Direct-Coupled Concentric Half-Loop Antenna A Low Cost Option for High Speed

Point-to-Point UWB Links

Sivanand Krishnan
Institute for Infocomm Research, 20 Science Park Road, TeleTech Park, #02-34/37, Singapore 117674
L.W. Li, M.S. Leong, P.S. Kooi
ECE Dept., National University of Singapore, 10 Kent Ridge Crescent, Singapore 119260
Abstract: Loop antennas are generally known to have small impedance bandwidths. In this paper, we show that the bandwidth of
loop antennas can be improved by using direct-coupled concentric half-loop pairs. The antenna is analyzed using the Method of
Moments. The theoretical and measured results agree with each other closely and attest to the fact that the new antenna has a far
superior impedance bandwidth as compared to single loops. Further, it is shown that these antennas have a good gain and a useful
radiation pattern which can be used advantageously in high speed point-to-point UWB links.

Introduction
The circular wire loop antenna is a fundamental radiating structure and has been found to be useful in many
narrowband applications. While the study of loop antennas in transmitting and receiving pulsed signals has
been carried out in the past [1-2], their use in these wideband applications has however been limited due to
their relatively narrow bandwidths. Currently there is much interest in the Ultra Wideband or UWB
technology and suitable low cost wire loop antennas for such wideband applications will be of great value.

Circular loop antennas with circumferences in the order of a few wavelengths have a good gain and
directivity. Often it is assumed that antennas with highly directional patterns are not suitable for UWB
applications. However, it is not true that all UWB applications require omni-directional antennas. In fact, for
the case of point-to-point UWB links, directional antennas give rise to a better link performance than omni-
directional antennas. Thus, if the limitations in the impedance bandwidth of the loop antenna are overcome,
it will be a good low cost option for high speed point-to-point UWB links. So, for this purpose, a loop
structure (Figure 1) consisting of 2 direct-coupled concentric half-loops is proposed in this paper. The
antenna is mounted on a ground plane and the inner loop is directly fed by the same source as the outer loop.

x
Ground Plane

Figure 1: Geometry of Proposed Direct-Coupled Concentric Half-Loop Antenna

Method of Moments (MOM) Analysis

By making use of the boundary condition for the electric field on the antenna surface and after several steps
of simplification, we arrive at the following concise expression relating the antenna excitation voltage, V , to
the loop current, I , for the 2 concentric half-loops:

jK 2 S w 2G pq
S q q wI p2  k G (I p  Iqc ) cos(I p  Iqc )a p aq dIqc
2 pq
V pG (I p ) I (I c ) p 1,2 (1)
8Sk q 1


where
S  jkr pq [(I p Iqc ),] q ]
pq 1 e
G (I p  Iqc ) r pq
d] q (2)
2S S
[(I p  Iqc ), ] q ]
]q
r pq [(I p  Iqc ),] q ] [(a 2p  aq2 )  2a p aq cos(I p  Iqc )  4bq2 sin 2 ]0.5 (3)
2
and k is the propagation constant, a is the loop radius, b is the wire radius and ] describes the angular
variation around the wire cross-section. As the inner loop is fed by the same source as the outer loop, the

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phase difference in the excitation of the loops is taken into account by treating the feed to the inner loop as a
two-wire line. Thus, taking the outer loop to be Loop 1 and inner loop to be Loop 2, we set the excitation
voltages in the analysis of the loops to be: V1 =1 and V2 = e  jk ( a1 a2 ) . Using these excitation values, the input
admittance of the two coupled loops are found through a Fourier Series expansion of I and G in (1), as
detailed in Ito [3]. Next, we obtain the total input admittance at the probe feed, by transforming the input
admittance of the inner loop to the feed point of the outer loop. If the feed wire has a radius of b and is raised
above the ground by a height h, the characteristic impedance of the feed line is given by :
h
Z 0 1 / Y0 120 cosh 1 (1  ) (4)
b
Next, the total input admittance, Yin , at the probe feed is obtained from impedance transforming the input
admittance, Y2 , of Loop 2 and summing it with the input admittance, Y1 , of Loop 1:
Y2  jY0 tan k (a2  a1 )
Yin Y1  Y0 (5)
Y0  jY2 tan k (a2  a1 )

Results
The impedance bandwidth characteristics of the proposed antenna consisting of an outer half-loop of radius
48mm and inner half-loop of radius 40mm was investigated. The theoretical return loss, using MOM, of the
proposed antenna as well as that of a single 48 mm half-loop are shown in Figure 2a. The theoretical results
clearly show that the proposed antenna has a much wider impedance bandwidth than the single half-loop. Its
-10 dB fractional bandwidth is more than 55%, from 4.8 GHz to 8.5 GHz. The measured results (Figure 2b)
agree very well with the simulated results and indicate an impedance bandwidth of more than 51%, from 4.9
GHz to 8.3 GHz.

Theoretical Return Loss Measured Return Loss

0 0

-5 -5

-10 -10
S11 (dB)

S11 (dB)

-15 -15

-20 Single Half-Loop -20 Single Half-Loop

Proposed Antenna Proposed Antenna
-25 -25
0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10
Frequency (GHz) Frequency (GHz)

Figure 2: Return Loss of Single Half-Loop and Proposed Antenna (a) Theoretical (b) Measured

Using the loop current coefficients from the MOM analysis, the far-field radiation pattern is easily obtained
by making use of the closed-form expressions for circular loops provided by Li et. al. [4]. The azimuthal (x-y
plane) radiation patterns of the proposed antenna at 3 frequencies, 5.5 GHz, 6.5 GHz and 7.5 GHz are shown
in Figure 3. It is clear that the proposed antenna provides a highly directive pattern in the Azimuthal angle
=180 or -x direction, with a gain that varies little over the frequency range. This directive pattern is very
useful for high speed directional UWB links where the smaller back-lobe helps to reduce the effect of
unwanted reflections and in turn lowers the amount of inter-pulse interference.
90
12
120 60
5.5 GHz
6.5 GHz
6 7.5 GHz

150 30
0

-6
dBi

-12 180 0

-6

0
210 330

240 300
12
270

Figure 3: Radiation Pattern in the Azimuthal Plane of the Proposed Antenna

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To demonstrate the use of the proposed antenna for UWB applications, a pulsed carrier with a center
frequency of 6.5 GHz and width of about 0.4 ns was transmitted and received 2 metres away. Similar
antennas were used for both transmitting and receiving. The received signals were amplified and measured
both in time as well as frequency. The spectral and temporal characteristics of the transmitted pulse and the
received pulse for the cases of the single half-loop and the proposed new antenna are shown in Figure 4. The
spectral characteristics (Figure 4a) clearly shows that the proposed antenna allows more energy from the
transmitted signal to be received, especially in the 4.5 GHz to 8.5 GHz region. The time domain
measurements shown in Figure 4b supports this fact. The pulse received by the proposed antenna is seen to
be of a higher amplitude and better fidelity when compared with that received by the single half-loop.

Relative Amplitude / 100 mV

Relative Magnitude / 10 dB

Single Half-Loop
Proposed Antenna
Transmitted Pulse

Single Half-Loop
Proposed Antenna
Transmitted Pulse

0 2 4 6 8 10 0 1 2 3 4 5
Frequency (GHz) Time (nS)

(a) (b)
Figure 4: Measured Characteristics of Transmitted and Received Pulses (a) Spectral (b) Temporal

Application
The proposed antenna was successfully deployed in a high speed UWB link working at 500 Mbps. A
relatively straightforward autocorrelation scheme was used in the receiver. The performance of the link was
evaluated through Bit-Error-Rate (BER) measurements. At a distance of 2 metres between the transmit
antenna and receive antenna, a BER of less than 10-5 was achieved without any error-correction coding. This
result, though not directly linked to the performance of the antenna, is definitely an indication that the
proposed antenna is a strong candidate for use in directional or point-to-point UWB links.

Conclusion
A new structure consisting of a pair of direct-coupled concentric half-loops is proposed for use in wideband
applications. A concise formulation for analyzing the antenna using MOM has been provided. Both the
theoretical results as well as measurements indicate that the proposed antenna has much better wideband
properties than single half-loops. The radiation pattern of the antenna is directional and provides a high gain
which is relatively constant, at certain orientations, over a wide range of frequencies. This allows the antenna
to be used in directional UWB links without the use of absorbers for reducing reflections due to back-lobes.
For a particular configuration, the antenna bandwidth was measured to be in the range of 4.9 GHz to 8.3
GHz. These characteristics were used advantageously in a very high speed UWB link working at 500 Mbps.
The BER of the link was measured to be better than 10-5 at a distance of 2 metres between the transmit and
receive antenna. This good performance of the link is a clear proof of the potential of the proposed Direct-
Coupled Concentric Half-Loop antenna as a low cost option in high speed point-to-point UWB links.

References
[1] King, R. and H. Schmitt, The Transient Response of Linear Antennas and Loops, IRE Trans. Ants.
Prog., V. 10, No. 3, May 1962, pp. 222-228.
[2] Esselle, K.P. and S.S. Stuchly, Resistively Loaded Loop as a Pulse-Receiving Antenna, IEEE Trans.
Ants. Prog., V. 38, No. 7, July 1990, pp. 1123-1126.
[3] Shinichi Ito, An Investigation of the Array of Circular-Loop Antennas, IEEE Trans. Ants. Prog., AP-
19, Jul. 1971, pp.469-476.
[4] Li, L.W. et. al., Exact Solutions of Electromagnetic Fields in Both Near and Far Zone Radiated by Thin
Circular Loop Antennas: A General Representation, IEEE Trans. Ants. Prog., V. 45, No. 12, Dec 1997, pp.
1741-1748.

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