IJEEE, Vol.
1, Issue 3 (2014)
DESIGN & PARAMETRIC STUDY OF
RECTANGULAR SLOT MICROSTRIP PATCH
ANTENNA FOR UWB APPLICATIONS
1
Arvind Yadav, 2Dr. Kuldip Pahwa
1
M.tech Student, Department of E.C.E, M.M.U. Mullana, Ambala, Haryana, India
2
Professor, Department of E.C.E, M.M.U Mullana, Ambala, Haryana, India
1 2
arvinnd0519@gmail.com,
Abstract- A Microstrip fed antenna which consists of a
rectangular patch with rectangular shaped slot incorporated
into patch is presented for ultra wide band application with
enhanced bandwidth. The proposed antenna achieves an
impedance bandwidth of 8.9GHz (2.3-11.2GHz) with
VSWR< 2 for over the entire bandwidth. Good return loss and
radiation pattern characteristics are obtained in the frequency
band of interest. The proposed antenna is designed on low
cost FR-4 substrate fed by a 50- microstrip line. The
simulation was performed in High Frequency Structure
Simulator Software (HFSS). The antenna parameters such as
resonant frequency, return loss, radiation pattern and VSWR
are simulated and discussed in this paper.
The several factors affecting the bandwidth of the microstrip
antenna such as the thickness of the substrate, the dielectric
constant of the substrate and the shape of the patch also
studied in this paper.
Index Terms Enhanced Bandwidth, Ultra wideband (UWB)
VSWR, HFSS.
I. INTRODUCTION
The accelerating growth of ultra-wideband (UWB) technology
calls for efficient communication devices. Antennas, as an
important part of every communication system, are required to
offer characteristics such as compact size, light weight, easy
fabrication process, omni-directional radiation properties, and
wide bandwidth to be worthy of being used in UWB
systems[1]. The Federal Communication Commission (FCC)
allocation the unlicensed use of band from 3.1 to 10.6 GHz
widely known as UWB technology and opens it for
commercial applications for short range indoor and outdoor
wireless communication [2].The UWB antenna is an
significant component of UWB communication system and
has drawn growing attention [3-5]. It is well known fact that
microstrip patch antennas offers many advantages such as low
profile, light weight, ease of fabrication and compatibility
with printed circuits. However, the serious problem of patch
antennas is their narrow bandwidth. To overcome their
inherent limitations of narrow impedance bandwidth many
techniques have been proposed and investigated, for example,
slotted patch antennas [6 - 8], microstrip patch antennas on
International Journal of Electrical & Electronics Engineering
e-ISSN: 1694-2310 | p-ISSN: 1694-2426
kpahwa2002@gmail.com
electrically thick substrate, gap coupled patches, the use of
various impedance matching and feeding techniques [9-10].
However, simultaneously bandwidth enhancement and size
reduction are becoming major design considerations for
practical applications of microstrip antennas as improvement
of one of the characteristics, normally results in degradation
of the other, researchers have encountered that there is
generally a tradeoff between size of antenna and wideband
characteristics of antenna. In recent years, many techniques
have been reported to achieve wideband patch antenna for
modern wireless communication devices [11].
II. ANTENNA STRUCTURE AND DESIGN
The three essential parameters for the design of a rectangular
microstrip patch antenna are:
Frequency of operation ( f0 ): The resonant frequency of the
antenna must be selected appropriately. The resonant
frequency selected for design is 7.5 GHz.
Dielectric constant of the substrate ( r ): The dielectric
material selected for the design is FR4-epoxy which has a
dielectric constant of 4.4. A substrate with a high dielectric
constant reduces the dimensions of the antenna.
Height of dielectric substrate (h): For the microstrip patch
antenna it is essential that the antenna is not bulky. Hence, the
height of the dielectric substrate is selected as 1.5mm.
The design parameters that are assumed and evaluated are
shown in Fig.1 as below:
Fig. 1 Side View of Antenna
Step 1: Calculation of the Width (W): The width of the
Microstrip patch antenna is given by [12] following equation:
c
W= (1)
2f
+1
2
4 www.ijeee-apm.com
Substituting r=4.4, c=3x108m/sec, fo= 7.5GHz gives: Table 1 Parameters of Rectangular Slot Patch Antenna
W=12mm PARAMETERS DIMENSIONS
Step 2: Calculation of Effective Dielectric Constant ( reff): The Substrate Length 21mm
following equation gives the effective dielectric constant as Substrate breadth 18mm
[12]: Substrate thickness 1.5mm
+1 1 h Dielectric constant of substrate 4.4
= + 1 + 12 (2)
2 2 W
Tangent loss 0.02
Substituting r=4.4, W=12mm, h=1.5mm gives: reff =3.7 Patch length 9mm
Step 3: Calculation of Effective Length ( Leff ): The effective Patch breadth 12mm
length is given [12]as: Input resistance of the Patch (Rin) 50
c
L = (3) Length of slot (L1) 5mm
2f Width of slot (w1) 8mm
Substituting: fo=7.5GHz, c=3x108m/sec, reff =3.7 gives: Leff
=10.2mm The length Lg has a very important role in controlling the
Step 4: Calculation of the Length Extension ( L): Equation coupling between ground plane and patch. This coupling
below gives the length extension [12] as: causes to spread of the impedance bandwidth and hence must
( . ) .
= 0.412 (4)
be accurately measured. The various parameters of the patch
( . ) . antenna which includes shape of the patch , dielectric used,
length and width of the patch ,thickness of patch and length
Substituting the values, the length extension ( L) is obtained
and width of the slot as shown in table 1.
as: L=.6mm

Step 5: Calculation of Actual Length of Patch (L): The actual
length of the antenna can be calculated [12] as:
L=L 2 L (5)
Substituting Leff =10.2mm and L=0.6mm the actual length
come out to be: L=9mm
III. PARAMETERS OF RECTANGULAR SLOT
ANTENNA
In this section parameters of a rectangular slot antenna has
been discussed which is printed on a dielectric substrate of
FR4 with relative permittivity ( r) of 4.4. The fig 2 shows the
patch with finite ground plane. The length of ground plane Lg
is determined using parametric analysis and its optimum value
is found to be 7.5mm.
IV. RESULT AND DISCUSSION OF RECTANGULAR
SLOT PATCH ANTENNA
The return loss, VSWR and gain of the proposed antenna is
shown in Fig 3 (a, b, c) respectively. The discussed design
achieves the return loss of -17.67dB and the bandwidth of 8.9
GHz (2.3- 11.2GHz) and corresponding VSWR is < 2 for
entire bandwidth range. Simulated results show that the
proposed antenna could be a good candidate for UWB
applications.

Top View Bottom View Fig 3(a) Return Loss

Fig 2 Dimension of Rectangular Slot Patch Antenna

www.ijeee-apm.com International Journal of Electrical & Electronics Engineering 5

 substrate increases the bandwidth increases and as the
thickness of the substrate decreases the bandwidth decreases.

Fig 3(b) VSWR

Fig 4(a) Effect of the Substrate Height on the Bandwidth of the

Antenna

However, thick substrates tend to trap surface wave modes,

especially if the dielectric constant of the substrate is high. In
addition, longer coaxial probe feeds will experience high
inductive feed effects. Finally, if the substrate is very thick,
radiating modes higher than the fundamental will be excited
[13]. All of these effects degrade the primary radiator, cause
pattern distortion, and detune the input impedance of the
microstrip antenna.

(b) Effect of variation in dielectric constant on the bandwidth

of the antenna

Fig 3(c) 3- D Polar Plot

V. PARAMETRIC STUDY OF RECTANGULAR SLOT

WIDEBAND MICROSTRIP ANTENNA
(a)Effect of variation in substrate thickness on the bandwidth
of the antenna

Table 2 Comparison of Different Substrate Thicknesses

SUBSTRATE DIELECTRIC OPERATING BANDWIDTH

THICKNESS CONSTANT BAND (GHz)
(mm) ( r) (GHz)

1.5 4.4 2.3-11.2 8.9

1.2 4.4 2.8-10.7 7.9

1.7 4.4 2.0-12.8 10.8

Fig 4(b) Effect of the Dielectric Constant on the Bandwidth of the
Antenna
It is known that the easiest way to increase the bandwidth of a
microstrip antenna is to print the antenna on a thicker
substrate. Fig 4(a) and table 2 show that as the thickness of the

International Journal of Electrical & Electronics Engineering 6 www.ijeee-apm.com

 Table 3 Comparison of Different Substrate Materials and when L1 and W1 is (6*9) then both bandwidth and return
loss is decreases as compared with (5*8) slot length and
DIELECTRIC SUBSTRATE OPERATING BANDWIDTH
CONSTANT THICKNESS BAND (GHz)
width.
( r) (mm) (GHz)
V. CONCLUSION
4.4 1.5 2.3-11.2 8.9 This paper has proposed a simple design of patch antenna
3.8 1.5 2.2-11.6 9.4 having a UWB range for communication. In the design a slot
is incorporated into the rectangular patch to expand its
4.8 1.5 2.4-10.5 8.1 bandwidth and to reduce the size of antenna .The designed
antenna is very simple in look and small in size . Simulation
results show that the antenna has VSWR < 2 from 2.3- 11.2
As it can be analyzed from the fig 4(b) and table 3 which
GHz and bandwidth of antenna is 8.9GHz .The antenna
shows that as the dielectric constant decreases than bandwidth
parameters such as return loss, VSWR, impedance bandwidth,
increases and as the dielectric constant increases than
gain have been studied. Simulated results of antenna show
bandwidth decreases. However, this has detrimental effects on
that the proposed antenna could be a good candidate for UWB
antenna size reduction since the resonant length of a
application. The effects of the substrate thickness, the
microstrip antenna is shorter for higher substrate dielectric
dielectric constant of the substrate and variation in slot
constant. In addition, this antenna can easily be used in other
position on the bandwidth have been studied. It has been
frequency bands with different substrate materials [13].
found that, in order to obtain a wideband microstrip patch
antenna with good efficiency, a thick substrate with a very
(c) Effect of variation in slot length and width on the
low dielectric constant should be used. It has also been shown
bandwidth of the antenna
that these antennas can easily be used in other frequency
bands with different substrate materials.

REFERENCES
[1] Maryam Majidzadeh, C. Ghobadi, A novel UWB CPW-fed ring
shaped antenna wit band-notched characteristics, Turkish Journal of
Electrical Engineering & Computer Sciences, vol. 21, pp. 1595-
1602, Oct 2013.
[2] First report and order, revision of part 15 of the commission's
rules regarding ultra-wideband transmission systems FCC, FCC,
2002.
[3] R. Saleem and A.K Brown, Empirical miniaturization analysis
of inverse parabolic step sequence based UWB antennas, Progress
In Electromagnetics Research, Vol. 114, 369-381, 2011.
[4] D. Chen and C.H. Cheng, A novel compact ultra-wideband
(UWB) wide slot antenna with via holes, Progress In
Electromagnetics Research, Vol. 94, 343-349, 2009.
[5] B. Andres-Garcia , L.E Garcia-Munoz , D Segovia-Varga, I
Fig 4(c) Effect of The Variation in Slot Length And Width on The Camara-Mayorga , and R Gusten , Ultra-wide band antenna excited
Bandwidth of The Antenna by a photomixer for terahertz band, Progress In Electromagnetics
Research, Vol. 114, 1-15, 2011.
Table 4 Comparison f Different Slot Length and Width [6] Vibha Gupta and Nisha Gupta, Gain and Bandwidth
Enhancement in Compact Microstrip Antenna, International Union
SLOT LENGTH DIELECTRIC OPERATING BANDWIDTH
& WIDTH CONSTANT BAND (GHz)
of Radio Science, Proceedings, 2005.
(L 1 & W 1) ( r) (GHz) [7] Yoharaaj, D., R. S. Azmir, and A. Ismail, A new approach for
bandwidth enhancement technique in microstrip antenna for wireless
applications, International RF and Microwave Conference, RFM06,
L1=5&W1=8 4.4 2.3-11.2 8.9
Putrajaya, Malaysia, 12-14 September 2006.
[8] Pozar, D. M., A review of bandwidth enhancement techniques for
microstrip antennas, Microstrip Antennas: Analysis and Design of
L 1 = 4& W 1 = 9 4.4 2.2-11.7 9.5
Microstrip Antennas and Arrays, D. H. Schaubert (ed.), 157 166,
L 1 = 6 & W 1 =7 4.4 2.4-10.8 8.4 IEEE Press, New York, 1995.
[9] Tang, C. L., J. Y. Chiou, and K. L. Waong, Beamwidth
It can be seen from the fig (c) and table 4, which shows that enhancement of circularly polarized microstrip antenna mounted on a
the variation of slot length L1 and slot width W1 effect three - dimensional ground structure, Microwave Opt.Technol.
bandwidth and return loss of the antenna. When L1 and W1 is Lett., Vol. 32, No. 2, 149154, Dec. 2002.
(4*9) then bandwidth is increases but return loss is very less
www.ijeee-apm.com International Journal of Electrical & Electronics Engineering 7
[10] K. Mandal, S. Sarkar, and P. P. Sarkar, Bandwidth enhancement
of microstrip antennas by staggering effect, Microwave Opt.
Technol.Lett., vol. 53, no. 10, pp. 24462447, 2011.
[11] C.-K.Wu and K.-L. Wong, Broadband microstrip antenna with
directly coupled and parasitic patches, Microwave Opt. Technol.
Lett.,Vol.22, no. 5, pp. 348349, 1999.
[12] Constantine A. Balanis, Antenna teory analysis and design (John
Wiley & Sons, Inc., Hoboken, New Jersey, 2005).
[13] Sanchez-Hernandez, D., Robertson, I. D., A survey of
broadband microstrip patch antennas, Microwave Journal, pp. 60-
82, Sept. 1996.

International Journal of Electrical & Electronics Engineering 8 www.ijeee-apm.com