International Journal of Electrical and Electronics Engineering Research (IJEEER) ISSN 2250-155X Vol.

3, Issue 1, Mar 2013, 141-146 TJPRC Pvt. Ltd.

DESIGN OF COMPACT DUAL-FREQUENCY MICROSTRIP ANTENNA FOR GSM HANDSETS

RAHUL T. DAHATONDE1 & SHANKAR B. DEOSARKAR2
1

Ph. D. Research Scholar, Department of E & TC, Dr. Babasaheb Ambedkar Technological University, Lonere, Raigad, India

Professor, Department of E & TC, Dr. Babasaheb Ambedkar, Technological University, Lonere, Raigad, India

ABSTRACT
In this paper, a dual-frequency, compact microstrip antenna, suitable for the GSM-900/1800 (890-960 MHz & 1710-1880 MHz) handset, is proposed. The proposed MSA consists of two separate resonant elements controlling the lower and upper resonant frequencies. These two resonant elements are integrated with each other using a single feed and a shorting pin to maintain the compact size. Since there are two separate elements governing both the frequencies, dimensions of each element, position of feed, as well as position and dimensions of shorting pin, give lot of freedom for tuning the resonant frequencies, input impedance and other performance parameters of MSA. The performance of proposed MSA is theoretically analyzed using MoM based software IE3D and verified experimentally. It was found that the theoretical results are matching fairly well with the measured results.

KEYWORDS: Mobile Communication, Dual Frequency Antennas, Compact Size, Shorting Pin INTRODUCTION
With emergence of multi-band communication applications, such as global systems for the mobile communications (GSM; 890-960 MHz), the personal communication systems (PCS; 1850-1990 MHz) and universal mobile telecommunication systems (UMTS; 1920-2170 MHz), etc., compact and multi-band antennas have been in demand. Microstrip antennas, in addition to their inherent advantages, such as low profile, light weight, low cost, ease of fabrication, and integration with RF devices, etc. [1], can offer superior multi-band performance. Therefore, multi-band MSAs with compact size and single feed are very popular in these communication systems. The dual-frequency operation of MSA is generally achieved by means of reactive-loading antenna or using multiple radiating elements, each supporting strong currents and radiation at its resonance. Due to use of multiple resonant elements, often, size of MSA becomes large, making it unsuitable for mounting in handheld transceivers. Therefore, lots of techniques are proposed in literature [27], to reduce size of MSA. The compact size of MSA is generally achieved by loading antenna in various forms such as, (a) modifying shape of radiating patch; (b) use of high dielectric constant substrate or superstrate; (c) use of shorting-pins; and (d) a combination of any of above techniques [810]. However, each of these techniques has their own advantages and disadvantages. Modification of the radiating patch shapes is the easiest one and also allows considerable size reduction; but it actually causes removal of radiating patch area reducing gain and affecting radiation pattern. Use of high dielectric constant substrates also reduces size of antenna, but it excites surface waves in antennas and increase losses within the substrate, resulting in narrow bandwidth and poor radiation efficiency. Comparatively, use of shorting-pins is a more efficient size reduction technique.

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In [7], the shorting-pins were modeled and analyzed as short pieces of transmission lines with series inductance and shunt capacitance. In [11] a dual band MSA with PIFA is proposed for the cellular bands GSM900/1800 using only one matching network. The network was synthesized using the Simplified Real Frequency Technique, which yields an easy to implement circuit topology and realizable component values. In this paper, a MSA suitable for GSM-900/1800 (890-960 MHz & 1710-1880 MHz), handset with dualfrequency operation and compact size is proposed. To obtain the dual-frequency operation, MSA is designed to have two separate resonant elements controlling the lower and upper resonant frequencies, integrated with each other using a single feed and a shorting pin to maintain the compact size. The performance of proposed MSA is theoretically analyzed using MoM based software IE3D [12] and verified experimentally.

DESIGN OF MSA
Design of most of the dual-frequency MSAs published in the literature is generally based on the trial and error method. Due to this, controlling operating frequencies is very difficult. In this paper, there are two separate resonating elements controlling the lower and upper band frequencies. These two resonators are integrated together with a single feed and a shorting pin, yielding a compact MSA. Since there are two separate radiating elements governing both the frequencies, there is lot of freedom for adjusting the resonant frequencies, input impedance and other performance parameters of MSA by controlling the dimensions of each radiating element, position of feed, as well as position and dimensions of shorting pin [13]. For any MSA to be effective radiator, in the fundamental TM10 mode, its length should be slightly less than 2 , where is the wavelength in the dielectric medium. Here, = 0
eff where 0 is the free-space wavelength and eff is

the effective dielectric constant of the patch. However, at 900 MHz, MSA even with 4 length will be too large to be used for applications such as GSM transceivers. To overcome this, a short-circuited resonator operating at single frequency can be used. As shown in Fig. 1-a, the proposed dual-frequency MSA consists of two resonating elements, the first inverted-L shaped resonator (Fig. 1-b) operates at lower frequency of 900 MHz and the other L-shaped resonator (Fig. 1-c) operates at upper frequency of 1800 MHz. The dimensions of these two radiators (in mm) are as given below: l1 18 l2 28 W1 4 W2 10 l3 6 l4 17.5 W3 4 W4 10

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In order to verify their performance, these two resonant elements shown in Fig. 1-b and 1-c were first simulated separately. Then these two resonators were combined with each other such that they use the same feed point and the shorting pin to get a MSA shown in Fig. 1-a. This MSA, was fed by a 50 coaxial feed line located 1.8mm from the For all

shorting pin having radius of 0.5mm and was analyzed using Zelands MoM based software IE3D [12]. simulations, the FR4 substrate with dielectric constant of 4.47 and thickness of 1.59mm was considered.

Figure 3a: Return Loss Vs Frequency for the Inverted L-Shaped Radiator (Simulated)

Figure 3b: Return Loss Vs Frequency for the L-Shaped Radiator (Simulated)

The return loss Vs frequency curves shown in Fig. 2-a and -b, for the inverted L-shaped radiator in Fig. 1 (b), and L-shaped radiator in Fig. 1 (c) show that they resonate at lower frequency of 900 MHz and upper frequency of 1800 MHz, respectively. The return loss Vs frequency curve shown in Fig. 3-a indicates that the MSA obtained by combing both the elements, exhibits dual-frequency behavior. The first resonance occurs at 900 MHz and the second resonance occurs at 1800 MHz. The return loss is 19.53 dB and 19.50 dB, respectively at both the resonances. The VSWR (Fig. 3-b) is 1.1 and 1.2, respectively at both the resonances. For both the frequency bands, VSWR is almost 1, which shows close to perfect matching of antenna with the feed line.

Figure 3a: Return Loss Vs Frequency for Dual-Frequency MSA (Simulated)

Figure 3b: VSWR Vs Frequency for Dual-Frequency MSA (Simulated)

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From Smith Chart obtained using software IE3D, the simulated values of input impedance at both the resonances of this MSA were found to be 45.34 and 55.47 , respectively.

EXPERIMENTAL VERIFICATION
In order to experimentally verify the performance of this dual-frequency MSA, it was fabricated on FR4 substrate, as shown in Fig. 4. This fabricated MSA was tested on Agilent Marconi Scalar Network Analyzer 6204 available at Dr. Babasaheb Ambedkar Technological University, Lonere, Maharashtra.

Figure 4: Photograph of Fabricated Dual-Frequency MSA

Fig. 5-a shows measured values of return loss Vs frequency for this MSA. It can be seen that the fabricated MSA resonates at two different frequencies. The first resonance occurs at 900.88 MHz and the second resonance occurs at 1836.42 MHz. The return loss at these two resonances is 16.318 dB and 17.548 dB, respectively. Figure 5-b, shows the measured values of VSWR Vs frequency for this dual-frequency MSA. The VSWR is 1.41 and 1.322 at the first and second resonances, respectively.

Figure 5a: Return Loss Vs Frequency of Dual-Frequency MSA (Measured)

Figure 5b: VSWR Vs Frequency of Dual-Frequency MSA (Measured)

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The value of input impedance at both the resonances of this dual-frequency MSA was measured to be 43.37

and

59.87 , respectively from the Smith Chart shown in Figure 5-c. This shows MSA is closely matched with the feed line at both the resonances.

Figure 5c: Smith Chart of Dual-Frequency MSA (Measured)

Table 1 summarizes simulated and measured values of various performance parameters for this MSA. It can be observed that the measured values of resonant frequencies and corresponding values of return loss and VSWR at both the resonances are very close to the simulated values. The slight variation in measured values and simulated values summarized in Table 1 is due to practical constraints during fabrication of MSA. Table 1: Summary of Simulated and Measured Values of Various Parameters of MSA Resonant Frequency Return Loss (dB) VSWR Input Impedance ( ) Dual(MHz) Frequency MSA Simulated Measured Simulated Measured Simulated Measured Simulated Measured First Resonance Second Resonance 900 1800 900.88 1836.42 -19.53 -19.50 -16.31 -17.54 1.1 1.2 1.41 1.32 45.34 55.47 43.37 59.87

RESULTS AND DISCUSSIONS

The input impedance and other performance parameters of MSA can be adjusted by varying the location of feed point, as well as location and dimensions of shorting pin. Therefore, location of the feed point, shorting pin and the spacing between them was obtained by performing exhaustive simulation runs. It was observed that, the matching of MSA with feed line depends on relative distance between feed point and shorting pin. The location of shorting pin also affects the mutual coupling between two resonators. The loading effect of these resonators on each other can be minimized by placing the shorting pin at the edge of both elements. The resonant frequencies can be adjusted by varying length and width of each resonating element. The proposed MSA was found to have narrow bandwidth (BW), typically 1% to 2% at both the resonances. This is due to use of single-layer substrate. The BW could have been increased using multiple-layer substrate, however, it will also increase weight, dielectric loss, surface wave loss, and extraneous radiations from the probe feed. Also there is a trade-off between size of MSA and its BW.

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CONCLUSIONS
In this paper, a MSA suitable for GSM-900/1800 (890-960 MHz & 1710-1880 MHz), handset with dualfrequency operation and compact size is proposed. To obtain the dual-frequency operation, MSA is designed to have two separate resonant elements controlling the lower and upper resonant frequencies, integrated with each other using a single feed and a shorting pin to maintain the compact size. The performance of proposed MSA is theoretically analyzed using MoM based software IE3D and verified experimentally. It was found that the theoretical results are matching fairly well with the measured results.

REFERENCES
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