I SSN: 2277 9043

I nternational J ournal of Advanced Research in Computer Science and Electronics Engineering (I J ARCSEE)
Volume 1, I ssue 10, December 2012

82
All Rights Reserved 2012 IJARCSEE


AbstractThe advantages of microstrip antennas have made
them a perfect choice for use in the wireless local area network
(WLAN) applications. Though bound by certain disadvantages,
Microstrip patch antennas can be tailored to be used in the new
high speed broadband WLAN systems. This paper concentrates
on design ofmicrostrip patch antennas for the 2.4 GHz ISM
band. The aim of this paper is to present, a coaxial feed compact
rectangular antenna with slots, with linear polarization for
multibandband operation.A rectangular antenna is loaded with
a square slots and U-slot to obtain multiband band operation.
The resulted antenna can be simulated using IE3D software
which uses a numerical technique called method of moments.
By properly selecting the dimensions of the slots, a four band
resonance operation of the antenna at 2.23 GHz, 4.1GHz.
4.9GHz and 5.3GHz are achieved. The coaxial feed for this
rectangular patch antenna is placed along the x-axis for 50
ohms impedance matching. All the four resonant bands have
moderate bandwidth, acceptable radiation characteristics and
efficiency. Different parameters of antenna like return loss,
efficiency, 2 dimensional and 3 dimensional radiation patterns
are simulated using IE3D software.

I ndex Terms Antenna, linear Polarization, Dual band,
IE3D, Linear Polarization, Microstrip, Multiband, Probe feed,
Rectangular, Slots.

I. INTRODUCTION
Thispaper concentrates on study of Microstrip patch
antenna, types of polarization, different methods to obtain
dual band operation and multiband operation and types of
feeds used for feeding microstrip patch.
The Microstrip antenna has advantages such as low cost,
lightweightand portability. To overcome its main
disadvantage of narrow bandwidth, several methods have
been proposed to enhance bandwidth such as loading
Microstrip antenna with different types of slots e.g.:- U-slot,
C-slot, L-slotetc. [1]-[6] or by feeding the Microstrip patch
with different types of feed [7].
A patch antenna basically consists of a rectangular patch
whose length (L) and Width (W) of the patch is calculated by
design equations. The patch is usually made of copper.
In this design we are concentrating on rectangular patch
antenna, however the patch antenna can be designed for any
shape depending on their respective equations based on
circular patch, triangular patch, etc. The patch antenna can be
fed by various types of feed, such as co-axial probe feed,
Microstrip feed, inset feed, proximity feed etc., but here we
are using probe feed for feeding rectangular microstrip patch


antenna, as it is having an advantages of placing probe feed in
any location of patch[7].
A Microstrip patch antenna can work in linear polarization
and circular polarization mode, depending upon where the
location of feed was placed[7][8]. Here we are using linear
polarization for achieving multiband operation.
A single feed, linearly polarized, rectangular Microstrip
antenna have been discussed in this paper for multi band
operation by loading a square slots and U-slot in the patch.
II. PROCEDURE FOR ANTENNA DESIGN
A. Design Equations
The geometry of the multi band linearly polarized antenna is
shown in Fig1. It consists of rectangular patch with
dimensions (L X W). The rectangular patch is separated from
ground plane with a FR4 substrate ( =4.8) of thickness
h=1.56 mm.



Fig1. Geometry of proposed antenna

The Width (W) of the Microstrip patch is found by using the
equation (1).
=

2
(1)

Where, c is the velocity of light.
f is the designed frequency in GHz.
is the dielectric constant of the material.


The Length (L) of the Microstrip patch is calculated by the
equation(2).
=

2
2 (2)

Design of Multiband Microstrip Antenna
Nazahat Jahan Balur, Sardar Patel Institute of Technology, Mumbai University, Mumbai, India.
Prof. Sukanya Kulkarni, Sardar Patel Institute of Technology, Mumbai University, Mumbai,
India.

I SSN: 2277 9043
I nternational J ournal of Advanced Research in Computer Science and Electronics Engineering (I J ARCSEE)
Volume 1, I ssue 10, December 2012

83
All Rights Reserved 2012 IJARCSEE


Where, eff is the effective dielectric constant.
L is the actual patch length and l is the extension
length and can be calculated from equation (3).
=
+0.3
0.258

(

+0.264)
(

+0.8)
(3)

Where, h is the height of the dielectric substrate which is
equal to 1.56mm.
=
+1
2
+
1
2

1
( 1+
10

)
(4)
B. Design Parameters and simulation
A substrate of thickness 1.56mm, width and length of the
patch as 38mm and 29mm respectivelywere considered based
on the designdimensions. The operating frequency of the
proposed antenna is 2.4GHz. In this work, co-axial or probe
feed technique is used as its main advantage is that, the feed
can be placed at any place in the patch to match its input
impedance (usually 50ohms). A patch with a single coaxial
feed was resonating at 2.23GHz with moderate return loss
and narrow bandwidth; the square slots have been loaded in
the patch to make the return loss more negative for perfect
transmission with least reflection of the signals. The slots
introduces capacitive effect which nullifies the inductive
effect of the probe, this increases return loss and bandwidth.
The U- slot in the patch adds the multi resonant frequency so
that the antenna operates in more than two frequencies; hence
a multiband operation is achieved. The square slot at the top
corners makes the return loss more negative of the bands
other than 2.23GHz band. IE3D software is used to model
antenna and plot return loss, VSWR, radiation pattern, smith
chart and various other pattern.IE3D divides the antenna
geometry into meshbased on method of movements.

C. Feed Point Location
A coaxial probe type feed is used in this design. The center of
the patch is taken as the origin and the feed point location is
given by the co-ordinates (X, Y) from the origin. The feed
point must be located at that point on the patch, where the
input impedance is 50 ohms for the resonant frequency. A
trial and error method is used to locate the feed point. The
return loss is compared for different locations of the feed
point and the feed point is selected where the return loss is
most negative and impedance match of 50ohms is obtained
with +/- 5% error.
III. RESULTS OBTAINED
The Square slot microstrip patch antenna designed on
Electro Magnetic simulator software IE3D and after
simulation reflection coefficient S
11
is obtained. We have
design operating frequency for antenna as 2.4GHz, but after
simulation resonance frequency shifted at 2.23GHz, with
return loss of 30dB.
Return loss is a parameter which indicates the amount of
power that is lost to the load and does not return as a
reflection. Hence the return loss is a parameter to indicate
how well the matching between the transmitter and antenna
has taken place, indicated as S
11
of an antenna. For optimum
working return loss graph must show a dip at the operating
frequency and have a minimum dB value at this frequency.
Fig 2 shows the return loss versus frequency graph. It is
seen that the antenna is operating in 4bands that is at
2.23GHz, 4.1GHz, 4.9GHz and 5.3GHz which has a return
loss of -30dB, -21.4dB, -20.33dB and -16.99dB respectively.

Fig 2. Return loss vs. frequency in GHz

The characteristic impedance is an important parameter for
obtaining resonance by matching the feed to 50 ohms of
antenna. As the frequency increases the fields are more
confined to the substrate which decreases effective width and
hence characteristic impedance decreases. For the
fundamental mode TM
10
mode, since the voltage is maximum
and current is minimum at the edges the input impedance of
the rectangular Microstrip antenna varies from zero value at
its center to the maximum value at the radiating edges. To
obtain impedance matching with the co-axial feed, the feed
point should be placed where the input impedance of the
antenna matches the characteristic impedance of the feed
line. Fig 3 shows the impedance values with respect to the
frequency at all the four resonating bands.

Fig3. Real value of impedance vs. frequency in GHz

This antenna is having an impedance value of nearly equal
to 50 ohms with +/- 5% error in the three bands.

I SSN: 2277 9043
I nternational J ournal of Advanced Research in Computer Science and Electronics Engineering (I J ARCSEE)
Volume 1, I ssue 10, December 2012

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The Voltage Standing Wave Ratio (VSWR) ratio also
indicates the impedance matching between load and the feed
line. VSWR should be equal to 1 ideally but practically it
should be less than 1.5 for good operation of antenna. Fig 4
shows the graph of VSWR with respect to the frequency for
all the four resonating bands.



Fig 4. VSWR vs frequency graph

The designed antenna operates in 4 bands, the bandwidth
of the each band can be found at the point the VSWR is below
1.5 or it can also be found from the return loss graph where
the return loss is below -9.8db. Here we have found the
bandwidth of all the bands i.e., 2.233 GHz, 4.1GHz, 4.9GHz
and 5.3GHz as 48.64MHz, 48.4MHz, 68.4MHz and
50.8MHz respectively.

The one more antenna parameter is its radiation pattern,
which is a graphical representation of radiation properties of
the antenna as the function of space co-ordinates [8].

Fig5 shows the radiation pattern of antenna at 2.23GHz,
Fig 6 shows radiation pattern at 4.1GHz, Fig 7 shows
radiation pattern at 4.7GHz and Fig 8 shows radiation pattern
at 5.3GHz.















Fig5. Radiation pattern at 2.23GHz




Fig6. Radiation pattern at 4.1GHz




Fig7. Radiation pattern at 4.9GHz




I SSN: 2277 9043
I nternational J ournal of Advanced Research in Computer Science and Electronics Engineering (I J ARCSEE)
Volume 1, I ssue 10, December 2012

85
All Rights Reserved 2012 IJARCSEE




Fig8. Radiation pattern at 5.3GHz.

Its seen from all radiation patterns that the pattern at 2.23
GHz has no side lobes, all the radiation is in main beam
direction, hence it is having more negative return loss and
good VSWR compare to other resonating bands. Since the
other resonating bands have more side lobes, less radiation is
in the main beam direction and hence its return loss is less
negative.
Radiation pattern can also be viewed in two dimension
which is shown in fig 9.


Fig9. Two dimensional radiation patterns for E-total at 0
0

and 90
0


Another important parameter of the antenna is its
efficiency;the antenna efficiency and the radiation efficiency.
Radiation efficiency describes how effectively radiation is
taking place in desired direction, and antenna efficiency
describes how effectively the proposed antenna radiates. Fig
10 shows the antenna efficiency and radiation efficiency of
the proposed antenna.


Fig 10. Antenna efficiency and radiation efficiency vs.
frequency.

When the simulation of the antenna has taken place using
IE3D software, at each resonant frequency we get the
distribution of current. Fig 11shows the current distribution
of the proposed antenna at 2.23GHz.




Fig11. Current distribution at 2.23GHz.

IV. CONCLUSION
The multiple slots loaded rectangular microstrip antenna
with multiplefrequencieswith moderate bandwidth with
linear polarization have been simulated and studied which
can be implemented for WLAN applications. The results of
the rectangular patch antenna i.e. the return loss, VSWR plot,
antenna efficiency, radiation efficiency shows effectiveness
of the design with the moderate gain.The simple design
presented here can be easily implemented using coax-feed
microstrip antennas to radiate in a good multi band mode.
Increase in bandwidth in all bands can be achieved by
varying substrate thickness, length and width of the slots.
Also by placing co-axial feed diagonally, circularly polarized
multiband antenna can be achieved which is more
I SSN: 2277 9043
I nternational J ournal of Advanced Research in Computer Science and Electronics Engineering (I J ARCSEE)
Volume 1, I ssue 10, December 2012

86
All Rights Reserved 2012 IJARCSEE

advantageous.
ACKNOWLEDGMENT

I would like to extend my gratitude and my sincere thanks to
my head of department Prof. Y.S. Rao, for providing me
with best facilities in the Department and his timely
suggestions.I sincerely thank my guide Prof. Sukanya
Kulkarni, for her exemplary guidance and
encouragement.Finally I extend my special thanks to
Ashfaque Anees for his constant support during my research
work.


REFERENCES

[1] Harshvardhan Tiwari and M.V.Kartikeyan, Design Studies of Stacked
U-Slot Microstrip Patch Antenna for Dual Band operation,35
th

international conference on infrared millimeter and terahertz
waves.2010
[2] Vedaprabhu and K.J. Vinoy. A Double U-slot Patch Antenna with
Dual Wideband Characteristic, A national conference on
communication. 2010.
[3] Tran Minh Tuan.Design of Dual-band Microstrip Monopole Antenna
for 3G mobile handset, Proceedings in international conference on
communications and electronics, 2010.
[4] Dinesh Yadav. L Slotted Rectangular Microstrip Patch Antenna. An
International Conference on Communication Systems and Network
Technologies. 2011
[5] Ramesh garg, Prakash bharatia. Microstrip antenna design
handbook. Artech House Boston London.2001
[6] Vinod K. Singh, Zakir Ali, Dr Shahanaz Ayub :" Design of Compact
Rectangular Slot Micro strip Antenna for Mobile Communication",
Global Journal of Researches in Engineering,52 Vol. 10 Issue 7 (Ver
1.0), December 2010
[7] K.P.Ray and Girish Kumar, Broadband Microstrip Antennas, Artech
House Antennas and Propagation Library. 2003.
[8] Balanis, Antenna Theory Analysis and Design, John Wiley and sons,
Inc, 2
nd
edition.






Nazahat Jahan Balur
BE (Electronics and Communication),ME (EXTC)-pursuing
Have presented and published a paper entitled Design of Compact
Rectangular Antenna with Square Slots, at ICWET conference proceedings,
2012.
Achievements: -Won academic excellence awards throughout BE and ME
courses.




Prof. Sukanya Kulkarniisan Associate Prof in Electronics and Telecomm
Dept. in S.P.I.T, Mumbai. She is presently pursuing her Ph.D. in
Wireless Communication. She has a total teaching experience of 20
yearsand has presented five papers in various international and
national conferences. Her areas of interest include digital
communication,wireless and mobile communication.