Wideband Balun PHD

DESIGN AND IMPLEMENTATION OF WIDEBAND
BALUNS FOR ARCHIMEDEAN SPIRAL ANTENNAS

A THESIS SUBMITTED TO
THE SCIENCE AND ENGINEERING FACULTY
OF QUEENSLAND UNIVERSITY OF TECHNOLOGY
IN FULFILMENT OF THE REQUIREMENTS FOR THE DEGREE OF
MASTER OF ENGINEERING
N7064047
KALYANY VINAYAGAMOORTHY
Science and Engineering Faculty
Queensland University of Technology
August 2011
To my family
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Abstract
The demand for high-speed data services for portable device has become a driving force
for development of advanced broadband access technologies. Despite recent advances
in broadband wireless technologies, there remain a number of critical issues to be
resolved. One of the major concerns is the implementation of compact antennas that
can operate in a wide frequency band.
Spiral antenna has been used extensively for broadband applications due to its pla-
nar structure, wide bandwidth characteristics and circular polarisation. However, the
practical implementation of spiral antennas is challenged by its high input characteristic
impedance, relatively low gain and the need for balanced feeding structures. Further
development of wideband balanced feeding structures for spiral antennas with matching
impedance capabilities remain a need. This thesis proposes three wideband feeding sys-
tems for spiral antennas which are compatible with wideband array antenna geometries.
First, a novel tapered geometry is proposed for a symmetric coplanar waveguide
(CPW) to coplanar strip line (CPS) wideband balun. This balun can achieve the un-
balanced to balanced transformation while matching the high input impedance of the
antenna to a reference impedance of 50 . The discontinuity between CPW and CPS
is accommodated by using a radial stub and bond wires. The bandwidth of the balun is
improved by appropriately tapering the CPW line instead of using a stepped impedance
transformer. Next, the tapered design is applied to an asymmetric CPW to propose a
novel asymmetric CPW to CPS wideband balun. The use of asymmetric CPW does
away with the discontinuities between CPW and CPS without having to use a radial
stub or bond wires.
Finally, a tapered microstrip line to parallel striplines balun is proposed. The balun
consists of two sections. One section is the parallel striplines which are connected to
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the antenna, with the impedance of balanced line equal to the antenna input impedance.
The other section consists of a microstrip line where the width of the ground plane is
gradually reduced to eventually resemble a parallel stripline. The taper accomplishes the
mode and impedance transformation. This balun has signicantly improved bandwidth
characteristics.
Characteristics of proposed feeding structures are measured in a back-to-back con-
guration and compared to simulated results. The simulated and measured results show
the tapered microstrip to parallel striplines balun to have more than three octaves of
bandwidth.
The tapered microstrip line to parallel striplines balun is integrated with a single
Archimedean spiral antenna and with an array of spiral antennas. The performance
of the integrated structures is simulated with the aid of electromagnetic simulation
software, and results are compared to measurements. The back-to-back microstrip to
parallel strip balun has a return loss of better than 10 dB over a wide bandwidth from
1.75 to 15 GHz. The performance of the microstrip to parallel strip balun was validated
with the spiral antennas. The results show the balun to be an effective mean of feeding
network with a low prole and wide bandwidth (2.5 to 15 GHz) for balanced spiral
antennas.
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Keywords
Frequency Independent Antennas; Archimedean spiral antenna; WAVES; Coplanar Waveg-
uide; Coplanar Striplines; Wideband balun; Microstrip lines; Parallel striplines
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Acknowledgments
Throughout the research for my Masters degree at QUT, I have received an enormous
amount of support from various people and institutions. First and foremost, I would
like to thank my supervisors, Dr Dhammika Jayalath and Dr Jacob Coetzee for their
constant encouragement, valuable guidance, insights, and technical contributions. My
sincere appreciation and gratitude goes to Dr Dhammika Jayalath who has been a won-
derful mentor. Special thanks to CST MWS simulation software supporter, Dr Frank
Demming-Janssen, for his enormous help relating to CST simulation. I appreciate every
effort made by the laboratory technician, Mr Frank Mate, who has helped me to conduct
the antenna measurements at S block, Level 13. My thanks also goes to Mr Brian Jeffery
from the IT Help Desk for the CST software simulation and license updates. I would
like to express my gratitude to the staff members of the research portfolio ofce, Science
and Engineering Faculty including Ms Elaine Reyes, Ms Diane Kolometiz and Ms Judy
Liu who have supported by creating and stimulating a positive learning environment.
I would like to express my appreciation for the nancial support I have received from
QUT in the form of a Postgraduate Research Scholarship. Last but not least I would like
to thank my family for their enormous support and motivation throughout this personal
journey. This has been a great learning journey for me. While this study is the result
of my work during my Masters program, it would not have been actualized without the
help, guidance and motivation of all the people I have mentioned above.
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Table of Contents
Abstract iii
Keywords v
Acknowledgments vii
Table of Contents ix
Nomenclature xiii
List of Figures xv
List of Tables xxi
1 Introduction 1
1.1 Motivation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1
1.2 Contributions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2
1.3 Organization . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3
2 Fundamental Properties of Wideband Antennas 5
2.1 Introduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5
2.2 Antenna Properties . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6
2.2.1 Radiation Pattern . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6
2.2.2 Isotropic, Directional, and Omni-directional patterns . . . . . . 9
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2.2.3 Antenna Directivity, Gain and Radiation Efciency . . . . . . . 10
2.2.4 Radiation Intensity . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10
2.2.5 Impedance of the antenna . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11
2.2.6 Beam Width . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13
2.2.7 Polarization . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13
2.2.8 Bandwidth . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 16
2.3 Wideband antennas . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 17
2.3.1 Frequency Independent Antennas . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 17
2.3.2 Log-Periodic Antenna . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 17
2.3.3 Sinuous Antenna . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 19
2.4 Spiral Antenna . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 19
2.4.1 Equiangular Spiral antenna . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 24
2.4.2 The Archimedean Spiral Antenna . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 24
2.4.3 Wideband Arrays Antenna . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 29
2.5 Summary . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 32
3 Feeding Systems for Wideband antennas 33
3.1 Introduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 33
3.2 General Balun Theory . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 36
3.3 Wideband Baluns Conguration . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 36
3.3.1 Quarter-Wave Coaxial Balun . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 36
3.3.2 Bazooka Balun . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 37
3.3.3 Tapered Balun . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 38
3.3.4 Marchand Balun . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 39
3.3.5 Double-Y Balun . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 41
3.3.6 Wideband CPW to CPS Balun . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 42
3.3.7 CPW to CPS Marchand Balun . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 43
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3.3.8 CPW to CPS Double-Y Balun . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 44
3.3.9 CPW to CPS Chebyshev Balun . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 45
3.4 Summary . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 47
4 Design and Analysis of Wideband Baluns 49
4.1 Introduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 49
4.2 Design Formulas . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 50
4.2.1 Coplanar Waveguide (CPW) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 50
4.2.2 Asymmetric CPW . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 51
4.2.3 Coplanar stripline (CPS) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 53
4.2.4 Microstrip line . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 54
4.2.5 Asymmetric Parallel stripline . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 55
4.2.6 Taper Design . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 56
4.3 Design of CPW to CPS wideband baluns . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 60
4.3.1 Proposed CPW to CPS Balun . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 61
4.3.2 Back-to-back CPW to CPS balun . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 64
4.3.3 Proposed Asymmetric CPW to CPS Balun . . . . . . . . . . . 66
4.3.4 Back-to-back asymmetric CPW to CPS Balun . . . . . . . . . . 70
4.4 Design of tapered Microstrip to Parallel Striplines Balun . . . . . . . . 74
4.4.1 Tapered Microstrip lines . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 74
4.4.2 Proposed Microstrip to Parallel Striplines Balun . . . . . . . . . 76
4.4.3 Back-to-back Microstrip to Parallel Striplines Balun . . . . . . 79
4.5 Summary . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 81
5 Integration of Wideband Balun with Spiral Antennas 83
5.1 Introduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 83
5.2 Performance of a Two-arm Archimedean Spiral Antenna . . . . . . . . 84
5.2.1 Design of a Single Spiral Antenna . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 84
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5.2.2 Performance of Large Spiral Antenna without Balun . . . . . . 86
5.2.3 Performance of Small Spiral Antenna without Balun . . . . . . 87
5.3 Integration of the Spiral Antenna with Balun . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 87
5.3.1 Performance of the Large Spiral Antenna with Balun . . . . . . 88
5.3.2 Performance of the Small Spiral Antenna with Balun . . . . . . 101
5.4 Array of Archimedean Spiral Antennas . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 106
5.4.1 Theory of WAVES Array Geometry . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 106
5.4.2 Linear Antenna Array . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 107
5.4.3 Radiation pattern of the linear antenna array . . . . . . . . . . . 109
5.4.4 Planar Antenna Array . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 112
5.4.5 Radiation pattern of the planar antenna array . . . . . . . . . . 112
5.5 Summary . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 119
6 Conclusion and Recommendations 121
6.1 Contributions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 121
6.2 Recommendations for Future Directions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 124
A Appendix : MATLAB code 127
A.1 HECKEN MATLAB code for symmetric CPW Design . . . . . . . . . 127
A.2 HECKEN MATLAB code for an Asymmetric CPW Design . . . . . . . 135
References 143
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Nomenclature
Abbreviations
3G-LTE 3 Generation Long-Term Evolution
ADS Advanced Design System
BW BandWidth
CR Cognitive Radio
CST Computer Simulation Technology
DAA Detect and Avoid
DBS Discreet Broadcast television Systems
EBG Electromagnetic Band Gap
EIRP Effective Isotropic Radiated Power
EM Electromagnetic
FCC Federal Communications Commission
FNBW First Null Beam Width
HPBW Half power Beam Width
ITU International Telecommunication Union
LDC Low Duty Cycle
LHCP Left Hand side Circular Polarization
MIC Microwave Integrated Circuits
MIMO multiple Input and Multiple Output
MMIC Monolithic Microwave Integrated Circuits
MoM Advanced Design System
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RHCP Right Hand side Circular Polarization
SNR Signal to Noise Ratio
TEM Transverse Electromagnetic
VSWR Voltage Standing Wave Ratio
WAVES Wideband Array antenna with Variable Elements Size
WLAN Wide Local Area Networks
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List of Figures
2.1 Two-dimensional normalised patterns . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7
2.2 Radiation lobes and beamwidths of an antenna pattern . . . . . . . . . . 8
2.3 Omni-directional antenna pattern [1]. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9
2.4 Antenna in transmitting mode [1]. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11
2.5 A two port network . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12
2.6 Three and two-dimensional patterns . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13
2.7 Rotation of a plane electromagnetic wave . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 14
2.8 Geometry of a logarithmically periodic antenna [2] . . . . . . . . . . . 18
2.9 Geometry of a sinuous antenna . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 19
2.10 EBG structure with spiral antenna [3]. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 22
2.11 Geometry of an equiangular spiral antenna . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 24
2.12 Archimedean spiral antenna structure . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 27
2.13 Current vectors and radiating zone on two-arm spiral antenna . . . . . . 27
2.14 The geometry of WAVES with two different size elements . . . . . . . 31
3.1 The unbalanced and balanced transmission lines . . . . . . . . . . . . . 34
3.2 Balanced antennas . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 34
3.3 A schematic for unbalanced to balanced transformation . . . . . . . . . 35
3.4 An unbalanced coaxial cable . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 36
3.5 Representation of a Quarter-Wave Coaxial Balun [1]. . . . . . . . . . . 37
3.6 Representation of a Bazooka Balun . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 38
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3.7 Representation of a Tapered Balun . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 39
3.8 Equivalent circuit for a Marchand balun [4]. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 40
3.9 Microstrip to slotline etched Marchand balun [4]. . . . . . . . . . . . . 40
3.10 Stripline to slotline balun with a radial stub . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 41
3.11 Equivalent circuit for a double-Y balun [4]. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 42
3.12 CPW to CPS Marchand balun [4]. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 43
3.13 CPW to CPS double-Y balun [4]. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 44
3.14 CPW to CPS Chebyshev balun . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 46
4.1 Geometry of CPW transmission line . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 50
4.2 Block view of CPW transmission line . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 51
4.3 Asymmetric CPW transmission line . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 52
4.4 The CPS transmission line . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 53
4.5 Geometry of microstripline structure . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 54
4.6 Balanced parallel strips transmission line . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 55
4.7 Asymmetric parallel strips transmission line . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 55
4.8 Geometry of a dispersive tapered transmission line . . . . . . . . . . . 57
4.9 The typical impedance prole . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 58
4.10 A back-to-back Chebyshev wideband balun [5] . . . . . . . . . . . . . 60
4.11 Dimensions of the transmissions (Units : Millimetres) . . . . . . . . . . 61
4.12 The impedance prole for the tapered CPW . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 62
4.13 The dimensions for the tapered CPW . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 63
4.14 Simulated S-parameters results for single CPW to CPS balun . . . . . . 64
4.15 The back-to-back symmetric CPW to CPS wideband balun . . . . . . . 64
4.16 Comparison of S-parameters for back-to-back baluns . . . . . . . . . . 65
4.17 The surface current in symmetric CPW to CPS wideband balun . . . . . 65
4.18 Simulated S-parameters for back-to-back balun . . . . . . . . . . . . . 66
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4.19 A single asymmetric CPW to CPS Wideband balun . . . . . . . . . . . 67
4.20 Conguration of the asymmetric CPW to CPS balun . . . . . . . . . . 68
4.21 The impedance and dimensions prole for asymmetric CPW . . . . . . 69
4.22 Simulated S-parameters results for ACPW to CPS balun . . . . . . . . 69
4.23 The back-to-back asymmetric CPW to CPS wideband balun . . . . . . 70
4.24 Comparison of S-parameters for symmetric asymmetric baluns . . . . . 71
4.25 The surface current in asymmetric CPW to CPS Wideband balun . . . . 71
4.26 Simulated and measured results for back-to-back asymmetric balun . . 72
4.27 ACPW to CPS balun measurement with a network analyser . . . . . . . 73
4.28 Measured and simulated S-parameters for ACPW to CPS balun . . . . . 73
4.29 Tapered microstrip transmission line . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 74
4.30 A single microstrip to parallel striplines balun . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 75
4.31 Conguration of a tapered microstrip to parallel strip lines . . . . . . . 77
4.32 Simulated S-parameters results of a single balun . . . . . . . . . . . . . 78
4.33 Back-to-back connection of the balun . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 79
4.34 Surface current distribution of the microstrip to parallel striplines balun 80
4.35 Conguration of the microstrip to parallel striplines balun . . . . . . . . 80
4.36 Measured and simulated S-parameters results for balun . . . . . . . . . 81
5.1 Geometry of the two-arm Archimedean spiral antenna . . . . . . . . . . 85
5.2 Simulated return loss for large spiral with the discrete port . . . . . . . 86
5.3 Simulated return loss for small spiral with discrete port . . . . . . . . . 87
5.4 Conguration of the microstrip taper balun with a SMA connector . . . 89
5.5 The connection between inner spiral arms and balun . . . . . . . . . . . 89
5.6 The measurement set up for large spiral . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 90
5.7 Simulated 3D directivity radiation patterns of the large spiral . . . . . . 90
5.8 E-plane directivity radiation patterns for large spiral . . . . . . . . . . . 91
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5.9 H-plane directivity radiation patterns for large spiral . . . . . . . . . . . 92
5.10 Large spiral antenna radiation measurements set up . . . . . . . . . . . 93
5.11 Measured and simulated radiation patterns for the large spiral . . . . . . 94
5.12 Measurement set up for the large spiral in the anechoic chamber . . . . 95
5.13 Measured and simulated radiation patterns for the large spiral . . . . . . 96
5.14 Gain measurement for the large spiral with the horn antenna . . . . . . 97
5.15 HPBW calculation of the large spiral antenna in E-plane at 5 GHz . . . 98
5.16 Measured and simulated gain of the large spiral antenna . . . . . . . . . 99
5.17 Gain measurement for the two identical horns . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 100
5.18 Measured and simulated results for the small spiral . . . . . . . . . . . 101
5.19 E-plane directivity radiation patterns for the small spiral . . . . . . . . . 102
5.20 H-plane directivity radiation patterns for the small spiral . . . . . . . . 103
5.21 Measured and simulated gain of the small spiral antenna . . . . . . . . 104
5.22 Measured and simulated radiation patterns for the small spiral . . . . . 105
5.23 Basic geometry of WAVES . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 106
5.24 The linear antenna array . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 107
5.25 Simulated VSWR for the linear antenna array . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 108
5.26 Simulated S-parameters for the linear antenna array . . . . . . . . . . . 109
5.27 E-plane radiation patterns for the linear array . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 110
5.28 H-plane radiation patterns for the linear array . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 111
5.29 Simulated gain of the linear antenna array . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 111
5.30 The planar antenna array . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 112
5.31 Conguration of the 8-elements array with baluns . . . . . . . . . . . . 113
5.32 Planar array set up with a power divider . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 113
5.33 Measured and simulated S-parameters results for planar array . . . . . . 114
5.34 3D radiation patterns of the planar antenna array at 5 GHz . . . . . . . 114
5.35 Grating lobes and side lobes for the planar antenna array . . . . . . . . 115
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5.36 Directivity radiation patterns of the planar array . . . . . . . . . . . . . 116
5.37 Gain of the planar antenna array . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 117
5.38 Measured and simulated radiation patterns for the planar array . . . . . 118
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List of Tables
3.1 The comparison of the above baluns . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 48
4.1 The dimensions of the tapered CPW and CPS transitions . . . . . . . . 63
4.2 The dimensions of asymmetric CPW and CPS Balun . . . . . . . . . . 67
4.3 The dimensions of Microstrip to Parallel Striplines Balun . . . . . . . . 78
5.1 The dimensions of the spiral antenna . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 85
5.2 HPBW of the large spiral antenna in E and H-plane . . . . . . . . . . . 97
5.3 Measured gain data for the large spiral antenna . . . . . . . . . . . . . 98
5.4 HPBW of the small spiral antenna in E and H-plane . . . . . . . . . . . 102
5.5 Measured gain data for the small spiral antenna . . . . . . . . . . . . . 103
5.6 HPBW of the linear antenna array in E and H-plane . . . . . . . . . . . 109
5.7 HPBW of the planar antenna array in E and H-plane . . . . . . . . . . . 115
5.8 Measured gain data for planar antenna array . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 116
6.1 The comparison of proposed baluns . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 123
6.2 The comparison of the spiral antenna with the proposed balun . . . . . 124
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Chapter 1
Introduction
1.1 Motivation
Wireless communication technologies continue to evolve and expand at a phenomenal
pace. Third-generation long term evolution (3G-LTE) systems, Cognitive Radio (CR)
technologies for efcient use of the spectrum, and wireless broadband connectivity
to mobile users have been major focuses of recent research and standardization ef-
forts. These broadband networks provide integrated packet-oriented transmission of
text, graphics, voice, image, video, and computer data over point-to-point links as well
as in broadcast mode. Most of these systems provide broadband services and operate in
different frequency bands.
Many wireless applications thus require low cost and compact size [6] wideband
antennas. Wideband antennas are widely used in many applications such as ground
penetrating radars, tracking, sensing and imaging, multiple input and multiple output
(MIMO) and diversity operations [7], [8], short pulse radar for automotive and robotics
applications [9], [10].
The spiral antenna is a wideband antenna with low prole and circular polarization.
The frequency band of a spiral antenna depends only on the physical dimension of
the antenna. However, spiral antennas require balanced feed structures and the input
impedance of the spiral antenna can also vary from 140-200 . Most standard feeders
such as coaxial cables are unbalanced with 50 input impedance. Therefore, balanced
feeding structures which can also perform the impedance transformation are needed for
spiral antennas.
1
2 CHAPTER 1. INTRODUCTION
Spiral antennas also have a low gain. Therefore, arrays of elements are used to
overcome these issues. However, the wideband characteristics of spiral antennas are
compromised in the array environment. Furthermore, array bandwidth is limited by
the individual antenna elements at the lower frequency and the emergence of grating
lobes are formed due to the inter-element spacing at higher frequency. Reference [11]
introduced a method of resolving the above problem. It is called wideband array with
variable element sizes (WAVES).
Another important problem affecting the antenna performance is selecting a proper
wideband feed network. The previous research study on WAVES identied issues with
the feed of the array elements, since the wideband characteristic of the antenna depends
on a proper feed network which has to have a sufciently large bandwidth. The balun
provides not only balanced elds but also impedance matching to the antenna.
Different kinds of balun have been developed over the past decades [4], [12], [13],
[14]. From 1994, several CPW to CPS wideband balun have been reported [15], [16].
However, these baluns are band limited and are unable to be used in this research.
The main objective of this research work is to design a wideband balun for spiral
antennas with a compact design. In this research, two new CPW to CPS wideband
balun are proposed. It is a modied version of the balun proposed in [5] with a wider
bandwidth. In addition, another wideband balun is proposed to further improve the
bandwidth. It is called tapered microstrip line to parallel striplines balun. The microstrip
to parallel striplines balun is used as an optimum feed network for a single and array of
spiral antennas. All these designs are done using CST MWS simulator and simulated
results are validated with measured results.
1.2 Contributions
Through the research work of the thesis several major contributions have been made
to the eld of wireless communications. In this section a summary of these major
contributions are presented.
A comprehensive review of theory, principles and techniques of antennas and
wideband baluns are presented
1.3. ORGANIZATION 3
A novel tapered geometry for a symmetric CPW to CPS wideband balun with a
stub to accommodate the discontinuity between CPW and CPS is proposed.
An asymmetric CPW to CPS wideband balun with a novel tapered design is
proposed
A tapered microstrip to parallel striplines balun with new tapered design is pro-
posed
Wideband baluns are tested with various spiral antenna congurations
This thesis presents the results of a more comprehensive characterisation of planar
back-to-back CPW to CPS balun conguration, planar microstrip to parallel striplines
conguration and two different antenna arrays based on WAVES concept. The electro-
magnetic simulations and measurement characterization of array with WAVES concept
and feed network provide an understanding of their capabilities and limitations.
The optimum single wideband balun is selected from the results and integrated with
a single two-arm Archimedean spiral antenna and array of two-arm Archimedean spiral
antennas. The EM simulations in CST MWS are used to design the wideband balun
and antenna array and to illustrate the operation of the WAVES array with a proper feed
network. The WAVES array with a wideband balun is able to achieve full coverage over
more than two octaves.
1.3 Organization
This thesis is organised into six chapters. Chapter 2 contains a review of previous
work related to wideband antenna, different types of wideband antennas and antenna
wideband properties such as radiation patterns, gain, polarization, impedance and band-
width. Spiral antennas which belong to the family of frequency independent antenna,
are selected to achieve wideband characteristics. This spiral antenna maintains almost
circular polarization, consistent gain and input impedance over wide bandwidths. Two-
arm Archimedean spiral antenna is used in the design for reducing the amount of anten-
nas necessary to cover a wide frequency range of operation. Furthermore, the wideband
array with variable element sizes (WAVES) techniques is illustrated to a limited degree.
4 CHAPTER 1. INTRODUCTION
A broad overview of balun theory and standard designs are given in Chapter 3. Some
of the more common etched transition designs are discussed, which includes the etched
Marchand balun and the double-Y balun. The operation of the CPW to CPS balun is
discussed in detail.
Chapter 4 consists of three proposed taper feed networks with wideband character-
istics. The coplanar feed networks are simulated to investigate the back-to-back balun
performance when changing the gap width of CPW, length of CPS and with and without
radial stub with an aid of EM simulation (CST MWS). Furthermore, asymmetric CPW
is employed to remove the discontinuities between CPW and CPS. In addition, tapered
microstrip to parallel striplines balun is proposed to improve the bandwidth further. All
these designs are simulated in back-to-back conguration using CST MWS simulator
and the simulated results are validated with measured results.
The two-arm Archimedean array of spiral antennas design with wideband array
with variable element sizes (WAVES) techniques is constructed and integrated with a
proposed wideband balun feed network which is described in Chapter 5. The wideband
performance of a single spiral antenna with tapered microstrip to parallel striplines balun
is compared with an array of spirals. The research results focused on gain and radiation
patterns measurements in order to characterise their performance as electrically small
antennas. Chapter 6 concludes the thesis by summarising the main contributions of this
study and recommendations for future work.
Chapter 2
Fundamental Properties of Wideband
Antennas
2.1 Introduction
This research study provides an overview of broadband antennas, focusing specically
on the concept of spiral antenna arrays with different element sizes. The performance
of the antenna is determined by antenna parameters such as radiation patterns, gain,
impedance, polarization and bandwidth of the antenna. This chapter describes all these
antenna parameters and the related equations for the antenna design in detail.
Different types of broadband antennas such as log periodic antennas, sinuous anten-
nas and spiral antennas are also examined in Section 2.3. Major focus of this research is
the development of new feeding structures for the two-arm Archimedean spiral anten-
nas. Due to easy implementation with balanced devices, and wideband characteristics
the Archimedean spiral antenna was selected as a proposed antenna. A single spiral
antenna exhibits a low gain than the spiral antenna array. The antenna array is therefore
proposed with the wideband balun to achieve a broad bandwidth and high gain. An
investigation of arrays of Archimedean spiral antennas is given in Section 2.4.2. The
main argument presented in this section suggests that wideband array with variable
element sizes (WAVES) of Archimedean spiral antenna have broad bandwidth compared
to a single element and it eliminates the grating lobes at higher frequencies.
5
6 CHAPTER 2. FUNDAMENTAL PROPERTIES OF WIDEBAND ANTENNAS
2.2 Antenna Properties
Important antenna parameters to be considered for wideband antenna designs include
impedance matching, bandwidth, radiation patterns, gain, directivity and radiation ef-
ciency. These parameters are almost constant in the narrow band antenna, but can vary
signicantly in wideband antennas. These important antenna parameters are described
in detail below.
2.2.1 Radiation Pattern
An antenna radiation pattern is dened as a graphical representation or a mathematical
function of the radiation properties of the antenna as a function of space coordinates.
It is mostly determined in the far eld region and is represented as a function of the
directional coordinates. Radiation properties include density, radiation intensity, eld
strength, directivity phase or polarization. A trace of the received electric (magnetic)
eld at a constant radius is called the amplitude eld pattern.
On the other hand, a graph of the spatial variation of the power density along a
constant radius is called an amplitude power pattern. The eld and power patterns are
often normalized with respect to their maximum value, yielding normalized eld and
power patterns [1].
The power pattern is usually plotted on a logarithmic scale or more commonly in
decibels (dB). For an antenna, the eld pattern (in linear scale) typically represents
a plot of the magnitude of the electric or magnetic eld as a function of the angular
space; the power pattern (in linear scale) typically represents a plot of the square of the
magnitude of the electric or magnetic eld as a function of the angular space. The power
pattern in (dB) represents the magnitude of the electric or magnitude eld, in decibels,
as a function of the angular space.
It can be illustrated in this way. The two-dimensional normalized eld pattern (plot-
ted in linear scale), power pattern (plotted in linear scale), and power pattern (plotted on
a logarithmic dB scale) of a 10-element linear antenna array of isotropic sources, with
2.2. ANTENNA PROPERTIES 7
a spacing of d = 0.25 between the elements, are shown in Figure 2.1. The plus and
minus sign indicate the relative polarization of the amplitude between the various lobes,
which change as the nulls are crossed. The half power (-3 dB) point is indicated relative
to the maximum value of the pattern in the following cases. Figure 2.1(a) shows the
half power of the eld patterns at 0.707 value of its maximum. Half power of the power
pattern is (in linear scale) at its 0.5 value of its maximum as shown in Figure 2.1(b) and
power pattern (in dB scale) is at -3 dB value of its maximum as shown in Figure 2.1(c).
All three patterns yield the same angular separation between the two half-power points,
38.64
o
, on their respective patterns, referred to as Half Power Beam Width (HPBW) as
illustrated in Figure 2.1.
(a) Field Pattern (b) Power Pattern(in linear scale)
(c) Power Pattern(in dB)
Figure 2.1: Two-dimensional normalised eld pattern (linear scale), power pattern
(linear scale), and power pattern (in dB) [1].
Radiation patterns have different parts which are referred to as lobes as shown in
Figure 2.2. They are major, minor, side and back lobes. A radiation lobe is a portion of
the radiation pattern bounded by regions of relatively weak radiation intensity.
(a)
(b)
Figure 2.2: (a) Radiation lobes and beamwidths of an antenna pattern (b) Linear plot of
power pattern and its associated lobes and beamwidths [1].
Figure 2.2(a) shows a symmetrical three-dimensional polar pattern with a number
of radiation lobes. A major lobe is dened as the radiation lobe containing the direction
of maximum radiation. In Figure 2.2 the major lobe is pointing in the = 0 direction.
A minor lobe is any lobe except a major lobe. In Figure 2.2(a) and Figure 2.2(b), all the
lobes with the exception of the major can be classied as minor lobes. A side lobe is a
radiation lobe in any direction other than the intended lobe. A back lobe is a radiation
lobe whose axis makes an angle of approximately 180
o
with respect to the beam of an
antenna.
2.2.2 Isotropic, Directional, and Omni-directional patterns
An isotropic radiator is a lossless antenna having equal radiation in all directions. The
directive properties of actual antennas are expressed with a reference to isotropic an-
tenna, although it is ideal and not physically realisable. A directional antenna is one
having the property of radiating or receiving electromagnetic waves more effectively in
some directions than in others. When maximum directivity is signicantly greater than
that of a half-wave dipole, it is called directional antenna.
Figure 2.3 shows an omni-directional pattern where a pattern is non-directional in
the azimuth plane (f(), = /2) and directional in the elevation plane (g(), =
constant). It is a special type of a directional pattern [1]. An antennas radiation property
can be described in three common radiation patterns.
Figure 2.3: Omni-directional antenna pattern [1].
Isotropic - A hypothetical lossless antenna having equal radiation in all directions.
It is only applicable for an ideal antenna and is often taken as a reference for
expressing the directivity properties of actual antennas.
Directional - An antenna having the property of radiating or receiving electro-
magnetic waves more effectively in some direction than in others. Maximum
directivity of this antenna is signicantly greater than that of a half wave dipole.
Omni-directional - An antenna having an essentially non-directional pattern in a
given plane and a directional pattern in any orthogonal plane.
2.2.3 Antenna Directivity, Gain and Radiation Efciency
Directivity D is dened as the ratio of the radiation intensity U in a given direction from
the antenna to the radiation intensity averaged over all direction. The average radiation
intensity is equal to the total power radiated by the antenna (P
rad
) divided by 4. So the
directivity can be calculated by:
D =
U
U
0
=
4U
P
rad
(2.1)
If not specied, antenna directivity implies its maximum value, i.e. D
0
.
D
0
=
U|
max
U
0
=
4U
max
P
rad
(2.2)
Antenna gain Gis closely related to the directivity, but it takes into account the radiation
efciency e
rad
of the antenna as well as its directional properties, as given by:
G = e
rad
D (2.3)
Radiation efciency (e
rad
) is determined by the ratio of the radiated power, P
rad
to the
input power at the terminals of the antenna, P
in
.
e
rad
=
P
rad
P
in
=
G
D
(2.4)
2.2.4 Radiation Intensity
It is dened as the power radiated from an antenna per unit solid angle. The radiation
intensity is a far-eld parameter, and it can be obtained by simply multiplying the
radiation density by the square of the distance. It is given in the mathematical form
as follows:
U = r
2
W
rad
(2.5)
where U is the radiation intensity (W/ unit solid angle) and W
rad
is the radiation density
(W/m
2
).
2.2.5 Impedance of the antenna
Antenna input impedance is dened as the ratio of the voltage to current at the input
terminals a-b of the antenna with no load attached, as shown in Figure 2.4. The input
impedance of the antenna is given in the equation (2.6).
Figure 2.4: Antenna in transmitting mode [1].
Z
A
= R
A
+jX
A
(2.6)
where,
Z
A
- antenna impedance at terminals a-b (ohms)
R
A
- antenna resistance at terminals a-b (ohms)
X
A
- antenna reactance at terminals a-b (ohms)
Figure 2.5: A two port network
The S-parameters denition for the two port network is given in the following
matrix:
b
1
= S
11
a
1
+S
12
a
2
b
2
= S
21
a
1
+S
22
a
2
(2.7)
where the independent variables a
1
and a
2
are normalised incident voltage waves and b
1
and b
2
are normalised reected voltages.
S
11
- input reection coefcient
S
22
- output reection coefcient
S
12
- reverse transmission gain
S
21
- forward transmission gain
Reference [17] states that the input impedance of the antenna is largely determined
by the characteristic impedance of the feeding transmission line. Reference [18], [19]
and [20] pointed out that the input impedance of an antenna is effected by the line
width, the distance between the lines, the dielectric constant and the substrate thickness.
Reference [21] developed the 2-port measurements techniques to measure the input
impedance of the spiral antenna using the following equation:
Z
in
= 2Z
0
1 +S
11
S
12
1 S
11
+S
12
(2.8)
where Z
0
= 50
2.2.6 Beam Width
The beam width of an antenna pattern is dened as the angular separation between
two identical points on opposite sides of the pattern maximum. Two most widely
used beam widths are the Half-Power Beam Width (HPBW) and the First-Null Beam
Width (FNBW). HPBW is dened by IEEE as: In a plane containing the direction of
the maximum of a beam, the angle between the two directions in which the radiation
intensity is one-half value of the beam [1]. FNBW is dened as the angular separation
between the rst nulls of the pattern. Figure 2.6 shows both the HPBW and FNBW.
However, in practice, the term beam width usually refers to the HPBW.
The beam width of antenna is a very important gure of merit and it is often used
with the side lobe level. When the beam width decreases, the side lobe increases
and vice versa. Moreover, the beam width of the antenna is also used to describe
the resolution capabilities of the antenna to distinguish between two adjacent radiating
sources or radar targets. The most common resolution criterion states that the resolution
capability of an antenna to distinguish between two sources is equal to half the First-
Null Beam Width (FNBW/2) which is usually used to approximate the HPBW [22],
[23].
(a) (b)
Figure 2.6: Three and two-dimensional power patterns (in linear scale) of U() =
cos
2
() cos
3
() [1].
2.2.7 Polarization
The polarization of an electromagnetic wave is dened as the orientation of the electric
eld vector and this vector is perpendicular to both the direction of travel and the
magnetic eld vector. It is determined by the physical structure of the antenna and by its
orientation. The polarization is described by the geometric gure traced by the electric
eld vector upon a stationary plane perpendicular to the direction of propagation, as the
wave travels through that plane. An electromagnetic wave is frequently composed of
two orthogonal components E
x
and E
y
, as shown in Figure 2.7. This gure shows a
typical trace as a function of time.
The geometric gure traced by the sum of the electric eld vectors over time is,
in general, an ellipse and the eld is said to be elliptically polarized. Under certain
conditions the ellipse may break into a straight line, in which case the polarization is
called linear; and a circle, in which case the polarization is called circular. The gure of
the electric eld can be traced in a clockwise or counter-clockwise direction. Clockwise
rotation of the electric-eld vector is dened as a right-hand polarization and counter-
clockwise as left-hand polarization.
(a) (b)
Figure 2.7: Rotation of a plane electromagnetic wave and its polarization ellipse at
z = 0 as a function of time [1].
Spiral antennas radiate right-hand polarization to one side and left-hand polarization
to the other side. The radiating currents along the arms are travelling wave currents and
their paths are clockwise when considered from one side and counter-clockwise when
considered from the other side. The radiated eld from these travelling currents will also
rotate in the same direction as the exciting current. Therefore, the elds will be Left-
Hand Circular Polarization (LHCP) for clockwise orientation of arms and Right-Hand
Circular Polarization (RHCP) for counter-clockwise orientation of arms.
Linear Polarization : Linear Polarization is specied as a special case of Elliptical
Polarization and a time-harmonic wave is linearly polarized at a given point in space
if the electric eld (or magnetic eld) vector at that point is always oriented along the
same straight line at every instant of time. This is achieved if the eld vector possesses
only one component, or two orthogonal linear components that are in time phase or 180
o
(or multiples of 180
o
) out of phase.
Circular Polarization : It is dened that the electric eld (or magnetic eld) vector
traces a circle as a function of time at a given point in space. It is achieved if the eld
vector possesses all of the characteristics such as:
The eld must have two orthogonal linear components, and
The two components must have same magnitude, and
The two components must have a time-phase difference of odd multiples of 90
o
.
The sense of rotation is always determined by rotating the phase-leading component
toward the phase-lagging component and observing the eld rotation as the wave is
viewed as it travels away from the observer. If the rotation is clockwise, the wave
is right-hand (or clockwise) circularly polarized; if the rotation is counter-clockwise,
the wave is left-hand (or counter-clockwise) circularly polarized. The rotation of the
phase-leading component toward the phase-lagging component should be done along
the angular separation between the two components that is less than 180
o
. Phases equal
to or greater than 0
o
and less than 180
o
should be considered leading whereas those
equal to or greater than 180
o
and less than 360
o
should be considered lagging.
Elliptical polarization : A time-harmonic wave is elliptically polarized if the tip
of the eld vector (electric or magnetic) traces an elliptical locus in space. At various
instants of time the eld vector changes continuously with time in such a manner as to
describe an elliptical locus. It is right-hand (clockwise) elliptically polarized if the eld
vector rotates clockwise, and it is left-hand (counter-clockwise) elliptically polarized if
the eld vector of the ellipse rotates counter-clockwise. The necessary and sufcient
conditions to accomplish this are if the eld vector (electric or magnetic) possesses all
of the following:
The eld must have two orthogonal linear components
The two components can be of the same or different magnitude
If the two components are not of the same magnitude, the time-phase difference
between the two components must not be 0
o
or multiples of 180
o
(because it will
then be linear)
If the two components are of the same magnitude, the time-phase difference
between the two components must not be odd multiples of 90
o
(because it will
then be circular).
2.2.8 Bandwidth
Bandwidth is the main characteristic of the wideband antenna. The bandwidth can
be considered to be the range of frequencies, on either side of the centre frequency,
where the antenna characteristics are within an acceptable value. The bandwidth can be
described in terms of percentage of the centre frequency, f
C
, of the band.
BW =
f
H
f
L
f
C
100 = 2
f
H
f
L
f
H
+f
L
100 (2.9)
where f
H
is the highest frequency in the band and f
L
is the lowest frequency in the
band. The centre frequency can is calculated from:
f
C
=
f
H
+f
L
2
(2.10)
For broadband antennas, the bandwidth can also be expressed as the ratio of the highest
frequency to the lower frequency, where the antenna performance is acceptable. It is
given by:
BW =
f
H
f
L
(2.11)
2.3. WIDEBAND ANTENNAS 17
2.3 Wideband antennas
Wideband antennas are an essential part of wireless communication systems. Extensive
research has been conducted on various types of antennas, ranging from simple wire
antennas to planar antennas. However, it is necessary to select an antenna with a
compact size and wideband characteristics for wideband applications. Some wideband
antennas were examined and spiral antennas, which belong to frequency independent
antennas, are selected as best candidates in this project due to its planar structure, low
prole, wide bandwidth characteristics, and circular polarization.
2.3.1 Frequency Independent Antennas
Frequency independent antennas are antennas whose radiation pattern, impedance and
polarization remain unchanged over a large bandwidth [24], [25]. Frequency indepen-
dent antennas exist in several congurations such as equiangular, sinuous and Archimedean
[26]. Frequency independent antenna can be completely dened by angles. The general
formula for their shape is given by the equation (2.12) and it was taken from [27].
= e
a(+
0
)
F () (2.12)
where , and are the usual spherical coordinates, a and
0
are constants and F() is
any function of .
Frequency independent antennas provide uniform electrical characteristics over a
wide frequency band. However, frequency independent antennas have broad radiation
patterns and low gain in general, which is not suitable for some applications. This
problem can be resolved by using an array of frequency independent antenna elements.
The wideband characteristics of the frequency independent element are lost in the array
environment even as the above method allows for pattern control and higher gains.
2.3.2 Log-Periodic Antenna
Reference [2] introduced the log-periodic antenna which has wideband frequency char-
acteristics. There are three basic design principles that embody the logarithmically
periodic antenna whose properties vary periodically with the logarithm of the frequency.
The rst one is the angle concept. In this design concept, the geometry of the antenna
structure is completely described by angles rather than lengths. The second principle is
that the input impedance of an antenna is frequency independent [27]. Therefore, it is
a frequency independent antenna. The third principle is to design the antenna structure
where its electrical properties repeat periodically with the logarithm of the frequency.
Figure 2.8: Geometry of a logarithmically periodic antenna [2]
The geometry of the logarithmically periodic antenna structure is shown in Figure 2.8.
The radii of the log-periodic antenna, R
n
, r
n
are slots radii and is a subtended angle.
The geometric of the antenna is dened by the following equation (2.13), where the
radius R
n1
, R
n
, R
n+1
form a geometric sequence of terms.
=
R
n
R
n+1
(2.13)
The same geometric ratio can be derived with the radius r
n1
, r
n
, r
n+1
which forms a
similar sequence. The successive slot lengths and distances are in the common ratio,
M:
M =
r
n
R
n
=
l
n
L
n
(2.14)
Reference [28] performed an extensive study on the performance of this antenna as a
function of , , and M. In general, the logarithmically periodic antennas have planar
2.4. SPIRAL ANTENNA 19
and conical structure and this antenna has linear polarization.
2.3.3 Sinuous Antenna
Reference [29] invented the sinuous antenna in 1982 (shown in Figure 2.9). It is also
a frequency independent antenna and has wideband characteristics and dual linear and
dual circular polarization with low prole geometry. As shown in Figure 2.9, it is a
four-arm self-complementary structure with input impedance of 188.5 (based on self-
complementary antenna theory) over its bandwidth of operation in free space. However,
[30] suggests that it has lower impedance in measurements than the theoretical value.
In addition, [30] investigated that the substrate material has considerable inuence on
the characteristics of the sinuous antenna. Most of the applications require an uni-
Figure 2.9: Geometry of a sinuous antenna
directional radiation pattern with low prole antennas, but the sinuous antenna has a
bi-directional radiation pattern. In order to produce a unidirectional radiation pattern,
the sinuous antenna is backed by a ground plane. However, the ground plane changes
the antenna impedance greatly over the operation band.
2.4 Spiral Antenna
Spiral antennas also belong to the class of antennas known as frequency independent
antennas. The bandwidth of the spiral antenna can reach up to 40:1 for both the input
impedance and the radiation pattern. The smallest and largest circumference of the
spiral structure determine their respective upper and lower cut-off frequencies.
Most of the previous research on spiral antennas was based on experiment and the
band theory. Band theory is dened by the spiral antenna operating in the region where
the circumference of the spiral is equal to a wavelength.
If the antenna have frequency independent characteristics, its surface is described
by following equation [27]:
r = F(, ) = e
a
f() (2.15)
where,
a =
1
K
dK
dC
(2.16)
where K is a factor is used to lowering the operating frequency of the original frequency
by a factor K and C is the rotation angle. The derivation of f() (completely arbitrary
function) in equation 2.15:
df()
d
= f
() = A
_
2

_
(2.17)
where A is a constant and is the Derac delta function. The reduced form of equation
(2.15) using equation 2.17is given as follows:
r = =
_
_
Ae
a
=

2
0 elsewhere
(2.18)
where A is the starting point of the curve when = 0, and it gives logarithmic spiral
curve.
In most cases, a spiral antenna consists of a thin metal foil spiral pattern etched on
a substrate fed from the centre. Spiral antennas radiate bi-directionally. However, most
of the applications require unidirectional radiation characteristics as well as having low
prole. It can be resolved by adding a lossy cavity to the spiral antenna, backed by
conductor, or adding absorbing materials. It absorbs the back radiation from the spiral
providing for a wide bandwidth by reducing the reection from ground plane.
The lossy cavity improves the low frequency impedance behaviour and axial ratio
of the spiral by reducing reections from the end of the each arm of the spiral. Further-
more, [31] showed that in order to reduce the reected currents from the arm ends of the
unbalanced-mode Archimedean spiral antenna, a ring-shaped absorbent material may
be applied to the cavity. It also absorbs the back radiation from the spiral giving a large
pattern bandwidth by reducing the reection from the ground plane that causes pattern
nulls [32], [33]. However, lossy cavity creates gain reduction due losses. Moreover,
lossy cavity gives extra depth and weight to the antenna. Without backing, spiral
antennas have bidirectional radiation, which is not desirable. Therefore, conductor
backed spiral antennas have been used in many applications to get an unidirectional
radiation [34].
Reference [35], [36] and [37] showed that the conductor backed spiral antenna,
where a metal ground plane is used as a conductor, has a 1:2:1 circular polarization
bandwidth and to reect unwanted power in order to get unidirectional path. However,
in conductor backed spiral antenna, the conductor will reect the radiated elds that
enter the cavity. However, the reected elds will destroy the forward travelling elds
of the spiral antenna if the cavity depth (d) is smaller than a wavelength.
Another method to get unidirectional pattern in spiral antenna is adding absorbing
materials. In absorbing material backed spiral antenna, the reected elds from the cav-
ity will be attenuated. Therefore, spiral antenna can have its wideband characteristics.
One of the absorbing materials is a chip resistor which is used in a microstrip spiral
antenna structure. The usage of microwave absorbing material is not approved for some
applications due to the reduced gain. Reference [37] used three metal plates inside the
hollow metal cavity to improve the bandwidth of the spiral antenna. However, a hollow
metal cavity reects the wave into the spiral and degrading the antenna performance,
particularly at the low frequency. Thus, resistive loads were added at the end of each
of the spiral arms to overcome the above problem. Moreover, it reduces the reection
from the end of each arm and improved the low frequency Voltage Standing Wave Ratio
(VSWR) and axial ratio.
Reference [38] investigated that the standing wave is appeared when the thickness of
the substrate becomes thinner and it disrupts the radiation patterns. Furthermore, stand-
ing wave deteriorates the impedance matching and radiation patterns when the distance
between the spiral antenna and the ground plane is less than /2. The thin thickness of
the substrate reduced the gain at lower frequencies. Reference [39] therefore proposed
a method to remove the standing wave by loading the antenna with chip resistors and
it was placed inside the substrate. However, the resistive loading was not enough to
remove the standing waves of higher frequencies. Thus, it was replaced along the spiral
antenna. However, it made undesirable effects and much power was dissipated in the
loads.
Size of the spiral antenna is another issue that has been considered for many years.
One way to reduce the size is through material loading. However, it can be a problem
in some applications due to material loss and weight. Therefore, slow wave spiral
techniques were developed to overcome the problems inherent in material loading. A
slow wave spiral is produced by adding some type of high frequency prole, such as
a zigzag or sine wave, to spiral antenna and increasing the circumference of the spiral
antenna, such as the square spiral. Reference [40] assert that antenna size can be reduced
by choosing a small starting angle
start
(Given in Section 2.4.2) while keeping the
spiral constant unchanged.
Figure 2.10: EBG structure with spiral antenna [3].
Reference [3] presented the implementation of electromagnetic band gap (EBG)
structures with an inherently wide band Archimedean spiral antenna (discussed in Sec-
tion 2.4.2)and they concluded that utilization of an EBG structure offers an antenna
height reduction of more than 69%, including thickness of the EBG structure (shown
in Figure 2.10). However, changing the antenna height from bottom plane makes a
variation to the antenna characteristics. Therefore, antenna height cannot be made
extremely small without additional measures to reduce the variation in the antenna char-
acteristics [41]. The electrical antenna height (H
ant
/ ) decreases when the frequency
decreases and the spiral becomes strong due to the reected EM elds impinging on
it. The current along the conducting spiral arms are affected by these reected EM
elds. The impinging EM elds can become weaker by increasing antenna height
which increases the electrical antenna height. However, it is not possible for low prole
antennas. Therefore, [42] proposed a method to use a ring shaped strip absorber to
remove the EM elds reected from the bottom of the cavity. Furthermore, ring shaped
strip absorber was reduced to arc shaped strip absorber by considering the size of the
antenna. Reference [19] suggests that thick dielectric, low dielectric constant (
r
) , and
low insertion loss is always desired for broadband purposes and increased efciency.
In addition, slow wave techniques are employed to move the radiation zone closer
to the centre of the spiral for a specic wavelength. As a result, this reduces the velocity
of propagation along the length of the spiral, which reduces the low frequency cut-off of
the spiral providing for size reduction. Reference [41] argues that when the length of the
longitudinal direction of the antenna decreases, the operation bandwidth of the antenna
increases. Furthermore, the low frequency cut-off can be reduced by terminating the
end of each arm of the spiral with resistive loads to remove the reections from the end
of the spiral. However, it reduces the efciency and gain.
Spiral antennas are classied into several types; square spiral, star spiral, Archimedean
spiral, and equiangular spiral. The square spiral antenna has the same advantage as cir-
cular Archimedean spiral antenna at the lower frequencies. However, the square spiral
geometry seems to be less frequency independent at high frequencies [43]. A star spiral
provides as much size reduction same as the square spiral and it allows tighter array
packing that the square spiral does not [44]. However, one of the major disadvantages of
the star and square spiral antenna is its dispersive behaviour. Archimedean spiral is the
most popular conguration due to its wide bandwidth and allowing tighter array spacing.
The equiangular planar spiral antennas have similar characteristics to the Archimedean
spiral.
2.4.1 Equiangular Spiral antenna
The equiangular spiral antennas surface is described by angles and its performance
would be independent of frequency [45]. Figure 2.11 shows the equiangular spiral curve
which is derived from the equation (2.19). The total length of spiral is given in the
Figure 2.11: Geometry of an equiangular spiral antenna
following equation:
L =
_

1
0
_
2
_
d
d
_
2
+ 1
_
1/2
d = (
1
0
)
_
1 +
1
a
2
(2.19)
and
= ke
a
(2.20)
where A is a constant, and are the conventional polar coordinates, a and k are
positive constants.
2.4.2 The Archimedean Spiral Antenna
The Archimedean spiral antenna has been widely used for several applications such as
air borne applications, wireless communications, UWB communications, satellite com-
munications, radio navigations, biological medicine, and radar [20]. The Archimedean
spiral antenna was developed by E.M.Tuner [46]. It can be easily constructed using
printed circuit techniques. Since the spacing between adjacent arms of the Archimedean
spiral antenna is specied by a constant and not an angle, it cannot be considered as a
truly frequency independent antenna. It is classied as a quasi-frequency independent
antenna [39]. Planar Archimedean spiral antenna is widely used due to its low prole,
light weight, high efciency, circular polarization, stable impedance characteristics, and
broad bandwidth [20].
Cavity backed Archimedean spiral antennas are used to obtain a single main beam
and mostly have a 90
o
half power beam width, VSWR of 2 : 1 (VSWR is dened in
equation (2.21)) and a boresight axial ratio with a circular polarization, where having
maximum radiated power, of 1:1 over a bandwidth of 10:1.
V SWR =
1 +
1
(2.21)
where is the magnitude of reection coefcient (||).
Archimedean spiral antenna radiates circularly polarized wave in bidirectionally
normal to the antenna plane in free space [20]. However, [39] noted that the character-
istic of unidirectional radiation is always required in the application of ultra-wideband
spiral antenna. An Archimedean spiral antenna is backed by a metal ground plane,
an absorbing cavity and shallow cavity (as described in Section 2.4) to achieve unidi-
rectional patterns [39], [34] [20] and [41]. However, absorbing cavity decreases the
gain of the antenna by 3 dB, and adding a reector reduces the impedance and the
axial ratio. However, antenna backed by an extremely shallow cavity has a variation
in input impedance at low frequencies due to the reection of EM elds at the bottom
of the cavity. Reference [47] suggested that grating lobes occur in the radiation pattern
of a broadband antenna array and it can be reduced by selecting a suitable spacing of
elements.
The author in [46] conducted experiments and obtained almost a constant input
impedance and circular polarization over a wide beamwidth for a broad range of fre-
quencies (2 to 18 GHz) by winding a long straight wire dipole into an Archimedean spi-
ral shape. If f
H
and f
L
represent the upper and lower frequencies of operation for which
satisfactory performance is obtained, then a broadband antenna can be characterised as
having the impedance and radiation patterns of the antenna remaining constant over an
octave (f
H
/ f
L
= 2) or more. The Archimedean spiral antenna tends to produce radiation
patterns and an input impedance which change smoothly with frequency.
The Archimedean spiral antenna has extremely wide bandwidth and its two arms
are linearly proportional to the polar angle. The slot type Archimedean spiral is the
dual of the strip type Archimedean spiral. Thin lm wideband width planar antenna
applications of 3D Monolithic Microwave Integrated Circuits (MMIC) use slot type
spiral.
A dual arm is obtained by duplicating the single arm along the normal axis with
180
o
rotation. Dual arm spiral antenna has symmetrical radiation pattern and better
axial ratio compared to a single arm spiral antenna [48]. It requires a balanced feeding
due to its balanced structure. Therefore, authors in [48] used a balun to obtain balanced
structure from unbalanced source and it transforms the characteristic impedance of a
transmission line to input impedance of the antenna.
Figure 2.12 shows the single arm and two-arm Archimedean spiral antenna. The
circular Archimedean spiral antenna produces a smooth change when the current adjusts
with frequency. The two-arm Archimedean spiral antenna radiates from a region where
the circumference of the spiral is approximately equal to one wavelength. This region
is called an active region of spiral. Each arms of the spiral is fed 180
o
out of phase, so
when the circumference of the spiral is one wavelength, the currents at complementary
or opposite points on each arms of the spiral, add in phase in the far eld. Reference
[39] investigated that maximum radiation is obtained when the diameter of the antenna
is equal to /, as a result, the current is in phase on the two arms of the antenna.
The current on opposite arms, shown by arrows in Figure 2.13(a) (feed in the centre)
and Figure 2.13(b) (feeding from outside), as current vectors, are spatially in phase
because the arms in the centre, which extend in opposite directions, are fed in anti-phase.
Therefore, the position A and position B (in Figure 2.13(a)) have in phase currents. If
the arm length between A and B is half a wave length then the current at position B
is in phase with B. Thus, radiation occurs at a circumference of one wavelength of the
spiral antenna. It is called band theory for spiral antenna [49], [47].
(a) Two-arm Archimedean spiral (b) Single-arm Archimedean spiral
Figure 2.12: Archimedean spiral antenna structure
Figure 2.13: Current vectors and radiating zone on two-arm spiral antenna with (a)
Feeding in the center and (b) Feeding from outside [49]
The size of the antenna is computed from the lowest and the highest frequency of
the operating frequency range [39]. The low frequency operating point of the spiral is
determined theoretically by the outer radius r
2
and is given by:
f
L
=
c
0
2r
2
eff
(2.22)
The high frequency operating point is based on the inner radius r
1
, giving:
f
H
=
c
0
2r
1
eff
(2.23)
where c
0
is the propagation velocity in free space and
eff
is the effective relative
dielectric constant.
Theory of Archimedean Spiral Antenna
A self-complementary single element two-arm Archimedean spiral antenna is shown in
Figure 2.12(a). A spiral antenna is self-complementary if the metal and air regions of
the antenna are equal. The input impedance of a self-complementary antenna can be
found using Babinets principle, giving:
Z
metal
Z
air
=

2
4
(2.24)
where is the characteristic impedance of the medium surrounding the antenna. For
a self-complementary Archimedean spiral antenna in free space, the input impedance
should be:
Z
0
=

0
2
= 188.5 (2.25)
Each arm of an Archimedean spiral is linearly proportional to the winding angle, and
is described by the following relationships [24].
r = r
0
+r
1
(2.26)
and
r = r
0
( ) +r
1
(2.27)
where r
1
is the inner radius of the spiral. The proportionality constant is determined
from the width of each arm, w, and the spacing between each turn, s, which for a self-
complementary spiral is given by [50].
r
0
=
s +w
=
2w
(2.28)
The strip width of each arm can be found from the following equation:
s =
(r
2
r
1
)
2N
w = w (2.29)
where r
1
, r
2
are inner and outer radii of the spiral respectively.
Another way of dening spiral arms in relation to the angle, is given in [42]. An
Archimedean spiral antenna has two arms Aand Bwith strip width w and it is symmetric
with respect to the centre. The arm A is dened by radial distance given as follows:
r = a
sp
w
(2.30)
where a
sp
is the arm growth constant of the spiral antenna, and
w
is the winding angle
which ranging from
start
to
end
radians.
The arm B can be obtained by rotating arm A by 180
o
around the centre. Reference
[42] suggests that the antenna circumference which is dened by 2r
max
(where r
max
= a
sp

end
) must be chosen to be larger than one wavelength at the lowest design
frequency, taking the active region at this frequency into consideration.
Frequency independent antennas typically have broad radiation patterns and low
gain, which is not suitable for some applications. An array of frequency indepen-
dent antenna can overcome this limitation. However, wideband characteristics of the
frequency independent element are lost in the array environment. The author in [27]
obtained the radiation patterns for an Archimedean spiral similar to the spiral as a series
of semicircles.
2.4.3 Wideband Arrays Antenna
There are some applications which require a higher number of antennas such as commu-
nication services, satellite navigation services, and conventional broadcasting services.
An array of spiral antennas is a promising candidate for use in mobile systems with
coverage of multiple services over broad frequency band [49]. A wideband array can
offer signicant advantages over individual wideband antennas. Some of the advantages
are increased gain, greater control over the radiation pattern including the ability to
electronically steer the beam, and the possibility of realization on a conformal structure
[3]. However, wideband arrays are affected by inter-element spacing. Small inter-
element spacing is desirable, but the minimum spacing is limited by antenna element
size and mutual coupling effects. Mutual coupling effects are weaker in the E-plane
and inter-element distances may not become too small in the transversal direction (H-
plane) to avoid the far eld pattern distortion [51]. When the frequency of operation is
increased, the inter-element spacing also increases in terms of wavelength, and grating
lobes appear when the spacing between elements approach one wavelength. Conse-
quently, the array bandwidth is limited by the formation of the grating lobes at the upper
frequency and element size at the lower frequency. There are three main techniques to
increase array bandwidth: unequal array spacing, shared apertures, and non-rectangular
array geometries. Reference [11] investigated the effect of various unequal spacing
schemes, such as logarithmic spacing and non-monotonically increasing spacing. They
found that in comparison with equally spaced arrays, fewer elements are required for a
preferred bandwidth, and grating lobes are replaced by side lobes. Reference [36] and
[52] introduced theoretical models for designing and analysing unequally or randomly
spaced arrays. Reference [36] showed that using Poissons sum formula and a new class
of unequally spaced arrays with a desired radiation pattern could be designed. Reference
[52] used a probabilistic approach and found that a side lobe level is closely linked to the
number of elements in the array, but weakly connected to aperture size. Reference [53]
suggested that the side lobes of an unequally spaced array could be reduced by spacing
perturbation. The previous section dealt mainly with increasing array bandwidth using
unequally spaced antenna elements of uniform size. The next section describes the
effect of unequal space on wideband antenna array with variable element sizes.
Wideband arrays Antenna with Variable Element Sizes (WAVES) Concept
Reference [32] presented the concept and theory of a wideband array with variable
element sizes (WAVES) in 1985 along with a basic feasibility study. Reference [31]
extended work presented in [32] and built and measured an eight element planar WAVES
array. The WAVES theory, a linear WAVES array, and Shivelys planar WAVES ar-
ray will be reviewed in this section. A two-octave, eight element, planar array of
Archimedean spirals was built and tested in [31] and [32]. The planar array was mea-
sured along the diagonal where a triangular lattice and amplitude taper improved the
radiation pattern performance of the array. The smaller spiral elements are switched
on when the grating lobe due to the larger elements become too large. All of the
previous work on WAVES was based on array theory predictions and measurements
of the Shively eight-element, planar array. Reference [54] stacked three different size
Figure 2.14: The geometry of WAVES with two different size elements
Archimedean spirals in layers, thus creating a three dimensional array of spirals. The
array was successfully operated over a two octave bandwidth and the blockage due to the
partial overlap of elements from different layers of the array was found to be minimal.
They used three main ideas in the WAVES array designs. Those are as follows:
1. Elements which operate well with a small electrical perimeter at the lowest op-
erating frequency, and maintain that performance over one or more octaves, are
required
2. Different element sizes, one size of element for each octave are used. The lower
octave elements should thus be twice as large in radius as the next octave elements
3. An array architecture which interleaves the different sized elements must be se-
lected.
Antenna array can be made as unequally spaced array which can reduce the side lobe
level of the antenna array. Since elements of an array interact with each other and
transfer power to neighbouring elements of the array, mutual coupling is a main concern
in array patterns. Mutual coupling will change both the driving point impedance and the
radiation patterns compared to a case where there is no coupling. Furthermore, it usually
degrades the performance of the array. One solution is to space the elements far enough
apart. Reference [55] used the method of moments (MoM) in Advanced Design System
(ADS) software to compute the mutual coupling of arrays. Mutual coupling is lower
at high frequencies, since the electrical distance between elements is greater. Another
approach is to use S-parameters to determine the amount of mutual coupling.
2.5 Summary
Fundamental theory of antennas and the previous work related to the spiral antenna
and its wideband properties are outlined in the literature review. Wideband antenna
properties such as radiation patterns, gain, impedance, beam width, polarization and
bandwidth, are discussed in detail. Different types of broadband antennas are pre-
sented in Section 2.3. This chapter highlights that planar spiral antenna is the most
popular broadband antenna because of its frequency independent characteristics. It
further analyses the effect of a single element on the bandwidth of an antenna. The
Section 2.4.3 reviews multiple elements and their effect on the bandwidth of antennas.
Array techniques with WAVES concept for spiral antenna are also presented. Later
work using a 2-octaves planar WAVES circular Archimedean spiral showed that it is
possible to achieve an even wider bandwidth. However, for these antennas, a gap exists
in the 2-octaves coverage. It can be resolved with a proper balanced feeding network
with a suitable impedance transformation, which determines the antenna bandwidth.
The following chapter investigates some existing wideband feeding systems suitable for
spiral antennas.
Chapter 3
Feeding Systems for Wideband antennas
3.1 Introduction
Readily available transmission lines such as coaxial cables are inexpensive and have a
50 characteristics impedance. When these cables are used to feed balanced structures
such as Archimedean spiral antennas, researchers are presented with two problems. The
rst problem is the impedance mismatch. Coaxial cable with 50 needs to feed the
Archimedean spiral antenna with a high input impedance (120-200 ). This mismatch
increases the reection coefcient signicantly, making the feed unacceptable. The sec-
ond problem is that the coaxial cable has an unbalanced structure and the spiral antenna
has a balanced structure. These unbalanced feeding structures and antenna structures
are shown in Figure 3.1(a) and Figure 3.2 respectively. Therefore, a wideband balun is
needed to ensure the unbalanced to balanced transformation and that the impedance is
matched. Properly designed balun can provide the unbalanced to balance transition and
required impedance transformation as shown in Figure 3.3.
Proper operation of the spiral antenna requires that the operating currents on the
arms of the spiral must be of equal amplitude and opposite phase. Signals are converted
between an unbalanced circuit structure and a balanced circuit structure (Figure 3.1(b))
by balun devices, as shown in Figure 3.3 and these signals have same magnitude but
180
o
phase difference in balun circuit structure. Thus a wideband balun can insure
33
34 CHAPTER 3. FEEDING SYSTEMS FOR WIDEBAND ANTENNAS
(a)
(b)
Figure 3.1: The transmission lines (a) Unbalanced transmission lines (b) Balanced
transmission lines
Figure 3.2: Balanced antennas
3.1. INTRODUCTION 35
Figure 3.3: A schematic for unbalanced to balanced transformation
the required balanced conditions are met. There are several types of balun transitions
that have been suggested with various degrees of success. The coplanar versions of the
traditional Marchand balun is the best known transition and it uses quarter wavelength
segments [4], [14]. The conventional quarter wave structure can be replaced by using LC
combination of lumped elements [56]. These two transitions have accurately predictable
band pass characteristics with moderate bandwidths, limited by the resonant structures.
Reference [12] used the double-Y balun with four resonant stubs to achieve a rel-
atively wideband pass band with a compact design. A high permittivity substrate with
very small gap sizes (in the order of 50 m) gives good bandwidth properties but it is not
achievable. Some other designs do not benet from a nite open circuit structure usually
because only limited bandwidth is required [56], [57] and [58]. Larger bandwidths can
be achieved but require very small etched gap sizes (of less than 100 m) to operate
effectively.
This chapter presents the general balun theory and introduces some of the exiting
wideband balun structures [16]. In many cases the most convenient type of coplanar
line is coplanar strip line, which is inherently a balanced line and can be used to feed
balanced devices and antennas. Coplanar waveguide, on the other hand, is unbalanced
and can be directly connected to unbalanced coaxial cable. Therefore, this combina-
tion of CPW to CPS balun can make the transition from an unbalanced to balanced
transformation effectively.
3.2 General Balun Theory
Many Electromagnetic (EM) devices are integrated with balun circuits which can trans-
form an unbalanced form of transmission line (eg: coaxial cable, microstrip line and
CPW) to a balanced form of transmission line (eg: slot line, parallel strip line and CPS).
Moreover, the antennas radiation pattern changes if the currents in the driven element of
a balanced antenna are not equal and opposite. Because of that, spiral antennas, mixers,
hybrids, couplers, dipole antennas and notch antenna require balanced feeds. Apart
from simply being a transition from one transmission line to another, a good balun also
stops unwanted radio frequency (RF) current from owing in the outer conductor of a
coaxial cable, as shown in Figure 3.4.
Figure 3.4: An unbalanced coaxial cable
3.3 Wideband Baluns Conguration
High frequency applications require wideband balun for broadband performance. This
section discusses some of the commonly used wideband baluns in detail with specic
emphasis on their etched implementations.
3.3.1 Quarter-Wave Coaxial Balun
A simple form of balun is a quarter-wave coaxial balun or folded balun which is rela-
tively easy to construct [1]. As shown in Figure 3.5, a folded balun can be constructed
3.3. WIDEBAND BALUNS CONFIGURATION 37
using an extra piece of coaxial cable which is connected between the feeding coaxial
cable and the antenna side which is connected to the inner conductor of the feed. This
extra cable should be a quarter of a wave length long. Combination of this cable with
the outer of the main transmission line forms another transmission line. Though, it is
short circuited at the connection point so that it transforms to innite parallel impedance
at the antenna input. Therefore, this type of balun has no effect on the input impedance.
Furthermore, the quarter wavelength line induces another current on the outside of the
outer conductor, which cancels the unbalanced currents. Because of that, there is no
current on the outside of the cable below the connection point. However, this balun has
narrow bandwidth and cannot be used for wideband applications.
Figure 3.5: Representation of a Quarter-Wave Coaxial Balun [1].
3.3.2 Bazooka Balun
Another, similar type of balun is shown in Figure 3.6, referred to usually as a bazooka
balun. It uses a quarter-wave in length metal sleeve, and is shortened at one end,
encapsulating the coaxial line. The input impedance at the open end of the quarter-
wave length transmission line is large. As a result, the amount of current ow on the
outside surface of the outer conductor can become choked and the system will be nearly
balanced. Although, this type of balun works effectively at high frequency (higher than
1 GHz) , some high frequencies studies have shown that it might not be as effective
as generally accepted [59]. Bazooka balun also does not have a sufciently wider
bandwidth.
Figure 3.6: Representation of a Bazooka Balun
3.3.3 Tapered Balun
Tapered balun is formed by symmetrically tapering the unbalanced coaxial cable to a
balanced transmission line over several wave lengths. As shown in the Figure 3.7, this
can be done by cutting the outer conductor of the coaxial cable on an angle, which then
leaves the thin cut end to form a parallel transmission line with the extended centre
conductor [35]. The tapered balun was used in [39] and it was constructed from semi-
rigid 50 coaxial cable. The outer conductor of the coaxial cable is stripped away
until the outer conductor has the same diameter as the inner conductor. The results
of this improved feed design could eliminate the feedline reections that could cause
pattern degradation. A number of wideband antennas including TEM horns and Vivaldi
antennas use this tapered balun to feed the antenna. However, this balun is electrically
long to achieve good balance results. For example, the taper need to be at least 1m
long for proper operation at 500 MHz. So it is far too long for practical use. Due
to the above issue, certain applications have used these balun with the total length,
which is less than one wavelength. However, the reduced squint and cross-polarization
performance is acceptable. In general, the tapered balun with manageable length has
Figure 3.7: Representation of a Tapered Balun
considerably poorer balance performance than other types of commonly used baluns,
e.g. the Marchand balun, which will be discussed in the next section.
3.3.4 Marchand Balun
High frequency antenna applications commonly use this balun as a feed network to
achieve a broad bandwidth. Figure 3.8 shows the equivalent circuits for a Marchand
balun [60]. Commercially available wideband spiral antennas use this balun as feed
network. Moreover, these baluns are generally implemented in its second or third
order form by using coaxial cable inside a metal cavity which controls the relative
impedance and the centre frequency. The bandwidth of standard antennas with the
Marchand balun can achieve more than a 9:1. Axial ratio levels are generally below 1.5
dB at the radiation pattern peak over the full frequency range. The above result shows
that it has better performance than those obtained by similar spirals with inline tapered
baluns. Marchand balun have also been successfully implemented in etched form with
microstrip line as an input in [4], [14]. These etched balun, which were introduced in
1960 were used to feed a spiral antenna over an octave frequency band. The advantages
of the etched form are that it is cheap and less complex to realize some of the higher
impedances needed in the design. However, the bandwidth of this etched version is not
as high as those of the coaxial versions. These balun consist of microstrip lines as input
Figure 3.8: Equivalent circuit for a Marchand balun [4].
Figure 3.9: Microstrip to slotline etched Marchand balun [4].
and slot lines as output, as shown in Figure 3.9, which rapidly tapered into a coplanar
strip line for easy connection to the spiral antenna. The bandwidth of the etched balun
can be improved with different types of terminating structures. The etched balun with
square termination were implemented and it showed that a maximum usable bandwidth
of about 4:1 [53]. Different combinations of square, circular and radial termination have
been studied in [54] and [55]. Aradial strip line stub and a circular slot line cavity are the
most common combination in use nowadays, as shown in Figure 3.10. The maximum
bandwidth of these combinations is about 6:1.
Figure 3.10: Stripline to slotline balun with a radial stub and circular cavity
3.3.5 Double-Y Balun
Another type of wideband balun is double-Y balun and it is readily etchable. A number
of papers have been written about its design and performance even though it is not as
widely used as the Marchand baluns. Reference [23] describes the operation of balun
and its equivalent network is shown in Figure 3.11. A double-Y balun has 6 ports,
where three of the ports are balanced, and the other three ports are unbalanced with
alterations around the centre of the structure. Balance can be achieved by uncoupling
each two opposite ports and matching the other four ports, where the junction effects
are neglected. Opposite pairs of balanced and unbalanced lines are chosen to have
opposite reection coefcients. A balanced signal is obtained when the input signal on
Figure 3.11: Equivalent circuit for a double-Y balun [4].
an unbalanced port is equally divided between the other four ports. According to this
basic theory for the double-Y balun, it should exhibit all pass characteristics. However,
in practical applications, the balun shows a low-pass or even band pass characteristics.
Finally, it has some advantages over the Marchand balun. Even though, it is more
complex, it can be etched with good repeatability. The double-Y balun are capable
of achieving more than 6:1 bandwidth. However, it has small etching tolerances and
good high frequency performance can be achieved by using high permittivity substrates.
Therefore, it is difcult to use in some application being dealt with in this project.
3.3.6 Wideband CPW to CPS Balun
The previous two sections examined different types of baluns and some general exam-
ples. This section presents three types of balun which can be implemented using CPW
to CPS conguration. The CPS is the most useful form to feed the etched antennas
such as dipoles [16], bow-tie [56], and notch or Vivaldi antennas [61], [62]. Moreover,
CPW and CPS are mostly used in the monolithic microwave integrated circuits (MMIC)
device due to their easy fabrication and easy integration with active devices.
Reference [51] uses different types of wideband balun such as printed Marchand and
double -Y balun for transition from microstrip to slot line to cover several frequency
octaves. The CPS consists of two parallel metallic strips next to each other, with a small
gap in between. These congurations make an easy connection with an antenna. Also
these two parameters (strip width and gap) determine the characteristic impedance of the
transmission line. Since the feed structure and the etched antenna both are uniplanar,
it gives better results in antenna radiation pattern parameters such as axial ratios, cross
polarization. In addition, it is cheap and easier to manufacture.
The CPW, on the other hand, is an unbalanced transmission line and uniplanar
version of the microstrip transmission line types. It is used as an input of balun structure.
It consists of a centre metallic strip, with a large ground strip on each side of it on
the same side of the dielectric substrate. These two parameters such as centre strip
width and the gap size determine the characteristic impedance of the CPW transmission
line. Since CPW automatically provides itself to easy integration with coaxial cable and
connectors, it is used as an input of balun and cannot directly be used to feed symmetric
etched antenna. Therefore, CPW to CPS balun needs to feed the antenna.
3.3.7 CPW to CPS Marchand Balun
This section discusses the implementation of Marchand balun in the CPW to CPS
form. Figure 3.12 shows an example of such an implementation. The CPW with the
Figure 3.12: CPW to CPS Marchand balun [4].
characteristics impedance 50 and the CPS with 70 was implemented on the top
of the alumina with 0.636 mm thickness [4]. The bandwidth of this conguration was
2.7:1, but there was a high loss in pass band due to the fact that transmission lines start
to radiate when the open or short circuits are electrically longer than 45
o
. Due to the
effects of radiation, it has a smaller bandwidth than the calculated one. Furthermore,
the CPW to CPS balun performance seems to be worse than its microstrip to slot line
counterpart and the maximum available bandwidth is no more than 3:1. Thus CPW to
CPS Marchand balun as shown in Figure 3.12 is rarely used in practice.
3.3.8 CPW to CPS Double-Y Balun
The basic conguration of double-Ybalun and the microstrip to slot line implementation
is examined in Section 3.3.5. The conguration of CPW to CPS double-Y balun [12] is
shown in Figure 3.13. Even though, the double-Y balun has all pass band characteristics
theoretically, the microstrip to slot line version shows band pass characteristics only over
a 6:1 bandwidth. Therefore, the CPW to CPS version is proposed in [12] to resolve the
Figure 3.13: CPW to CPS double-Y balun [4].
above problem. One of the advantages of this conguration is that it can be implemented
in open and short circuits. Thus, the frequency range is not limited by the nite open
as in the previous case. The above conguration has true low pass characteristics with
the upper frequency which is limited by the minimum gap width. The baluns in [4] and
[12] are well matched from DC in practicality and have good performance over a wide
bandwidth. The upper frequency limit is 6 GHz by using the minimum gap size of 50
mand it goes up to 13.5 GHz with the gap size of 20 m. The above balun also cannot
be used for some applications due to the transmission line radiation problems like the
Marchand balun, but apparently to a lesser degree. The balun was unable to perform
as well at lower frequencies as its matching would indicate [13]. The magnitude and
phase balance of the balun is tested using a test circuit over the full frequency range.
Although, the balun have a good matching from DC to 13.5 GHz, the imbalance at the
lower frequencies is very large.
The CPW to CPS double-Y balun shows that it has the capability of achieving very
wide bandwidth. However, it requires small etched gap sizes to achieve the required
bandwidth.
3.3.9 CPW to CPS Chebyshev Balun
The basic balun structure used for this research work is rst introduced by [5] as shown
in Figure 3.14 which is a modied version of the balun structure shown in [15]. It
consists of a CPW, a CPS and a radial stub. It uses a single open circuit element to
accomplish the transformation and is inherently inline. It is tested in a back to back
conguration and then used to feed an etched dipole antenna. The CPW and CPS
are only used to connect the sender or receiver and the antenna, so balun is critical
to obtaining transformation between unbalanced and balanced mode. The CPW to CPS
single element balun can be divided into three sections. The rst section of the balun is
CPW and it is fed directly from a coax cable and CPW have the same value for good
match and almost always chosen as 50 . The second section of the balun is CPS and
its characteristics impedance is not similar to CPW. The characteristic impedance of
CPS should be equal to or nearly equal to antenna input impedances for a good match.
However, it is not easy to implement 50 CPS in practice without using very small gap
sizes (for example: gap size = 1 mm ). Thus, an impedance transformation section has
been implemented between CPW and CPS sections.
The wideband balun gives not only a balanced transmission but also an impedance
matching between antenna and the transmission lines with low insertion loss and wide-
band width. Figure 3.14 shows that the CPW to CPS balun is designed to transform the
Figure 3.14: CPW to CPS Chebyshev balun
unbalanced CPW feed line to a balanced CPS feed line with radial stub [15]. They have
applied a Chebyshev impedance transformer to transform the impedance of the CPW
from 50 to 80 . This wideband transition from the CPW to CPS is accomplished with
a radial stub, which forces the currents to ow between the two CPS lines. In some
applications, a circular stub is used instead of a radial stub. However, [5] proves that a
radial stub yields a better solution with lower insertion loss and a better reection coef-
cient throughout the operating frequency band. However, the bandwidth of wideband
balun proposed by [5] is only 0.1 to 3.45 GHz.
Many other broadband transitions developed for CPW to CPS can be found in the
open literature. Reference [16] presents a wideband CPW to CPS transition with a
bandwidth from 0.45 to 5 GHz. Furthermore, [15] proposes a CPW to CPS back-to-
back transition with the bandwidth ranging from 0.4 to 3.6 GHz. To realize broadband
transition researchers have used the radial stub and CPW taper. However, the above
structures are band limited and have a discontinuity at the end of CPWtransmission lines
which introduces additional reactance that may degrade its performance. Therefore, the
next chapter presents new planar back-to-back wideband balun transition designs using
near optimum impedance tapering method to achieve higher bandwidth than stated here.
3.4. SUMMARY 47
3.4 Summary
The previous works related to the wideband balun feeding congurations are outlined in
this chapter. It includes Marchand baluns, double-Y baluns and CPW to CPS wideband
baluns. But Marchand baluns and double-Y baluns are band limited and cannot be used
in wideband applications. Table 6.1 compares the baluns presented in this chapter. The
modied versions of [5] are presented in the next chapter to obtain a large bandwidth
(from 3.53 to 15 GHz) and to be compatible with the requirements of broadband spiral
antennas and antenna arrays.
Table 3.1: The comparison of the above baluns
Types of
Balun
Bandwidth Advantages Disadvantages
Quarter-
wave
coaxial
balun
- The quarter wavelength line
induces another current on
the outside of the outer
conductor, which cancels
the unbalanced current
Narrow bandwidth
Bazooka
balun
- Works effectively at high
frequency (higher than 1
GHz)
Narrow bandwidth
Tapered
balun
- Eliminate the feedline re-
ections that could cause
pattern degradation
electrically long to
achieve good balance
results
Marchand
balun
9:1 It can be implemented in
etched form and it is cheap
and less complex to re-
alize some of the higher
impedances needed in the
design
Narrow bandwidth
Double-Y
balun
> 6:1 Shows a low-pass or even
band pass characteristics,
and small etching toler-
ances, and good high fre-
quency performance can be
achieved by using high
permittivity substrates
More complex than the
Marchand balun
CPW
to CPS
Marc-
hand
balun
2.7:1 - High loss in pass band
and narrow bandwidth
CPW
to CPS
Double-Y
balun
DC to 13.5 GHz It can be implemented in
open and short circuits, and
well matched from DC in
practicality, and have good
performance over a wide
bandwidth
Cannot be used for
some applications due
to the transmission line
radiation problems
CPW
to CPS
Cheby-
shev
balun
0.1 to 3.45 GHz Give balanced transmission
and impedance matching
between the antenna and the
transmission lines
Band limited and have
a discontinuity at the
end of the transmission
lines (CPW), which in-
troduces additional re-
actance that may de-
grade its performance
Chapter 4
Design and Analysis of Wideband Baluns
4.1 Introduction
Different kinds of baluns have been developed over the past decades [60], [63]. Bal-
anced mixers and printed antenna using planar baluns implemented in stripline have
been reported. Currently, balanced antenna applications focus on baluns which have pla-
nar and compact structures. The wideband characteristics of the antenna are dependent
on a proper feed network with sufciently broad bandwidth. The wideband balun feed
network and its applications were reviewed in Chapter 3, Section 3.3. However, those
wideband baluns have limited bandwidth which makes them unsuitable for wideband
applications. Therefore, this project proposes new designs for wideband feed networks
for spiral antennas. Since 1995, several CPW to CPS transition have been reported.
Reference [15] introduced a wideband balun to feed a spiral antenna with a return loss
better than 10 dB over wide bandwidth from DC to 3.7 GHz. Reference [5] proposed a
coplanar waveguide to coplanar stripline transition which is a modied version of [15],
and with a return loss better than 10 dB in back-to-back conguration from DC to 3.85
GHz. In this thesis, a tapered coplanar waveguide is utilized to realize a wideband balun
(bandwidth : 3.53 to 15 GHz). Two different tapered CPW designs are presented for
CPW to CPS wideband balun implementation. In addition, a new tapered microstrip to
parallel striplines wideband feed network covering three octaves of bandwidth is also
developed.
49
50 CHAPTER 4. DESIGN AND ANALYSIS OF WIDEBAND BALUNS
Each of the three balanced wideband feed congurations were simulated using CST
MWS 2011 simulator and validated with measured results. All measurements were
conducted at the RF Lab, Level 13 of S Block, Queensland University of Technology,
Gardens Point campus, using two different network analysers. In the next section,
design formulas for the characteristic impedance of the basic structures used in the balun
designs are presented.
4.2 Design Formulas
4.2.1 Coplanar Waveguide (CPW)
CPW has three conductors having two grounds in the same plane of the centre con-
ductor, as shown in Figure 4.1. These ground planes do not require plated through-
holes to a plane on the other side of the substrate. It reduces the coupling effects
and allows for easy inclusion of series and shunt elements. It is widely used in circuit
elements and as interconnecting lines since microwave integrated circuits are basically
coplanar in structure. Reference [64] presented closed form analytical formulas for the
Figure 4.1: Geometry of CPW transmission line
characteristic impedance of a typical CPW. It is given by the following relations, under
the assumption that the metal thickness t 0:
Z
CPW
=
30
eff
K
(k
1
)
K(k
1
)
(4.1)
4.2. DESIGN FORMULAS 51
Figure 4.2: Block view of CPW transmission line
K(k) is the complete elliptic function of the rst kind, K
(k) = K(k
), where k
2
=1k
2
.
The complete elliptic function of the rst kind K(k) is approximated by, [65]:
K(k)/K(k
) =
_
ln
2(1+
)
(1
)
0 k
1
2
1
ln
[2(1+
k)]
(1
k)
1
2
k 1
(4.2)
eff
= 1 +

r
1
2
.
K(k
2
)
K
(k
2
)
K
(k
1
)
K(k
1
)
(4.3)
k
1
=
a
b
(4.4)
k
2
=
sinh(
a
t
4h
)
sinh(
b
t
4h
)
(4.5)
a
t
= a +
1.25t
_
1 + ln
_
4a
t
__
(4.6)
b
t
= b
1.25t
_
1 + ln
_
4a
t
__
(4.7)
The parameter b should be selected to be less than /2 to prevent propagation of higher
order modes.
4.2.2 Asymmetric CPW
The asymmetric CPW is a modied conventional CPW in which gaps between the
signal strip and the ground strip are not equal, as shown in Figure 4.3. This allows for
Figure 4.3: Asymmetric CPW transmission line
the evaluation of the actual characteristic impedance of asymmetric CPW. Analytical
equation for asymmetric CPW from [66] is given as follows:
Z
0
=
30
eff
K
(k
1
)
K(k
1
)
(4.8)
where,
k
1
=
0.5a[1 +(0.5a +d
1
)]
0.5a +d
1
0.5a
(4.9)
k
2
=
w
A
(1 +
1
w
B
)
w
B
+
1
w
A
2
(4.10)
w
A
= sinh
_
a
4h
_
(4.11)
w
B
= sinh
_
(a/2 +d
1
)
2h
_
(4.12)
w
E
= sinh
_
(a/2 +d
2
)
2h
_
(4.13)
=
d
1
d
2
+ 0.5a(d
1
+d
2
)
_
d
1
d
2
(a +d
1
)(a +d
2
)
0.5a(d
1
d
2
)
(4.14)
1
=
1
w
B
+w
E
_
1
w
B
w
E
w
A
2

_
w
B
2
w
A
2
1
__
w
E
2
w
A
2
1
_
_
(4.15)
It is assumed that the ground plane is innitely wide and strips have negligible
thickness in this model of asymmetric coplanar waveguide. As shown in Figure 4.3,
the CPW is an unbalanced structure and easy to integrate with an SMA connector.
However, it cannot be integrated with a spiral antenna. The objective of this project is
to derive a balun conguration with high characteristic impedances to feed the array of
spiral antennas, which has high input impedances. Since a spiral antenna is a balanced
structure, it needs a balanced feed. Therefore, CPS is used to connect the balanced
antenna.
4.2.3 Coplanar stripline (CPS)
Coplanar stripline consists of a signal strip and ground plane on the top of the substrate,
as shown in Figure 4.4. The width of the strip line and height of the substrate determine
the characteristic impedance of the line. The characteristic impedance for CPS is given
(a) (b)
Figure 4.4: (a) Top view of the CPS transmission line (b) Side view of the CPS
transmission line
by [67],
Z
CPS
=
120
eff1
K(k
0
)
K
(k
0
)
(4.16)
where,
k =
tanh
_
g
2h
_
tanh
_
(s+g)
2h
_ (4.17)
k
0
=
g
s +g
(4.18)
k
0
=
_
1 k
2
0
(4.19)
eff1
= 1 + (
r
1) q (4.20)
q =
1
2
K(k
)
K(k)
K(k
0
)
K(k
0
)
(4.21)
4.2.4 Microstrip line
The microstrip line consists of a narrow signal strip and an innite ground plane sepa-
rated by a dielectric material. The geometry of the microstrip line is shown in Figure
4.5. The characteristic impedance of the line depends on the width of the signal strip
along with the height and the dielectric constant of the substrate [1]. The characteristic
impedance for microstrip line is dened as following equation [68]:
Figure 4.5: Geometry of microstripline structure
Z
0
=
_
_
60
eff
ln(
8h
w
+
w
4h
) w/h <1
120
eff
[w/h+1.393+0.667 ln(w/h+1.444)]
w/h> 1
(4.22)
and
eff
=

r
+ 1
2
+

r
1
2
1
_
1 + 12h/w
(4.23)
where
eff
is an effective dielectric constant, w is a width of the signal strip, and h is a
height of the dielectric material.
4.2.5 Asymmetric Parallel stripline
Parallel stripline is mostly combined with a tapered microstrip line to transform the
impedance from an unbalanced device to a balanced structure. It consists of two parallel
strips separated with a dielectric substrate, as shown in Figure 4.6.
Figure 4.6: Balanced parallel strips transmission line (a) Block view of balanced
parallel striplines (b) Cross section of parallel striplines
Figure 4.7: Transversal cut to compute the characteristic impedance of Asymmetric
parallel stripline [69]
The characteristic impedance and the effective dielectric constant for the asymmetric
parallel strip, as shown in Figure 4.7are given [69]:
eff
=
K(
)
K()
+
r
K(
)
K()
K(
)
K()
+
K(
)
K()
(4.24)
Z
0
=
60
e
eff
_
K(
)
K()
+
K(
)
K()
_ (4.25)
where K() is the complete elliptical integral.
K() =
_
/2
0
dx
_
1
2
sin
2
x
(4.26)
=
_
b
2
_
(4.27)
1
2
(4.28)
=
2(x
a
+x
b
)
(1 +x
b
)(1 +x
a
)
(4.29)
1
2
(4.30)
x
a
= cosh
_
a
h
_
, x
b
= cosh
_
b
h
_
(4.31)
where 2b is the width of the top strip line and the value of is chosen to be 20 h.
4.2.6 Taper Design
As mentioned in Section 4.2.2, CPW can easily be integrated with a SMA connector,
while CPS, being a balanced transmission line, is suited for spiral antenna. The CPW
should have the impedance of the SMA connector (Z
0
= 50 ) and CPS should have the
impedance of the spiral antenna (Z
L
> 50 ). A gradual change of impedance between
the CPW and CPS is therefore required, as shown in Figure 4.8. CPW tapers were
constructed to connect CPS transmission lines of different characteristic impedances
which undergo a gradual change of size and/or form in the direction of propagation. The
tapered sections gradually transform the elds from the CPW to CPS lines, and should
accomplish this transformation with little loss due to reection. Three different tapered
Figure 4.8: Geometry of a dispersive tapered transmission line
line methods are used to design the tapered transmission line: optimum Chebyshev
taper; exponential taper; and Hecken taper. Reference [70] described the design of a
continuous TEM transmission line taper in which has an optimum Chebyshev frequency
response, but which requires impedance steps at the taper ends, as shown in Figure
4.9(a) . As a result, [71] proposed a near-optimum matching section which avoids
the impedance steps and yields tapers only fractionally longer than the optimum taper.
However, both these impedance matching techniques treat the analysis and synthesis of
transmission line tapers supporting only TEM modes and with a constant propagation
along the taper. The design of near-optimum tapers in non-TEM dispersive media has
been described [72], [73]. The taper do not have any discontinuities and the propagation
constant varies along the length of the taper.
References [74], [75] presented a theory for the synthesis of a near optimum dis-
persive tapered transmission line without the disadvantage of discontinuities. Typical
impedance prole of the near optimum matching section is shown in Figure 4.9(b). The
impedance steps have been avoided by utilizing a generalized Fourier transform pair
with a modied Chebyshev frequency response. The taper is only slightly longer than
the optimum taper with equal bandwidth.
Taper Design Procedure
The following equations and design procedure were used to design the CPW impedance
taper [74]. Given a maximum reection ripple level in the pass band RL in dB, the
(a) (b)
Figure 4.9: The typical impedance prole (a) Chebyshev taper (b) The near optimum
taper
maximum reection coefcient magnitude is given by:
max
= 10
(RL/20)
(4.32)
max
=

max
1
2
ln(Z
L
/Z
0
)
(4.33)
Substituting the calculated value for
max
in equation (4.34) then yields the parame-
ter B.
max
=
0.217234B
sinh(B)
(4.34)
Minimum value of u, yields that:
u = u
0
=
B
2
+ 6.520694 (4.35)
The taper impedance prole can be obtained using equation (4.37):
ln[Z()/Z
0
] =
1
2
ln(Z
L
/Z
0
) +
1
2
ln(Z
L
/Z
0
)G[B, 2/ u
0
] (4.36)
where,
u
0
2

u
0
2
=
_
0
z
0
()d u
0
/2 (4.37)
And the transcendental function G may be approximated using Cloetes [76] method,
where,
G(B, ) =
B
sinh(B)
k=0
a
k
b
k
(4.38)
a
0
= 1 a
k
=
B
2
4k
2
a
k1
b
0
= b
k
=
(1
2
)+2kb
k1
2k+1
ln[Z()/Z
0
] =
1
2
ln(Z
L
/Z
0
)[1 +
2
u
0
] (4.39)
where,
u
0
2

u
0
2
The design procedure for a matching section using this near optimum method taper is
summarized in the following steps [74]:
1.
max
is calculated in terms of the given ripple level RL using equation (4.32)
2. Using equation (4.33), the value of
max
is calculated for a given Z
0
and Z
L
3. The parameters B and u
0
are computed from equation (4.34) and (4.35) respec-
tively. The terms u
0
then represents the electrical length of the taper at the
specied cut off frequency, f
0
4. Using Z =
0
/N , is calculated, where N was chosen arbitrarily depending on
the required accuracy of the design. A value of N 50 is recommended
5. Z() is calculated using equation (4.36) and (4.38). After set the value of z as 0
and as ( u
0
)/2
6. A suitable synthesis scheme has been used to obtain the corresponding physical
parameter or dimension of the transmission line in order to realize the required
impedance level
7. Using an analysis technique,
0
(z) for transmission line with dimension as calcu-
lated in the previous step is obtained
8. Equation (4.37) is approximated over the interval [z,z + z] by replacing with
+ z
0
(z) and z is replaced with z + z
9. Steps 5 to 8 are repeated until u
0
/2
4.3 Design of CPW to CPS wideband baluns
The coplanar waveguide feed network consists of a balun which properly connects a
balanced coplanar strip line (CPS) to an unbalanced coplanar waveguide (CPW), and
uses radial stub and bond wires to accomplish this. The input of a wideband balun
is connected with a SMA connector and the output is connected to the spiral antenna.
The CPW to CPS wideband balun is designed to achieve the unbalanced to a balanced
transformation and impedance matching.
A new wideband balun conguration was proposed. It is a modied version of [5],
shown in a back-to-back conguration in Figure 4.10.
Figure 4.10: A back-to-back Chebyshev wideband balun [5]
The CPW to CPS transformation is accomplished with a wideband radial stub which
entices current to ow on the two CPS lines. Bond wires were added on the upper
CPW ground strip to suppress the generation of unwanted non-CPW modes and ensure
4.3. DESIGN OF CPW TO CPS WIDEBAND BALUNS 61
that the potential on both ground planes are equal. The bond wires were chosen to
be very thin and to be located as close as possible to discontinuities to achieve the
high frequency performance. However, this discontinuity produces unwanted mode
excitation and reactance, which degrade the performance of the balun. The discontinuity
at the CPW end in the wideband balun of [5] were removed in this new wideband balun
conguration by tapering the CPW section using a near optimum method as illustrated
in the next section.
In this part, a symmetric CPW to CPS balun is presented. Figure 4.10 shows a
stepped CPW to CPS balun. When a CPW is joined to a CPS line, a step discontinuity
between the CPW ground plane and the CPS lines exists. A tapered CPW is introduced
in the next section to achieve a smooth transition and a good match between the two
lines.
4.3.1 Proposed CPW to CPS Balun
The proposed CPW to CPS balun consists of the three parts : a tapered CPW section
(parameters - centre strip width and gap size), radial stub (parameters - length and
angle), and CPS (parameters - strip width and gap size), as shown in Figure 4.11).
The wideband balun is designed in back-to back conguration and ultimately, the per-
formance of the new balun will be compared to the stepped transition in Figure 4.10. In
Figure 4.11: Dimensions of the transmissions (Units : Millimetres)
[5], the CPS impedance was selected as Z
CPS
= 80 . In this design, the same value of
Z
CPS
= 80 was used. The input impedance of the balun was chosen as 50 (Z
SMA
=
Z
CPW
). As shown in Figure 4.11, a radial stub with a radius 6 mm and an angle of 45
o
is etched at the end of the CPW. This helps to entice the current to ow on the CPS lines.
In [5], two bond wires with a diameter of 0.15 mm are located near the discontinuity
plane to ensure proper operation of the balun.
The impedance matching transformer is optimized for impedance matching between
SMA connector (50 ) and CPS (80 ). Since the characteristic impedance of the CPS
(Z
CPS
= 80 ) is higher than the CPW input impedance (Z
CPW
=50 ), an exponential
tapered matching transformer is used in the CPW section. Figure 4.12 and shows a
taper prole for the CPW impedances with different value of l indicating the length of
the prole. The CPW dimensions (signal strip width and gap sizes) for impedance from
50 to 80 were derived using the procedures provided in Section 4.2.6.
Figure 4.12: The impedance prole for the tapered CPW
The following parameters were selected in the taper design. RL = -20 dB, N=100,
f
0
= 0.5 GHz, Z
0
= 50 , For an example: Z
L
= 80 using taper design procedure
and the equation given in Section 4.2.6, CPW impedance prole was determined using
MATLAB (coding was given in Appendix A), as shown in Figure 4.12. For a known
impedance value and length of prole, parameters a and b were derived from the taper
prole graph, as shown in Figure 4.13.
For an example: as indicated in Figure 4.13, for an impedance Z = 60 , the position
along the taper is 19.5 mm. The parameters a and b are obtained as a = 3.07 mm and
b = 5.65 mm. The CPS dimensions (gap size and strip width) for 80 characteristic
Figure 4.13: The dimensions for the tapered CPW
impedance were derived from equation (4.16). The radial stub parameters (radius = 6
mm and angle = 45
o
) were taken from [5]. The optimized dimensions of the transition
are listed in Table 4.1. The balun conguration was constructed on RT Rogers 6010
substrate with a thickness of h = 0.635 mm and a relative dielectric constant
r
= 10.2.
The size of the prototype is 22 x 42 mm. A single balun structure was simulated in
CST MWS 2011 considering a terminator R
L
= 80 at the end of the CPS. Figure 4.14
shows the simulation results of the return loss for the CPW to CPS transition balun. As
shown in Figure 4.14, the return loss better than 10 dB is from 0.2 to 4 GHz.
Table 4.1: The dimensions of the tapered CPW and CPS transitions
selected
Impedance from
CPW taper Prole
()
50 55 60 65 70 75 80 Z
CPS
strip width (mm) 3.28 3.2 3.07 2.96 2.81 2.63 2.53 3.6
gap width (mm) 0.86 1.04 1.29 1.47 1.71 1.98 2.13 1.7
position along the
length (mm)
0 13.5 19.5 22.5 25.5 28.5 30 12
Figure 4.14: Simulated S-parameters results for single symmetric CPW to CPS
Wideband balun
4.3.2 Back-to-back CPW to CPS balun
In order to check the performance of the balun, it was tested in back-to-back congura-
tion. This conguration facilitates the measurement of the return loss and insertion loss
without the necessity of loads. The Figure 4.15 illustrates the back-to-back CPW to CPS
Figure 4.15: The back-to-back symmetric CPW to CPS wideband balun
conguration. The performance of this balun is compared to the stepped Chebyshev
wideband balun (Figure 4.16). It can be seen that the tapered CPW to CPS balun has
better wideband performance than the stepped Chebyshev balun. The tapered CPW
helps to improve the bandwidth of the balun.
(a) (b)
Figure 4.16: Simulated S-parameters for back-to-back symmetric and Chebyshev
wideband balun (a) Return Loss (b) Insertion Loss
Figure 4.17 illustrates the surface current distribution on the back to back balun,
which aids understanding and working of the balun. In addition, this gure shows
the sections of high current density, shown in red colour. It can be seen that currents
are evenly distributed on each side of the centre conductor between this centre strip
and ground planes of the CPW part. The radial stub and bond wires succeeded in
transforming these currents from CPW to the balanced CPS line, where currents are
more evenly distributed on the edges between the two conducting striplines.
Figure 4.17: The surface current in symmetric CPW to CPS wideband balun
Figure 4.18: Simulated S-parameters for back-to-back symmetric wideband balun
The S-parameters for the back-to-back CPW to CPS are given in Figure 4.18. It
shows a return loss better than 10 dB from 0.6 to 3.5 GHz. Additionally, the 2 dB back-
to-back insertion loss is achieved from 1 to 3.5 GHz. However, the bandwidth is rather
narrow. It can therefore not be used in some applications which need more than two
octaves of bandwidth, including the problem being dealt with in this project.
4.3.3 Proposed Asymmetric CPW to CPS Balun
This section presents a high performance wideband balun with a new conguration. It
is a modied version of a symmetric CPW to CPS balun. An asymmetric coplanar
waveguide without radial stub helps to achieve better bandwidth than the previous
symmetric example. A single asymmetric CPW to CPS transition is shown in the Figure
4.19. The same tapering technique was applied to the asymmetric CPW section. An
unequal space at the end of the CPW helps to eliminate the current at the open end
without using the radial stub in asymmetric CPW to CPS balun conguration. Figure
4.20 shows the top and side view of asymmetric CPW to CPS balun. The balun consists
of tapered asymmetric coplanar waveguide and coplanar striplines, as shown in Figure
4.19. The terminating impedance at the CPS end was in this case selected as Z
CPS
=
100 . The dimensions of the asymmetric CPW were derived from the equations in
Section 4.2.2. Same tapered procedure was applied for asymmetric CPW part.
Figure 4.19: A single asymmetric CPW to CPS Wideband balun
For example: consider impedance of Z
L
= 80 , position along the taper is 9.6
mm, as shown in Figure 4.21(a). The dimensions of the ACPW (d
1
, d
2
and a) for
corresponding length can be derived from the dimension graph given in Figure 4.21(b).
The CPS dimensions for 100 characteristic impedance were derived from equation
(4.16). The optimized dimensions of the transition are listed in Table 4.2.
Table 4.2: The dimensions of asymmetric CPW and CPS Balun
Selected
Impedance
from
ACPW
taper
Prole ()
50 55 60 65 70 75 80 85 90 100
strip width
[a(mm)]
2.6 2.5 2.4 2.3 2.21 2.1 1.99 1.9 1.8 1.63
small gap
width
[d
1
(mm)]
0.69 0.78 0.87 0.97 1.05 1.16 1.25 1.33 1.43 1.58
large gap
width
[d
2
(mm)]
0.691 1.04 1.42 1.83 2.12 2.6 2.94 3.3 3.67 4.29
position
along the
length(mm)
0 1.8 3.6 5.4 6.6 8.4 9.6 10.8 12 13.8
(a)
(b)
Figure 4.20: (a) Conguration of the asymmetric CPW to CPS balun with SMA
connector (b) Side view of the balun
The single balun conguration is simulated with an aid of CST MWS 2011 simu-
lator. The simulated result for S-parameters is shown in Figure 4.22, where port 1 is
normalized to 50 while port 2 is connected to load with an impedance of 100 . It
shows that a return loss is better than 10 dB from 2 to 10 GHz.
(a) (b)
Figure 4.21: (a) The impedance prole for asymmetric CPW (b) The dimensions for
asymmetric CPW
Figure 4.22: Simulated S-parameters results for single asymmetric CPW to CPS
Wideband balun (where port 1= 50 and port 2 = 100 )
4.3.4 Back-to-back asymmetric CPW to CPS Balun
Figure 4.23 illustrates the back-to-back asymmetric CPWto CPS conguration. In order
to check the performance of the balun, it was tested in back-to-back conguration. Thus,
it is easy to measure the return loss and insertion loss without the necessity of loads.
The circuit simulation was accomplished with an aid of CST simulator. This balun is
Figure 4.23: The back-to-back asymmetric CPW to CPS wideband balun
compared with symmetric CPW to CPS wideband balun. Figure 4.24 shows the return
loss and insertion loss for those two baluns. It can be seen that the asymmetric CPW to
CPS balun have better wideband performance than the symmetric example. Figure 4.25
illustrates the surface current distribution on the back-to-back balun. The high current
densities are shown in red colour. The current is evenly distributed on each side of the
centre conductor and the ground planes in the CPW part. The unequal space at the end
of the asymmetric CPW helps to transform these currents from CPW to the balanced
CPS line, where currents are more evenly distributed on the edges between the two
conducting strip lines (see Figure 4.25).
The S-parameters results for the back-to-back asymmetric CPW to CPS are given
in Figure 4.26 and it shows that the return loss better than 10 dB is from 1.75 GHz to
higher than 15 GHz. Additionally, the 3 dB back-to-back insertion loss is achieved from
2.5 GHz to higher than 15 GHz. From the S-parameter results, it is evident that it can
achieve more than two octaves of bandwidth. Therefore, this structure can be used in
(a) (b)
Figure 4.24: Comparison of simulated S-parameters for back-to-back symmetric and
asymmetric CPW to CPS wideband balun (a) Return Loss (b) Insertion Loss
Figure 4.25: The surface current in asymmetric CPW to CPS Wideband balun
ultra wideband applications. The simulated results of the back-to-back conguration
were veried with measured results.
(a) (b)
Figure 4.26: Simulated and measured S-parameters results for back-to-back
asymmetric CPW to CPS wideband balun (50 to 100 ) with RT-Rogers 6010 substrate
material (a) Return Loss (b) Insertion Loss
Figure 4.26 shows the simulated and experimental return loss and insertion loss
results for the back-to-back asymmetric CPW to CPS wideband balun. In this design,
measured results of insertion loss for ACPW to CPS is high due to high dielectric
material. The same back-to-back ACPW to CSP balun was constructed on RT-duroid
5880 substrate with
r
= 2.2 and height h = 1.5748 mm. The simulated results for back-
to-back ACPW to CPS with the impedance of 50 to 188 is shown in Figure 4.28. The
simulated results for 50 to 188 have return loss better than 10 dB from 1.6 GHz to
15 GHz. However, the measured result for insertion loss has some variation with the
simulated one (shown in Figure 4.28). From the measured results, the bandwidth for the
asymmetric CPW to CPS balun is 3.53 to 15 GHz. This structure can therefore not be
used as a wideband balun due to the limited bandwidth. The bandwidth achieved by an
asymmetric CPW to CPS may be adequate in some applications, but there are situations
where greater bandwidth is required. The next section presents a tapered microstrip
lines to parallel striplines balun with improved frequency performance.
(a) (b)
Figure 4.27: Back-to-back asymmetric CPWto CPS balun measurement with a network
analyser (a) Design of the back-to-back ACPW to CPS wideband balun (b) Balun with
a Rohde Schwarz ZVL Network Analyser
(a) (b)
Figure 4.28: Measured and simulated S-parameters for back-to-back asymmetric CPW
to CPS balun with RT-duroid 5880 substrate material (50 to 188 ) (a) Return loss (b)
Insertion loss
4.4 Design of tapered Microstrip to Parallel Striplines Balun
Impedance transformation and matching are required in balanced devices to obtain
maximum power transfer between the source and load. For spiral antenna, the feed
network consists of tapered microstrip transmission line and parallel strip lines. Refer-
ence [77] proposed a microstrip tapered balun as a feed network for a low prole planar
dipole antenna. It consists of microstrip line where ground plane is tapered to form an
overlapped parallel stripline.
4.4.1 Tapered Microstrip lines
An exponential tapered microstrip structure helps to design a microstrip to parallel
striplines balun. The tapered microstrip structure consists of a tapered strip printed
on the substrate and an innite ground plane on the other side of the substrate. The
Figure 4.29: Tapered microstrip transmission line (a) Cross section (b) z- dependent
conguration of strip conductor [78].
tapered microstrip line uses as an impedance transformer to match line impedance Z
1
to a load of impedance Z
2
as shown in Figure 4.29. The characteristic impedance of the
tapered microstrip conguration is given in the following equation [78]:
Z = /(C
0
(w/h)/
0
)
_
eff
(w/h, 0) (4.40)
4.4. DESIGN OF TAPERED MICROSTRIP TO PARALLEL STRIPLINES BALUN 75
where =
_
0
/
0
denotes the intrinsic impedance of free space,
eff
(z, w) denotes
the effective permittivity, and C
0
(w/h) is the line capacitance per unit length for the
case of
r
= 1 and shape ratio w/h .
In reference [79], following approximate formula for C
0
(w/h)/
r
was presented for
the case of 0.1 w/h 0.7 : C
0
(w/h)/
r
= 0.4109 +
_
5.940w/h + 0.4631(4.41)And
an approximate formula for
eff
(w/h, 0) is:
eff
(w/h, 0) = 4.5 + 1.832e
0.9282
log A 0.3367 log A
2
0.3189 log A
3
0.0615 log A
(4.42)
where,
A = log
_
w
4.4h
_
(4.43)
The tapered microstrip line is usually used as an impedance transformer. However, in
this project, the tapered microstrip line is used to form a balun with parallel striplines.
The broadband impedance matching properties of the balun are obtained by utilizing a
continuous transmission line taper with its characteristic impedance changing smoothly
fromZ
1
(impedance at port 1) to Z
2
(impedance at port 2), as shown in Figure 4.30. The
Figure 4.30: A single microstrip to parallel striplines balun
smooth transition from a microstrip line to a parallel stripline operates as a balun, shown
in Figure 4.30. When a microstrip line is joined to a parallel stripline, there is a step
discontinuity between the ground plane of the microstrip line and the bottom parallel
striplines. Furthermore, a step discontinuity exists between the top strip conductors
of these two lines. Therefore, a transmission line taper is applied to both the top and
bottom conductors to achieve a good match between the two lines [80].
4.4.2 Proposed Microstrip to Parallel Striplines Balun
The synthesis of a tapered microstrip transmission line to create a wideband microstrip
to parallel striplines balun is described. The tapered balun has two sections: the parallel
lines which connect with the antenna where the impedance of parallel lines is equal to
the antenna input impedance (188 ); and an another section which actually performs
the mode transformation (see Figure 4.30).
Starting with a specic microstrip width w
s
(w
s
= w
1
, with an impedance of 50 ,
the ground plane width is found using parameters sweep method in CST. This procedure
was repeated up to the parallel strip lines impedance (188 ).
Example I: Z
0
= 50 , w
s
was found from equation (4.22) in Section 4.2.4. where w/h
>1 (w
s
= 4.8 , h = 1.5748 mm)
Example II: for known value of w
s
= 1.76, the impedance of the microstrip line was
found using equation (4.22). where w/h > 1 (w
s
= 1.76 , h = 1.5748 mm). Using
impedance of the line and width of signal strip, width of ground plane was found with
an aid of parameter sweep method in CST.
Example III: for known value of w
s
= 0.92, the impedance of the microstrip line
was found from the equation (4.22). where w
s
/h < 1 (w
s
= 0.92 , h = 1.5748 mm) and
ground width was obtained from parameter sweep method.
The widths of the top and bottom conductors change gradually corresponding to the
line impedances, as shown in Figure 4.31. The top strip width changes from 4.8 mm
(Z
M
= 50 ) to 0.88 mm (Z
S
= 188 ) and the ground plane changes from 18 mm to
0.88 mm. The length of each prole (t
1
to t
8
) was calculated from equation (4.45).
Figure 4.31: Conguration of a tapered microstrip to parallel strip lines with SMA
connector
The characteristic impedances of microstrip line and parallel striplines are 50 and
188 respectively. The exponential taper has the form:
Z
1
(z) = Z
0
e
az
(4.44)
0 z L
and
a =
1
L
ln
Z
L
Z
0
(4.45)
where, z is a position along the length, L is a total length of the taper, Z
1
is an output
impedance of the transmission line, and Z
0
is an input impedance of the transmission
line (50). Table 4.3 shows the width of microstrip and ground plane for different
frequencies. Once the width has been calculated, these lines are connected together.
Using these dimensions for microstrip lines and parallel strip lines, the balun was
constructed on RT-duroid 5880 substrate with a thickness of h = 1.5748 mm and a
relative dielectric constant
r
= 2.2 and simulated in CST. The return loss and insertion
loss for single balun is given in Figure 4.32. These results show that the balun has a
wider bandwidth than asymmetric CPW to CPS balun.
Table 4.3: The dimensions of Microstrip to Parallel Striplines Balun
selected Impedance
from microstrip line
taper prole ()
50 70 90 110 150 170 188 Z
S
Top Strip width (mm)
(w
1
to w
8
)
4.8 2.6 1.76 1.2 1.1 0.92 0.88 0.88
Ground width (mm)
(w
1
) to (w
8
)
18 16 7 2 1.8 0.98 0.88 0.88
Position along the
length (mm) (t
1
to t
8
)
5 12.7 22.2 29.8 41.5 46.2 50 55
(a)
(b)
Figure 4.32: (a) Simulated S-parameters results of a single balun (b) Smith chart for
the input impedance (normalized at 50 )
4.4.3 Back-to-back Microstrip to Parallel Striplines Balun
The geometry of microstrip to parallel striplines balun is presented in Figure 4.31 and
the dimension of the each part is listed in Table 4.3. Two balun structures were joined at
the balanced port in a back-to-back conguration to validate the balun performance (see
Figure 4.33). The balun structure was constructed on the substrate, as shown in Figure
(a) (b)
Figure 4.33: Back-to-back connection of the tapered microstrip to parallel striplines
balun (a) Top View (b) Bottom View
4.35. It was simulated in back-to-back conguration.The simulated results are shown in
Figure 4.36. The return loss is better than 10 dB from 1.5 to 15 GHz and insertion loss
is less than 0.5 dB for frequencies from 2 to 15 GHz.
The simulated surface current distribution for different frequencies of the microstrip
to parallel striplines balun is shown in Figure 4.34. It can be seen that the distribu-
tion of current on the parallel striplines are symmetrical for the frequency bandwidth.
Furthermore, it shows that balun operates well in eld matching between the coaxial
transmission line to parallel striplines. The microstrip to parallel striplines balun
exhibits wideband performance from 1.75 to 15 GHz with an insertion loss of 3 dB
and a return loss of better than 10 dB (as shown in Figure 4.36) for the back-to-back
transition.
This balun gives good performance over more than two octaves of bandwidth and
can therefore be used to excite spiral antennas. Good agreement is observed between
Figure 4.34: Surface current distribution at 2.5 GHz of the microstrip to parallel
stripline balun
(a) (b)
Figure 4.35: Conguration of the microstrip to parallel striplines balun with SMA
connector (a) Top View and Bottom View (b) Back-to-back balun with Network
Analyser
4.5. SUMMARY 81
Figure 4.36: Measured and simulated S-parameters results for back-to-back Microstrip
to parallel striplines balun
simulation and measurement results (Figure 4.36). The difference between the sets
of results is due to soldering a SMA connector with a printed circuit board, and the
difculty in aligning two conductors (bottom and top layers of the balun) on opposite
sides of the printed circuits boards.
4.5 Summary
In this chapter, three novel types of tapered wideband balun transitions were designed,
analysed and examined. First, a tapered geometry was proposed for a symmetric CPW
to CPS wideband balun. The tapered CPW was used to improve the bandwidth of
the symmetric CPW balun. The discontinuity between the CPW and the CPS was
accommodated by using a radial stub and bond wires. However, the bandwidth achieved
by this balun is 0.6 to 3.5 GHz and it is not suitable for the proposed spiral antenna in
this thesis. The asymmetric CPW to CPS balun was proposed as a second wideband
balun. The same tapered design was applied to the asymmetric CPW. The tapered
asymmetric CPW helps to remove the discontinuity between the CPW and the CPS
without having to use a radial stub or bond wires. The bandwidth of the asymmetric
CPW to CPS balun is 9 to 15 GHz (for RT-Rogers as a substrate material) and 3.53 to 15
GHz (for RT-duroid as a substrate material). However, it was not used with the proposed
spiral antenna due to the limited bandwidth. Therefore, a tapered microstrip to parallel
striplines balun was proposed as a third wideband balun. A transmission taper was
applied to the both conductors of the microstrip line (bottom and top conductors) and
widths of the conductors were gradually reduced to eventually resemble with the parallel
striplines. The measured results showed that the back-to-back microstrip to parallel
striplines balun has a wide bandwidth of 1.75 to 15 GHz. Each of the three wideband
balun conguration were simulated with the aid of CST MWS and validated with the
measured results. Good agreement between the measured results and the simulated one
showed that the microstrip to parallel striplines balun is suitable for the proposed spiral
antenna. The following chapter will outline the performance of the microstrip to parallel
striplines balun integrated with the spiral antennas.
Chapter 5
Integration of Wideband Balun with Spiral
Antennas
5.1 Introduction
Recently, there has been an increasing demand for integrated and low prole antenna
structures in different types of the industries [81], [82]. The size of the structure affects
the bandwidth and gain of the antenna. Therefore, it is a challenging task to miniaturise
antenna capable of providing a wide bandwidth and acceptable gain. The spiral antenna
maintains nearly circular polarization, consistent gain and input impedance over wide
bandwidths. Frequency independent antennas typically have stable radiation patterns
but low gain, which makes them unsuitable for some applications. This chapter in-
troduces an array of spiral antennas for high gain and pattern control. However, the
wideband characteristics of the spiral elements are lost in an array environment. The
spacing between two antennas limits the array bandwidth to a value which is less than
that of a single antenna. The spacing problem in spiral arrays has been resolved with the
wideband array with variable element sizes (WAVES) techniques discussed in Chapter
2. Due to its unique shape, the two-arm Archimedean spiral antenna works very well as
an element in a WAVES array.
The objective of this chapter is to demonstrate the wideband operation of spiral an-
tennas integrated with a proposed wideband balun. In Chapter 4, a microstrip to parallel
striplines wideband balun was proposed. Simulated and measured results showed that
83
84 CHAPTER 5. INTEGRATION OF BALUN WITH SPIRAL ANTENNAS
it has wideband characteristics and can be used with the wideband antennas. This balun
is integrated with the two-arm Archimedean spiral antenna conguration discussed in
Section 5.3 and spiral array conguration discussed in Section 5.4.
This chapter presents the results of electromagnetic and circuit level simulations
performed to investigate the performance of the single antenna and the antenna array
with the proposed wideband balun.
Radiation performance of an array with eight-element is also simulated and pre-
sented. These results are validated with experimental results. All the experiments were
conducted at the RF Laboratory of the Queensland University of Technology.
5.2 Performance of a Two-arm Archimedean Spiral Antenna
5.2.1 Design of a Single Spiral Antenna
In this section, an implementation of a two-arm circular Archimedean spiral antenna
integrated on one side of a substrate and an innite ground plane on the other side is
presented. This substrate helps to reduce the physical size of the antenna structure. The
spiral antenna design parameters are taken from [31] are given in Table 5.1 .
Two different sized antennas are designed and used to construct arrays of spirals.
The parameters include spacing between the turns s, width of arm w, inner radius r
1
,
and outer radius r
2
, as shown in Figure 5.1. The inner radius is measured from centre
of the spiral to the centre of the rst turn while the outer radius is measured from centre
of the spiral to the centre of the outer most turn. These parameters can be derived from
equation (5.1). For a self-complementary structure, the spacing between adjacent arms
s and width of the arms w are equal and can be calculated from equation (5.1):
s = w =
r
2
r
1
4N
(5.1)
where N is the number of turns.
The lowest frequency of operation occurs when the total arm length is comparable to
a wavelength. The lower frequency of this design is 1.69 GHz. The inner radius for the
large spiral antenna and the small spiral antenna are 0.86 mm and 0.83 mm, respectively.
5.2. PERFORMANCE OF A TWO-ARM ARCHIMEDEAN SPIRAL ANTENNA 85
Figure 5.1: Geometry of the two-arm Archimedean spiral antenna
The lower cut-off frequency and higher cut-off frequency of the large and small spiral
antenna are derived from equation (5.2) and (5.3). For the large spiral antenna, the
corresponding results are f
L
= 1.69 GHz and f
H
= 55.5 GHz. From these equations,
the lower and higher cut-off frequencies of the small spiral antenna are 3.37 GHz and
57.5 GHz, respectively. The physical size of the two-arm spiral antenna increases as the
lower cut-off frequency is decreased.
f
L
=
c
2r
2
(5.2)
f
H
=
c
2r
1
(5.3)
where c is the speed of the light.
The input impedance of the spiral antenna depends on the inner radius of the spiral.
When the inner radius of the spiral is equal to the strip width, the real part of the
impedance is 188 . When the inner radius is smaller than the arm width, the real
Table 5.1: The dimensions of the spiral antenna
spiral antenna r
1
[mm] w [mm] s [mm] r
2
[mm] N
Large Spiral (built on RT-
duroid)
0.86 0.86 0.86 28.3 8
Small Spiral (built on RT-
duroid)
0.83 0.83 0.83 14.15 4
part of the input impedance is less than 188 , and when the inner radius is larger than
the arm width, the real part of the input impedance is greater than 188 [83].
The next section presents the performance of a single spiral antenna without and
with balun feed network. The simulated results clearly demonstrate the inuence of the
balun feed network on the wideband characteristics of the antenna.
5.2.2 Performance of Large Spiral Antenna without Balun
The layout of the large spiral antenna connected with a discrete port, is shown in Figure
5.2(a). In the absence of a balun structure, the two strips at the centre of the spiral
antenna are rst fed with a delta gap voltage source (discrete port in CST MWS) during
the simulations. The simulated return loss of the large spiral antenna at the feed point is
illustrated in Figure 5.2(b). The simulation result conrms that the large spiral antenna
has good wideband properties from 2.0 to 15 GHz. Note that the reection coefcient
is normalised to R = 188 . Thus, if a balun is used, it should achieve impedance
matching from 50 to 188 .
(a) (b)
Figure 5.2: (a) Large spiral with the discrete port in CST (b) Simulated return loss for
a large spiral antenna
5.3. INTEGRATION OF THE SPIRAL ANTENNA WITH BALUN 87
5.2.3 Performance of Small Spiral Antenna without Balun
The layout of the small spiral antenna connected to a discrete port is shown in Figure
5.3(a), and the dimension of the structure is dened in Table 5.1. The simulated result
of the return loss is illustrated in Figure 5.3(b). It can be seen that a 10 dB return loss
bandwidth from 4 GHz to 15 GHz is obtained.
(a) (b)
Figure 5.3: (a) Small spiral with discrete port (b) Simulated return loss for the small
spiral antenna
From the S-parameter results, both spiral structures have wideband characteristics
and can be integrated with the proposed wideband balun to improve bandwidth of
these antennas further. In the next section, the microstrip to parallel striplines balun
is integrated with the same antenna geometries as a feed network.
5.3 Integration of the Spiral Antenna with Balun
The two-arm Archimedean spiral antenna is a balanced antenna with wideband char-
acteristics. Therefore, the feeding system needs to have a balun with wideband char-
acteristics. The microstrip to parallel striplines balun is suitable for implementation as
feeding system for the two-arm Archimedean spiral antenna.
5.3.1 Performance of the Large Spiral Antenna with Balun
The large spiral antenna with the same dimensions as given in Table 5.1 is used. The
proposed microstrip to parallel striplines balun was used to excite the antennas. Two-
arm Archimedean spiral antenna is a self-complementary spiral antenna, where inner
radius is equal to strip width. The input impedance of both antennas is therefore 188 .
A microstrip to parallel striplines balun was optimized to provide impedance matching
between 50 and 188 .
The microstrip to parallel striplines transition consists of a microstrip line where
the ground plane is tapered and overlapped with a parallel stripline, as shown in Figure
5.4. The unbalanced part (A-A) is connected with the coaxial cable and balanced part
(B-B) is connected with the spiral inner arms. Simulation and experimental results
for this balun showed that it has a wider frequency bandwidth than the asymmetric
CPW to CPS balun. It was therefore preferred to excite the array of spiral antenna.
Figure 5.5(a) illustrates the connection of inner spiral arms with microstrip to parallel
striplines balun. Figure 5.5(b) shows that the overall dimension for the proposed large
spiral antenna connected with the proposed balun, is 60 mm x 60 mm x 52 mm or 0.34
L
x 0.34
L
x 0.29
L
, where
L
is the wavelength of the large spiral at lower cut-off
frequency f
L
= 1.69 GHz.
The antenna was connected with a network analyser (Rohde Schwarz ZVL Vector
Network Analyser with frequency range from 9 kHz to 15 GHz), as shown in Figure
5.6(a) for the measurement of the return loss. The simulated S-parameters result for the
large spiral antenna as given in Figure 5.6(b). The simulated return loss shows that the
antenna has a good impedance matching over the entire frequency range. The antenna
operates well between 2.5 to 15 GHz with return loss better than 10 dB. The simulated
results of the large antenna are compared with the measured results as shown in Figure
5.6(b). The measured 10 dB return loss bandwidth is between 2.26 to 15 GHz. However,
the measured results differ fromthe simulations due to the improper connection between
the spiral antenna and the balun, and the losses from the SMA connector and the balun.
The 3D directivity radiation pattern of the large spiral antenna at frequency of 8 GHz
is presented in Figure 5.7. High radiation (directivity) is marked in red, and the green
colour for lower radiation.
Figure 5.4: Conguration of the microstrip taper balun with a SMA connector
(a) (b)
Figure 5.5: (a) The connection between inner spiral arms and striplines of the balun
(b) The photograph of the large spiral antenna with the microstrip to parallel striplines
balun
(a) (b)
Figure 5.6: (a) A single large spiral antenna measurement set up (b) Measured and
simulated results of the large spiral antenna with the balun
Figure 5.7: Simulated 3D directivity radiation patterns of the large spiral
The electric eld is a function of and it is measured in x-y plane ( = 0
o
). Figure
5.8 and Figure 5.9 show the simulated directivity radiation patterns of the large spiral
antenna for the selected frequencies in both the E and H-plane, respectively. The co-
polarized radiation patterns are symmetrical with respect to the boresight ( = 180
o
)
and have a maximum value at = 180
o
in both the E and H-plane.
Figure 5.8: Simulated E-plane ( = 0
o
) directivity radiation patterns for the large spiral
antenna at 2.5, 5, 10 and 15 GHz
It can be seen from the results presented in Figure 5.8 that the cross-polarization
of the large spiral antenna increases with frequency. This is because of the vertical
feed network which produces a large amount of leakage radiation to the back side
of the antenna at high frequencies. The thickness of the substrate material with a
low dielectric constant (in this case
r
= 2.2) can also produce higher order modes
which deteriorates the radiations of the antenna [84]. As a result, the cross-polarization
component, especially in H-plane, is increased signicantly, as depicted in Figure 5.9.
Reectors or absorbing materials, can be used to suppress the cross-polarization of the
antenna. However, it was not used in the measurement set up due to the vertical feed
network.
Figure 5.9: Simulated H-plane ( = 90
o
) directivity radiation patterns for the large
spiral antenna at 2.5, 5, 10 and 15 GHz
Two different antenna measurements for single antennas were conducted. First,
antenna radiation measurement set up with a Yagi antenna (used as a receiver and
frequency range from 0.25 to 2.4 GHz) is illustrated in Figure 5.10. A signal generator
(frequency range from 0.1 to 4 GHz) is connected with the transmitter antenna and a
spectrum analyser (frequency range: 0.1 to 22 GHz) is connected with the receiver. A
transmitter antenna position controller is used to change the height of the transmitter
antenna and the position rotator is used to change the angle (E-plane radiation measure-
ments) from 0 to 360
o
.
Figure 5.10: Large spiral antenna radiation measurements set up with the signal
generator and the spectrum analyser
The measured radiation patterns at frequencies of 1.02, 1.5, 2 and 2.4 GHz, are
given in Figure 5.11. The measured radiation patterns show that the antenna has a good
wideband characteristic when it is connected with the microstrip to parallel striplines
balun. The measured and simulated results show that the spiral antenna experienced
more reections from the ground plane and the surrounding objects. It can also be
noticed that the receiver antenna has multiple dipoles, as shown in Figure 5.10. The
radiation pattern of the spiral at 2.4 GHz, has more uctuations when the E-plane is
changing from 0 to 360
o
(see Figure 5.11). Therefore, the single antenna as a transmitter
(or receiver) is used to obtain smooth radiation patterns.
Figure 5.11: Measured and simulated radiation patterns for the large spiral antenna at
1.02, 1.5, 2 and 2.4 GHz
Secondly, the large spiral was set up with a horn antenna (as a transmitter, frequency
range: 1 to 18 GHz) to measure the radiation patterns at different frequencies of 2, 4, 6,
8, 10, 12, 13 and 15 GHz in the anechoic chamber at the RF lab (measurement set up
is shown in Figure 5.12). The measured results are compared with the simulated results
in Figure 5.13. The measurements were taken for each 30
o
increment in both the E and
H-plane. The measured results are quite similar to the simulated values. However, the
measurement set up was subject to external reections which can affect the radiation
pattern signicantly.
Figure 5.12: Measurement set up for the large spiral in the anechoic chamber
The measured gain of the single spiral antenna was conducted with a network anal-
yser (frequency range from 9 kHz to 15 GHz) and two identical horn antennas (with
the model DRH-0118 double-ridged horn with Serial Number 104A092 and frequency
range from 1-18 GHz). The following procedure illustrates the gain measurements of
the antennas.
Two identical horn antennas were aligned with each other as shown in Figure
5.17(a). The received power of the reference horn antenna (P
ref
) was measured
(S21 in dB) with known gain (G
ref
)
Reference horn antenna was replaced with a single spiral antenna (see Figure
5.14) and the received power of the antenna under test (spiral antenna) was mea-
sured from the network analyser (consider as (P
AUT
))
The difference between the two received powers is the difference between the
antenna gains.
Measured data is given in Table 5.3 for different frequencies. Gain of spiral antenna
was calculated from the following equation:
G
AUT(dB)
= G
ref(dB)
+
dB
(5.4)
where,
dB
= P
AUT(dB)
P
ref(dB)
(5.5)
Figure 5.13: Measured and simulated radiation patterns for the large spiral antenna at
2, 4, 6, 8, 10, 12, 13 and 15 GHz
(a) (b)
(c) (d)
Figure 5.14: Gain measurement for the large spiral with the horn antenna
Table 5.2: HPBW of the large spiral antenna in E and H-plane
Frequency / (GHz) HPBW at E-plane (
o
) HPBW at H-plane (
o
)
2.5 75 71.6
5.0 96.2 55.3
10 36.2 37.2
15 30.6 33.0
The simulated HPBW for the large spiral antenna is given in Table 5.2. The values
for the HPBW are decreasing as frequency increases. The gain of the antenna there-
fore is increasing with the frequency. The HPBW calculation is illustrated in Figure
5.15. The HPBW is calculated from the difference between the angle of the maximum
Figure 5.15: HPBW calculation of the large spiral antenna in E-plane at 5 GHz
Table 5.3: Measured gain data for the large spiral antenna
Frequency / (GHz) G
ref
(dB)
dB
G
AUT
(dB)
2 6.55 -2.55 4.0
4 8.26 -3.16 5.1
6 8.55 -1.75 6.8
8 11.69 -3.84 7.85
10 11.32 -3.87 7.45
12 9.95 -3.0 6.95
13 11.14 -3.44 7.7
15 12.42 -4.92 7.5
radiated power (208.4
o
) and the angle of the following half radiated power (143.5
o
).
The simulated gain of the large spiral antenna was compared with the measured
values. However, the measured gain differs from the simulation as shown in Figure
5.16, due to the transmitter (horn antenna) which has not the same polarization (linear
polarization) as the receiver (spiral antenna has a circular polarization). It is shown
Figure 5.16: Measured and simulated gain of the large spiral antenna with respect to
the boresight ( = 0
o
)
in Figure 5.17, where the measured power changed dramatically when an antenna was
rotated by 45
o
or 90
o
. For circularly polarized antennas, radiation patterns are usually
taken with a rotating linearly polarized reference antenna. Even though this linear polar-
ization source works with circular polarization, it is better to have the same polarization
antenna as a receiver to get a maximum received power.
Results from the return loss, radiation pattern and gain show that the large spiral
antenna operates well in frequency band from 2.5 to 15 GHz and it is a good candidate
for an element in an array structure able to achieve more than two octaves bandwidth.
(a) (b)
(c) (d)
(e) (f)
Figure 5.17: Gain measurement for the two identical horn antennas (a) Receiver horn
antenna aligned with the transmitter in 0
o
(b) S21 for the 0
o
aligned horn antenna (c)
Receiver horn antenna aligned with the transmitter in 45
o
(d) S21 for the 45
o
aligned
horn antenna (e) Receiver horn antenna aligned with the transmitter in 90
o
(b) S21 for
the 90
o
aligned horn antenna
5.3.2 Performance of the Small Spiral Antenna with Balun
The dimensions of the small spiral antenna were obtained from the Table 5.1. It was also
integrated with the proposed balun as shown in Figure 5.18(a). The overall dimension
for the proposed small spiral antenna is 30 mm x 30 mm x 52 mm or 0.34
L
x 0.34
L
x 0.58
L
, where
L
is the wavelength of small spiral at the lower frequency (f
L
= 3.37
GHz).
The results of the simulated S-parameters for small spiral antenna is shown in Figure
5.18(b). The simulated 10 dB return loss bandwidth of the small spiral antenna is from
4 to 15 GHz and measured bandwidth is from 3 to 15 GHz.
(a) (b)
Figure 5.18: (a) The photograph of the small spiral antenna with balun (b) Measured
and simulated results for the small spiral antenna
The radiation patterns for the small spiral antenna were simulated at frequencies of
3, 5, 10 and 15 GHz in E and H-plane (Figure 5.19 and Figure 5.20). It shows that the
small spiral antenna has a maximum co-polarization at boresight ( = 0
o
) in both E and
H-plane. However, unexpected cross-polarization is high for other values due to the
vertical feed network.
The small spiral antenna gain was measured using the same procedure as given
in Section 5.3.1. Table 5.5 shows measured gain of the small spiral antenna. These
measurements were compared with the simulated results, as shown in Figure 5.21. It
shows signicant discrepancies.
o
) directivity radiation patterns of the small
spiral antenna at 3, 5, 10 and 15 GHz
Table 5.4: HPBW of the small spiral antenna in E and H-plane
Frequency / (GHz) HPBW E-plane (
o
) HPBW H-plane (
o
)
2.5 216.3 343.9
5.0 80.6 120.3
10 42.0 42.1
15 100.5 33.7
o
) directivity radiation patterns for the small
spiral antenna at 3, 5, 10 and 15 GHz
Table 5.5: Measured gain data for the small spiral antenna
Frequency / (GHz) G
ref
(dB)
dB
G
AUT
(dB)
2 6.55 -5.05 1.5
4 8.26 -5.46 2.8
6 8.55 -5.15 3.4
8 11.69 -5.69 6.0
10 11.32 -5.39 5.93
12 9.95 -4.45 5.5
13 11.14 -4.89 6.25
15 12.42 -6.32 6.10
Figure 5.21: Measured and simulated gain of the small spiral antenna
The radiation patterns of the small spiral was measured with the horn antenna as
receiver (frequency range: 1 to 18 GHz) are given in Figure 5.22. It can be seen that the
maximum radiation was occurred at = 180
o
(at boresight). In addition, the measured
results agree with simulated values.
Figure 5.22: Measured and simulated radiation patterns for the small spiral antenna at
2, 4, 6, 8, 10, 12, 13 and 15 GHz
5.4 Array of Archimedean Spiral Antennas
Section 5.3 discussed the single spiral antenna and its wideband characteristics. How-
ever, the single spiral antenna has low gain which is not suitable for some applications.
Thus, an array of Archimedean spiral antenna is demonstrated in this section in an
attempt to improve the gain. Wideband array with variable element sizes techniques
(WAVES) were applied to reduce the grating lobes level. The proposed wideband balun
was integrated with the antenna array to achieve wideband antenna performances.
5.4.1 Theory of WAVES Array Geometry
The concept of WAVES was presented in Chapter 2. As shown in Figure 5.23, the larger
antenna elements are used to cover the rst octave of bandwidth. When the grating
Figure 5.23: Basic geometry of WAVES
lobe appears at frequencies approaching the point where S
1

=, the smaller antenna
is switched on and all three elements are used to cover the next octave of bandwidth.
Typically, it is desirable for the inter-element spacing to be between 0.5 and . This
leads to a larger element spacing of:
S
1
=

1
2
(5.6)
where
1
is the low frequency cut-off for the larger element. From Figure 5.23, the
larger spacing is also given by
S
1
= 2S
2
> D
1
+D
2
(5.7)
5.4. ARRAY OF ARCHIMEDEAN SPIRAL ANTENNAS 107
and
D
1
= 2D
2
(5.8)
where S
2
is the spacing between a larger and smaller element and the diameters of the
larger and smaller elements are given by D
1
and D
2
, respectively. An Archimedean
spiral antenna was chosen for the WAVES array since the larger element is required
to cover a minimum of two octaves of bandwidth and its diameter is required to scale
proportionally with frequency [50].
5.4.2 Linear Antenna Array
The linear WAVES array of spirals was demonstrated with three spiral elements with
array elements placed on the x axis with a uniform spacing d, as shown in Figure 5.24.
The array was shown to have a performance gap between 2.5 GHz where the rst grating
lobe appears and 4 GHz where the smaller, second octave elements becomes active. The
two-arm circular Archimedean spiral antenna with the wideband balun was designed to
eliminate the performance gap in feeding system in [83]. Figure 5.24 shows that the
spirals 2 and 3 have same size and the diameter of the spiral 1 is half that of the spiral
2.
Figure 5.24: The linear antenna array
The spacing between the elements (S
1
and S
2
) were calculated from equation (5.6)
and (5.7) to maintain minimum element spacing. The parameters of the large and small
spiral are presented in Table 5.1. The lower and higher cut-off frequencies can be
obtained from the equation (5.2) and (5.3) respectively, where outer and inner circum-
ference of the spiral equal to one wavelength. Theoretically, the large spiral operates
from 1.69 to 55.5 GHz and the small spiral from 3.37 to 57.5 GHz.
Figure 5.25 shows the VSWR performance of the array of 3 elements (The relation
between VSWR and |S11| was given in Chapter 2, Section 2.4.2). Array is designed to
operate from 2.5 to 15 GHz. The simulated VSWR for only large elements is shown in
Figure 5.25(a) with a VSWR less than 2 from 2.5 GHz. In this case, only large elements
(Spiral 2 and Spiral 3) are active and having identical performance. The lower cut-off
frequency for large element is 2.5 GHz, which is 48% above the frequency derived from
the theory. The VSWR for large and small elements are given in Figure 5.25(b), where
all three elements are active. The small element has a lower cut-off frequency at 4 GHz,
which is 19% above the frequency derived from the theory. These results show that,
the lower cut-off frequencies for both spiral antennas are higher than predicted. This
problem can be addressed with the unique slow wave spiral to increase the diameter of
the spiral elements.
(a) (b)
Figure 5.25: Simulated VSWR for the linear antenna array (a) Only large spirals are
active (b) All elements are active
The S-parameters for the linear array elements are shown in Figure 5.26. It can be
seen that the mutual coupling (given by |S12| and |S13|) is quite low, lower than about
20 dB from 3 GHz.
Figure 5.26: Simulated S-parameters for the linear antenna array
5.4.3 Radiation pattern of the linear antenna array
Other most important parameters in antenna design are the far eld radiation patterns.
They are shown for the linear array in Figure 5.27. The basic principle behind the
WAVES theory can be seen that the grating lobes are eliminated when smaller elements
become active. The simulated radiation patterns (directivity of the antenna array) are
shown in Figure 5.27 at frequencies of 2.5, 5, 10 and 15 GHz in E and H-plane.
The cross-polarization (LHPC in this right hand wound spiral) in Figure 5.27 is high
due to the spiral antenna back radiation and vertical feed network but the co-polarization
(RHCP) in Figure 5.28 is higher than cross-polarization. The addition of a reector
could eliminate the back radiation. Table 5.6 shows the HPBW in E and H-plane. The
values for HPBW are decreasing with frequency. The gain of the linear antenna array
therefore is increasing with frequency.
Table 5.6: HPBW of the linear antenna array in E and H-plane
o
) HPBW H-plane (
o
)
2.5 60.4 175.6
5.0 32.6 49.0
10 16.8 33.9
15 5.4 28.5
o
) directivity radiation patterns for linear antenna
array at 2.5, 5, 10 and 15 GHz
o
) directivity radiation patterns for the linear
antenna array at 2.5, 5, 10 and 15 GHz
Figure 5.29: Simulated gain of the linear antenna array
5.4.4 Planar Antenna Array
Section 5.4.2 demonstrated the operation of the linear array integrated with the wide-
band balun. This linear array was extended to a planar array. The geometry of the
planar array is shown in Figure 5.30. The dimensions of the spirals were derived from
Table 5.1. The element spacing was selected to be less than /2 ( f
L
- lower cut-off
frequency). The planar array with 8-elements was designed and simulated in CST. The
Figure 5.30: The planar antenna array
array structure was constructed on the RT-duroid 5880 with a dielectric constant
r
=
2.2 and height of h of 1.5748 mm. Each array element in the structure was integrated
with the single microstrip to parallel striplines balun. The array structure was simulated
with a 3 dB power divider to split the power to each port equally (see Figure 5.32). The
simulated return loss for the planar antenna array is shown in Figure 5.33. It conrms
the effective operation of the planar antenna array integrated with the proposed balun
has a wide bandwidth and it is from 2.1 to 15 GHz.
5.4.5 Radiation pattern of the planar antenna array
The simulated 3D radiation patterns of the planar array at frequency of 5 GHz is illus-
trated in Figure 5.34. It shows that more back radiation occurred at 5 GHz in red colour.
It can be removed with a reector-backed by a spiral antenna. However, a ground plane
or absorbing materials is not used as a reector in this design, due to the geometry of
the proposed feed network.
(a) (b)
Figure 5.31: Conguration of the 8-elements array with baluns (a)Top view (b) Side
view
(a) (b)
Figure 5.32: Planar array set up with a power divider (a) Set up with 3 dB power
dividers in CST (b) Set up with 6 dB power divider with the Network Analyser
Figure 5.33: Measured and simulated S-parameters results for the planar antenna array
Figure 5.34: 3D radiation patterns of the planar antenna array at 5 GHz
The appearance of grating lobes, as shown in Figure 5.35 is an unwanted peak in the
array environment. Reference [31] used the amplitude distribution between the elements
to reduce the level of grating lobes. The amplitude distribution was set to 1:2:2:2:1,
when all the elements were radiating.
Figure 5.35: Grating lobes and side lobes for the planar antenna array at the frequency
of 4 GHz
The simulated radiation patterns for both E and H-plane are shown in Figure 5.36 for
four different frequencies 2.5, 5, 10 and 15 GHz respectively. It shows that an unequal
amplitude distribution have an inuence on grating lobes. The grating lobes level was
not changed at high frequencies. It can be reduced with an unequal power and phase
distribution without affecting the array performance.
Table 5.7 shows the HPBWin E and H-plane at frequencies of 2.5, 5, 10 and 15 GHz.
The HPBW decreases as frequency increases. The gain of the antenna is therefore high
at high frequencies.
Table 5.7: HPBW of the planar antenna array in E and H-plane
o
) HPBW H-plane (
o
)
2.5 41.2 47.6
5.0 15.0 50.5
10 13.5 26.4
15 20.3 10.4
Figure 5.36: Simulated directivity radiation patterns ( = 0
o
) of the planar antenna
array equal and unequal amplitude distribution at 2.5, 5, 10 and 15 GHz
Table 5.8: Measured gain data for planar antenna array
Frequency / (GHz) G
ref
(dB)
dB
G
AUT
(dB)
2 6.55 -0.67 5.88
4 8.26 -0.48 7.78
6 8.55 0.73 9.28
8 11.69 0.35 12.04
10 11.32 -0.45 10.87
12 9.95 -0.48 9.47
13 11.14 0.09 11.23
15 12.42 0.6 13.02
The gain of the planar antenna array is given in Figure 5.37. The simulated and
measured gain results for single and antenna array show that array of spirals have higher
gain than the single element with frequency increases. The measured gain of the planar
antenna array is shown in Table 5.8. The measured boresight gain should be similar to
the simulated value, but the measurements show some variation. It can be also seen that
it has a higher gain than the single spiral antenna.
Figure 5.37: Gain of the planar antenna array
Radiation measurements for the planar array antenna were performed with the horn
antenna as a receiver. The same radiation procedure as the large spiral antenna was used
in the planar array antenna. The measured and simulated radiation patterns of the planar
array are presented in Figure 5.38 at different frequencies to give an idea about their
frequency characteristics.
The results for return loss, radiation patterns and gain obtained for the antenna array
show that the array has generally better wideband performance when compared to the
single spiral. In addition, the proposed balun is capable of maintaining the wideband
performance of the spiral antenna.
Figure 5.38: Measured and simulated radiation patterns for the planar antenna array at
2, 4, 6, 8, 10, 12, 13 and 15 GHz
5.5. SUMMARY 119
5.5 Summary
The simulation and measurement results of a single spiral antenna and the wideband
array with variable element sizes integrated with the proposed balun were presented in
this chapter. Two different sized spiral antennas were selected. These antenna were
simulated without the balun (in CST discrete port) and with the proposed balun. The
simulated and measured results showed that the spiral antenna with the balun has a
wide bandwidth from 2 to 15 GHz for the large spiral antenna, and 3.5 to 15 GHz for
the small spiral antenna. In addition, the wideband characteristics (radiation pattern
and gain) of the spiral antenna with the balun were simulated and compared with the
measured results. The directivity radiation pattern of the spirals in both E and H-plane
were simulated. In both cases, spiral antennas have a maximum directivity radiation at
boresight ( = 0
o
). The radiation patterns of the each spiral antenna were measured
with the help of the horn antenna (transmitter) at different frequencies. The measured
radiation pattern of the both spirals have a good agreement with the simulated results.
These both spiral were used to form the linear and planar antenna array. The sim-
ulated gain of the linear antenna array showed that the array antenna has a higher gain
than the single spiral antenna. The HPBW is also used to prove that the gain of the
linear antenna array and it increased at higher frequency. The planar array with the
proposed balun was simulated with the aid of CST MWS, and measured results for the
return loss showed that the bandwidth of the planar array is 2.10 - 15 GHz. The planar
array was arranged with the amplitude distribution of 1:2:2:2:1 to suppress grating lobes.
However, the directivity radiation patterns of the planar antenna array showed that the
grating lobes of the array were not changed at higher frequencies. The measured gain
and radiation patterns of the planar antenna array had some variation with the simulated
results. The radiation measurement errors were due to the array not being perfectly
centred during azimuth rotation. However, the proposed antenna array generally showed
better performance in terms of return loss, radiation patterns and gain when compared
to the single spiral antenna.
Chapter 6
Conclusion and Recommendations
In this nal chapter the results and contributions of the thesis are summarised. Some
recommendations for future research work are also presented. During the rst part of the
thesis a comprehensive literature search of antenna design and broadband antenna tech-
nologies are presented. Special attention is given to the bandwidth and the characteristic
impedance of the antenna. Existing wideband feeding structures are also discussed in
detail. In the second part of the thesis, design procedures for three new wideband balun
structures and test results of balun and spiral antenna integration are presented.
6.1 Contributions
This thesis proposes three different types of wideband feeding systems: a tapered sym-
metric CPW to CPS balun, a tapered asymmetric CPW to CPS balun and tapered
Microstrip to parallel striplines balun. Summary of major contributions of the thesis
is presented below.
A comprehensive review of theory, principles and techniques of antennas and
wideband baluns are presented.
121
122 CHAPTER 6. CONCLUSION AND RECOMMENDATIONS
Anovel tapered geometry for a symmetric coplanar waveguide (CPW) to coplanar
strip line (CPS) wideband balun with a stub to accommodate the discontinuity
between CPW and CPS is proposed. The bandwidth of the wideband balun is
improved by tapering symmetric CPW, stub and bond wires.
An asymmetric CPW to CPS wideband balun with a novel tapered design is
proposed by applying the new tapering procedure. Asymmetric CPW to CPS
wideband balun has wider bandwidth compared to the symmetric CPW to CPS
wideband balun. This balun consists of asymmetric CPW to remove the disconti-
nuities between CPW and CPS without using a radial stub or bond wires.
A tapered microstrip to parallel striplines balun with new tapered design is pro-
posed. This conguration can further improve the bandwidth. The simulated and
measured results show that tapered microstrip to parallel striplines balun has more
than three octaves of bandwidth and it is chosen as the preferred feeding structure
for wideband antenna array.
Tapered microstrip to parallel striplines wideband balun is integrated and tested
with various spiral antenna congurations
All the proposed feeding structures are simulated and measured in a back-to-back con-
guration before integrating with spiral antenna structures. These balun structures have
following characteristics:
Impedance transforming between the coaxial cable and the spiral antennas
Field matching between an unbalanced transmission line to a balanced transmis-
sion line
Planar structure and easy to integrate with the planar balanced structures
Although the CPW to CPS baluns have above characteristics, it cannot be used with
the array of spiral antennas due to its insufcient bandwidth. The microstrip to parallel
striplines balun operates more than two octaves of bandwidth and is therefore preferred
as the optimum wideband balun feed for spiral antennas. Table 6.1 shows the compari-
son of proposed baluns.
6.1. CONTRIBUTIONS 123
Table 6.1: The comparison of proposed baluns
Proposed
baluns
Impedance bandwidth (GHz) Bandwidth in ratio Volume ( mm
3
)
Symmetric
CPW to CPS
0.6 - 3.5 5.8 : 1 42 x 20 x 0.67
Asymmetric
CPW to CPS
using RT
Rogers
9 - 15 1.7 : 1 36 x 20 x 0.67
Asymmetric
CPW to
CPS using
RT-duroid
3.53 - 15 4.2 : 1 62 x 20 x 0.67
Microstrip
to parallel
striplines
1.75 - 15 8.6 : 1 55 x 18 x 1.61
Moreover, this thesis investigated the integrated wideband performance of the spiral
antennas with the proposed microstrip to parallel striplines balun. Array of two-arm
Archimedean spiral antennas with variable element sizes are integrated with the balun
tested. The spiral antenna array used for testing has the following properties:
More than two octaves of bandwidth having a return loss less than 10 dB in the
frequency range of 2.5 to 15 GHz)
Improved gain in the array environment compared to a single element
Reduced grating lobes level in the array environment with an unequal amplitude
distribution and small element spacing ( < /2)
First, a single Archimedean spiral antenna is integrated with proposed microstrip to
parallel striplines balun and tested. The measured and simulated results prove that the
proposed balun can be integrated with spiral antennas efciently. Next, spiral antennas
with two different dimensions are used to construct an eight elements array with WAVES
techniques. The element spacing are chosen to be less than half a wavelength at the
lower operating frequency of each element to reduce the grating lobes and to increase
the operating bandwidth of the array [31]. An unequal amplitude distribution is also
used to reduce the grating lobe level.
Table 6.2: The comparison of the spiral antenna with the proposed balun
Spiral anten-
nas
Impedance bandwidth (GHz) Bandwidth in ratio Volume ( mm
3
)
Large Spiral 2.26 - 15 7.5 : 1 60 x 60 x 52
Small Spiral 3.0 - 15 4.3 : 1 30 x 30 x 52
Array of Spi-
ral
2.1 - 15 7.1 : 1 200 x 200 x 1.61
The bandwidth of the single element and array of spiral is given in Table 6.2. The
directivity radiation patterns for a single spiral and an array of spirals are simulated and
measured at different frequencies. The results show that the amplitude distribution has
more effect on the grating lobes. Simulated and measured results of the single and array
of spiral antennas integrated with the proposed wideband balun show that the integrated
structure can operate in a bandwidth spanning more than two octaves. (two octaves :
f
L
=2.5 GHz and f
H
= 10 GHz).
6.2 Recommendations for Future Directions
Therefore, some recommendations for future directions are presented below.
The results of the proposed asymmetric CPW to CPS balun show that it has
high insertion loss at high frequencies used with high dielectric constant and thin
material. The insertion loss could be reduced with a low dielectric constant and
thick substrate material.
Measured microstrip to parallel striplines balun also differs from the simulated
insertion loss results. It could be resolved by properly aligning the two layers at
the centre on the printed circuit boards. Proper soldering could also improve the
results.
Spiral antennas have bidirectional radiation patterns. Therefore, the use of a
reector can produce unidirectional patterns. The feed network is perpendicular
to the back side of the antenna. Better results may be obtained by having an
absorber behind the antenna array to reduce radiation from feed region.
6.2. RECOMMENDATIONS FOR FUTURE DIRECTIONS 125
Grating lobes are unwanted peak values in the radiation patterns of the array
environment. This is reduced by maintaining an element spacing of less than
one wavelength and by using an unequal amplitude distribution. However, the
results show that grating lobes level was still present at high frequencies. It is
necessary to use some techniques such as unequal power and phase distribution
to reduce the grating lobes level without affecting the performance of the array.
The lower cut-off frequency for the antenna array is 2.5 GHz. It can be reduced
with a larger diameter of the spiral or slow wave star spiral antenna with a low
prole.
The bandwidth of the antenna array can be improved to more than two octaves by
increasing the number of the spirals (for example: 3-octaves bandwidth requires
three different sized spirals). The size of the third element should be half of the
second.
Self-complementary spirals have high characteristic input impedance (188 ).
Due to the high impedance of the spiral, output impedance of the striplines is
also high. Consequently, the width of the stripline is very small which makes it
difcult to integrate with the spiral arms. For 188 characteristic impedance, the
stripline has a width of 0.88 mm. However, actual input impedance of the spiral
is reduced by the presence of the substrate. Spiral antenna input impedance can
also be reduced by selecting the inner radius of the spiral arm to be smaller than
the spiral arm width.
In the radiation measurements of the array, an 8-way power divider is used to split
the power to each port. Ports connected to small spirals, were connected with 6 dB
attenuator to suppress the power by half. However, the simulations in CST were
conducted using only 3 dB power dividers. Results from the CST could therefore
not be compared directly with the measured results due to the differences in power
levels. To validate results, each port of an actual power divider output should be
measured.
Appendix A
Appendix : MATLAB code
A.1 HECKEN MATLAB code for symmetric CPW Design
MATLAB script Hecken taper for symmetric Coplanar waveguide
clear all;
Z0=50;
Z2=50;
Zl=80;
RL=40;
f0=0.5e9;
lam0=2.998e8/f0;
dz=lam0/100;
er = 10.2; % dielectric constant of the substrate
h = 0.635e-3; % height of the substrate
t = 35e-6; % thickness of the metal
b = 0.69e-3; % gap size of the CPW
a = 3e-3; % strip width of the CPW
global emax
127
128 APPENDIX A. APPENDIX : MATLAB CODE
rhomax=10(-RL/20);
emax=rhomax/0.5/log(Zl/Z0);
if emax > 0.217234
B=0;
piu0=fzero(@getpiu0,[0.001 2.55356]);
else
B = fzero(@getb,[0.001 10]);
piu0=sqrt(B2+6.520694);
end
B
piu0
pause;
z=0;
theta=-piu0/2;
i=1;
while theta < piu0/2
if emax > 0.217234
Z=Z0
*
exp(0.5
*
log(Zl/Z0)
*
(1+2
*
theta/piu0));
else
Z=Z0
*
exp(0.5
*
log(Zl/Z0)+0.5
*
log(Zl/Z0)
*
gfunc(B,2
*
theta/piu0));
end
if Z2 < 188.5
at=a+(1.25
*
t/pi)
*
(1+log(4
*
pi
*
a/t));
bt=b-(1.25
*
t/pi)
*
(1+log(4
*
pi
*
a/t));
k=a/b;
ka=sqrt(1-k2);
kt=at/bt;
A.1. HECKEN MATLAB CODE FOR SYMMETRIC CPW DESIGN 129
kta=sqrt(1-kt2);
k1=sinh(pi
*
at/4/h)/sinh(pi
*
bt/4/h);
k1a=sqrt(1-k12);
eeff=1+((er-1)/2)
*
(kfunc(k1,k1a)/kfunc(k,ka))
eefft=eeff-(eeff-1)/((b-1)/2/0.7/t
*
kfunc(k,ka)+1)
Z2 = ceil(abs(30
*
pi/sqrt(eefft)/kfunc(kt,kta)))
beta=2
*
pi/lam0;
data_matrix(i,1) = z;
data_matrix(i,2) = Z;
data_matrix(i,3) = beta;
data_matrix(i,4) = Z2;
data_matrix(i,5) = b;
data_matrix(i,6) = a;
z=z+dz;
if b < 19e-3
b= b+0.2e-3;
else
a= a-0.2e-3;
end
end
i=i+1;
theta=theta+dz
*
beta;
end
data_mat = transpose(data_matrix);
length = size(data_mat,2)
pause;
figure(1)
hold on
plot(data_mat(1,1:length), data_mat(2,1:length),r);
plot(data_mat(1,1:length), data_mat(3,1:length),g);
plot(data_mat(5,1:length), data_mat(4,1:length),b);
plot(data_mat(6,1:length), data_mat(4,1:length),c);
title(Impedance profile)
legend(Z,Beta,b,a);
%axis([2.375,2.625,-40,0]);
xlabel(Distance z (m),b a);
ylabel(Z (Ohm));
hold off
save symmetricCPW.txt data_matrix -ASCII
%
*******************
geta function
**********************
function dimfunc = geta(a)
%function to iterate to determine dimension a
global dims
er = dims(1);
h = dims(2);
t = dims(3);
b = dims(4);
Z0 = dims(5);
at=a+1.25
*
t/pi
*
(1+log(4
*
pi
*
a/t));
bt=b-1.25
*
t/pi
*
(1+log(4
*
pi
*
a/t));
k=a/b;
ka=sqrt(1-k2);
kt=at/bt;
kta=sqrt(1-kt2);
k1=sinh(pi
*
at/4/h)/sinh(pi
*
bt/4/h);
k1a=sqrt(1-k12);
eeff=1+(er-1)/2
*
kfunc(k1,k1a)/kfunc(k,ka);
eefft=eeff-(eeff-1)/((b-1)/2/0.7/t
*
kfunc(k,ka)+1);
dimfunc = 30
*
pi/sqrt(eefft)/kfunc(kt,kta)-Z0;
end
%
****************************
getb function
**************
function bfunc = getb(b)
%function to iterate to determine B
global emax
bfunc = abs(0.217234
*
b/((exp(b)-exp(-b))/2))-emax;
end
%
************************
getpiu0 function
****************
function pfunc = getpiu0(piu0)
%function to iterate to determine B
global emax
pfunc = sin(piu0)/piu0-emax;
end
%
***********************
gfunc function
******************
function g=gfunc(b,xi)
% Hecken transition function
k=0;
ak=1;
bk=xi;
g=b/((exp(b)-exp(-b))/2)
*
ak
*
bk;
for k = 1:12
ak=b2/4/k2
*
ak;
bk=(xi
*
(1-xi2)k+2
*
k
*
bk)/(2
*
k+1);
g=g+b/((exp(b)-exp(-b))/2)
*
ak
*
bk;
end
%
*******************
kfunc function
**********************
function krat=kfunc(k,kdash)
% K(k)/K(k)
if k < 0.5
krat=pi/log(2
*
(1+sqrt(kdash))/(1-sqrt(kdash)));
else
krat=1/pi
*
log(2
*
(1+sqrt(k))/(1-sqrt(k)));
end
%
********************************************************
%
*******
MATLAB CODE for CPS impedance calculation
*******
clear all;
%Z0=50;
%Zl=180;
%RL=30;
w=2.7;
g=1.3;
er=10.2;
h=0.635e-3;
t=35e-6;
l1= (exp(pi
*
g/2
*
h) - exp(-pi
*
g/2
*
h))/2;
%l2=(exp(pi
*
g/2
*
h) + exp(-pi
*
g/2
*
h))/2;
m1= (exp(pi
*
(w+g)/2
*
h)-exp(-pi
*
(w+g)/2
*
h))/2;
%m2=(exp(pi
*
(w+g)/2
*
h)+exp(-pi
*
(w+g)/2
*
h))/2;
k=(l1)/(m1);
kdash= sqrt(1-(k2));
%Specify diemnsions of circuit board
%k=(tanh(pi
*
g/2
*
h))/(tanh(pi
*
(s+g)/2
*
h))
k0= g/(g+w);
k0dash=sqrt(1-k02);
q=0.5
*
kfunc(k0,k0dash)/kfunc(k,kdash);
eff=1+(er-1)
*
q
Z0= (120
*
pi/sqrt(eff))
*
kfunc(k0,k0dash)
% output from symmetric impedance taper: symmetric.txt
[z] [Z] Beta [a] [b]
0.00 50.00 80.42 3.28 5.00
1.50 50.13 80.36 3.27 5.01
3.00 50.32 80.29 3.27 5.02
4.50 50.59 80.18 3.27 5.04
6.00 50.96 80.03 3.26 5.06
7.50 51.42 79.85 3.25 5.09
8.99 52.01 79.62 3.24 5.12
10.49 52.73 79.35 3.23 5.17
11.99 53.59 79.02 3.22 5.22
13.49 54.62 78.65 3.20 5.28
14.99 55.81 78.23 3.17 5.36
16.49 57.19 77.76 3.14 5.44
17.99 58.76 77.24 3.11 5.54
19.49 60.53 76.69 3.07 5.65
20.99 62.51 76.10 3.02 5.77
22.49 64.71 75.48 2.96 5.91
23.98 67.13 74.85 2.89 6.05
25.48 69.78 74.20 2.81 6.22
26.98 72.66 73.56 2.73 6.39
28.48 75.75 72.92 2.63 6.58
29.98 79.07 72.31 2.53 6.79
31.48 82.61 71.72 2.42 7.01
32.98 86.34 71.17 2.30 7.24
34.48 90.27 70.65 2.17 7.48
35.98 94.38 70.18 2.04 7.73
37.48 98.66 69.76 1.91 7.99
38.97 103.07 69.38 1.77 8.27
40.47 107.60 69.05 1.64 8.54
41.97 112.21 68.77 1.51 8.83
43.47 116.90 68.53 1.38 9.12
44.97 121.61 68.32 1.26 9.41
46.47 126.31 68.16 1.15 9.70
47.97 130.98 68.02 1.04 9.98
49.47 135.58 67.91 0.95 10.27
50.97 140.06 67.83 0.86 10.54
52.47 144.40 67.77 0.78 10.81
53.96 148.56 67.72 0.71 11.07
55.46 152.52 67.68 0.65 11.31
56.96 156.24 67.66 0.60 11.54
58.46 159.70 67.65 0.55 11.75
59.96 162.89 67.64 0.51 11.95
61.46 165.80 67.64 0.47 12.13
62.96 168.41 67.64 0.44 12.29
64.46 170.72 67.65 0.42 12.43
65.96 172.75 67.66 0.40 12.55
67.46 174.49 67.66 0.38 12.66
68.95 175.96 67.67 0.36 12.75
70.45 177.17 67.68 0.35 12.83
71.95 178.15 67.68 0.34 12.89
73.45 178.92 67.69 0.34 12.93
74.95 179.50 67.69 0.33 12.97
76.45 179.91 67.70 0.33 12.99
%
******************************************************
A.2. HECKEN MATLAB CODE FOR AN ASYMMETRIC CPW DESIGN 135
A.2 HECKEN MATLAB code for an Asymmetric CPW Design
% MATLAB CODE for Asymmetric CPW taper
% MATLAB script Hecken taper
clear all;
Z0=50;
Zl=200;
RL=20;
f0=2e9;
lam0=2.998e8/f0;
dz=lam0/250;
%Specify diemnsions of circuit board
er=2.2; % dielectric constant of the substrate
h=1.5748e-3; % height of the substrate
t=35e-6; % thickness of the metal
d1min=0.690e-3; % minimum small gap size of the CPW
d2min=0.691e-3; % minimum large gap size of the CPW
d1max=3e-3; %maximum small gap size of the CPW
d2max=10e-3; %maximum large gap size of the CPW
%aguess=1e-3;
a1=0.1e-3; %minimum centre strip width of the CPW
a0=2.6e-3; %maximum centre strip width of the CPW
global emax
%global dims
rhomax=10(-RL/20);
emax=rhomax/0.5/log(Zl/Z0);
if emax > 0.217234
B=0;
piu0=fzero(@getpiu0,[0.001 2.55356]);
else
B = fzero(@getb,[0.001 10]);
piu0=sqrt(B2+6.520694);
end
%a=aguess;
z=0;
theta=-piu0/2;
i=1;
while theta < piu0/2
if emax > 0.217234
Z=Z0
*
exp(0.5
*
log(Zl/Z0)
*
(1+2
*
theta/piu0));
else
Z=Z0
*
exp(0.5
*
log(Zl/Z0)+0.5
*
log(Zl/Z0)
*
gfunc(B,2
*
theta/piu0));
end
%This is for Asymmetric Coplanar waveguide
a=(Z-Z0)/(Zl-Z0)
*
(a1-a0)+a0;
d1=(Z-Z0)/(Zl-Z0)
*
(d1max-d1min)+d1min;
d2=(Z-Z0)/(Zl-Z0)
*
(d2max-d2min)+d2min;
if abs(d1-d2)<1E-10
b=d1+d2+a
at=a+1.25
*
t/pi
*
(1+log(4
*
pi
*
a/t));
bt=b-1.25
*
t/pi
*
(1+log(4
*
pi
*
a/t));
k=a/b;
ka=sqrt(1-k2);
k1=sinh(pi
*
at/4/h)/sinh(pi
*
bt/4/h);
k1a=sqrt(1-k12);
eeff=1+(er-1)/2
*
else
alp=(d1
*
d2+0.5
*
a
*
(d1+d2)-sqrt(d1
*
d2
*
(a+d1)
*
(a+d2)))/((a/2)2
*
(d1-d2));
k1= a/2
*
(1+alp
*
(a/2+d1))/((a/2)+d1+alp
*
(a/2)2);
k1a=sqrt(1-k12);
WA= sinh(pi/4/h
*
a);
WB= sinh(pi/2/h
*
(a/2+d1));
WE=-sinh(pi/2/h
*
(a/2+d2));
alp1=(WB+WE)(-1)
*
(-1-WB
*
WE/WA2-sqrt((WB2/WA2-1)
*
(WE2/WA2-1)));
k2=WA
*
(1+alp1
*
WB)/(WB+alp1
*
WA2);
k2a=sqrt(1-k22);
eeff=1+(er-1)/2
*
kfunc(k2,k2a)/kfunc(k1,k1a);
end
beta=2
*
pi
*
f0/2.99796e8
*
sqrt(eeff);
data_matrix(i,1) = z
*
1000;
data_matrix(i,2) = Z;
data_matrix(i,3) = beta;
data_matrix(i,4) = a
*
1000;
%This is for Asymmetric Coplanar waveguide
data_matrix(i,5) = d1
*
1000;
data_matrix(i,6) = d2
*
1000;
data_matrix(i,1:end)
z=z+dz;
i=i+1;
theta=theta+dz
*
beta;
end
data_mat = transpose(data_matrix);
length = size(data_mat,2)
pause;
%figure(1)
%hold on
%plot(data_mat(1,1:length), data_mat(2,1:length),b);
%plot(data_mat(1,1:length), data_mat(3,1:length),g);
%title(Impedance profile)
%legend(Z,Beta);
%axis([2.375,2.625,-40,0]);
%xlabel(Distance z (mm));
%ylabel(Z (Ohm));
hold off
figure(2)
hold on
plot(data_mat(1,1:length), data_mat(4,1:length),b);
plot(data_mat(1,1:length), data_mat(5,1:length),g);
plot(data_mat(1,1:length), data_mat(6,1:length),r);
title(Dimensions)
legend(a,d1,d2);
xlabel(Distance z (mm));
ylabel(a,b (mm));
hold off
save asymmetricCPW.txt data_matrix -ASCII
%
*********************
geta function
*********************
function dimfunc = geta(a)
%function to iterate to determine dimension a
global dims
er = dims(1);
h = dims(2);
t = dims(3);
d1 = dims(4);
d2=dims(5);
Z0 = dims(6);
if abs(d1-d2)<1E-10
b=d1+d2+a
at=a+1.25
*
t/pi
*
(1+log(4
*
pi
*
a/t));
bt=b-1.25
*
t/pi
*
(1+log(4
*
pi
*
a/t));
k=a/b;
ka=sqrt(1-k2);
k1=sinh(pi
*
at/4/h)/sinh(pi
*
bt/4/h);
k1a=sqrt(1-k12);
eeff=1+(er-1)/2
*
dimfunc = 30
*
pi/sqrt(eeff)/kfunc(k,ka)-Z0;
else
alp=(d1
*
d2+ 0.5
*
a
*
(d1+d2)-sqrt(d1
*
d2
*
(a+d1)
*
(a+d2)))/((a/2)2
*
(d1-d2));
k1= a/2
*
(1+alp
*
(a/2+d1))/((a/2)+d1+alp
*
(a/2)2);
k1a=sqrt(1-k12);
WA= sinh(pi/4/h
*
a);
WB= sinh(pi/2/h
*
(a/2+d1));
WE=-sinh(pi/2/h
*
(a/2+d2));
alp1=(WB+WE)(-1)
*
(-1-WB
*
WE/WA2
-sqrt((WB2/WA2-1)
*
(WE2/WA2-1)));
k2=WA
*
(1+alpha1
*
WB)/(WB+alp1
*
WA2);
k2a=sqrt(1-k22);
eeff=1+(er-1)/2
*
kfunc(k2,k2a)/kfunc(k1,k1a);
dimfunc = 30
*
pi/sqrt(eeff)/kfunc(k1,k1a)-Z0;
end
end
% other functions are same as symmetric taper
%
*****************************************************
%output of the Asymmetric taper: asymmetric.txt file
(z) [Z] Beta [a] [d1] [d2]
0.00 50.00 78.46 2.60 0.69 0.69
0.60 51.66 77.84 2.57 0.72 0.79
1.20 53.36 77.29 2.54 0.74 0.90
1.80 55.11 76.81 2.51 0.77 1.01
2.40 56.90 76.40 2.49 0.80 1.12
3.00 58.74 76.04 2.45 0.82 1.23
3.60 60.63 75.73 2.42 0.85 1.35
4.20 62.57 75.47 2.39 0.88 1.47
4.80 64.57 75.25 2.36 0.91 1.59
5.40 66.62 75.07 2.32 0.95 1.72
6.00 68.74 74.91 2.29 0.98 1.85
6.60 70.91 74.78 2.25 1.01 1.99
7.20 73.16 74.66 2.21 1.05 2.13
7.79 75.47 74.56 2.18 1.08 2.27
8.39 77.85 74.48 2.14 1.12 2.42
8.99 80.30 74.40 2.10 1.16 2.57
9.59 82.82 74.33 2.05 1.20 2.73
10.19 85.43 74.26 2.01 1.24 2.89
10.79 88.11 74.19 1.96 1.28 3.06
11.39 90.87 74.13 1.92 1.32 3.23
11.99 93.72 74.07 1.87 1.36 3.40
12.59 96.66 74.01 1.82 1.41 3.59
13.19 99.68 73.96 1.77 1.46 3.77
13.79 102.80 73.90 1.72 1.50 3.97
14.39 106.01 73.85 1.67 1.55 4.17
14.99 109.32 73.80 1.61 1.60 4.37
15.59 112.74 73.76 1.55 1.66 4.58
16.19 116.25 73.72 1.50 1.71 4.80
16.79 119.88 73.69 1.44 1.77 5.03
17.39 123.61 73.66 1.37 1.82 5.26
17.99 127.46 73.65 1.31 1.88 5.50
18.59 131.43 73.64 1.24 1.94 5.74
19.19 135.52 73.65 1.17 2.01 6.00
19.79 139.74 73.67 1.10 2.07 6.26
20.39 144.09 73.71 1.03 2.14 6.53
20.99 148.59 73.77 0.96 2.21 6.81
21.59 153.22 73.86 0.88 2.28 7.10
22.19 158.01 73.98 0.80 2.35 7.39
22.78 162.95 74.14 0.72 2.43 7.70
23.38 168.06 74.35 0.63 2.51 8.02
23.98 173.34 74.62 0.54 2.59 8.35
24.58 178.81 74.98 0.45 2.67 8.69
25.18 184.48 75.46 0.36 2.76 9.04
25.78 190.37 76.14 0.26 2.85 9.40
26.38 196.50 77.19 0.16 2.95 9.78
%
******************************************************
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Wideband Balun PHD

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DESIGN AND IMPLEMENTATION OF WIDEBAND

BALUNS FOR ARCHIMEDEAN SPIRAL ANTENNAS

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