2012 International Conference on Electronics Computer Technology (ICECT 2012)

Design of Dual Band and Dual Polarised Square Shaped Microstrip Antenna
Amit Jayant Naik

Vishal Devidas Bharate

Anil B. Nandgaonkar

Dept. of E & TC Engineering

Dr. B. A. T. University
Raigad[M.S.], India
ursamitnaik@gmail.com

Dept. of E & TC Engineering

Dr. B. A. T. University
Raigad[M.S.], India
vishalbharate@gmail.com

Dept. of E & TC Engineering

Dr. B. A. T. University
Raigad[M.S.], India
abnandgaonkar@yahoo.com

greater than dimension of the patch, which gives same result

as that of infinite ground plane [1]. The design concentrates
on 2.6GHz frequency which is a 3G band requires
approximately 200MHz bandwidth. To achieve such a large
bandwidth, suspended Microstrip antenna concept is used.
The amount of air gap for suspended Microstrip antenna can
be found by following formula [4],

Abstract This paper concentrates the design of a dual

frequency and dual polarized microstrip antenna using single
coaxial feed. The frequency bands obtained are, UMTS-I
(1.92GHz - 2.17GHz) & UMTS-II/3G (2.5GHz - 2.69GHz). The
dual band square microstrip antenna is operating at 1.81GHz
& 2.6 GHz frequencies, with linear polarization at 1.81GHz &
circular polarization at 2.6GHz. The center square slot &
corner shorting pins helps in dual band & dual polarization
operation. To enhance the bandwidth at central frequency a
combination of suspended Microstrip antenna technique &
center slot technique is used.

g = 0.160 hr

So after substituting known parameters we get g equal to

15mm. But our basic aim focuses on design of a compact
MSA, so we restrict the height of antenna (g) above ground
plane to 3mm.
Now to achieve the same bandwidth we use another
broad-banding technique, in this technique square or circular
antennas are converted into square ring or circular ring [1].
A square slot of 16mm 16mm is added to enhance
bandwidth. Now we have achieved the required bandwidth
by combining the two techniques. After adding slot we are
getting the required bandwidth but the radiation pattern for
the antenna is not in broad sense. We are getting peak gain at
an angle 300. So after rotating the center slot by 450 we can
get a broadside radiation from antenna [2].
The radiation lobe achieved in broad side still suffers
from discontinuities due to unwanted radiation from some
antenna edges. To suppress unwanted radiation from antenna
a shorting pin of 1mm diameter on one of the corner is added.
To generate another frequency again a shorting pin at
diagonally opposite position to that of previous pin [3] is
added. To shift these two bands to their required center
frequency two corner square shaped slots are added. Four
rectangular slots at radiating edges help to reduce axial ratio
to achieve circular polarization. A feeding point is selected
with minimum return loss, and to obtain input impedance
closer to 50.
For fabrication of this antenna FR-4 substrate is used,
which is having a dielectric constant 4.4 with loss tangent of
0.02 and the substrate height is 1.6 mm.

Keywords- Dual band, microstrip antenna, patch, slot

antenna.

I.

INTRODUCTION

During these years from birth of Microstrip antenna since

1953, much research is going in miniaturization, bandwidth
enhancement, polarization purity & many more to improve it.
So that they become very popular due to light weight, low
profile, low cost, ease to analyze and fabricate.
In recent years much of the microstrip antenna
applications require dual band & dual polarization operation.
Same antenna is discussed in this paper with a single probe
feeding technique. For obtaining circular polarization square
patch is used. The design parameters for single element of
square patch antenna have been calculated using
transmission line model and then extended for the antenna
design, to obtain a dual band operation using the slot at the
center & shorting pins. To enhance the bandwidth at central
frequency suspended microstrip antenna technique is used
[4]. The antenna has been modeled, designed and simulated.
The simulation process has been done through Ansofts
HFSS 11.1v electromagnetic software which is based on
Finite Element Method (FEM). The simulated and measured
result for antenna have been analyzed for bandwidth, SParameter, axial ratio, impedance plot. The fabricated
antenna is tested on by Agilents network analyzerE5062A.
II. ANTENNA STRUCTURE AND DESIGN
As the aim of this paper is to achieve broad-band, dual
frequency as well as dual polarization in a single element
probe fed Microstrip antenna. A square shaped patch
structure helps in generating orthogonal modes of equal
magnitude, so circular polarization can be obtained quite
easily. By using transmission line model length and width for
antenna is calculated for centre frequency 2.6GHz. The
ground plane dimensions are six times of substrate thickness

978-1-4673-1850-1/12/$31.00 2012 IEEE

(1)

III.

RESULTS

The simulated & measured results are compared below.

A. Return Loss
The return loss for experimental & simulated can be seen
from Fig. 3 below. The return loss can be given by,

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2012 International Conference on Electronics Computer Technology (ICECT 2012)

IV.

1) Using simulated results: For center frequency(fr1)

2.61Ghz it is found to be -36.76dB & for center
frequency(fr2) 1.81Ghz it is found to be -28.02dB.
2) Using simulated results: Shift in bands is obtained
due suspended structure & uneven ground. Thus center
frequency (fr1) shift to 2.64GHz with return loss of -34.71dB
& center frequency (fr2) shifts to 1.83GHz with return loss
of -25.70dB.
The return loss bandwidth can be found for 10dB below
frequency response in graph. Using simulated results it is
found to be 16.09% & 14.92% for center frequencies 2.61
GHz & 1.81 GHz respectively. Using measured results
14.77% & 12.3% for center frequency 2.64 GHz & 1.83
GHz respectively. The experimental & simulated results
varied not much but in practice 225MHz & 390MHz
bandwidths for different frequencies can be obtained using
single feed MSA.
Results are quite satisfactory with slight shifts in center
frequencies for both the bands. Generally, the thickness of
ground plane is neglected in simulation results. But it affects
in experimental results. Also the ground is uneven & fragile,
because its thickness is very less & no supporting structure
is present, can be seen from fabricated antenna Fig. 2. The
antenna is suspended above ground plane, so for supporting
purpose three Teflon pins of 1mm are added which also
changes effective dielectric constant. We can see from Fig.
2, the shift in center frequencies of measured & simulated
results.

CONCLUSION

We use one technique for achieving dual frequency, and

one of circular polarization technique in microstrip antenna
& combine them. But the simulation results generated using
HFSS are not perfectly matched with experimental result,
due to the problem of uneven ground plane. Also combining
different technique together generates problem, such as for
achieving broad band centre slot is placed in patch but the
orthogonal feed location required for achieving circular
polarization is unable to achieve. So axial ratio bandwidth
achieved are not fulfilling the application requirement. Use
of shorting pins helps in achieving dual frequency operation
but it reduces gain of the antenna to a very low level. Corner
chopping helps in shifting the two generated bands to desired
position, simply by varying their dimensions. The slots
placed at radiating edges helps in reducing axial ratio for the
antenna. The suspended structure of antenna requires
supporting structure which increases the cost for antenna.
TABLE I.
Symbol

C. Frequency vs. Gain

The Gain of the antenna is found to be -0.85dB for
2.61GHz from graph (See Fig.4). The gain is found to be
low due to the use of two shorting pins at opposite corners
which suppresses modes & directly grounding the waves.
Much of the waves are directly grounded, less energy
getting radiated from antenna & thus gain reduces.

Description

Details

4.4

Dielectric material

Height of the substrate

fr1

Center frequency

2.6 GHz

fr2

Center frequency

1.81 GHz

Lg Wg

B. Vswr
The VSWR using simulation result is 1.08 & 1.03 for
center frequency 1.81GHz & 2.61GHz respectively. As the
bands shifted for new center frequency 1.83GHz &
2.64GHz the VSWR found to be 1.11 & 1.33 respectively.
See Fig. 3

PARAMETERS FOR DESIGN OF ANTENNA

Ground plane

1.6 mm

45 mm 45 mm

Width for patch

35.11 mm

Length for patch

35.11 mm

Height above ground plane

3 mm

Ls Ws

Center slot

16 mm 16 mm

Lss Wss

Slots at the edges

20 mm 2 mm

Lcs1 Wcs1

Corner slot 1

1 mm 1 mm

Lcs2 Wcs2

Corner slot 2

1.5 mm 1.5 mm

Shorting pin

Diameter = 1 mm,
Length = 4.6 mm

ACKNOWLEDGMENT
We like to thank Department of Electronics &
Telecommunication of Dr. Babasaheb Ambedkar
Technological University, Lonere for providing us necessary
support

D.

Axial ratio vs. Frequency

As the antenna design focuses on generating dual
polarization. We obtained a linear polarization at 1.81 GHz
with axial ratio of 17.61dB & circular polarization with axial
ratio of 1.4dB at 2.61GHz. See Fig. 5
The axial ratio bandwidth is found for 3dB below
frequency response from simulation result graph. The
bandwidth found to be 160MHz. In practical applications it
is admirable to have 3-6dB below frequency response. So for
6dB below frequency response, 340MHz axial ratio
bandwidth can be achieved.

REFERENCES
[1]
[2]

[3]

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G. Kumar and K. P. Ray, Broadband Microstrip Antennas, Artech

House, 1992.
V. P. Sarin, M. S. Nishamol, Gijo Augustin, P. Mohanan, C. K.
Aanandan, and K. Vasudevan, An Electromagnetically Coupled
Dual-Band Dual-Polarized Microstrip Antenna for WLAN
Applications, Microwave And Optical Technology Letters, Vol. 50,
No. 7, July 2008, pp.1867-1870.
J. S. Row and K.W. Lin, Low-Profile Design of Dual-Frequency and
Dual-Polarised Triangular Microstrip Antennas, IEEE 2004, Vol. 40
No. 3.

2012 International Conference on Electronics Computer Technology (ICECT 2012)

[4]

[5]

V. G. Kasbegoudar and K. G. Vinoy, Broadband Suspended

Microstrip Antenna for Circular Polrization, PIER 90, pp-353-368,
2009.
Ansofts HFSS 11.1v.

Figure 4. Simulation result for frequency vs. gain(dB)

Figure 1. Top view & side view for MSA from HFSS

Figure 2. Experimental & simulated results for VSWR

Figure 3. Simulation result for frequency vs. axial ratio(dB)

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