Second International Conference on Electrical Engineering 25-26 March 2008 University of Engineering and Technology, Lahore (Pakistan)

Design, Optimization and Development of X-Band Microstrip Patch Antenna Array for High Gain, Low Sidelobes and Impedance Matching
Ghulam Ahmad University of Surrey U.K., University of Engineering & Technology Lahore ga00017@surrey.ac.uk , dsplab@uet.edu.pk

Abstract- The objective was to design and fabricate a four element X band microstrip array centered at 7.5 GHz which has high gain, low sidelobe levels and is simultaneously well matched to the source. The design starts with formulation in Matlab for single element patch antenna. The design was then simulated and optimized in Agilents Advanced Design System (ADS) for high gain by making the patch resonating at the same center frequency but with larger dimensions. An array of four such elements was designed in ADS Momentum. Inter element spacing and feed line was optimized for good impedance matching, low sidelobes and high gain. By using Method of Moments (MoM) the effect of mutual coupling among the elements was taken into account. The array was manufactured, tested in anechoic chamber and results were compared with simulations. Index TermsMicrostrip patch antennas, Microstrip arrays, Microstrip antenna analyzing techniques, Transmission line model, Feeding techniques, Patch antenna shapes, Fringing fields, Surface waves, Mutual coupling, Impedance matching, High gain, Sidelobes, Array factor, Uniform array, Broadside array, Nulls, Half power beamwidth, Optimization, Advance Design System (ADS), Momentum, RT / Duroid, X band.

Moments (MoM) of Agilents Advanced Design System (ADS) 2006A. The design starts with simulation in Matlab for single patch antenna followed by its simulation and optimization in Momentum for high gain and impedance matching. The simulation and optimization was extended to four element array. The behavior of the patch changes when it is connected with other patches through microstrip lines and a little optimization in geometry of patch is required to make it resonant at desired frequency. Array elements, feed line and element spacing were optimized for impedance matching, high gain and low sidelobe levels. The mutual coupling of elements was considered in simulations. The array was fabricated on RT / Duroid 5870 high frequency laminate with thickness of 3.175 mm for operation over whole desired frequency band. Two similar arrays were manufactured and tested in anechoic chamber using two similar antenna test method. II. DESIGN OF SINGLE MICROSTRIP PATCH ANTENNA Microstrip patch antenna consists of a microstrip patch which is at a distance h above the ground plane equal to substrate thickness and is fed through a feed line as given in Fig. 1. Various shapes of radiating patch are shown in Fig. 2. Selection of a particular shape is dependent on available space, cross polarization, bandwidth, ease of analysis and fabrication. Most commonly used shapes are square, rectangular, circular and dipole. Feeding techniques are classified as direct and indirect according to the method by which energy is coupled to the patch. Coaxial feed and microstrip line feed are direct feeding techniques where as indirect feeding is further classified into proximity coupling, aperture coupling and coplanar waveguide feeds. Here rectangular patch with microstrip line feed was selected. A. Microstrip Antenna Analyzing Techniques Most commonly used microstrip analyzing techniques are [2], [4]: (a) Transmission line model (b) Cavity model (c) Multiport Network Model (MNM) (d) Method of Moments (MoM) (e) Finite Element Method (FEM) (f) Spectral Domain Technique (SDT)

I.

INTRODUCTION

The idea behind the development of microstrip antennas is their conformability, small size, easy to fabricate, light weight, and facility to integrate in integrated circuits for system on chip (SOC). Microstrip antennas are widely used for commercial applications e.g. mobile satellite communication, direct broadcast satellite communication, GPS and remote sensing applications [6]. Due to low cost, small size and high density packaging, microstrip technology is well suited for RFICs (Radio Frequency Integrated Circuits) and MMICs (Microwave Monolithic Integrated Circuits). In modern days these patch antennas are playing key role in multilayer packaging and system on chip technologies. To meet the high gain and desired antenna pattern requirements, arrays are used. The major problems with microstrip antennas are surface waves generation, mutual coupling, coupling with other components, very narrow bandwidth, loss due to feed mechanism, low efficiency, low power rating, spurious radiations, higher sidelobes, and low scanning abilities [2]. A four element microstrip array in X band with center at 7.5 GHz and a bandwidth of 500MHz, having gain of 13.5 dB, E and H plane 3 dB beamwidths of 60o and 21o respectively was designed. The design was simulated using Method of

978-1-4244-2293-7/08/$25.00 2008 IEEE.

(g) Finite Difference Time Domain method (FDTD) Only transmission line method is discussed here due to its simplicity and ability to provide physical insight. B. Transmission Line Model of Rectangular patch Transmission line method is easiest and leads to least accurate results. This method represents the rectangular patch antenna by two radiating slots that are separated by a low impedance transmission line. Due to finite dimensions of patch, fringing takes place as shown in Fig. 3, and the patch effectively looks electrically larger than its physical dimensions. The fringing is function of patch dimensions and substrate parameters. Because of fringing some lines partially travel in air. An effective dielectric constant is introduced to account for this non homogeneity of two mediums (air and substrate). The effective dielectric constant is a function of frequency as well. At lower frequencies this is given by (1) [2].
r
2 1

Even and odd mode input resistances, at resonance, are calculated as [5].
Rin_Even =
1 2

G1
1

G12

----------------------------- (7) ----------------------------- (8)

Rin_Odd

G1

G12

where
1 90

W
0

for

W <<

G1

= 1 120

--------- (9)
for W >>
o

W
0

r_eff

r
2

1 1

1 12

h W

for

W h

---- (1)

and
2

w here

r_eff

= Effective Dielectric Constant

W = Width of the Patch

sin G12 =
1 120
2 0

W cos
0

h = Height of Substrate

cos

J0

L
0

sin

sin

Due to fringing the effective increase in length on each side of the patch is given by (2).
W L
0412

J0 ( ) is Bess el Function of first kind of order zero

--------- (10)

r_eff r_eff

0.3 0.258

h W h

0.264

h
0.8

------- (2)

The characteristics impedance of the feed line is found by (11) [2]

60

ln

Resulting effective length then becomes

Zc =
Leff = L
2

r_eff

h Wo
8

Wo
4

for

Wo h

120

------------------------------ (3)
r_eff

Wo h

1.393

0.667

ln

Wo h

for
1.444

Wo h

where

Leff is and L is inc reas e in length on each side

ef f ective length of patch

-------- (11)

The far field pattern of the patch is calculated by (12) [1], [2] The resonant frequency for dominant mode TM010 is given by
fr c
2

Leff
3

r_eff
108

------------------------------ (4)
m s
and

sin f =

ko h
2

sin sin

cos cos

sin

ko W
2

cos sin cos

ko h
2

ko W
2

where c

fr = resonant frequency

-------- (12) With / 2 the radiation pattern gives E plane pattern. When microstrip patch is modeled by two radiating slots that are L distance apart, the E plane pattern is given by (13)
2

Physical length and width is found by

Width
and

c
2

---------------------- (5)
1

fr
c

Length
2

fr

--------------------- (6)

sin f
=

ko h
2

cos cos cos

ko L
2

r_eff

ko h
2

cos

------- (13)

/ 2 , the H plane radiation pattern is given by (14) With and is independent of distance by which two radiating slots are apart from each other.
sin f
=

Fig. 6, is calculated by pattern multiplication equation (15).

[E (total)] = [E (single element at reference point)] x [array factor]

ko W
2

cos sin cos

ko W
2

------- (14)

------- (15) Array factor of a uniform array, with N elements is given by (16) [2]
AF = AF =
n
1

where ko =

and
o

is free spac e wavelength

e
N

j k d cos

j 2 k d cos

....

j( N 1) k d cos

Initial simulation was performed in Matlab with following parameters Resonant Frequency = 7.5 GHz Substrate dielectric constant = 2.33 Substrate height = 3.175 mm Resonant input impedance = 50 ohm The resulting output parameters are Patch physical width Patch effective length Patch physical length E-plane HPBW H-plane HPBW Patch directivity = 1.550 cm = 1.4063 cm = 1.0944 cm = 90 deg = 76.00 deg = 7.1906 dB

j( n 1)

with

k d cos

---- (16)

The normalized array factor is expressed by (17) [2]

sin sin N
2 1 2

AFn

-------------- (17)

sin AFn
~ _

N
2 2

-------------- (18)

The nulls of array are found by equating the Array Factor to zero as in (19)

The resulting radiation pattern is shown in Fig. 4. III. SIMULATION & OPTIMIZATION OF SINGLE PATCH IN MOMENTUM The Matlab design was simulated and optimized in ADS Momentum to get higher gain; efficiency and impedance matching. Fig. 5 shows the geometry, input reflection coefficient and radiation pattern of the optimized patch. The geometry is simple than that of recessed fed patch and is fed directly making it easier to build an array. S11 shows that the patch is well matched with 50 ohm impedance. The radiation pattern shows that the patch is narrow beam than the patch simulated in Matlab. The gain of optimized patch antenna is 10 dB with efficiency of 99 %. While optimizing it was taken into account that the patch should resonate at 7.5 GHz with a bigger geometry for high gain. IV. MICROSTRIP ARRAY Arrays are used to have directive characteristics. The overall pattern of array antenna can be controlled by geometrical configuration of array, relative displacement between the elements, excitation amplitude of individual elements, excitation phase of individual elements, and relative pattern of individual elements. The far field pattern of uniform array with equal amplitude and progressive phase of elements as shown in -------------- (19)

The value of n gives the order of the null (first, second etc.). Number of nulls that can exist depends on element spacing d and phase excitation coefficient . The maximum of (17) occurs when

-------------- (20)

The array factor of (18) has only one maxima that occurs when m = 0 in (20) and is given by (21)

m =

acos

-------------- (21)

The 3 dB point for array factor of (18) occurs when

VI. MICROSTRIP ARRAY TESTING The optimized array was manufactured using the facilities available in RF and Microwave Lab. at University of Surrey U.K. Two (1 x 4) arrays were manufactured for testing the radiation characteristics as shown in Fig. 9. To measure S11 network analyzer was used and radiation pattern was measured in anechoic chamber of Advance Technology Institute (ATI) at University of Surrey. The network analyzer data for S11 was accessed in ADS 2006A and was used to plot graphs. Values of S11 as shown in Fig. 10, show good match for the whole frequency band of interest. The gain is 13.5 dB with beamwidths of 60o and 21o in E- & H-plane, respectively, as shown in Fig. 11. The cross polar component is 10.5 dB below the co polar component as shown in Fig. 12. The simulated gain was 15.33 dB and tested gain is 13.5 dB; which differs only 1.83 dB from simulation. This reduction in gain is due to limited accuracy of fabrication process, loss tangent of material, imperfection in copper surface smoothness, fringing fields, loss due to SMA connector, not exactly similar arrays, surface wave generation, and rusting of copper surface. All these factors lower the efficiency from 99 % in simulation to about 65 % and ultimately results in gain reduction of 1.83 dB here. This gain reduction is quite reasonable as the efficiency of microstrip antennas is not very high and also there is additional loss due to SMA connector that was not considered in simulations. Figure 13 shows gain flatness of the array with a gain variation of less than 1 dB in the desired frequency band. VII. CONCLUSION The design, simulation and optimization of X band microstrip array antenna are discussed in this paper for good impedance matching over the whole frequency band, low side lobes and high gain. High gain is achieved by making the patch size larger while ensuring that it still resonates at the same center frequency. The inter element spacing and feed line are optimized for low side lobes and good impedance matching. The design is simulated and optimized in Momentum to ensure that the effect of mutual coupling among elements is also taken into account. The arrays are tested in anechoic chamber and the results are found in harmony with simulations. ACKNOWLEDGMENT I am grateful to my supervisor, Dr. Charles Free for his guidance. I am also indebted to Richard Clarke, David Dryden, and Dr. Manju Henry for their kind help during the development and testing phase. REFERENCES
[1] [2] [3] [4] [5] Bahl, I. J. and Bhartia, P. Microstrip antennas, Artech House, 1980. Balanis, C. A. Antenna theory analysis and design, Hoboken, N.J., Wiley-Interscience, 2005. Gupta, K. C. and Benalla, A. Microstrip antenna design, Artech House, 1988. Kumar, G. and Ray K. P. Broadband microstrip antennas, Boston; London, Artech House, 2003. A. G. Derneryd, A Theoretical Investigation of Rectangular Microstrip

-------------- (22)

The half power beamwidth is found by following relation (23)

h = 2 m h

-------------- (23)

In broadside array the maximum radiation is directed normal to the axis of array

Broadside array

= 90

deg

To have first maximum of (17) and (18) directed towards broadside we have (24) -------------- (24) To avoid grating lobes, the maximum separation between elements should be less than one wavelength.

dmax
The simplified formula for directivity is (25) [1]
Dmax with
E
41253

-------------- (25)
H are E and H plane 3 dB beamw idths in degrees .

and

V. SIMULATION AND OPTIMIZATION OF MICROSTRIP ARRAY IN MOMENTUM A four element microstrip array was designed in the light of above discussion and was simulated in Momentum. Single microstrip patch already designed and optimized was used to build this array. The element spacing and feed line dimensions were optimized for broadside radiation, minimum side lobes, maximum gain, and impedance matching. The results are shown in Fig. 7 and Fig. 8. The value of input reflection coefficient S11 is less than -10 dB throughout the frequency band of interest. The current distribution for array elements is shown in Fig. 8(a). Elements excitation currents are nearly in phase and are in decreasing amplitude for far elements. As the distance of element from the feed point increases the excitation current amplitude decreases, showing that the far end elements play little role in radiation. This puts a limitation over array size. Gain and directivity values as found in simulations show an efficiency of about 99%. In Fig. 8, 2D and 3D radiation pattern of array are shown.

[6]

Antenna Element, IEEE Trans. Antenna Propagat., Vol. AP 26, pp. 532 - 535, July 1978. Lee, K. F. and Chen, W. Advances in microstrip and printed antennas, New York, Wiley, 1997.

Fig. 1. Microstrip patch antenna consists of a microstrip patch, substrate with thickness h, feed line and ground plane. Fig. 5. Optimized patch is Momentum with high gain and extremely good impedance matching (a) Patch (b) S11 < -20 dB over the operating band in rectangular and smith chart (c) 3 D radiation pattern (d) 2 D radiation pattern

Fig. 2. Patch antenna shapes

Fig. 3. Fringing fields, the patch effectively looks larger electrically than its dimensions Fig. 6. Linear array with element spacingd

Fig. 7. Array simulation in Momentum (a) Optimized four elements array, (b) Input reflection coefficient S11 over the frequency band

Fig. 4. E and H plane pattern of rectangular microstrip patch antenna

E dB

Degree
Fig. 8. Optimized array results, gain of 15.33 dB (a) Current distribution over the elements (b) 3 D radiation pattern (c) 2 D radiation pattern Fig. 11. Array test results for E and H planes; E and H plane 3 - dB beamwidth of 60o and 21o respectively

Fig. 9. Manufactured arrays.

Fig. 12. E co and E cross polar levels

Fig. 10. Array test result for S11, showing good matching over the frequency band of interest. Fig. 13. Gain flatness over the frequency band