PIERS Proceedings, Xian, China, March 2226, 2010

862

A Broadband Shorted-patch Antenna for DCS/PCS/UMTS

Application
Dongya Shen1, 2 , Jie Xu1 , Yanni Cui1 , Xiupu Zhang3 , and Ke Wu4
1

School of Information Science and Engineering, Yunnan University, Kunming, China

2
State Key Lab of Millimeter Waves, Nanjing, China
3
Department of Electrical Engineering, Concordia University, Canada
4
Department of Electrical Engineering, Montreal University, Canada

Abstract A broadband shorted-patch antenna suitable for DCS (17101880 MHz), PCS
(18501990 MHz) and UMTS (19202170 MHz) application is presented. The antenna was fed
by an aperture-coupled feed with an H-shaped coupling slot on the ground. The antenna has
an impedance bandwidth (VSWR < 2) from 1700 MHz to 2200 MHz. Good broadside radiation characteristics of the proposed antenna at 1800 MHz, 1900 MHz and 2050 MHz have been
observed.
1. INTRODUCTION

Broadband probe feed antennas with a thick air substrate could have a wider impedance bandwidth.
In order to reduce the size of broadband antennas, several designs of shorted-patch antennas with an
air or foam substrate excited by a probe feed, an L-probe proximity feed, a coplanar waveguide feed,
have been demonstrated [13]. These shorted-patch antennas could operate at quarter-wavelength
resonant, and thus have a smaller size compared with conventional half-wavelength antennas. In [4],
an aperture coupled shorted-patch antenna suitable for DCS/PCS application has been presented
by Wong, and broadband operation has been achieved by cutting an H-shaped slot on the ground.
In this paper a broadband shorted-patch antenna with an H-shaped aperture coupling feed has been
presented. The width, length and height of the antenna is 40 mm, 23.5 mm and 10 mm respectively.
The proposed antenna could well cover the frequency band from 1700 MHz to 2200 MHz and is
suitable for DCS, PCS and UMTS application. This antenna has a relatively small size, and is
suitable for practical application.
2. ANTENNA CONFIGURATION AND DESIGN

The geometry of the proposed antenna is shown in Fig. 1(a), and all the variables are illustrated in
Figs. 1(b) and 1(c). The radiation patch is a rectangular patch with length L and width W , and it
is shorted to the ground by a pair of shorting plates. Thus, this antenna works as a quarter-wave
antenna. The width of the shorting plates is Ws , which is important in achieving good impedance
matching. The substrate of the patch is air, so the cost and weight is reduced. An H-shaped
aperture is cut on the ground in order to strengthen the coupling of the patch and the microstrip
feed line. Also, an H-shaped aperture could greatly broaden the impedance bandwidth. On the
other side of the ground, a 50 microstrip feed line with FR4 substrate is used to feed the antenna.
The thickness and permittivity of the substrate are 0.8 mm and 4.4 respectively. The H-shaped
aperture was cut centered below the patch. The center arm of the H-shaped slot has a width W a2
and a length W1. The upper (closer to the shorting plates) and lower sections of the two side arms
have lengths S1 and S2 respectively, and the two side arms have the same width W a1 . The energy
from the microstrip feed line on the other side of the ground could efficiently coupled to the patch
through the H-shaped slot. By tuning W a1 , W a2 , S1 , S2 and W1 , good impedance matching could
be achieved. Ws and h are also important in achieving good impedance matching. The value of
the variables are optimized using HFSS and CST. And they are given below:
L = 23.5 mm, W = 40 mm, W1 = 20 mm, W a1 = 1 mm, W a2 = 2 mm, Ws = 11 mm, S1 =
10 mm, S2 = 8.1 mm, T = 5.8 mm, h = 10 mm.
3. RETURN LOSS

The proposed antenna has been simulated and optimized using HFSS and CST, and the results agree
well. The return loss is shown in Fig. 2. This antenna could well cover a wide frequency bandwidth
from 1700 MHz to 2200 MHz (VSWR < 2), covering some frequency bands used most frequently,
such as DCS (1710 MHz1880 MHz), PCS (18501990 MHz) and UMTS (19202170 MHz). So it

Progress In Electromagnetics Research Symposium Proceedings, Xian, China, March 2226, 2010

(a)

863

(b)

(c)

Figure 1: Geometry of the proposed antenna. (a) Three dimensional view. (b) Three dimensional view with
variables. (c) Top view with variables.

Figure 2: Simulated return loss of the proposed antenna.

could be used in 2G and 3G mobile communication networks. Because of the use of an H-shaped
coupling slot, two resonant modes could be excited to broaden the impedance bandwidth, which is
25.6% compared with the center frequency 1950 MHz.
4. RADIATION PATTERNS

The three dimensional radiation patterns of the proposed antenna at 1795 MHz, 1920 MHz and
2045 MHz are illustrated in Fig. 3.
The two dimensional radiation patterns at 1795 MHz, 1920 MHz and 2045 MHz are illustrated
in Fig. 4.
It is observed in Fig. 3 and Fig. 4 that the radiation patterns remain stable at 1795 MHz,
1920 MHz and 2045 MHz. And broadside radiation patterns could be observed.

PIERS Proceedings, Xian, China, March 2226, 2010

864

(a)

(b)

(c)

Figure 3: Three dimensional polar plot of the radiation patterns. (a) 1795 MHz. (b) 1920 MHz. (c) 2045 MHz.

XOZ Plane

YOZ Plane

(a)

XOZ Plane

YOZ Plane

(b)

XOZ Plane

YOZ Plane

(c)

Figure 4: Radiation patterns of the proposed antenna at different frequencies. (a) 1795 MHz. (b) 1920 MHz.
(c) 2045 MHz.

Progress In Electromagnetics Research Symposium Proceedings, Xian, China, March 2226, 2010

865

5. CONCLUSIONS

A broadband aperture coupled shorted-patch antenna has been presented. It well covers the frequency band from 1700 MHz to 2200 MHz with VSWR < 2. It could work at DCS, PCS and UMTS
frequency bands, and is suitable for 2G and 3G mobile communication application.
ACKNOWLEDGMENT

This paper is supported by National Natural Science Foundation of China (No. 60662004), National
863 Project (2007AA01Z2B4), State Key Lab of Millimeter Waves Foundation (No. K200814) and
Key Project of International Scientific and Technical Cooperation of Yunnan Province (No. 2009AC010).
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