DESIGN OF MICROSTRIP PATCH ANTENNA FOR 2.

4GHz FREQUENCY APPLICATIONS

1. INTRODUCTION
1.1 Patch Antenna:
A patch antenna is a narrowband, wide-beam antenna fabricated by etching the antenna element
pattern in metal trace bonded to an insulating dielectric substrate, such as a printed circuit board,
with a continuous metal layer bonded to the opposite side of the substrate which forms a ground
plane. Common microstrip antenna shapes are square, rectangular, circular and elliptical, but any
continuous shape is possible. Some patch antennas do not use a dielectric substrate and instead
are made of a metal patch mounted above a ground plane using dielectric spacers; the resulting
structure is less rugged but has a wider bandwidth. Because such antennas have a very low
profile, are mechanically rugged and can be shaped to conform to the curving skin of a vehicle,
they are often mounted on the exterior of aircraft and spacecraft, or are incorporated into radio
communications devices.

1.2 Rectangular patch:

The most commonly employed microstrip antenna is a rectangular patch which looks like a
truncated microstrip transmission line. It is approximately of one-half wavelength long. When air
is used as the dielectric substrate, the length of the rectangular microstrip antenna is
approximately one-half of a free-space wavelength. As the antenna is loaded with a dielectric as
its substrate, the length of the antenna decreases as the relative dielectric constant of the substrate
increases. The resonant length of the antenna is slightly shorter because of the extended electric
"fringing fields" which increase the electrical length of the antenna slightly. An early model of
the microstrip antenna is a section of microstrip transmission line with equivalent loads on either
end to represent the radiation loss.
Another type of patch antenna is the planar inverted-F antenna (PIFA). The PIFA is common in
cellular phones (mobile phones) with built-in antennas. The antenna is resonant at a quarterwavelength (thus reducing the required space needed on the phone), and also typically has good
SAR properties. This antenna resembles an inverted F, which explains the PIFA name. The PIFA
is popular because it has a low profile and an omnidirectional pattern. These antennas are derived
from a quarter-wave half-patch antenna. The shorting plane of the half-patch is reduced in length
which decreases the resonance frequency. Often PIFA antennas have multiple branches to
resonate at the various cellular bands. On some phones, grounded parasitic elements are used to
enhance the radiation bandwidth characteristics.

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2. WORKING
The metallic patch essentially creates a resonant cavity, where the patch is the top of the cavity,
the ground plane is the bottom of the cavity, and the edges of the patch form the sides of the
cavity. The edges of the patch act approximately as an open-circuit boundary condition. Hence,
the patch acts approximately as a cavity with perfect electric conductor on the top and bottom
surfaces, and a perfect "magnetic conductor" on the sides. This point of view is very useful in
analyzing the patch antenna, as well as in understanding its behavior. Inside the patch cavity the
electric field is essentially z directed and independent of the z coordinate. Hence, the patch
cavity modes are described by a double index (m, n).
L is the patch length and W is the patch width. The patch is usually operated in the (1, 0) mode,
so that L is the resonant dimension, and the field is essentially constant in the y direction. The
surface current on the bottom of the metal patch is then x directed.
For this mode the patch may be regarded as a wide microstrip line of width W, having a resonant
length L that is approximately one-half wavelength in the dielectric. The current is maximum at
the centre of the patch, x = L/2, while the electric field is maximum at the two "radiating" edges,
x = 0 and x = L. The width W is usually chosen to be larger than the length (W = 1.5 L is typical)
to maximize the bandwidth, since the bandwidth is proportional to the width. (The width should
be kept less than twice the length, however, to avoid excitation of the (0,2) mode.). A patch
antenna can be an effective radiator even for very thin substrates, although the bandwidth will be
small.

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3. PARAMETERS
3.1 Antenna Gain
Antenna gain is defined as antenna directivity times a factor representing the radiation efficiency.
This efficiency is defined as the ratio of the radiated power (Pr) to the input power (Pi). The
input power is transformed into radiated power and surface wave power while a small portion is
dissipated due to conductor and dielectric losses of the materials used. Surface waves are guided
waves captured within the substrate and partially radiated and reflected back at the substrate
edges. Surface waves are more easily excited when materials with higher dielectric constants
and/or thicker materials are used. Surface waves are not excited when air dielectric is used.
Several techniques to prevent or eliminate surface waves exist, but this is beyond the scope of
this article.
Antenna gain can also be specified using the total efficiency instead of the radiation efficiency
only. This total efficiency is a combination of the radiation efficiency and efficiency linked to the
impedance matching of the antenna.
3.2 Radiation Pattern
The patch's radiation at the fringing fields results in a certain far-field radiation pattern. This
radiation pattern shows that the antenna radiates more power in a certain direction than another
direction. The antenna is said to have certain directivity. This is commonly expressed in dB.
3.3 Polarization
The plane wherein the electric field varies is also known as the polarization plane. The basic
patch covered until now is linearly polarized since the electric field only varies in one direction.
This polarization can be either vertical or horizontal depending on the orientation of the patch. A
transmit antenna needs a receiving antenna with the same polarization for optimum operation.
The patch mentioned yields horizontal polarization, as shown. When the antenna is rotated 90,
the current flows in the vertical plane, and is then vertically polarized.
3.4 Bandwidth
Another important parameter of any antenna is the bandwidth it covers. Only impedance
bandwidth is specified most of the time. However, it is important to realize that several
definitions of bandwidth exist impedance bandwidth, directivity bandwidth, polarization
bandwidth, and efficiency bandwidth. Directivity and efficiency are often combined as gain
bandwidth.

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4. ANTENNA DESIGN
The basic structure of the proposed antenna, shown in Fig. 1, consists of 3 layers. The lower
layer, which constitutes the ground plane, covers the partial rectangular shaped substrate with a
side of 3338 mm. The middle substrate, which is made of FR4 epoxy resin, has a relative
dielectric constant r=4.4 and height 1.5 mm. The upper layer, which is the patch, covers the
rectangular top surface. The rectangular patch has sides 3338 mm that covers the middle
portion of the substrate. Two rectangular slots are cut out from the patch near the feeding
Microstrip line for impedance matching The patch is fed by a Microstrip line with 50 input
impedance.
Simulations were performed using HFSS .Convergence was tested for a number of times. Once
convergence was obtained simulations were conducted in order to obtain swept frequency
response extending from 1 to 4 GHz. Initially we started with slots symmetrically positioned at
the centre of the patch .however it was observed that in order to achieve proper impedance
bandwidth slot position and dimensions need to be adjusted accordingly
There are many analysis methods for the design of antenna which are discussed in previous
chapter. [2]From them we use transmission line analysis method for our antenna.
Step 1: Calculation of the Width (W)
The width of the Microstrip patch antenna is given as:

Where,c is velocity of light ,fo is Resonant Frequency & r is Relative Dielectric Constant Of
course other widths may be chosen but for widths smaller than those selected according width
equation[3] , radiator efficiency is lower while for larger widths, the efficiency are greater but for
higher modes may result, causing field distortion. In this work upon Substituting
c=3.010^(11)mm/s, r = 4.4and fo = 2.4 GHz, we get: W = 37.8 mm
Step 2: Calculating the Length (L)
Effective dielectric constant (eff)
Once W is known, the next step is the calculation of the length which involves several other
computations; the first would be the effective dielectric constant. The dielectric constant of the
substrate is much greater than the unity; the effective value of eff will be closer to the value of
the actual dielectric constant r of the substrate. The effective dielectric constant is also a

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function of frequency. As the frequency of operation increases the effective dielectric constant
approaches the value of the dielectric constant of the substrate is given by:

In our design for the above mentioned values the effective dielectric is found to be eff = 3.86
Effective length (Leff)
The effective length is: which is found to be

Length Extension (L)

Because of fringing effects, electrically the micro strip antenna looks larger than its actual
physical dimensions. For the principle E plane (x-y plane), where the dimensions of the path
along its length have been extended on each by a distance, L, which is a function of the
effective dielectric constant and the width-to-height ratio (W/h).The length extension is:

Calculation of actual length of patch (L)

Because of inherent narrow bandwidth of the resonant element,the length is a critical parameter
and the above equations are used to obtain an accurate value for the patch length L. The actual
length is obtained by:

Substituting Leff = 31.88 mm and L = 0.661 mm we get: L = 33.20 mm

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Feed Point Location

After selecting the patch dimensions L and W for a given substrate, the next task is to determine
the feed point (x, y) so as to obtain a good impedance match between the generators Impedance
and the input impedance of the patch element. It is observed that the change in feed location
gives rise to a change in the input impedance and hence provides a simple method for impedance
matching.

From the above equation we see that if the feed is located at x = xf and 0 yf W, the input
resistance at resonance for thedominant TM10 mode can be expressed as

Where xf is the inset distance from the radiating edge and Rr is the radiation resistance at
resonance when the patch is fed at a radiating edge. The inset distance xf is selected such that
Rin is equal to the feed line impedance, usually taken to be 50. Although the feed point can be
selected anywhere along the patch width, it is better to choose yf = W/2 if W L so that TM0n (n
odd) modes are not excited along with the TM10 mode. Determination of the exact feed point
requires an iterative solution .Below equation provides a useful guideline for the purpose.

Feed position xf =7.2052mm

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Design Of Patch Antenna:

Dimensions of Proposed Patch Antenna:

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5. HFSS DESIGN

Fig 5.1 : Designed Patch Antenna

Fig 5.2: Designed Patch Antenna

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6. RESULTS

Fig 6.1 : Frequency vs Gain

Fig 6.2: Radiation Pattern For =0degrees

Fig 6.3: Radiation Pattern for = 90 degrees

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APPLICATIONS

1) Used for mobile communications

2) As it has very small size it is used as a Tx and Rx for many wireless gadgets
3) Due to its Omni directional pattern it is used as hotspot wireless transmitter

ADVANTAGES
a) It has very small size and can be easily fit into gadgets
b) Low cost for manufacturing
c) Omni directional radiation pattern
d) High operating frequency
e) High gain
f) High noise immunity

CONCLUSION
Hence a rectangular microstrip patch antenna has been designed for the given particular
operating frequency. The designed antenna can be used for license free bandwidth. Thus, the
designed antenna can be used for wireless applications such as WIFI, WLAN etc.,

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REFERENCES
1."Micro strip Patch Antenna for 2.4 GHZ Wireless Applications" Pradeep Kumar, Neha Thakur,
Aman Sanghi, International Journal of Engineering Trends and Technology(IJET) Volume 4
Issue 8- August 2013.
2. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Microstrip_antenna
3. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Patch_antenna
4. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Inverted-F_antenna
5. "Microstrip Antennas," IEEE International Symposium on Antennas and Propagation,
Williamsburg Virginia, 1972 pp. 177-180
6. "Radiation from Microstrip Radiators," IEEE Transactions on Microwave Theory and
Techniques, April 1969, Vol. 17, No. 4 pp.235-236

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