IEEE TRANSACTIONS ON ANTENNAS AND PROPAGATION, VOL. 53, NO.

9, SEPTEMBER 2005

REFERENCES
[1] D. H. Schaubert, A review of some microstrip antenna characteristics,
in Microstrip Antennas, D. M. Pozar and D. H. Schaubert, Eds. New
York: IEEE Press, 1995, pp. 5967.
[2] E. A. Soliman, S. Brebels, E. Beyne, P. Delmotte, and G. A. E. Vandenbosch, Brick-wall antenna in multilayer thin-lm technology, Microw.
Opt. Technol. Lett., vol. 19, pp. 360365, Dec. 1998.
[3] H.-C. Liu, T.-S. Horng, and N. G. Alexopoulos, Radiation of printed antennas with a coplanar waveguide feed, IEEE Trans. Antennas Propag.,
vol. 43, no. 10, pp. 11431148, Oct. 1995.
[4] E. A. Soliman, S. Brebels, E. Beyne, and G. A. E. Vandenbosch,
CPW-fed cusp antenna, Microw. Opt. Technol. Lett., vol. 22, pp.
288290, Aug. 1999.
[5] E. A. Soliman, E. Beyne, G. A. E. Vandenbosch, and W. De Raedt,
Wide frequency band planar antenna, U.S. Patent 6 278 410 B1, Aug.
21, 2001.
[6] E. A. Soliman, G. A. E. Vandenbosch, and E. Beyne, Coplanar versus
slotline mode in exciting CPW-fed planar antennas, in Proc. 29th Eur.
Microwave Conf., vol. 3, Munich, Germany, Oct. 1999, pp. 150153.
[7] S. Mestdagh, W. De Raedt, and G. A. E. Vandenbosch, CPW-fed
stacked microstrip antennas, IEEE Trans. Antennas Propag., vol. 52,
no. 1, pp. 7483, Jan. 2004.
[8] Momentum, 4.8 ed., Agilent Technologies, Inc., Palo Alto, CA, 2003.

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substrates is encountered in many microstrip designs, for instance: 1)

use of a microstrip resonator as a sensor to measure dielectric properties of the unknown material [5]; 2) an electromagnetically coupled
microstrip antenna on a two layer composite substrate [7]; and 3) a microstrip antenna made on a multilayer MMIC [8].
The useful parameters of circular patch antennas on the composite
substrates are computed by the full-wave analysis [3] and also by the
commercial software based on them [9], [10]. The full-wave methods
are computationally slow and therefore are not ideal for the design oriented interactive computer-aided design (CAD) or for the direct synthesis of microstrip antennas on the suspended or composite substrates.
Even the modied Wolff model (MWM) of Verma and Nasimuddin
[11] has used the variational method in the Fourier domain. Therefore,
the MWM with variational method does not provide the closed-form
model for the fast computation of a multilayered circular patch antenna.
In this paper, we present a set of closed-form expressions to compute
accurately the resonance frequency, bandwidth and input impedance of
circular microstrip antennas on the suspended or composite substrate.
The accuracy of the present model is compared against the measured
results of Dahele and Lee [1] and full-wave results of Losada et al. [3].
The model has also been compared against the results of the commercial software, 2D-Ensemble [9] and 3D-Microwave Studio [10].
II. CLOSED-FORM EXPRESSIONS

Fast and Accurate Model for Circular Microstrip Antennas

on Suspended and Composite Substrates
Nasimuddin, Karu Esselle, and A. K. Verma
AbstractWe present a fast and accurate closed-form model for interactive computer-aided design and optimization of circular microstrip
antennas on suspended or composite substrates. The model facilitates the
computation of the resonance frequency, input impedance and bandwidth.
We compare the results obtained with the proposed model with those from
commercial software (2D-Ensemble and 3D-Microwave Studio), previously published experimental results and previously obtained theoretical
results using another full-wave method. The proposed model shows better
agreement with experimental results as compared to the commercial
two-dimensional and three-dimensional software. Although all theoretical
results show reasonable agreement among themselves, the proposed model
is at least one thousand times faster than full-wave software.
Index TermsAntenna, cavity model, circular, closed-form, composite,
computer-aided design (CAD), microstrip, multilayer, patch, suspended.

A. Resonance Frequency
This model treats a circular patch by the equivalent rectangular patch
shown in Fig. 1. The equivalent rectangular patch has a width of W =
2r and a length of L = r=2, where r is the physical radius of the
patch. The composite substrate is replaced by an equivalent single substrate with thickness h (h = h1 + h2 ). The real part of the equivalent
relative permittivity is obtained from
"req =

"r1 "r2 (h1 + h2 )

:
"r 2 h 1 + "r 1 h 2

(1)

The equivalent loss tangent of the equivalent substrate is obtained by

transferring the losses, such as dielectric loss, conductor loss, radiation
loss and the surface wave loss to the substrate through their respective
Q-factors, namely QD ; QC ; QR , and QSW
tan eq =

QT

QC

QD

QSW

QR

(2)

The complex equivalent relative permittivity of single layer substrate

is

I. INTRODUCTION
The microstrip antenna on suspended substrates has received attention of many investigators due to its frequency tenability feature, larger
bandwidth, improved radiation efciency for a patch on high permittivity substrates like Alumina, GaAs, etc., and equalization of beamwidth in both the E-and H-planes by proper selection of parameters
[1]-[6]. The suspended substrate patch antenna is a special case of a
patch antenna on the composite substrate. The patch on the composite

Manuscript received May 20, 2004; revised January 11, 2005. This work was
supported by an Australian Research Council Discovery Grant DP0452730 and
in part by an Australian Postdoctoral Research Fellowship.
Nasimuddin and K. Esselle are with the Electronics Department, ICS Division, Macquarie University, Sydney 2109, NSW, Australia.
A. K. Verma is with the Department of Electronic Science, University of Delhi
South Campus, New Delhi 110021, India.
Digital Object Identier 10.1109/TAP.2005.854538

3
"req = "req (1

0 j tan eq ):

(3)

Following the concept of Wolff and Knoppik [11], [12], we can determine the complex dynamic effective relative permittivity of the patch
antenna on the equivalent substrate
3
3
"r dyn ("req; h; r ) =

3
3
Cdyn
("req ; h; W; L)
3
Cdyn ("
= 1; h; W; L)
req

(4)

3 (" ;3 h; W; L) and C
where Cdyn
req
dyn ("req = 1; h; W; L) are the dynamic complex capacitance of a circular patch on a composite substrate and on the air substrate respectively. The dynamic complex capacitance of the circular patch is computed through equivalent rectangular patch shown in Fig. 1. It is a sum of the dynamic central capac3
itance of the circular patch (Co;
dyn ), the dynamic fringe capacitance
3
along two radiating edges of the equivalent rectangular patch (Cel;
dyn )

0018-926X/$20.00 2005 IEEE

3098

IEEE TRANSACTIONS ON ANTENNAS AND PROPAGATION, VOL. 53, NO. 9, SEPTEMBER 2005

and two-corner capacitances of the equivalent rectangular patch (2Cc3 )

[11], [13]
3
3
3
3
3
("req ; h; W; L) = C dyn + C 1 dyn + 2C
Cdyn
o;

e ;

(5)

These partial capacitances are computed as follows:

3
0:3525Co;st ;
3
0:2856Co;st ;
3
0:2450Co;st ;
3

o;dyn =

for n = 1
for n = 2
for n = 3

(6)

where, the static central capacitance Co;st and the edge capacitance are
given by

C 3 st =
o;

C 31 dyn =
e ;

3
r2
"0 "req
h

(7)

3 ("3 ; h; W )L
3 r 2
"re
"0 "req
req
0
:
C0 Z0
h

1
2

(8)

3
3
The complex effective relative permittivity "re
("req ; h; W ) of the
equivalent rectangular patch on the composite lossy substrate is obtained by substituting the equivalent complex relative permittivity of
3
structure, "req
, in the closed-form expressions of Hammerstad-Jensen
[14]. Normally the expressions of Hammerstad-Jensen are used for the
lossless substrate. However, we have adopted it to the lossy substrate.
Z0 is the characteristic impedance of the equivalent rectangular patch
on the air substrate from the width side that is computed by the
closed-form expression of Hammerstad-Jensen. The dynamic corner
complex capacitance, Cc3 , is obtained from the expression due to
Bedair [15].
Finally, the resonance frequency fr of the circular microstrip antenna on the equivalent homogenous substrate is computed with help
of the modied Wolff model [11], [13], as follows:

= Re

C0 

2re

nm

(9)

3
"rdyn
is the modal constant and re is the effective radius of
r

where nm
circular patch. We note that the (9) also takes into account effect of
losses on the resonance frequency [13]. Usually a cavity model and the
full-wave method do not take into account such effect. The effective
radius of a circular patch on the composite substrate, re is computed
by [16]

re

1+

2h

ln

r"req

r
2h

h (0:268" + 1:65)
req
r

The Q-factors due to the radiation and surface-wave losses are obtained from
2
Qr = 2:39(ko r) ; QSW = QR Psp ; k0 = 2fr (12)
480o h fr D ( )
Psw
C0
where directivity, D( ) of the patch antenna is [4]
D( ) = 3:031 77 0 0:592 51 + 4:455 09 2 0 5:514 85 3

0 1:435 43 5 (13)
p
where  is the free space permeability and = (f =2f "req ); f
+ 5:214 73

(10)

Q-Factors
The four Q-factors due to dielectric loss (Q ), conductor loss (Q ),
radiation loss (Q ), and surface-wave loss (QSW ) of the circular mic

crostrip antenna on a suspended/composite substrate are obtained by

considering an equivalent rectangular patch antenna [11], [13]. The expressions are summarized as follows:

 "rdyn ("req ; h; 2r)

0 
 "rdyn ("req ; h; 2r)
Q =
(11)
0 ( + feed )
where 0 is the free space wavelength,  and  are the conductor and
dielectric loss respectively for the equivalent rectangular patch. feed
Q

C. Bandwidth
The percentage bandwidth (2:1 VSWR) of a circular microstrip antenna is computed using the total Q-factor from (2)
BW(%) =

100

(14)

D. Input Impedance

Zin (f ) =

R()

2
1 + QT

f
f

f
f

+j

R ()Q

is the loss in the probe feed. The computational details are mentioned
in [11], [13]. During such computations the equivalent relative permittivity and the equivalent loss-tangent are used.

2
1 + QT

B.

is the resonance frequency of an ideal circular cavity without the fringe

eld and fr is accurate resonance frequency of the patch computed
be the (9). Psp is the radiated power in the space wave and Psw is
power in the surface waves of the equivalent rectangular patch. These
are obtained from the closed-form expressions due to Pozar [17].

The frequency dependent input impedance of a probe fed circular

microstrip patch can be determined by [2]

+ (1:41"req + 1:77)
+

Fig. 1. Circular microstrip antenna on a composite substrate and its equivalent

rectangular microstrip antenna.

f
f
f
f

0
0

f
f

(15)
where f is the operating frequency and  is distance of the feed point
from center of the circular patch. The input resistance, R() at resonance and the inductive reactance of probe, XL are computed by [2]
2
1
R() = 1 J12(k) ; Gt = 2:39
;
Gt J1 (kr)
4 o h f r
QT

377fh

C0

log

Cp0
fd "req

(16)

where do is the diameter of the probe feed.

III. DISCUSSION OF RESULTS

Fig. 2 shows the resonance frequency and percentage bandwidth
of the suspended microstrip circular patch antenna. The structural
details taken from Dahele and Lee [1] are h1 air-gap is variable,

IEEE TRANSACTIONS ON ANTENNAS AND PROPAGATION, VOL. 53, NO. 9, SEPTEMBER 2005

3099

Fig. 2. Resonance frequency and percent bandwidth of a circular microstrip antenna on a suspended substrate versus the thickness of antenna.

Fig. 3. Input impedance of a circular microstrip antenna on a suspended substrate.

= 1:59 mm, "r1 = 1:0; "r2 = 2:32; tan 2 = 0:001; r = 50

mm, feed position  = 47:5 mm. Fig. 2 also shows the
experimental results of Dahele and Lee, and the results
computed by the proposed model and the commercial software,
2D-Ensemble [9] and 3D- CST Microwave Studio [10]. We
have used Ensemble version 6.1.0 with adaptive analysis
=
as mesh setup initial, percent renement per pass
100; number of requested passes
=
3 and
target maximum delta norm = 0:05. For Microwave
Studio we have taken the solver setting with accuracy 050 dB and
mesh properties by lines per wavelength 25, lower mesh limit 10
and mesh line ratio limit 50. Microwave Studio has taken around 15
to 30 min of time to obtained the results. The resonance frequency
obtained by the proposed model, Ensemble and Microwave Studio
has average deviation of 0.3%, 1.87%, and 0.5 respectively against
h2

the experimental results. For these the bandwidth deviations are

27.7%, 23.7%, and 35% respectively. Thus the proposed model and
3D- Simulator are showing better results. Fig. 3 presents the results
of the input impedance of the suspended circular patch antenna
for the structural details, mentioned above. Three air-gaps namely,
h1 = 0:0; 0:5 mm; 1:0 mm are considered. The present model shows
better agreement with experimental results as compared to the results
of Ensemble and Microwave Studio.
Fig. 4 further compares the computed results on the resonance frequency and Q-factor against Hankel transforms method of Losada [3].
The circular patch on the composite substrate have parameters, h =
h1 + h2 = 1:27 mm, "r1 = 2:5; "r2 = 9:8; tan 1 = 0:001; tan 2 =
0:001; r = 6:35mm. On average the proposed model, Ensemble and
Microwave Studio have 1.55%, 3.16% and 1.53% deviation in the resonance frequency and 7%, 13%, and 10.4% deviation in the Q-factor

3100

Fig. 4.

IEEE TRANSACTIONS ON ANTENNAS AND PROPAGATION, VOL. 53, NO. 9, SEPTEMBER 2005

Resonance frequency and

-factor of a microstrip antenna on a composite substrate versus the thickness of the second layer.

against the results of Losada et al. In this work, we have tested the accuracy of the proposed model for the substrate thickness up to h=0 =
0:022 and relative permittivity up to 9.8. However, like the rectangular
patch antenna the proposed model can accurately work for very thick
substrate up to h=0 = 0:229 [13].

IV. CONCLUSION
We presented a fast and accurate model, which is based on
closed-form expressions, for computation of input characteristics
of circular microstrip patch antennas on suspended or composite
substrates. The proposed model shows better agreement with experimental results as compared to the commercial software, 2D-Ensemble
and 3D-Microwave Studio. As far as theoretical computations are
concerned the present model generates results that are very close to
3D-Microwave Studio results but saves a lot of computational time.
For each structure Microwave Studio takes 1530 min, whereas the
proposed model takes only a fraction of a second. Thus the proposed
model is ideal for interactive CAD and optimization of such antenna
structures.

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[2] F. Abboud, J. P. Damiano, and A. Papiernik, A new model for calculating the input impedance of coax-fed circular microstrip antennas with
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[3] V. Losada, R. R. Boix, and M. Horno, Resonant modes of circular microstrip patches in multilayered substrates, IEEE Trans Microw. Theory
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[4] A. K. Verma, A. K. Nasimuddin, and A. S. Omar, Accurate expressions for directivity of circular microstrip antenna on suspended and
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[9] Ensemble, Ansoft Corp., Sep. 1999. Version 6.1.
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