Design Of Microstrip Patch Antenna For 5G Applications

Chapter 2
ANTENNAS

In the 1890s, there were only a few antennas in the world. These rudimentary devices
were primarily a part of experiments that demonstrated the transmission of electromagnetic
waves. By World War II, antennas had become so ubiquitous that their use had transformed
the lives of the average person via radio and television reception. The number of antennas in
the United States was on the order of one per household, representing growth rivaling the
auto industry during the same period.

By the early 21st century, thanks in large part to mobile phones, the average person
now carries one or more antennas on them wherever they go (cell phones can have multiple
antennas, if GPS is used, for instance). This significant rate of growth is not likely to slow, as
wireless communication systems become a larger part of everyday life. In addition, the strong
growth in RFID devices suggests that the number of antennas in use may increase to one
antenna per object in the world (product, container, pet, banana, toy etc.). This number would
dwarf the number of antennas in use today. Hence, learning a little (or a large amount) about
of antennas couldn't hurt, and will contribute to one's overall understanding of the modern
world.

Types of Antenna’s and their History:

Heinrich Hertz developed a wireless communication system in which he forced an

electrical spark to occur in the gap of a dipole antenna. He used a loop antenna as a receiver,
and observed a similar disturbance. This was 1886. By 1901, Marconi was sending
information across the atlantic. For a transmit antenna, he used several vertical wires attached
to the ground. Across the Atlantic Ocean, the receive antenna was a 200 meter wire held up
by a kite.
In 1906, Columbia University had an Experimental Wireless Station where they used
a transmitting aerial cage. This was a cage made up of wires and suspended in the air,
resembling a cage.

A rough outline of some major antennas and their discovery/fabrication dates are listed:

1. Yagi-Uda Antenna, 1920s:

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 Design Of Microstrip Patch Antenna For 5G Applications

2. Horn antennas, 1939. Interesting, the early antenna literature discussed waveguides as
"hollow metal pipes":

3. Antenna Arrays, 1940s:

4. Parabolic Reflectors, late 1940s, early 1950s? :

5. Patch Antennas, 1970s:

6. PIFA, 1980s:

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 Design Of Microstrip Patch Antenna For 5G Applications

Current research on antennas involves met materials (materials that have engineered
dielectric and magnetic constants that can be simultaneously negative, allowing for
interesting properties like a negative index of refraction). Other research focuses on making
antennas smaller, particularly in communications for personal wireless communication
devices (e.g. cell phones). A lot of work is being performed on numerical modelling of
antennas, so that their properties can be predicted before they are built and tested.

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 Design Of Microstrip Patch Antenna For 5G Applications

Parameters of Antenna:
In order to describe the performance of an antenna, we use various, sometimes
interrelated, parameters.
• Radiation pattern, beam width
• Power
• Directivity, gain, aperture
• Radiation resistance

Radiation Pattern:
(Antenna Radiation Pattern). An antenna radiation pattern or antenna pattern is defined as a
mathematical function or a graphical representation of the radiation properties of the antenna
as a function of space coordinates.
• Defined for the far-field.
• As a function of directional coordinates.
• There can be field patterns (magnitude of the electric or magnetic field)
or power patterns (square of the magnitude of the electric or magnetic field).
• Often normalized with respect to their maximum value.
• The power pattern is usually plotted on a logarithmic scale or more commonly in decibels.

Radiation Pattern Lobes:

A radiation lobe is a portion of the radiation pattern bounded by regions of

relatively weak radiation intensity.
• Main lobe
• Minor lobes
• Side lobes
• Back lobes

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 Design Of Microstrip Patch Antenna For 5G Applications

Beam width:
• The beam width of an antenna is a very important figure of merit and often is used as a
trade-off between it and the side lobe level; that is, as the beam width decreases, the side lobe
increases and vice versa.
• 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.

(Half-Power Beam Width (HPBW)),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.
(First-Null Beam width (FNBW)), Angular separation between the first nulls of the pattern.

Directivity:
The ratio of the radiation intensity in a given direction from the antenna to the radiation
intensity averaged over all directions.

• The average radiation intensity: total power radiated by the antenna divided by 4π.

• Stated more simply, the directivity of a non isotropic source is equal to the ratio of its
radiation intensity in a given direction over that of an isotropic source.

Antenna Gain:
The parameter that measures the degree of directivity of antenna’s radial pattern is
known as gain. An antenna with a higher gain is more effective in its radiation pattern.
Antennas are designed in such a way that power raises in wanted direction and decreases in
unwanted directions.

G = (power radiated by an antenna)/ (power radiated by reference antenna)

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 Design Of Microstrip Patch Antenna For 5G Applications

Aperture:
This aperture is also known as the effective aperture of the antenna that actively
participate in transmission and reception of electromagnetic waves. The power received by
the antenna gets associated with collective area. This collected area of an antenna is known as
effective aperture.

Pr = Pd*A Watts ;A = Pr/Pd m2

Directivity and Bandwidth:
The directive of an antenna is defined as the measure of concentrated power radiation
in a particular direction. It may be considered as the capability of an antenna to direct
radiated power in a given direction. It can also be noted as the ratio of the radiation intensity
in a given direction to the average radiation intensity. Bandwidth is one of the desired
parameters to choose an antenna. It can be defined as the range of frequencies over which an
antenna can properly radiates energy and receives energy.
𝟏
𝐃= 𝟏 𝟐𝛑 𝛑
𝟒𝛑
∫𝟎
∫𝟎 |𝐅(𝛉, ∅)|𝟐 𝐬𝐢𝐧𝛉𝐝𝛉𝐝∅

Polarization:
An electromagnetic wave launched from an antenna may be polarized vertically and
horizontally. If the wave gets polarized in the vertical direction, then the E vector is vertical
and it requires a vertical antenna. If vector E is in horizontal way, it needs a horizontal
antenna to launch it. Sometimes, circular polarization is used, it is a combination of both
horizontal and vertical ways.

Effective Length:
The effective length is the parameter of antennas that characterizes the efficiency of
the antennas in transmitting and receiving electromagnetic waves. Effective length can be
defined for both transmitting and receiving antennas. The ratio of EMF at the receiver input
to the intensity of the electric field occurred on the antenna is known as receivers’ effective
length. The effective length of the transmitter can be defined as the length of the free space in
conductor, and current distribution across its length generates same field intensity in any
direction of radiation.

Effective Length = (Area under non-uniform current distrbution)/(Area under uniform

current distribution)

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 Design Of Microstrip Patch Antenna For 5G Applications

Polar diagram:
The most significant property of an antenna is its radiation pattern or polar
diagram. In case of a transmitting antenna, this is a plot that discusses about the strength of
the power field radiated by the antenna in various angular directions as shown in the plot
below. A plot can also be obtained for both vertical and horizontal planes – and, it is also
named as vertical and horizontal patterns, respectively

Antennas generally fall in one of two categories:

1. Omni directional or only weakly directional antennas which receive or radiate more or
less in all directions. These are employed when the relative position of the other
station is unknown or arbitrary. They are also used at lower frequencies where a
directional antenna would be too large, or simply to cut costs in applications where a
directional antenna isn't required.

2. Directional or beam antennas which are intended to preferentially radiate or receive in

a particular direction or directional pattern.

In common usage "Omni directional" usually refers to all horizontal directions,

typically with reduced performance in the direction of the sky or the ground (a
truly isotropic radiator is not even possible). A "directional" antenna usually is intended to
maximize its coupling to the electromagnetic field in the direction of the other station, or
sometimes to cover a particular sector such as a 120° horizontal fan pattern in the case of a
panel antenna at a cell site.

Both the vertical and dipole antennas are simple in construction and relatively
inexpensive. The dipole antenna, which is the basis for most antenna designs, is
a balanced component, with equal but opposite voltages and currents applied at its two
terminals through a balanced transmission line (or to a coaxial transmission line through a so-
called balun). The vertical antenna, on the other hand, is a monopole antenna. It is typically
connected to the inner conductor of a coaxial transmission line (or a matching network); the
shield of the transmission line is connected to ground. In this way, the ground (or any large
conductive surface) plays the role of the second conductor of a dipole, thereby forming
a complete circuit. Since monopole antennas rely on a conductive ground, a so-
called grounding structure may be employed to provide a better ground contact to the earth or
which itself acts as a ground plane to perform that function regardless of (or in absence of) an
actual contact with the earth.

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 Design Of Microstrip Patch Antenna For 5G Applications

Introduction of the Microstrip Antenna

Microstrip antenna is a printed type of antenna consisting of a dielectric substrate with
relative permittivity and permeability where sandwiched in between a ground plane and a
metallic patch. The concept of microstrip antenna was first proposed in 1953, twenty years
before the practical antennas were produced.

Since the first practical antennas were developed in early 1970's, interest in this kind of
antenna increase and in 1979 the first professional meeting on micro strip antennas was held
in New Mexico. The microstrip antenna is physically very simple and flat, these are two of
the reasons for the great interest in this type of antenna.

Microstrip antennas have several advantages compared to other bulky type of antennas.
Some of the main advantages of micro strip antennas are that it has low fabrication cost, its
lightweight, low volume, and low profile configurations that it can be made conformal, it can
be easily be mounted on rockets, missiles and satellites without major modifications and
arrays of these antennas can simply be produced .
However, micro strip antennas have some drawbacks including narrow bandwidth, low
power handling capability and low gain. But with technology advancement and extensive
research into this area these problems are being gradually overcome.
In many practical designs, the advantages of microstrip antennas far outweigh their
disadvantages. With continuing research and development it is expected that micro strip
antennas will replace conventional antennas for most applications. Some of the notable
applications for microstrip antennas are in the areas of mobile satellite

Communications, the Direct Broadcast Satellite (DBS) system and Global Positioning
System (GPS). Microstrip antennas also found useful in non-satellite based application such
as remote sensing and medical hyperthermia application.

General Description
In its simplest form, micro strip antenna is a dielectric substrate panel sandwiched
in between two conductors. The lower conductor is called ground plane and the upper
conductor is known as patch. Microstrip antenna is commonly used at frequencies from to
100 GHz and at frequencies below ultra high frequency, UHF micro strip patch become
exceptionally large. The radiating patch can be design in various shapes according to the
desired characteristics. Illustrated in Figure 1.1 is the simplest structure of a rectangular
microstrip patch antenna.

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Conducting Layers:
The common materials used for conducting surfaces are copper foil or copper foil plated
with corrosion resistant metals like gold, tin and nickel. These metals are the 3 main choice
because of their low resistivity, resistant to oxidation, solderable, and adhere well to
substrate.
An alternative to metal for conducting surface is to use conductive ink. It is easier to fabricate
but have three disadvantages. First, is that conductive inks cannot be soldered in the usual
way, to overcome this solder pastes are used. Secondly is oxidation, but the effect is
negligible since the oxide is also conductive. The third is the problem of silver ion migration.
Silver ions tend to migrate under humid conditions and this will cause a short across the
conductive ink lines.

Dielectric Substrate:
The first step in designing micro strip antenna is to choose the suitable
substrate. There are various types of substrate available in market that provides
considerable flexibility in the choice of a substrate for particular applications.
In most cases, considerations in substrate characteristics involved the
dielectric constant and loss tangent and their variation with temperature and
frequency, dimensional stability with processing, homogeneity and isotropicity.
In order to provide support and protection for the patch elements, the dielectric
substrate must be strong and able to endure high temperature during soldering
process and has high resistant towards chemicals that are used in fabrication
process.
The surface of the substrate has to be smooth to reduce losses and adhere
well to the metal used. Substrate thickness and permittivity determine the
electrical characteristics of the antenna. Thicker substrate will increase the
bandwidth but it will cause the surface waves to propagate and spurious
coupling will happen. This problem however, can be reduced or avoided by
using a suitably low permittivity substrate.
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 Design Of Microstrip Patch Antenna For 5G Applications

Different Shapes of Microstrip Patch Antenna

Microstrip Feeds:
Matching is usually required between the antenna and the feed line, because antenna
input impedances differ from customary 50 Ohm’s line impedance. An appropriately 6
selected port location will provide matching between the antenna and its feed line. And the
location of the feed line also affects the radiation characteristics. There are three common
techniques for exciting a particular microstrip antenna. These are coaxial probe, microstrip
line and aperture coupling.

The coaxial probe is the most popular technique and is illustrated in Figure. The
coaxial connector is attached to the ground plane and the coaxial center conductor extends
through the substrate and is attached to the radiating patch. For coaxial probe the location of
the feed is normally located at one third of the distance from the center of the patch to the
side. The advantages of this method are that the probe location can selectively excite
additional modes and it can be use with plated via for multi layer circuits.

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 Design Of Microstrip Patch Antenna For 5G Applications

In the second technique, micro strip line is connected directly to the radiating patch;
see Figure. The location of the feed line may affect a small shift in resonant frequency, due to
the change in coupling between the feed line and the antenna. This technique provide good
polarization however, it is very difficult to minimize the spurious radiation from the
microstrip line. Spurious radiation will increase side lobes on the radiating pattern.

Microstrip Line Feed

In the aperture coupling the feed line and the patch are on different sides of the
ground plane. A slot is cut in the ground plane to couple the electromagnetic to the radiating
patch, thus no via connectors needed. This technique is to avoid spurious radiation escapes
from the feed line and corrupt the side lobes or polarization of the antenna.

Aperture Coupling Feed

The upper substrate can be made with a lower permittivity to produce loosely bound
fringing fields, yielding better radiation. The lower substrate can be independently made with
a high value of permittivity for tightly coupled fields that don't produce spurious radiation.
The disadvantage of this method is increased difficulty in fabrication.

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 Design Of Microstrip Patch Antenna For 5G Applications

Proximity Coupled Feed

This type of feed technique is also called as the electromagnetic coupling scheme. As
shown in figure 1.5, two dielectric substrates are used such that the feed line is between the
two substrates and the radiating patch is on top of the upper substrate. The main advantage of
this feed technique is that it eliminates spurious feed radiation and provides very high
bandwidth of about 13%, due to increase in the electrical thickness of the microstrip patch
antenna. This scheme also provides choices between two different dielectric media, one for
the patch and one for the feed line to optimize the individual performances.

Proximity coupled feed

Microstrip Line Feeding:

Microstrip line feed is one of the easier methods to fabricate as it is a just conducting
strip connecting to the patch and therefore can be consider as extension of patch. It is simple
to model and easy to match by controlling the inset position. However the disadvantage of
this method is that as substrate thickness increases, surface wave and spurious feed radiation
increases which limit the bandwidth.
In this type of feed technique, a conducting strip is connected directly to the edge of the
microstrip patch as shown in Figure The conducting strip is smaller in width as compared to
the patch and this kind of feed arrangement has the advantage that the feed can be etched on
the same substrate to provide a planar structure

Microstrip Line Feeding

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 Design Of Microstrip Patch Antenna For 5G Applications

The purpose of the inset cut in the patch is to match the impedance of the feed line to
the patch without the need for any additional matching element as in figure

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 Design Of Microstrip Patch Antenna For 5G Applications

𝑊 1 ℎ 1
𝐺1 = [1 − (𝑘 0 ℎ )2 ] <
120𝜆0 24 𝜆0 10

𝑊 ℎ 1
𝐵1 = [1 − 0.636 In(𝑘𝑜 ℎ)] <
120𝜆0 𝜆0 10

𝑘0 𝑊 2
1 𝜋 sin ( cos𝜃)
2
𝐺12 = ∫ [ ] J0 (𝑘0 𝐿 sin𝜃)sin3 𝜃 𝑑𝜃
120𝜋 2 0 cos𝜃

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