~

shape, which can not be implemented with an arbitrary number of scales and iterations. The truncation effect can also be related to the slight frequency shift and the worse matching of the upper band. The complete radiation patterns were measured in an anechoic chamber at the lowest VSWR points of the three upper bands (12.6, 6.4 and 3.3GHz). The main cuts phiv = O, 180, cp = 90, 270 are shown in Figs. 3 and 4 for the E, and E, component of the electrical field respectively. All patterns are normalised with respect to their maxima and are represented in a polar form with a 25dB dynamic range. Each cut presents a notable degree of similarity through the three bands, especially for the E, component which is the main component with an average of 30dB above E,.
lp=a,180

lp=90,270

RUMSEY, v.H.: Frequency independent antennas (Academic Press, New York, 1966) Analysis and design of the log-periodic. PhD Thesis, 5 CARREL, R.L.: Department of Electrical Engineering, University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign, USA, 1961 6 MANDELBROT, B.B.: The fractal geometry of nature (W.H. Freeman and Company, San Francisco, 1983) I PEITGEN, H.o., JURGENS, H., and SAUPE, D.: Chaos and fractals (Springer-Verlag, New York, 1992) 8 JAGGARD, D.L.: On fractal electrodynamics in KRITIKOS, H.N., and JAGGARD, D.L. (Eds.): Recent advances in electromagnetic theory (Springer-Verlag, London, 1990) 9 KIM, Y . , and JAGGARD, D.L.:The fractal random array, Proc IEEE, 1986, 74, (9), pp. 1278-1280 10 JAGGARD, D.L.,and SPIELMAN, T.: Triadic cantor target diffraction, Microw. Opt. Technol. Lett., 1992, 5 , (9), pp. 460-466 11 GOUTELARD, c.: Fractal theory of large arrays of lacunar antennas. Electromagnetic Wave Propagation Panel Symp. (AGARD-CP-528), 1992, pp. 35/1-15 12 Fractal and Multifractal antennas are patent pending

25dB

25dB

90

4
25dB 0

Frequency agile slot-fed patch antenna

90 f x 6 4 G H r

G. Le Ray, M. Himdi and J.P. Daniel

Indexing term: Patch antennas, Microstrip antennas

25dB

25dB

25dB

Fig. 4 Main cuts cp = 0 , I80 , cp = 90 , 270 of radiation pattern for EQcomponent

The authors present an original application of a slot-fed patch antenna. Voltage controlled tuning varactors are connected across the radiating edges of the patch antenna and the resonant frequency can be adjusted in a large frequency band (up to 1GHz) while the impedance matching remains good. Results based on the transmission line model are compared with measurements.
Introduction: Microstrip patch antennas possess many desirable

Cuts were measured at three upper bands: 12.6, 6.4, and 3.3GHz and where normalised with respect to their maxima These maxima are, on average, 30 dB below same cuts for E, component.

Conclusions: Experimental and computed results on a novel fractal multiband antenna have been reported. The fractal antenna has shown a notable degree of similarity at five bands, the same number of scales over which the fractal structure appears similar. The bands are also spaced by a log-period of two, the same spacing that relates the five scales on the fractal shape. Thus, it can be concluded that the geometrical self-similarity properties of the fractal structure have been translated into its electromagnetic behaviour, and therefore, it seems that other fractal [12] shapes might help in the design of multiband or frequency independent antennas.
Acknowledgments: The authors would like to thank P. Mayes from the Electromagnetics Laboratory of the University of Illinois for

features, including light weight, low cost and conformability, which make them suitable for a wide variety of applications at microwave frequency. Unfortunately, microstrip antennas have a 1 has shown very low bandwidth characteristic. Previous work [l, 2 that obtainkg a tunable bandwidth up to 30% by incorporating a varactor diode into the patch antenna fed by a coaxial is possible. In this Letter, we present a tunable slot-fed patch antenna (Fig. l), which keeps a good impedance matching for all the resonant frequencies ranging from 1.62 to 2.57GHz. patch varactor diod
\

plane
Er2

encouraging this work. They also thank L.L. Mila, A. Segui and X. Fernandez for contributions on the antenna measurements. This work has been financially supported by the Spanish Commission of Science and Technology under grant TIC-93-0055C03-03.
0 IEE 1996 I0 October I995 Electronics Letters Online No: 19960033 C. Puente, J. Romeu, R. Pous, X. Garcia and F. Benitez (Antenna, Microwave, Radar and Photonics Group, Signal Theory and Communications Department, Universitat PolitZcnica de Catalunya, Gran Capitd. s/n, MddulD3, 08071 Barcelona, Spain)

microstrip Iinefor DC bias Fig. 1 Slot fed patch antenna with varactors
Analysis: The slot-fed patch antenna has been analysed previously

References
PUENTE, c., and POUS, R.: Fractal design of multiband and low sidelobe arrays, IEEE Trans. Antennas Propag., 1994 2 MAYES, PE., DESCHAMPS, G.A., and PATTON, W.T : Backward-wave radiation from periodic structures and application to the design o f frequency-indepentent antennas, Proc. IRE, 1961, 49, pp. 962-963 3 DYSON, J.D.: The equiangular spiral antenna, IRE Trans, 1959, AP-7, pp. 181-187

[3] using the transmission line model. This model has been used here because it is well suited for implementation on CAD exlsting circuit software (HP MDS for example). Ths type of structure also offers the advantage that the radiating microstrip patch is separated from the feed line by the ground plane (Fig. 1). It is possible to bias the active components incorporated into the patch antenna without large disturbance on feed line. For this application, varactor diodes are connected across the radiating edges of

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the patch antenna and are biased via a thin microstrip line which

is connected to the patch at the mid-point where the electric field

is nul.
cy

T
Ls
121112/
0

Fig. 2 Aperture-coupled microstrip antenna

The aperture-coupled microstrip antenna is described in Fig. 2. The transmission line model of the patch loaded by varactors is presented in Fig. 3 including the microstrip line-slot transition. The diodes are silicon hyperabrupt tuning varactors (MA4ST563 type). This diode was chosen for its large capacitance ratio (from 2 to 40pF), which permits a large tunable band of the resonant frequency. The diode has been measured with an HP8510 network analyser and the equivalent circuit has been obtained through a de-embedding process with the HP MDS CAD progam.
varactor

-10

m U c
-

-20

-30

1708

1926

2143 frequency,GHz

2361

2 578

1213151

L + T E v $ J
Zpatch nl=La/b

varactor

Fig. 5 S W R of frequency agile slot fed patch against frequency (La = 45.5mm) for various varactor diode bias (0, 4, 8, 12, 16, 22 V)
a Measurements b Theory

Zin-

E3
0

n2 =AV/ vo

openstub

Pig. 3 Equivalent transmission line model of microstrip patch loaded by

varactors and microstrip line-slot transition

Simulations and results: The microstrip patch was designed to have a 2GHz resonant frequency. The dimensions and the characteristics of the structure are as follow: a = b = 47.7mm, x0 = ui2, yo = b/2, EYI = 2.2, t = 1.587mm, Wa = lmm, ~ r 2 = 2.55, h = 0.786mm, La = 14.4mm, W = 2.lmm, Ls = 23mm. The varactor diodes connected accross the edges of the patch antenna disturb the impedance Zpatch (with regard to Zpatch obtained for the patch alone). This disturbance can be cancelled with some adjustements of parameters to keep a VSWR < 2 for the structure, in the largest variation of the junction capacitance of the diode. For this application, the most important parameter is the length of the slot. Two cases with two different lengths of the centered slot are proposed and we obtained two large tunable bands (Fig. 4).

The second case is more interesting. The slot is considered to be long (La = 45.5mm) and for the open stub we have taken Ls = 4.5mm. Measurements give a 945MHz tunable band for a 0 to 22V variation of the bias polarisation of the diode. Simulations do not predict such a large tunable band of the resonant frequency, but the difference between measurements and theory does not exceed 8% for a 22V DC bias or 5% at for a O V DC bias. For a long slot, the transmission line model is not perfect in large frequency band but we obtain a good approximation of the results. Another interesting feature is the good matching which occurs at each resonant frequency. This property appears in Fig. 5 where the SWR is shown against frequency for various biases of the varactor. Other configurations with a non-centred slot have also been studied and have given interesting results which d l be published at a later date.

Conclusion: A technique for improving the operational bandwidth of a slot-coupled microstrip patch antenna has been described (the instantaneous bandwidth does not change). The choice of a long slot leads to -1 GHz tunable band around the 2GrHz resonant frequency of the structure alone. So for the operational bandwidth below 2GHz, we obtain also a size reduction of the patch antenna.

0 IEE 1996 Electronics Letters Online No: 19960043

25 October I995

G. Le Ray, M. Himdi and J.P. Daniel (Laboratoire Antennes et Rhseaux, URA CNRS 834, Universith de Rennes I , 35042 Rennes Cedex, France)

8 12 DC bias voltage

16

20
1273/41

References
1
BHARTIA, P.,

Fig. 4 Resonant frequency of structure against polarisation of the diodes

- -t- - TLM - -0- - measurements

and

BAHL, I.J.:

Frequency agile microstrip antenna,

Microw. J., 1982, pp. 67-70

In the first case, the slot is considered to be short (La = 18mm). The open stub length is Ls = 19mm. Theoreticaliy we calculated -600MHz tunable band and these results are in good agreement with measurements.

PURCHINE, M.P., ABERLE, J.T., and BIRTCHER, c.R.: ,4 tunable L-band circular microstrip patch antenna, Microw. J., 1993, pp. 80-88 3 HIMDI, M., DANIEL, J.P., and TERRET, c.: Transmission line analysis of aperture-coupled microstrip antenna, Electron. Lett., 1989, 25, (18), pp. 1229-1230

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