
bottom-right corner. One of them passes the bottom-leftcorner and the other one passes the
opposite top-right corner. That is a quite intuitivebut coarse simplification. The real current
distribution is a little more complex than that. In many cases it is difficult to see a clear current
pattern when you simulate aPIFA antenna.
53

[Type text]

Shown in Table 3.1 is a comparison between three antennas. The second column in Table 3.1 is
the calculated resonant frequencies based on the assumption thatW Lequals to a quarter of
wavelength. The third column is the actual frequency. Thefourth column is the ratio between the
calculated frequencies and the actual ones. Theactual resonant frequency of a patch is normally
lower than the theoretical one. Thatis due to the loading effect of the edge capacitance between
patch and ground.The critical parameter, which controls the bandwidth of a PIFA antenna, is H,
thedistance between a patch and a ground.

Table 3.1: Accuracy of simplified frequency calculation formula Calculated Freq. (GHz)

Calculated

Actual frequency

Actual

frequency (GHz)

(GHz)

Freq./Calculated
Freq. (GHz)

W=5mm; L=50mm

1.36

1.26

0.92

W=15mm; L=50mm

1.15

1.12

0.97

W=25mm; L=50mm

1.00

0.89

0.89

As a summary, there are three design guidelines for single band PIFA:
The dimension H is the most critical parameter which decides an antennas overall performance.
However, because H is directly related to a devices thickness, it is a tough task to bargain about
it with industry design engineers or mechanical engineers. If there is only a 5mm height
clearance and a quad-band GSM antenna is required, then PIFA is not an appropriate candidate.
A folded monopole antenna is a better choice.
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[Type text]

By adjusting the total length W L, the antennas working frequency can be tuned. In practice,
the L should be similar to the PCBs width that results in wider bandwidth.
The dimension S is the tuning parameter which optimizes an antennas matching. One can either
use a wider strip with a larger S or a narrower strip with a smaller S to achieve the same
matching. A larger S is better for manufacturing, because a fixed process tolerance causes less
electrical variance in the antenna. From a mechanical point of view,a narrower strip is better for
spring finger type of designs, because it is more flexible and it is easier to achieve the required
spring force.

CHAPTER 4: METHODOGLOY
55

[Type text]

4.1 Introduction
Agreat demand has been putting on reducing the handsetsize due to todays market trends.
Accordingly, internalantenna has been a very good choice compared to the conventionalexternal
antennas. Now, a planar inverted-F antenna(PIFA) is proved to be the most attractive candidate
for mobilehandsets due to its compact size and good performance. The PIFA consists of a ground
plane, a top patch, a feed cable, anda shorting post, which result in a quarter-wavelength
resonator;that is, the reduction of 50% in length can be obtained by comparing to the
conventional half-wavelength radiator. Owingto these features, many PIFA designs have been
investigated,particularly for achieving dual- and triple-band mobile phones.
Among the several kinds of PIFA for multifrequency operations,there have been the two or more
separate patches the patch with embedded U-shaped slot, the patches with folded or branch lines,
the multilayered patches for wider bandwidth, and so on. Since such design methods
use separate patches or current paths, by meandering, foldingand embedded slot for each band of
multiband operations, theyhave limitations in antenna size and impedance bandwidth,especially
for 900-MHz lower band. We present a new PIFA design with a two-layeredpatch with
embedded slots and via holes for the desiredtriple-band operations of GSM, DCS, and Bluetooth
applications,which can be produced by parasitic shorted patch and extensionof patch conductors
through vertical via holes betweentwo layers. This antenna is fabricated and the measured
resultsare compared to simulation results.
4.1.1 Folded Planar Inverted-F Antenna
Figure 4.1 shows the geometry of proposed antenna. Accordingly, internal antenna has been a
very good choice compared to the conventional external antennas. Now, a planar inverted-F
antenna(PIFA) is proved to be the most attractive candidate for mobile handsets due to its
compact size and good performance. The PIFA consists of a ground plane, a top patch, a feed

56

[Type text]

cable, anda shorting post, which result in a quarter-wavelength resonator;that is, the reduction of
50% in length can be obtained by comparing to the conventional half-wavelength radiator.

Figure 4.1 Geometry of the proposed PIFA

The two layered antenna is composed of five sub patches, p1 and p2 on the upper layer while p3,
p4 & p5 on the lower layer on the antenna. There are four holes v1, v2, v3 and v4 provided for
the folded path for the multiband operations. The lower band (GSM) starts from the feeding
point of the lower layer and propagates to v3 and v4 of patch p3. Slots (s2 and s3) are cut on the
top layer of the patch antenna in order to make the current flow around the slots, an electrically
57

[Type text]

longer path. For the higher two bands, they are originated by the mutual coupling between the
two layers of the antenna. DCS band is determined by the length and width L*W of the patch.
Bluetooth starts from the feed point of the lower layer and transfers to the upper layer patch p2
by mutual coupling between the two patch p3 and p2 and then returns to the lower layer, p4 and
p5 through v1 and v2.

4.1.2 Folded PIFA design

The present configurations provide a compromise between the size reduction and available band
width. The Folded PIFA antenna is compact in size and do not require any complicated
manufacturing process compared to the conventional multiband PIFA.
The geometry we choose for operating at GSM/DCS/Bluetooth bands is illustrated in Fig. 4.2.
An air layer of 7 mm isutilized between the patch and ground plane with thickness of 1.0 mm
and area size of 32 *80 mm2, a typical size of handsetPCB board. Two layers of the patch are
separately drawn atthe right-hand side of Fig. 4.2 for the convenience of easier explaining the
proposed operating mechanism. The shorted postand coax feed, denoted by a black circle and a
black rectangle,respectively, mechanically support the patch and are connecteddirectly to both
the upper and lower layers of the patch. The traveling paths of the resonant modes are
determined by the length,width, and position of the embedded slots on both faces of twolayers
and via holes between both layers.
Detailed dimension for the antenna design of Fig. 4.2 is listed in Table 4.1. The two-layered
patch is composed of five sub patches, p1 and p2 on theupper layer and p3, p4, and p5 on the
lower layer. Their correspondingdimensions are determined by the positions and sizesof five
embedded slots, here all 0.5 mm in width. Four holes are provided to create the folded paths for
multiband operations.Slot 1 (s1) splits the radiating patch into the shorted upper smallplate (p1)
and the remaining plates (p2, p3, p4, and p5) joinedby via holes. Differently from only the
parasitic effect near themain patch in [9], p1 can take a part in giving a part of resonantpaths, so
contributing to size reduction and bandwidth broadening, in particular for higher bands due to
the direct connectionto the shorted and feed points. The small patch of 3 12lowers the resonant
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frequencies for GSM/DCS/Bluetooth bandsto approximately 5%. The lower band (GSM) starts
from thefeed point of the lower layer, propagates to v3 and v4 of p3, andthen extends through the
holes to the upper layer (p2). Two slots(s2 and s3) are cut into the upper plane of the patch
antenna inorder for the top plate current to flow around the slots, an electricallylonger path. For
the higher two bands, differently fromthe resonant path of the lower band by the folded path
explainedpreviously, they are originated by mutual coupling between twolayers. DCS band is
determined by the length and width, L W,of the patch, as for the outer dimension of the patch in
the lowerband of [4]. Bluetooth band starts from the feed point, transfersto the upper layer patch
(p2) by mutual coupling between p3 andp2, and then returns down to the lower layer plates, p4
and p5,through the corresponding via holes v1 and v2. The movementalong the positive direction
in the position of v1 and v2 resultsto the enhancement of the third band in frequency by the
shorterpaths.

Table 4.1: Dimensions of the proposed Antenna

Parameters

Values in mm

Parameters

Values in mm

30

Lp

12

Lc

22

Wc

Le

We

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Fig 4.2 Antenna Designed in CST

4.1.3 Results after simulation

Experimental results are provided in Fig. 4.3, where triple operation of GSM/DCS/Bluetooth can
be observed. Comparison with the HFSS simulations reveals that the simulations approximately
predict the resonant frequencies and degree of match except for impedance bandwidth of the
GSM band. It is believed that the larger measured bandwidth may be due to the ohmic losses of
FR4 substrate. The measured bandwidths are satisfied with the specifications of the triple bands.
The available bandwidth and match condition can be controlled by the geometrical parameters of
embedded slots and via holes. The present configuration provides a compromise between size
reduction and available bandwidth. The folded PIFA is compact and does not require any
complicated manufacturing process compared to conventional multiband PIFAs cited in
literatures.

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Fig 4.3 Simulated and measured return losses for the proposed antenna.

Fig 4.4 Radiation Pattern of Antenna

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4.2 Conclusion & Future Scope

In each of the previous research work, and the techniques discussed, it was found out that
altering the number of slots in the ground plane changes the antenna from a single band to
multiband antenna. The antennas presented use miniaturization techniques ofthe main radiator,
including meandering, bending, folding and wrapping to achieve compactsize features, while the
multiband operation of the antennas is generated fromground plane modifications using fixed
slots, reconfigurable slots, and a ground strip. Allthe designs have utilized their ground planes to
achieve multiband operation. Followingthe design guidelines, several novel solutions have been
presented. All the presented designmodels have led to promising configurations for applications
in wireless and mobileservices.
We show that the proposed techniques have several strenghths of small size, good efficiency and
folded multiband operation. It is expected that, by more meandering and folding the top patch,
the antenna size can be reduced.

4.3 Introduction

Broadband operation has been achieved with the use of two stacked shortedpatches. It has been
reported that, with a total thickness of 4 mm (0.0240at 1800 MHz), a stacked shorted patch
antenna can have a 10-dB return-loss bandwidthof 9.6%, meeting the requirement forGSM1800.

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One of these compact broadband techniques uses a chip resistor of low resistance (usually on the
order of connected between the antennas radiating patch and ground plane. In this case, with the
chip-resistor loading technique, similar antenna size reduction to the compact designusing
shorting-pin loading can be obtained. Moreover, owing to the introduced small ohmic loss of the
chip resistor, the quality factor of the microstrip antenna is greatly lowered. When aninexpensive
FR4 substrate of thickness 1.6mm and relative permittivity 4.4 is used, such a chip-resistorloaded microstrip antenna can have an impedance bandwidth of about 10% or greater. Design
examples of the chip-resistor loading technique applied to rectangular, circular, and triangular
microstrip antennas with various feed methods such as a probe feed, a microstrip-line feed, and
an aperture-coupled feed are presented.

4.3.1 Probe-Fed Shorted Patch or Planar Inverted-F Antenna (PIFA)

Figure 4.5 shows a typical design example for a probe-fed shorted patch antenna operated at dual
bands of 1.8 and 2.45 GHz. Between the rectangular radiating patch and the ground plane is an
air substrate of thickness 9.6 mm. The rectangular patch has dimensions of 36 16 mm2, an Lshaped slit of width 1 mm and total length 40 mm is cut in the rectangular patch for achieving an
additional operating band at 2.45 GHz (the industrial, scientific, medical [ISM] band); the lower
operating band at 1.8 GHz is mainly controlled by the dimensions of the rectangular patch. A
shorting strip of width 2.5 mm is used for short-circuiting the rectangular patch to the ground
plane. Measured return loss for this probe-fed shorted patch antenna is shown in Figure 4.5. The
IE3DTM simulation results are shown in the figure for comparison. Reasonable agreement
between the simulation results and measured data is seen. For the lower operating band, a wide
impedance bandwidth of 302MHz(15881890 MHz), or about 17.4% referenced to the center
frequency (1739 MHz), is obtained, which covers he DCS band (17101880 MHz). For the
higher operating band, the impedance bandwidth obtained is 74 MHz (24262500 MHz), or
about 3.0% referenced to the center frequency at 2463 MHz. The obtained impedance bandwidth
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of the higher operating band is close to the bandwidth requirement of the ISM band at 2.45 GHz.
Radiation patterns at the center frequency of the lower and upper operating bands were also
measured.

Fig 4.5: Geometry of a probe-fed shorted patch antenna for broadband and dual frequency
operations. The dimensions given in the figure are in mm.

4.3.2 Antenna Design

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Fig 4.6: Antenna design of L-shaped probe fed antenna in CST

4.3.3 Results after simulation

Measured return loss for this probe-fed shorted patch antenna is shown in Figure 4.7. The
IE3DTM simulation results are shown in the figure for comparison. Reasonable agreement
between the simulation results and measured data is seen. For the lower operating band, a wide
impedance bandwidth of 302 MHz (15881890 MHz), or about 17.4% referenced to the center
frequency (1739 MHz), is obtained, which covers he DCS band (17101880 MHz). For the
higher operating band, the impedance bandwidth obtained is 74 MHz (24262500 MHz), or
about 3.0% referenced to the center frequency at 2463 MHz. The obtained impedance bandwidth
of the higher operating band is close to the bandwidth requirement of the ISM band at 2.45 GHz.
Radiation patterns at the center frequency of the lower and upper operating bands were also
measured.

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Fig 4.7: Measured and simulated return loss of the probe-fed shorted patch antenna
shown in Figure 4.6 with a ground-plane size of 18 80 mm2.

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Fig 4.8: Measured radiation patterns of the probe-fed shorted patch antenna shown in

Figure 4.6. (a) f = 1739 MHz, (b) f = 2463 MHz.

CHAPTER 5 CONCLUSIONS
5.1 Conclusion & Future Scope

In each of the previous research work, and the techniques discussed, it was found out that
altering the number of slots in the ground plane changes the antenna from a single band to
multiband antenna. The antennas presented use miniaturization techniques of the main radiator,
including meandering, bending, folding and wrapping to achieve compact size features, while the
multiband operation of the antennas is generated from ground plane modifications using fixed
slots, reconfigurable slots, and a ground strip. All the designs have utilized their ground planes to
achieve multiband operation. Following the design guidelines, several novel solutions have been
presented. All the presented design models have led to promising configurations for applications
in wireless and mobile services.

67

[Type text]

We show that the proposed techniques have several strengths of small size, good efficiency and
folded multiband operation. It is expected that, by more meandering and folding the top patch,
the antenna size can be reduced.

We have presented a novel folded PIFA for GSM/DCS/Bluetooth applications. By incorporating

the use of embedded slots and via holes, the proposed antenna design can give us the required
antenna performance with reduced real estate in dimension. We show that the proposed
techniques have several strengths of small size (30 12 7 ), good efficiency, and triple-band
operation. It is expected that, by more meandering and folding the top patch, the antenna size be
reduced further.

The Tri band PIFA for mobile handset applications was proposed. The proposed antenna is a flat
structure, simple and easy to manufacture. The proposed antenna covers both GSM and DCS
bands with directivity of2.69dB and 5.69dB respectively. An appreciable return loss of -15.5dB
and -31dB was obtained at resonant frequencies of 0.93GHz and 1.8GHz facilitating the antenna
to work efficiently in the GSM and DCS bands. The proposed antenna shows the great potential
for multiband mobile communication applications.

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REFERENCES

[1] Wang, Y., Lee, M., & Chung, S. (2007). Two PIFA-related miniaturized dual-band antennas.
IEEE Transactions on Antennas and Propagation, 55(3), 805-811.

[2] Lee, C., & Wong, K. (2009). Uniplanar printed coupled-fed PIFA with a band-notching
slit for WLAN/WiMAX operation in the laptop computer. IEEE Transactions on
Antennas and Propagation, 57(4), 1252-1258.

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[3] Dadgarpour, A., Abbosh, A., & Jolani, F. (2011). Planar multiband antenna for compact
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[4] Abbosh, A., & Dadgarpour, A. (2011). Planar multiband antenna for multistandard
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[5] Peroulis, D., Sarabandi, K., & Katehi, L. (2005). Design of reconfigurable slot antennas.
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[6] Zhang, X., & Zhao, A. (2009). Bandwidth enhancement of multiband handset antennas
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[7] Byndas, A., Hossa, R., Bialkowski, M., & Kabacik, P. (2007). Investigations into operation of
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[8] Hossa, R., Byndas, A., & Bialkowski, M. E. (2004). Improvement of compact terminal
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[9] Picher, C., Anguera, J., Cabedo, A., Puente, C., & Kahng, S. (2009). Multiband handset
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