Design of Linear 2×2 Array Using Substrate-
Integrated-Waveguide Patch Antenna for 28GHz mm-
Wave Applications
R. Parthasarathy
Department of Electronics and A. Chandrasekar
Communication Department of computer science
St. Joseph’s College of Engineering Engineering
Chennai, India St. Joseph’s College of Engineering
parthasarathy418@gmail.com Chennai, India
ABSTRACT—In this paper, a modified and substrate integrate
wave guide-fed linear array patch antenna is designed for 28-
GHz millimeter-wave applications. In the first step, patches are
placed in 2×2 array structure and the patches are excited by slots
to each element. In the subsequent design, number of port has
been reduced from N2 to N. By using this arrangement only two
ports are used for 2×2 array antennas. Using this method of
feeding, fabrication cost and circuit complexity are reduced. The
Substrate integrated wave guide (SIW) feeding technique
provides, minimal amount of side-lobe power level and side lobe
suppression. The proposed system has reflection co-efficient of
22.5dB over the band and average gain values of 9.2dBi were
obtained. This method also has good VSWR in entire operating
band (center frequency of 28GHz). Moreover, it is easy to
integrate with RF circuits and also it finds the application in
future 5G mobile communications.
Keywords—28GHz, substrate integrated wave guide,
millimeter wave, radiating array element.
I. INTRODUCTION
Many researchers and industries are very much interested in
millimeter (mm)-wave spectrum due to higher bandwidth. In
spacecraft, satellite and missile applications that demand high
performances where size, cost, weight, aerodynamic profile
and installation are being the constraints, low-profile antenna is
recommended. One of the most attractive techniques in future
generation of International Mobile Telecommunications is mm-
wave communication [1].
Various industries are attracted with much interest due to
the development of mm-wave communication systems.
Especially for 5G communication, this mm-wave antenna has
become a subject of special interest. For a broadband
performance, low side lobe level and low cross polarization, is
very important to accommodate the antenna in mm-wave
handset device. The fabrication cost and efficiency of the are
P.G.V Ramesh
Department of Electronics and
Communication
St. Joseph’s Institute of Technology
Chennai, India
significant in mm-wave band [2]- [4]. The common feeding
method of microstrip feeding is not appropriate in mm-wave
frequency since, at this high frequency the feed line starts to
radiate undesirable radiations in the communication channel
[5].
In the mm-wave applications, SIW has been considered as
one of the attractive choices. The most important factor is to
improve the performance of the antenna array such that side
lobe levels can be reduced. Various types of pattern synthesis
like Dolph-Chebyshev distribution, Taylor distribution and
binomial distribution has been used widely to reduce the side
lobe level of an array. Hence, at high frequency range either
the Substrate Integrated Waveguide (SIW) or post-wall wave
guide is more suitable. These feeding techniques can be used to
suppress the surface wave [6]-[10].
In this study, a linear 2×2 array using SIW feed is proposed
which is used for millimeter Wave applications that produced
good gain and better radiation efficiency. The SIW feeding
technique is incorporated in single element patch and 2×2 array
antenna. It consists of a two-layered substrate, In the first layer
SIW feeding is introduced and it acts as wave guide. The slots
are provided at beneath of the radiating patch. In the second
layer, the radiating patches are placed. The optimized
responses of gain and radiation pattern were obtained. Finally
the surface waves are suppressed in the bottom layer and top
layer with minimum side lobe power level.
II. DESIGN AND CONFIGURATION OF SIW FEED
SINGLE ELEMENT AND 2X2 ARRAY ANTENNAS
Proposed design is simulated using Ansoft HFSS13
software. Both the bottom and top substrate are made up of thin
ε = 2.2
Rogers RT/duroid 5880 substrate ( r , h=0.25mm)
where used in this configuration that results in narrow
bandwidth. In the design steps, first step consists of single-
patch antenna with SIW port is used as a single unit of the
arrays to operate at 28 GHz. In the second step, the proposed
2×2 array was employed with two SIW feeding as show in the
fig.2.
 A. Design of Single-Patch Antenna

The design configuration of the single element patch antenna

with single SIW feeding is depicted in Fig.1. To get the 50Ω
impedance 5mm width SIW port is used in transition. The SIW
structure is obtained by using the cylindrical piles with 0.2mm
radius and 0.2mm spacing between the piles are chosen so that
it acts as rectangular wave guide. Using the formula [12] and
[13] the spacing between the pile cylinders are chosen
S
0.05 < < 0.25
λc …………………. (1)
Where, S is the spacing between the pile box and cut off
wavelength.
In the proposed system the spacing S and pile box radius R
is given by 0.6mm and 0.2mm respectively. The single cell
patch antenna is placed in top layer and radiating slot is placed
in the bottom layer. The substrate size of the single element
patch is small comparatively as referred in [11].

TABLE I. DESIGN PARAMENTERS OF SINGLE AND 2X2 PATCH

ANTENNA.
Single patch 2x2 linear array
antenna
Design Values Design Values
Parameters in mm Parameters in mm
W1 19.24 W1 11.27
L1 19.24 L1 11.27
W2 2.5 W2 2.8 Fig.2. SIW feed 2×2 linear array antenna.
L2 2.5 L2 2.8
W3 2.1 W3 4.5 Parametric analysis is done by varying the width and length
L3 2.1 L3 4.5 of optimized slot results has been summarized. If the feed slot
width W1 considered as 2.5mm then the impedance bandwidth
is degraded for each value of L1=2mm. The optimum value of
S11=-23dB is obtained with considerable amount of mutual
coupling. Here, the average and peak radiation efficiency is
95% and 98.5% respectively.

B. 2×2 linear array Antenna with two SIW feeding ports

The slot excited 2×2 linear array antenna with two SIW
feeding ports are duplicated in Fig.2. In this configuration each
of the two patches are fed by single SIW port. In general, for
N2 array antenna array element require N feeding ports. In
linear array with series feds [13], N+ 1 ports are used. Spacing
between the patches are chosen in order to get minimal amount
of (>25dB) mutual coupling between the array elements.

Fig.1. Top view of SIW feed single patch antenna.
The Table I represent the design parameters of single and
2×2 array antennas respectively. The impedance bandwidth of
0.5 GHz (from 27.75GHz to 28.25GHz) is obtained with the
reflection co-efficient S11 < -21dB.
The various antenna measured parameters are compared
and presented in the Table II. The Table II shows that the
proposed configuration has optimum response compare to all
other quoted articles. The proposed system has low gain
compared to the diagnosis of the research proposed in [13] this
is due to coupling loss between the radiating patches and
excited slots.
 0
TABLE II
ANTENNA PARAMETERS ARE COMPARED WITH
REFERANCES -5

|S11 |&|S22| in dB
Ref. Feeding Radiation Number of Mutual Gain in
method efficiency feeding coupling dB
(%) ports (dB) (2X2)
-10
[4] Series 63 N2 -22.5 6.5
[5] Series 74.7 N2 -20.6 7.2 -15
[6] Co-axial 80.3 N2 - 6.7 S11
[10] Microstrip 81 N(N-1) -27 8.6 S22
-20
feed
[13] Series 88 N-1 - 13.2
This SIW 95 N -25 9.2 -25
work 24 26 28 30 32
III RESULTS AND DISCUSSION Frequency in GHz
Fig.4. Reflection coefficient response of 2×2 linear array antenna.
In the proposed configuration, reflection co-efficient were
evaluated for both the single unit and linear array element 30
which is shown in Fig.3 and Fig.4. The single element
impedance band-width is 500MHz which is obtained between 25
27.75GHz and 28.25GHz. The 2×2 array structure also has VSWR
20
VSWR (dB)
approximately the same impedance band but the reflection co-
efficient S11 is 21.7dB and 23.2dB respectively. Compared to
the S11 and S22 in 2×2 arrays, S22 has slightly higher resonance 15
i.e. 24dB.
0 10
5
-5
0
|S11| in dB

-10 24 25 26 27 28 29 30
S 11 Frequency in GHz
-15
Fig.5. VSWR response of single patch antenna.
-20

-25 30 Port1 VSWR

Port 2 VSWR
24 25 26 27 28 29 30
VSWR in (dB)

Frequecny in GHz 20
Fig.3. Reflection co-efficient response of single patch antenna.
The voltage standing wave (VSWR) of single patch and
2×2 linear array arrangement are shown in Fig.5. and Fig.6. 10
These graph shows that the better VSWR response in desired
operating frequency. The values are 1.05dB, 1.25dB for single
and 2x2 array antenna respectively.
0
The surface wave is completely suppressed in the top and
bottom layers. Gain of the single and 2×2 linear patches are,
24 25 26 27 28 29 30
5.02dBi and 9.2dBi respectively. A non-uniform (asymmetric Frequecny in dB
with respect to 0 degree) power distribution and the gain Fig.6. VSWR response of 2×2 linear array antennas.
response of single and 2×2 antenna array response is shown in
Fig.7. and Fig.8.
 0 0
330 30 330 20 30
6.0 10

300 5.0 60 300 0 60

4.0 -10
-20
3.0
270 90
270 90

Gain in dB 240 E-co-polarization 120

240 120 H cross-polarization

210 150
210 150 180
180 Fig.9. E-field co-polarization and H-field cross polarization of
Fig.7. Gain response of single patch antenna single patch antenna.
0
330 30 Fig.13. and Fig.14. shows that 3-D radiation pattern of
8 single patch and 2×2 array patch antenna. This 3-D pattern
shows the power distribution in the main lobe and side lobes.
6 And in the case of single patch antenna there is no side lobe
300 60 level is present. The 2×2 patch antenna consists of two side
4 lobes and one back lobe with very low amount of power and
this provides good response in the direction of radiation. Only
2 6% to 10% of power is distributed in the side lobe.
270 90
0
330 25 30
Gain in dB
240 120 20

300 15 60
10
210 150
180 5

270 0 90
Fig.8. Gain response of 2×2 antenna array.

Radiation pattern of single and 2×2 array antenna is shown H cross-polarization

in Fig.9 and Fig.10. The E-field co-polarization and H-field 240 E co-polarization 120
cross polarization have very good response with minimal
amount of side lobe level (SLL). With the H-field cross
polarization and H-field co-polarization of single patch antenna
as shown in Fig.11. and Fig.12. E-field and H-field co 210 150
polarization are 29 dB and 16dB respectively. In terms of side
lobe level, powers are more in H-field co-polarization, which is
180
shown in Fig.11. Finally, a good radiation pattern is obtained in Fig.10. E-field co-polarization and H-field cross polarization 2×2
both the configurations. linear array antenna.
 0
330 16
30

12
300 60
8

4
270 90

240 120
E cross-polarization Fig.14. 3-D Radiation pattern for 2×2 antenna array.
H co-polarization

210 150 CONCLUSIONS

180
Fig.11. H-field co-polarization and E-field cross polarization of In this work, SIW fed 2x2 array antenna with minimal
single patch antenna. number of feeding ports has been presented with good
radiation efficiency and minimal mutual coupling. With the
help of Ansoft HFSS proposed array antenna performance was
0 simulated and evaluated. The NXN array element required only
330 12 30 N ports by using SIW feeding technique. The following
parameter of radiation pattern, reflection coefficient, VSWR,
9 Gain, and 3-D radiation are analysed for both the configuration.
300 60 The proposed system have low gain response compared to all
6 other method of feeding technique and this is due to coupling
loss between the radiating patch and excited slot. Over all, the
3 proposed system has better side lobe suppression, radiation
efficiency, and minimum mutual coupling between the ports
270 90 and compact in size has been achieved with a minimized 2×2
array antenna.
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