694

IEEE ANTENNAS AND WIRELESS PROPAGATION LETTERS, VOL. 13, 2014

Integrated Ultrawideband/Narrowband Rectangular

Dielectric Resonator Antenna for Cognitive Radio
Yongfeng Wang, Naizhi Wang, Tayeb A. Denidni, Senior Member, IEEE, Qingsheng Zeng, Senior Member, IEEE,
and Gao Wei

AbstractAn integrated ultrawideband (UWB) and narrowband (NB) rectangular dielectric resonator antenna (DRA) is
presented. The proposed antenna consists of a UWB rectangular
DRA excited by a bevel-shaped patch and an NB DRA excited
by a strip. The measured results demonstrate that the UWB and
NB antenna provides a 2:1 voltage standing wave ratio (VSWR)
bandwidth for 2.412 and 2.34.5 GHz, respectively, with the same
polarization. Moreover, two symmetrical short-circuited strips are
introduced to improve the isolation between the two ports. This
can be a suitable candidate for applications in cognitive radio,
where the UWB antenna can be used for spectrum sensing and the
NB antenna for communication operation.
Index TermsCognitive radio, dielectric resonator antenna,
isolation, polarization, ultrawideband.

I. INTRODUCTION
HE DESIGN flexibility offered by dielectric resonator
antennas (DRAs) makes them suitable for many wireless applications [1]. The remarkable broad and ultrawideband (UWB) features offered by DRAs make them potential
candidates for UWB systems [2][6]. For this purpose, several
designs of UWB DRAs have been proposed. For instance, a
combination of a broadband planar monopole and a rectangular
DRA has been reported, which has a bandwidth from 3.06 to
10.6 GHz [2]. Another example is that a strip feeding for the
rectangular DRA has been proposed to improve the matching
bandwidth [3][5]. Recently, a modified rectangular DRA has
been improved to enhance the bandwidth and the radiation
characteristic [6].
In recent years, the underutilization of the frequency spectrum has been inspiring the use of reconfigurable radio concepts,
such as cognitive radio (CR) [7]. In category A of CR systems,
two antennas are used: a wideband antenna to feed a receiver
for spectrum sensing and a narrowband (NB) antenna to feed
the front end, which can be tuned to the second band [8]. In this

Manuscript received March 16, 2014; accepted March 26, 2014. Date of publication March 31, 2014; date of current version April 18, 2014. (Corresponding
author: Y. Wang.)
Y. Wang is with the School of Electronics and Information, Northwestern
Polytechnical University, Xian 710129, China, and also with the INRS-EMT,
Montreal, QC H5A 1K6, Canada (e-mail:yongfeng.wang@emt.inrs.ca;
wangyongfeng117@126.com).
N. Wang and G. Wei are with the School of Electronics and Information, Northwestern Polytechnical University, Xian 710129, China (e-mail:
weigao@nwpu.edu.cn).
T. A. Denidni is with the INRS-EMT, Montreal, QC H5A 1K6, Canada
(e-mail: denidni@emt.inrs.ca).
Q. Zeng is with the Wireless Technologies Branch, Communications Research Centre Canada, Ottawa, ON K2H 8S2, Canada (e-mail:
qingsheng.zeng@crc.gc.ca).
Color versions of one or more of the figures in this letter are available online
at http://ieeexplore.ieee.org.
Digital Object Identifier 10.1109/LAWP.2014.2314480

TABLE I
DIMENSIONS OF THE ANTENNA

perspective, a number of antennas that integrated wideband and

NB antennas have successfully been designed for this application [9][12]. They are mainly based on planar monopole and
slot antennas. UWB DRAs can be easily achieved. Meanwhile,
each single mode of the DRA has a narrowband characteristic.
Therefore, they are good candidates for the integration application. Most recently, a UWB planar monopole antenna integrated
with an NB cylindrical DRA has been proposed [13].
In this letter, a novel integrated rectangular DRA is proposed.
It consists of three parts: a rectangular DR, a bevel-shaped patch
fed by an SMA connector (Port 1), and a strip fed by another
SMA connector (Port 2). The two ports are collinear to ensure
that the sensing can measure interference in the same polarization as the operation. The UWB rectangular DRA has been proposed by Denidni et al. [4]. Compared to the DRA in [4], in this
letter, a narrowband port is added, and the integrated DRA is
modified and optimized to reduce the mutual coupling between
the UWB and NB ports.
II. CONFIGURATION OF ANTENNA
Using a hybrid configuration, multimodes can be easily excited in the DRA, such as fed by a planar patch. Thus, UWB
DRAs can be easily achieved. Fig. 1 demonstrates the configuration of the proposed integrated DRA (Antenna 1), which
is based on the design presented in [4]. The rectangular DR
is centrally placed on a copper metallic ground with a size of
mm . The dimensions of the proposed UWB DRA
(Port 1) are listed in Table I. The rectangular DRA is made of
Rogers 6010 substrate with a dielectric permittivity of 10.2 and
loss tangent of 0.003. The wideband design has been described
in [4]. The lowest excited mode (fundamental mode) is
at 2.97 GHz. The NB DRA (Port 2) is fed by a strip connected to
an SMA connector. The folded monopole can excite one single
mode in the DR. The length is determined by
(1)
where is the free-space wavelength of frequency of the expectant mode, is the relative permittivity of the DR (10.2), and
is the height of the air gap between the DR and ground plane, as

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695

Fig. 1. Configuration of the proposed integrated DRA. (a) Top view. (b) Side
view.
Fig. 3. Simulated (a)
of .

, (b)

, and (c)

of the DRA for different values

on the opposite side of the DR. Their sizes are denoted by

and . According to the transmission-line theory, the length
should be determined by
(2)

Fig. 2. Simulated -parameters of the proposed integrated DRA.

shown in Fig. 1. In order to excite the mode

at 2.97 GHz,
the position and the size of the strip are designed as
mm,
mm, and
mm. In addition, Port 2 is mounted on
the opposite side of the DR to ensure that the two ports have the
same polarization.
III. RESULTS AND DISCUSSION
Using CST [14], a commercial software based on the finite in,
, and
of the DRA
tegration method, the parameters
were simulated and plotted in Fig. 2. From these results, it can
be seen that the proposed dual-port antenna provides two bandwidths: One is 2.512 GHz, and another one is 2.54 GHz.
A. Mutual Coupling Reduction
Achieving adequate isolation between the two ports is one of
the main issues to be solved in the design of integration, and
controlling the power coupled between the two ports is very
challenging in closely spaced antennas. From Fig. 2, it is clear
that the mutual coupling is less than 10 dB through the whole
band, only except in the range of 24 GHz, where the peak value
is 6 dB at 2.5 GHz.
For the DRAs, based on their three-dimensional structures
and the unique electric field distribution of each mode, the
mutual coupling between the two ports can be controlled by
changing the electric field distribution at the specified frequency range. Hence, two symmetrical short-circuited strips
are introduced to change the electric field distribution for
the band of 24 GHz. Fig. 1 shows the configuration of the
short-circuited strips (Antenna 2). They are centrally attached

where
is the equivalent waveguide wavelength at the center
frequency of 3 GHz. The equivalent electrical length
of the
folded monopole is given by
(3)
Then, the

is determined by
(4)

where is the free-space wavelength at the center frequency of

3 GHz,
is the relative permittivity of the DR, and
is the height of the air gap between the DR and ground plane.
The calculated value of is 18.4 mm when
.
To better understand how to reduce the mutual coupling with
the proposed method, an optimized selection for and was
performed using CST, leading to the optimized results:
mm, and
mm.
,
, and
of the DRA for
The simulated -parameters
different values of are plotted in Fig. 3. The results demonstrate that the position of the short-circuited strips is an important parameter in the proposed antenna design. A short distance
from Port 1 deteriorates the
, and a short distance from Port 2
deteriorates the
. Therefore, they are centrally attached on
the opposite sides of the DR.
Fig. 4 illustrates the electric field distribution of Antennas 1
and 2 at 3.5 GHz. It can be seen that introducing the short-circuited strips changes the electric field distribution of 3.5 GHz.
With the strips, there is less energy coupled from port 1 to port 2,
which confirms our analysis and prediction and proves the proposed concept.
A prototype DRA associated with the given parameters was
fabricated and measured. Fig. 5 is a photograph of the fabricated
DRA. The DR was supported by a piece of foam with a dielectric

696

IEEE ANTENNAS AND WIRELESS PROPAGATION LETTERS, VOL. 13, 2014

Fig. 4. Electric field distribution at 3.5 GHz (vector_E, side 2-D view).
(a) Antenna 1. (b) Antenna 2.

Fig. 5. Photograph of the fabricated DRA.

Fig. 7. Measured radiation patterns of the UWB DRA. (a) 3 GHz. (b) 5 GHz.
(c) 7 GHz. (d) 9 GHz.
Fig. 6. Measured and simulated -parameters of the improved DRA. (a)
(b)
. (c)
.

constant of 1.41.5. The antenna performances in terms of bandwidth and radiation pattern were investigated numerically and
experimentally. Fig. 6 plots the measured and simulated parameters
,
, and
of the improved DRA, demonstrating
that the mutual coupling between the two ports is reduced significantly, while maintaining the bandwidths of the two ports
well.
B. Radiation Characteristic
The fabricated DRA was measured in a far-field anechoic
chamber (port 2 is loaded with 50- termination while exciting

port 1, and vice versa). Figs. 7 and 8 show the radiation patterns of the antennas. In the -plane (H-plane), the radiation
patterns are symmetrical across the operating frequency range.
However, in the -plane (E-plane), the radiation patterns are
not as symmetrical as in the H-plane, which is mainly due to the
effects of the higher-order modes. The results indicate that introducing the two short-circuited strips causes a little difference
on the radiation patterns, especially in the E-plane radiation patterns. Fig. 9 plots the measured peak gains of the DRA. The gain
of the UWB antenna is stable around 5 dBi, which is suitable for
UWB systems. The gain of Antenna 2 is more stable than that of
Antenna 1 for the UWB antenna, and it is enhanced for the NB
antenna. The radiation efficiencies of the antennas are shown in
Fig. 10. The results demonstrate that using the short-circuited

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697

the feeding line of Port 2. In the design above,

and calculated by
the mode

is designed for

(5)
where

Fig. 8. Measured radiation patterns of the NB DRA at 3.5 GHz.

Fig. 9. Measured peak gains of the integrated DRA.

Fig. 10. Simulated radiation efficiencies of the antennas.

Fig. 11. Frequency tuning of the NB antenna.

strips can improve the gain and radiation efficiency of the integrated antenna.
C. Frequency Tuning of the Narrowband Antenna
In the cognitive radio, the combination of the wideband antenna and a frequency-tunable narrowband antenna is required.
In our design, this can be realized by changing the length ( ) of

is the free-space wavelength of frequency of mode

, and is the relative permittivity of the DR. Changing
can excite another mode and result in different resonator frequencies of Port 2. Fig. 11 shows the results for different values
of .
IV. CONCLUSION
A UWB rectangular DRA integrated with an NB DRA has
been presented. The UWB and NB antenna has 2:1 VSWR
bandwidth from 2.4 to 12 GHz and 2.3 to 4.5 GHz, respectively,
with the same polarization. To reduce the mutual coupling between the two ports, two symmetrical short-circuited strips have
been introduced. The results demonstrate that UWB DRAs can
be easily integrated with a narrowband antenna. Furthermore,
the proposed method to reduce the mutual coupling provides
a good performance in terms of the isolation between the two
antenna ports. With these features, the integrated antenna can
be used for cognitive radio applications.
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