IEEE TRANSACTIONS ON ANTENNAS AND PROPAGATION, VOL. 41, NO.

12, DECEMBER 1993 1615

Corporate Feed Design for Microstrip

Arrays
Tzyy-Sheng H o r n g a n d Nicolaos G. Alexopoulos, Fellow, ZEEE

Abstract-A design technique for an embedded microstrip right-angle bend, T, and cross junctions. AI1 the junctions
corporate feed is presented. The aim of the design is to inge- are connected with the uniform microstriplines which are
niously shape each corporate feed junction in order to acquire a
tapered and in-phase output current distribution. From this a assumed to be loss-free transmission lines. The separation
Dolph-Chebyshev array sum pattern may be constructed. In the from one junction to another is at least one-half guided
experiments, the designed corporate feed is used to excite a wavelength long such that the mutual coupling between
five-element equispaced linear array of overlay microstrip any two junctions may be ignored. In this scheme, net-
dipoles. It has been found both theoretically and experimentally work theory may be applied to cascade the effects of
that a 20-dB Dolph-Chebyshev broadside sum pattern can be
synthesized in the H-plane at 8.5 GHz. Mutual coupling among individual junctions to predict the output current distribu-
the dipoles is included in this analysis. The pattern degradation tion of the corporate feed. The deviation of this current
due to manufacturing tolerances on the alignment between the distribution from the desired one is then used as a feed-
feed network and the dipole array is also discussed. back to modify each junction, To obtain the desired
current distribution in the output ports, a lengthy and
tedious work of shaping the microstrip junctions and then
I. INTRODUCTION
calculating the scattering parameters associated with the

T HE advantages of corporate or parallel feeds as

excitation networks for microstrip arrays are great
design flexibility and ease of vertical integration to form a
two-dimensional array [ll. Several examples of microstrip
arrays excited by a coplanar corporate feed were demon-
strated in the past [2]-[51. One of the key features of
these antennas is that corporate feeds were realized with
the design of several power splitters based on transmis-
sion line theory or the equivalent waveguide model to
obtain a specified magnitude and phase distribution for
the output currents. However, at high frequencies, both
methods may show significant deviation from the mea-
sured results since they do not rigorously account for
discontinuity effects. In this paper, we characterize each
discontinuity in the corporate feed using a more accurate
full-wave technique. The spectral-domain dyadic Green’s
function [6], [71, which takes into account both radiation
and surface-wave effects, is used to formulate an electric-
field integral equation. The method of moments is then
employed to find the current distribution on the mi-
crostrips as well as the scattering parameters of the junc-
tions [7]-[12]. In order to synthesize a Dolph-Chebyshev
array sum pattern, intensive care is devoted to shaping
each junction in the corporate feed such that the currents
can reach the output ports in phase and with a desired
tapered magnitude distribution.
The corporate feed is initially designed as the combina-
tion of some basic multiport microstrip junctions such as
Manuscript received July 24, 1992; revised JanuaIy 25, 1993. This
research was supported by US. Army Research Grant No. DAAL
03-906-0182.
The authors are with the Electrical Engineering Department, Univer-
sity of California, Los Angeles, Los Angeles, CA 90024.
IEEE Log Number 9214083.
remodeled junctions may be involved. For the sake of
design flexibility, each junction in a corporate feed is
limited to an irregular shape which can be divided into a
number of rectangles. Thus, one can easily modify the
junction geometry by adding or removing some rectangles.
In the moment-method procedure, we employ the rectan-
gular subdomain functions, a combination of pulse and
piecewise sinusoidal functions, to model the electric sur-
face current density in the vicinity of an irregular junction
[8]. The semi-infinite traveling-wave functions are used to
simulate the current distribution along the microstriplines
[7]-[12]. This expansion mechanism allows for the direct
solution of the scattering parameters from the method of
moments.
It has been shown that a microstrip radiator fed by
parasitic coupling through the substrate by an embedded
microstripline can be matched [13], [14]. Based on this
concept, a linear array of microstrip dipoles is ideally
suited to a corporate feed because, under the input match
condition, there are no reflected currents from the line-
dipole junctions to cause a disturbance to the feed perfor-
mance. As an example, we demonstrate a design of an
embedded microstrip corporate feed to excite a five-ele-
ment equispaced array of microstrip dipoles (shown in
Fig. 1). The final goal of this design is to synthesize a
20-dB Dolph-Chebyshev array sum pattern in the H-plane
at the frequency of 8.5 GHz.
11. DES~CN
OF MICROSTRIP
CORPORATE
FEEDS
Fig. 2 shows a prototype of an embedded microstrip
corporate feed which consists of a shaped cross junction,
two shaped T junctions, and four shaped bend discontinu-
ities. Eight distance parameters d,, n = 1,2;..,8, in this

0018-92hX/93$03.00 0 1993 IEEE

lblh IEEE TRANSACTIONS ON ANTENNAS AND PROPAGATION, VOL. 41, NO. 12, DECEMBER 1993

microstrip dipoles

_ ..................................... ......................

embedded microstrip

Fig. 1. Linear array of microstrip dipoles fed by an embedded corporate feed.

#, ports, and between any two junctions are 50-Cl transmis-

sion lines. The corresponding width of microstriplines is
equal to 80 mil and a guided wavelength is equal to 935
1 OOOmil _ _ _ _ f
Junction B mil. Both values were found from the spectral-domain
................. .......... ............. 80mil method of an infinitely long microstripline [6], [15]. We
~

i tutd
1
: c - .
want the array sum pattern to have all the side lobes at
matched load - 20 dB (20-dB Dolph-Chebyshev pattern). The required
relative current distribution in the output ports [16] is

LO" 1.60LO" 1.93~0" 1.60~O" 1 ~ 0 " .(1)

' matched load
The first step to reach this goal is to characterize each
80mil discontinuity in the corporate feed by the scattering pa-
40 mil V
: #4 rameters as a function of some distance parameters. Since
M d j j 1d4 ' matched load the corporate feed is symmetric to the horizontal axis,
four types of microstrip discontinuities, junctions A , B , C,
80mil
and D, must be investigated. Junctions B and D are the
#5
same type of discontinuities except for a rotation by 90".
' matched load Therefore, we analyze junctions A , B, and C only using a
_____.__
Reference Plane rigorous full-wave spectral-domain analysis. This analysis
is governed by an electric-field integral equation given as
Fig. 2. Prototype of microstrip corporate feed with five branch lines in
the output ports.

corporate feed are proposed to meet the requirement for

a specified array performance. In this paper, the mi-
crostrip corporate feed is embedded in the middle of a
duroid substrate with permittivity equal to 2.33 and sub- = 0, for x, y on the microstrip
strate thickness equal to 62 mil. The operating frequency
is 8.5 GHz. The microstriplines in the input port, output corporate feed, (2)
HORNG AND ALEXOPOULOS: CORPORATE FEED DESIGN FOR MICROSTRIP ARRAYS 1617

. . . . ..,...~ . . .
..,.............,
.. .. . . . . . . . ..
...................... ....
dl -
- 200mil

.. .. .. .. .. .. ..
----------------
. . . . . . . .. .. . . . . . . . . .
...... ... .:...:....:.:...I. . .: .. . . ... :............ ;
I
: : : : : : :
. . . . . . . . .
.. . .. ... .. .. . .... . . . . . . . . . . .. -. . . . ,
~

,.......
. ,. . . . . . .. .. .. .. . . . . . . . . . ..... . .. . ... ... ... .. .. .. .. .
~

80 ...................... ...,... i...;...;...; : . . . . . . . . . '

. . ...
I : : : : . :
. ::... ;......._.. . . ._...........
. . . ......... . . . ..............
. . . ._ _ ._.... . . ... ... ._... .._..._.. ... .. . .... .. . ....~...
~ \
. ,...#...%...
.. ; . ...- i . .......
4

.. ..i . ....i . . ... ' .... . ..I.

.s..., . ........q
#1 ...i.........i.......i..I...I....!....
. I ....... . . .
i..........................
. . .. . . . . . .. .. . . . . . . . . . ....I .
. . .
...... :
;....:... 8o #2
...: .... ...... . . . .........
... ...
.... ....

.. .. .. .. .. .. ..
.. .. .. .. .. .. ..
.. ..........................
..... . . . . . .
. .. .. .. .. .. ..
.............................
.. .. .. .. .. .. ..
.. .. .. .. .. .. ..
#4
I

-100
0.35 I I I I I 1 I I I -120
0 20 40 Cdl 80 LOO 120 140 160 180 0 20 40 60 80 100 120 140 I60 180
d (mil) d (mil)

-
where G f f ( k Xkp)
, is the spectral-domain dyadic Green's rents due to the higher-order modes generated at the
function with both the observation and source point at discontinuity. All the incident, reflected, and transmitted
2 = 2' = h / 2 [7]. 4 ( k x , k y )is the Fo+urier transform of current waves are assumed to be the dominant modes of
the microstrip currents (denoted by J f ( x , y ) ) . These cur- the microstriplines. In the moment-method procedure,
rents basically combine a known incident current wave these local currents arc expanded by the rectangular
and an unknown current distribution including the re- subdomain functions (denoted by rec), while the propagat-
flected and transmitted current waves and the local cur- ing current waves along the microstriplines are repre-
1618 IEEE TRANSACTIONS ON ANTENNAS AND PROPAGATION, VOL. 41, NO. 12, DECEMBER 1993
sented by the semi-infinite traveling-wave functions (de-
noted by sem) [8]. As a result, for a microstripline domi-
nant mode incident to port #1 of an N-port junction, the
electric surface currents on the microstrips are generally
approximated as
N
J;(X,Y) S Z q Y X ,y , Jrl) + c S&my(X,
n=l
y , LrJ
+ CYZC(X, y , x,,y , ) . (3)
1, I -50
For the semi-infinite traveling-wave functions in (31, su-
perscripts inc and out distinguish the incident and outgo-
ing current waves, and subscript n indentifies different
ports. L = &,, is the reference plane at port n, where 5
can be either x or y . The coefficients S,, of the outgoing
traveling-wave functions represent the scattering parame-
ters of the junction. The mathematical expression of a
rectangular subdomain function involves multiplication of
a piecewise sinusoidal function in the direction of current
flow, and a pulse function in the direction transverse to
the current flow. Each rectangular basis function has a
geometrical center ( x l ,y , ) in the xy domain. As an exam-
ple, we illustrate the use of this expansion mechanism by
dividing junction A (shown in Fig. 3(a)) into a number of
rectangles. Each pair of adjacent rectangles represents a
rectangular subdomain function. The dashed lines in the
figure locate the reference planes. The semi-infinite trav-
eling-wave functions extend from these reference planes
to expand in part the electric surface currents along the
microstriplines attached to the discontinuities. Since they
simulate the current distribution on a microstrip transmis-
sion line so well, the subdomain functions are required
only in the vicinity of the discontinuity. Before substitut-
ing (3) into (21, the Fourier transform of the basis func-
tions has to be taken. The explicit expressions for each
type of basis function in (3) and its Fourier transform can
be found in [12]. The testing functions are chosen to be
the rectangular subdomain functions only. When the mo-
ment method is performed, ( 2 ) is converted into a matrix
equation where the scattering parameters as well as the
local current distribution are the direct solutions of a
matrix inversion. In this paper, the scattering parameters
associated with the junctions A , B , and C are accurately
calculated using this spectral-domain technique. The nu-
merical results for junction A are also shown as an
example in Figs. 3(b) and 3(c). It is noted that these
scattering parameters are defined in relation to the inci-
dent and reflected current waves at the reference planes
of the ports.
-
Once the distance parameters d, d, are determined,
the scattering parameters of individual junctions can be
found using the design curves which are established in
advance, like Figs. 3(b) and 3(c). Distance parameter d, is
the vertical separation of two adjacent microstriplines in
the output ports. From a transmission line circuit point of
view, assuming no dispersion effects at each discontinuity,
the currents travel from the input port and reach in phase
0
-10
-20
dB
-30
-40
-90 -60 -30 0 30 60 90
0
Fig. 4. Array pattern calculated from the output current distribution
shown in Table 11.
TABLE I
DISTANCE PARAMETERS FOR THE CORPORATE
FEED
WITH A GOALOF 20-dB DOLPH-CHEBYSHEV
ARRAYPATTERN
at the output ports. d, must be a multiple of a guided
wavelength of the microstripline. Therefore, we may start
the value of d, equal to 935 mil and slightly change the
value later for a possibly better current distribution in the
output ports. d, is the parameter to determine the hori-
zontal distance between junctions B and C. Empirically,
this distance is not sensitive to the output current distri-
bution and can be used as the last parameter for a fine
tune. Network theory is finally applied to integrate all the
discontinuities as a six-port junction and compute the
corresponding scattering matrix. In this design, we need to
adjust eight distance parameters frequently until a rela-
tive current distribution close to (1) in the output ports is
obtained. The combination of the distance parameters to
reach a similar relative current distribution may not be
unique. Therefore, we wish to find a minimum VSWR in
the input port among all the possible choices.
Table I shows a set of values for these eight distance
parameters. The corresponding current distribution in the
output ports (S,,, S,,, S,, S,, S5,) as well as the reflec-
tion coefficient ($00) of the input port are shown in Table
11. The SWR in this case is about 1.67. The array pattern
can be computed from the output current distribution
using the form [16]
5
~ ( 0 =)
n=l
COS 0 (4)
where k , is the propagation constant in free space. In Fig.
4 we show the numerical results of the normalized array
pattern. It can be seen that the differences of the levels
for all side lobes from -20 dB are less than 0.5 dB. The
total normalized losses due to radiation and surface waves
at the discontinuities in this corporate feed can be esti-
HORNG AND ALEXOPOULOS: CORPORATE FEED DESIGN FOR MICROSTRIP ARRAYS 1619

Y
+- Reference plane
I

t,
31mil

31mil

- H.Plane ___ E.PIMc

(b) (C)

Fig. 5. (a) EMC dipole. (b) The input impedance of the EMC dipole (f,, = 8.5 GHz). (c) Radiation patterns of the EMC
dipole for the input match case (fi, = 8.5 GHz, I , = 440 mil, s,, = 15 mil).

mated by subtracting the sum of the square of the abso-

lute value of scattering parameters (Sn,,, n = 0,1;-.,5)
from unity. The calculated value for the total losses di-
TABLE I 1 vided by the input power is about 3.6%.
S PARAMETEMFOR THE CURPOKAI t Fttu
WITH DISTANCE
PARAMETFR5 SHOWN IN TABLE1 111. ELECTROMAGNETICALLY
COUPLED
MICROSTRIP
!
DIPOLES
So0 si0 = Ssa szo = S40 j s3a
In this section, the dipole length (1,) and offset from
the embedded microstripline ( s ~ , ) for an isolated mi-
crostrip dipole as shown in Fig. %a) are calculated at the
1620 IEEE TRANSACTIONS ON ANTENNAS AND PROPAGATION, VOL. 41, NO. 12, DECEMBER 1993

design frequency of 8.5 GHz to give an input match. The and

modeling technique for such a discontinuity is similar to
that in Section 11, except for an expanded spectral-domain
dyadic Green’s function including the overlay coupling
between the dipole and the embedded microstripline. The
spectral-domain Electric Field Integral Equation (EFIE)
for this case is given as

- where k , = k , sin 8 cos 4 and k , = k , sin f3 sin 4. Fig.

=
+Gd-l(k.r7
0, for x,y on the microstrip dipole,
I
k , ) . $ ( k , , k , ) epikxxe-Jkyydk, dk,
(5)
5(c) shows both E-plane and H-plane radiation patterns
for an electromagnetically coupled dipole under the input
match case.
and Radiation efficiency of an electromagnetically coupled
dipole is defined by the ratio of the radiated power to the
incident power. In this analysis, we investigate the radi-
- ated power by performing the surface integral of the
+z,f(kx,
k y ) . J ; : ( k , , k , ) ] e - ’ k ~ x e - l kdk,
y y dk, Poynting vector associated with the radiated space waves
in the direction (2) normal to the substrate [191, The
= 0, for x,y on the embedded integration plane is chosen as an infinite plane which is
- -- microstripline, .. ., ( 6 ) parallel and above the plane of discontinuities. It is noted
_ -
-
where G, Gdf, and Gfd are the spectral-domain dyadic that the integration over this plane in the space domain
Green’s functions with the observation and source point can be converted using Parseval’s theorem into an inte-
(2,2 ’ ) at ( h ,h), ( h ,h/2), and ( h / 2 ,h), respectively. The
gration over the k,, k , plane such that the spectral-
electric surface currents on the microstrip dipole and the domain field components in terms of the spectral-
embedded microstripline are expressed as domain dyadic Green’s function and the Fourier trans-
form of microstrip currents can be utilized. In addition,
&(x,y) = CrZc(x,y,x:‘,$) (7) the plane-wave spectrum for the radiated space waves
1>1 must satisfy k: + k; < k i , which corresponds to a range
and within a circle of radius k,. Due to the finite spectrum,
this spectral-domain surface integral which computes the
q x ,y ) = s z m y ( x ,y ) + sl,szmy radiated power can be evaluated accurately. The incident
+ C r z c ( x , Y , X l , Y ; ) 7 (8) power from the embedded microstripline can be deter-
‘.I
mined by integrating the Poynting vector associated with
the dominant microstripline mode. This method is basi-
respectively. More detailed procedures for this can be cally identical to the frequency-dependent calculation of
seen in [lo], [14], [17]. In Fig. 5(b) we show the normalized the characteristic impedance for an infinitely long mi-
input impedance of an electromagnetically coupled dipole crostripline [IS]. As a result, the calculated radiation
on the Smith Chart as both I , and sd vary by computing efficiency for an electromagnetically coupled dipole under
2.
1 - s,, the input match case is equal to 86%. This value means
=-, (9)
In 1 + s,, that 86% of the incident power is radiated into free space
while the rest is converted into surface-wave losses.
It can be observed from Fig. 5(b) that a perfect input
match can be obtained when 1, is equal to 440 mil and sd
IV. MUTUAL
COUPLING
AMONG
THE DIPOLES
equals 15 mil.
The far-field radiation patterns can be obtained from Due to the mutual coupling among the dipoles, the
the Fourier transform of the aperture field located above backward currents of the output ports will not be zero
the electromagnetically coupled dipole horizontally and even though an input match is obtained for each isolated
extending to infinity in both x and y directions [181. They electromagnetically coupled dipole. As a feedback to the
can be further expressed in closed form in terms of the corporate feed network, these backward currents will
spectral-domain dyadic Green’s function and the Fourier change the relative current distribution in the output
transform of the microstrip currents as ports and subsequently, the array pattern of the corporate
feed. Therefore, all the interactions among the mi-
1-
3
E+(8,4 ) = COS 8 Sin 4 g d d ( k x k, ) , ). j d ( k , , k i ) ] *,? crostriplines and microstrip dipoles have to be considered
to account for the mutual coupling effects. As shown in
- COS 6 COS
I-
4 i?,,(k,, k , ) . t ( k , , k , ) ] -9
(10)
Fig. 6, we can treat the five line-dipole pairs as a five-port
junction whose scattering parameters (denoted by
S,$,,,
m,n = l,...,5) are also a numerical moment-method
HORNG AND ALEXOPOULOS: CORPORATE FEED DESIGN FOR MICROSTRIP ARRAYS 1621

solution. Explicitly, these scattering parameters are de-

fined as

5
Pf y x , y ) = se'mEC(x,y ) + s;,szmyx, y )
n= 1
5
+ CrZc(x,y,x:,y,"), m = I,..., 5 , (12)
n=l i,j

where represents the electric surface currents on the

mth embedded microstripline. The numerical results of
these scattering parameters are shown in Table 111. Simi-
lar approaches for the evaluation of the mutual coupling
effects can also be seen in [201-[221.
Distance parameter d, in Fig. 6 is the length of the
microstriplines in the output ports. When network theory
is applied to integrate all the microstrip junctions and the
electromagnetically coupled dipoles, both d, and S i , will
contribute a new output current distribution. Therefore,
d, can be used as an adjustable parameter to modify the
radiation pattern or potentially compensate the mutual
coupling effects. In this design, we arbitrarily determine
d, equal to 3000 mil without any special considerations.
The calculated value of VSWR for this case is 1.875. The
multiplication of the array pattern by the dipole's antenna
Fig. 6 . Five-element dipole array fed by the designed corporate feed.
pattern yields the radiation pattern of this antenna array.
Mutual coupling effects are considered inside the dotted box. In Fig. 7, the radiation pattern in the H-plane including
the mutual coupling is shown by the solid line, while the
pattern excluding the mutual coupling is shown by the
0 dotted line. From the comparison, it is observed that the
second side lobe of the radiation pattern has been raised
-10 almost by 3 dB due to mutual coupling.
-20 v. MANUFACTURING
TOLERANCES
ON THE
dB ALIGNMENT
-30
Two major defects in alignment between the corporate
-40 feed and dipole array are studied in this section. One is
that the dipole array is tilted by an angle (0,) at the center
-50 element. The second defect pertains to the dipole being
-90 -60 -30 0 30 60 90 offset by a distance ( U , ) from the designed value of 15 mil.
e Both situations are depicted in Fig. 8(a). For a small tilt
angle, we can consider that the five dipoles are approxi-
with the mutual coupling . . . . without the mutual coupling mately parallel to the microstriplines with the offsets (in
mil) given as
Fig. 7. Effects of the mutual coupling on the H-plane radiation pattern
of the dipole array. s; = ( n - 3)d, tan + 15, n = 1;.-,5. (13)

TABLE 111 In this scheme, we may use the same numerical procedure
s PARAMETERS FOR AN EQUIVALENT FIVE-PORT JUNCTION as we account for the mutual coupling to represent this
FOR THE FIVEDIPOLE-LINE PAIRS. THEVALUE
tilted dipole array with a 5 x 5 scattering matrix. How-
OF D, AND SWR IN THE INPUT P O R T OF THE
CORPORATE FEEDARE ALSO SHOWN ever, since five microstrip dipoles cannot be considered as
identical radiating elements, we need to construct the
~

- 136' [
array's radiation pattern directly from knowledge of the
0.01751 0.0848188' 0.00701 - 178' 0.00051 - 85' 0 0000518"
electric surface currents on these five poles instead of a
simple multiplication of the array pattern by the dipole's
0.0848L88' 0.02311 - 148' 0.0842L88° 0.00691 - 179" 0.00051 - 85'
antenna pattern. As a result, Fig. X(b) shows the pattern
degradation for several tilt angles when d, is fixed at 3000
0.0070L - 178' 0.0842188" 1 0.02311 - 147O 3000 mil 1.875
mil. It can be seen that the tilt angle results in an
asymmetric pattern. In addition, the tilt angle is very
1622 IEEE TRANSACTIONS O N ANTENNAS AND PROPAGATION, VOL. 41. NO. I-,9 DECEMBER 1993

4 I+ 0,

#5 . . . . . . . . . . .
1-
I ,
4 ,,

. .
#4 . . . . . . .,.._
, :
I
,
I ('
c 3
'
I

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . -.
#3 ......................... , #3

., ,'
I '

..................... ....................
#1 .................. Q
,. #1 ...........................

-4 15mil

~ et = 0.250 ........ el = LOO" o,=-jomil ............. o,=dOmil

.................... e, = 0.500 --------- el = ~ . X I " .................... 0,=-30mil --------- os=50mil

dB

(b)
Fig. 8. (a) Manufacturing tolerances on the alignment between the dipole array and the corporate feed. Pattern
degradations due to (b) 0, and ( c ) U , .

destructive to the radiation pattern. We cannot even Fig. 8(c) shows the pattern degradation for different val-
construct the side lobes on one side of the pattern for a ues of U , . From this figure we can see that o,\ is not as
slightly tilted array. destructive to the designed pattern as el.
The distorted patterns due to U , can be analyzed using There are another two factors which may affect the
the method identical to the calculation of the radiation array's radiation pattern. One is the space-wave radiation
patterns considering mutual coupling effects. Each dipole from the microstrip junctions of the corporate feed. In
has the same offset with the value (in mil) given as Section 11, we have shown that the total junction losses in
the corporate feed are only 3.6% of the input power. This
sd = 15 + U , . (14) implies that the radiation due to the junctions should not
 HORNG AND ALEXOPOULOS: CORPORATE FEED DESIGN FOR MICROSTRIP ARRAYS
1623

OdB -10dB -20dB -30dB -40dB -30dB -20dB -10dB OdB

-Theory _ _ _ _ Measurement
(a)

(b)

Fig. 9. Fabrication of (a) the corporate feed and (b) the dipole array on
18” X 12” RT/duroid boards.

Fig. 10. (a) Comparison between the calculated and measured radia-
affect the pattern significantly. The other is the edge tion pattern in the H-plane. (b) Measured SWR of the input port of the
corporate feed.
diffraction of the surface waves due to the finite size of
the substrate. In the experiments, we used a large sub-
VII. CONCLUSIONS
strate board with microwave absorbing material around
the edges to alleviate this effect. Hence, we ignore both A design of an embedded microstrip corporate feed
factors in this analysis. with a 20-dB Dolph-Chebyshev array sum pattern has
been given. This design is based on a full-wave characteri-
VI. MEASUREMENTS zation of the microstrip discontinuities to yield accurate
The antenna array was built on an 18” X 12” scattering parameters of the junctions. Network theory is
RT/duroid substrate. Fig. Y(a) is a photograph of the then applied to integrate all the junctions and predict the
corporate feed, which is actually sandwiched by two duroid current distribution in the output ports. For the antennas,
boards with thickness equal to 31 mil each. Fig. Y(b) is the electromagnetically coupled dipoles were chosen as
another photograph showing the completed array. The the radiating elements to allow for simplicity in an input
far-field radiation pattern in the H-plane was measured match to the feed network. It has been found that the
and compared to the theoretical results. The comparison mutual coupling among the dipoles may significantly dis-
is shown in Fig. 10(a) where the measured pattern is tort the antenna patterns and must be included in the
found to be in excellent agreement with the calculated analysis. Finally, a five-element dipole array fed by the
pattern. The SWR from the input port of the corporate designed corporate feed was constructed and measured.
feed was also measured and is shown in Fig. 10(b). At the The measured radiation pattern and SWR agree very well
design frequency of 8.5 GHz, the measured SWR is 1.848, with the theoretical results.
while the theory predicts 1.875. The excellent agreement
REFERENCES
between both results again confirms the accuracy of this
[l] J. R. James, P. S. Hall, and C . Wood, Microstrip Antenna Theory
analysis. and Design. London: Peter Peregrinus, 1981.
 IEEE TRANSACTIONS ON ANTENNAS A N D PROPAGATION, VOL. 41, NO. 12, DECEMBER 1993
R. E. Munson, “Conformal microstrip antennas and microstrip
phased arrays,” IEEE Trans. Antennas Propagat., AP-22, pp. 74-78,
Jan. 1974.
P. S . Hall and J. R. James, “Design of microstrip antenna feeds.
Part 2: Design and performance limitations of triplate corporate
feeds,” IEE Proc., vol. 128, pt. H, pp. 26-34, Feb. 1981.
R. J. Maillow, J. F. McIlvenna, and N. P. Kernweis, “Microstrip
array technology,” IEEE Trans. Antennas Propagat., vol. AP-29, pp.
25-37, Jan. 1981.
E. Levine. G. Malamud. S . Shtrikman. and D. Treves. “A studv of
microstrip array antennas with the feed network,” k E E T r k s .
Antennas Propagat., vol. AP-37, pp. 426-434, April 1989.
T. Itoh, “Spectral-domain immittance approach for dispersion
characteristics of generalized printed transmission lines,” IEEE
Trans. Microwme Theory Tech., vol. MTT-28, pp. 733-736, July
1980.
H. Y. Yang and N.G. Alexopoulos, “Basic blocks for high fre-
quency interconnects: Theory and experiment,” IEEE Trans. Mi-
crowaue Theory Tech., vol. M’IT-36, pp. 1258-1264. Aug. 1988.
S. C. Wu, H. Y. Yang, N. G. Alexopoulos, and 1. Wolff, “A
rigorous dispersive characterization of microstrip cross and T
junctions,” IEEE Trans. Microwaue Theory Tech., vol. M’IT-38, pp.
1837-1844, Dec. 1990.
R. W. Jackson and D. M. Pozar, “Full wave analysis of microstrip
open-end and gap discontinuities,” IEEE Trans. Microwace Theory
Tech., vol. M’IT-33, pp. 1036-1042, Oct. 1985.
D. M. Pozar and S. M. Voda, “A rigorous analysis of a mi-
crostripline fed patch antenna,” IEEE Trans. Antennas Propagat.,
vol. AP-35, pp. 1343-1350, Dec. 1987.
H. Y . Yang and N. G. Alexopoulos, “Microstrip open-end and gap
discontinuities in a substrate-superstrate structure,” IEEE Trans.
Microwave Theory Tech., vol. M’IT - 37, pp. 1542-1546, Oct. 1989.
T. S. Horng, N. G. Alexopoulos, S . C. Wu, and H. Y. Yang.
“Full-wave spectral-domain analysis for open microstrip disconti-
nuities of arbitrary shape including radiation and surface-wave
losses,” In[. J . Microwaw Millimeter- Wuw Computer-Aided Eng.,
vol. 2, no. 4, pp. 224-240, Dec. 1992.
H. G. Oltman and D. A. Huebner, “Electromagnetically coupled
microstrip dipoles,” IEEE Trans. Antennas Propagat.. vol. AP-29,
pp. 151-157, Jan. 1981.
P. B. Katehi and N.G. Alexopoulos, “On the modeling of electro-
magnetically coupled microstrip antennas-The printed strip
dipole,” IEEE Trans. Antennas Propagat., vol. AP-32, pp.
1179-1186, NOV.1984.
0. Fordham, “Two layer microstrip transmission lines,” Master’s
thesis, UCLA, 1987.
R. S. Elliott, Antenna Theory and Design. Englewood Cliffs, NJ:
Prentice-Hall, Inc., 1981.
D. R. Jackson and N. G. Alexopoulos, “Analysis of planar strip
geometries in a substrate-superstrate configuration,” IEEE Trans.
Antennas Propagut., vol. AP-34, pp. 1430-1438, Dec. 1986.
S. C. Wu and N.G. Alexopoulos, “Characterization of a microstrip
patch antenna including a coplanar feed,” 1991 IEEE AP-S Int.
Symp. Dig., vol. 1, pp. 318-321, 1991.
T. S . Horng, S. C. Wu, H. Y. Yang, and N. G. Alexopoulos, “A
generalized method for distinguishing between radiation and sur-
face-wave losses in microstrip discontinuities,” IEEE Trans. Mi-
crowave Theory Tech., vol. MTT-38, pp. 1800-1807, Dec. 1990.
P. B. Katehi, “A generalized method for the evaluation of mutual
coupling in microstrip arrays,” IEEE Trans. Antennas Propagat.,
vol. AP-35, pp. 125-133, Feb. 1987.
[21] P. B. Katehi, “Mutual coupling between microstrip dipoles in
multielement arrays,” IEEE Trans. Antennas Propagat., vol. A€’-37,
pp. 275-280, Mar. 1989.
[22] D. R. Jackson, A, E. Dinbergs, and S. A. Long, “A moment-method
design procedure for an array of EMC dipoles,’’ IEEE Trans.
Antennas Propagat., vol. AP-38, pp. 766-770, May 1990.
Tzyy-Sheng Horng (S’88-M’93) was born in
Taichung, Taiwan on December 7, 1963. He
received the B.S.E.E. degree from the National
Taiwan University in 1985 and the M.S.E.E. and
Ph.D. degrees from the University of California,
Los Angeles, in 1990 and 192. respectively.
From 1985 to 1987, he served in the R.O.C.
Air Force as an antiaircraft artillery officer. Since
1992 he has been an Associate Professor with
the Electrical Engineering Department at the
National Sun Yat-Sen University, Kaohsung,
Taiwan, R.O.C. His current research interests are in the area of electro-
magnetic simulations of microwave integrated circuits.
Nicolaos G . Alexopoulos, (S’68-M’69-
SM82-F’87) graduated from the 8th Gymna-
sium of Athens, Greece, and received the
B.S.E.E., M.S.E.E., and Ph.D. degrees from the
University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, in 1964.
1967, and 1968, respectively. He has been on the
faculty at UCLA since 1969, where he is cur-
rently Professor.
Professor Alexopoulos’ research is focused on
the application of Electromagnetic Theory to
various technologies. His current interests in-
clude 3-D modeling of integrated microwave and millimeter wave cir-
cuits, the theory and design of printed circuit antennas, microstrip
arrays, scattering from antennas, magneto dielectric thin films, nonrecip-
rocal materials. the localization of the focus of epileptic seizures in the
brain, the interaction of electromagnetic waves with active media and
applications, VLSI interconnects, etc.
Professor Alexopoulos initiated the concept of modeling microwave
integrated circuits from a radiation, or scattering, point of view. This has
allowed true circuit topography 3-D modeling to become a real possibil-
ity. Highly accurate equivalent circuits for integrated circuit junctions,
discontinuities, and transitions. This approach leads to the possibility of
universal 3-D analytical methods modeling and software, which will
apply equally well to the design of microwave and millimeter wave
circuits, antennas, scattering, VLSI interconnects, EM effects in devices,
medical applications, and micro-electromechanical machines.
His honors include being named an IEEE Fellow, 1986, for “contribu-
tions to the understanding of substrate-superstrate effects on printed
circuit antennas and integrated microwave circuits.” named co-recipient
of the IEEE S.E. Schelkunoff Prize (Best Paper Award), 1985. Also, he
is Associate Dean for Faculty Affairs, at UCLA 1986-87; Chairman,
Electrical Engineering Department, 1987- 1992, and Editor, Electromag-
netics, 1989-present.