An Omnidirectional High-Gain

Antenna Element for TD-SCDMA Base Station

Yu Xiaole', Ni Daning2, Wang Wutul
1. Antenna Design Center, Xi'an Institute of Space Radio Technology, Xi'an, 710000, China
2. National Key Laboratory of Antenna and Microwave Technology, Xidian University, Xi'an, 710071, China
E-mail: fishyxlghotmail.com

Abstract: A novel printed collinear dipole array antenna
element is presented. The antenna comprises 8
back-to-back dipole arrays with balanced microstrip as
its feed line. It works in the TD-SCDMA band with a
good omnidirectional radiation pattern (with variations
less than 1 dB) in the horizontal plane and a high gain
level of over 9.5dBi. Simulated results obtained by
Ansoft HFSS are given.
Keywords: printed antenna, dipole antenna, omni-
directional high-gain antenna, TD-SCDMA
1. Introduction
In many applications like base station or WLAN access
point, an omnidirectional antenna is needed. Coaxial
collinear (COCO) antenna [1] used to be adopted to
achieve an omnidirectional pattern in the horizontal
plane. However from previous experiences, these
antennas will encounter efficiency degradation above
1GHz and display a poor uniformity in electrical
parameters. A lot of antennas have been proposed,
aiming to solve these problems. Electromagnetically
coupled coaxial dipole (ECCD) array antenna [2] uses
the annular ring slots as radiating elements, but it is high
in weight. Printed antenna is a promising choice and a
lot of research has been done. In [3], a printed planar
folded dipole antenna is presented. However, its
variations in the azimuth plane are greater than 2dB,
which is not suitable for base station use. Kin-Lu Wong
presented a printed planar antenna with two 1 X 2 dipole
arrays arranged back-to-back[4]. However, this antenna
has a disadvantage of a too complicated feeding network,
and the realized gain is restricted to 6dBi at most.
In this paper, a novel omnidirectional high-gain
printed antenna element for TD-SCDMA base station is
designed. It follows the idea of back-to-back dipoles, but
introduced coupled microstrip as its feeding line. It is a
collinear array formed by 8 half-wave-length elements
printed on both sides of the substrate. Design
considerations of the proposed antenna operating in the
TD-SCDMA band (2010 2025MHz) are studied in
detail, and simulation results by Ansoft HFSS are given.
2. Antenna Design
The geometry of the presented omnidirectional high-gain
printed antenna is shown is Figure. 1. It is simulated on a
Neltec NY9260 material. The relative dielectric constant
is set to be 2.6 with 0.003 tan6. The dimensions of
antenna are 16X860 mm with a thickness of 1.5mm. The
antenna comprises eight 1 x2 back-to-back printed
dipoles. In the center lays the balanced microstrip as the
feed line.
Balanced microstrip is a structure consisting of two
strips equal in width placed on top of the dielectric
substrate, the other on the bottom (no ground plane). If a
virtual ground plane is inserted in a symmetry plane of
the dielectric substrate, it can be found that one strip is
the electrical image of the other. Then the characteristics
of balanced microstrip can be derived based on analysis
of the classical one. The effective dielectric constant is
the same for both structures, while the characteristic
impedance is twice that of the classic structure as the
voltage between the balanced conductors is twice the
voltage of the classic structure and their currents are the
same.
Since the printed antenna is a broadside array ( 0
=90° ), according to array theory, it is necessary that all
the radiation elements have the same phase excitation [5].
Additionally, to simplify the structure, all the dipoles are
fed with equal amplitude and of uniform spacing. Thus
the spacing between the printed dipoles is a key
parameter to be considered, since gain of the antenna has
a close relation with it. As a maximum gain is expected
so as to increase the covering range, the spacing S needs
to be optimized. Thus the relationship between the
spacing S and directivity is derived, and it is found that
when the spacing versus wavelength ratio S/ A is
approximately 0.8, the peak of directivity appears. For
the TD-SCDMA band, S is chosen to be 1 00mm.
When S is defined, the width of the balanced
microstrip needs to be computed. By the characteristics
of the balanced microstrip discussed above, the width W
is set to be 4mm so that the phase difference of adjacent
dipoles is 360 , which is the precondition of broadside
array.
In this design, each printed dipoles possess two
identical arms with a length of L. The distance between
the dipole and the feed line is 2.5mm and the width of it
is 3.5mm. The total length of the dipole is 72mm, which
is slightly smaller than 2/ A for the existence of the
substrate.
At the far end of the proposed antenna, a matching
network is implemented to tune the input impedance.
3. Simulation Results
A proposed antenna with L=35mm, W=4mm,
S=100mm is analyzed using the Ansoft simulation
software HFSS (High Frequency Simulation Software)
and CST Microwave Studio, and the results are
compared. The simulated VSWR of the proposed
prototype is shown in Figure.2. It can be seen that the
VSWR is below 1.2 across the operating band.
The simulated normalized radiation pattern at the
center frequency 2.0175 MHz is shown in Figure.3. In
the azimuth (x-y) plane, good omnidirectional pattern
with gain variation less than 1dB is seen, while in the
elevation (x-z and y-z) plane, narrow beam-width is
obtained. Other operating frequency also demonstrates
similar patterns.
In Figure.4, the simulated realized gain versus
frequency is displayed. A high gain-level of over 9.5dB
across the operating band is achieved.
4. Conclusion
In this paper, a novel printed collinear omnidirectional
high-gain array antenna is described. It operates in the
TD-SCDMA band. The results simulated by Ansoft
HFSS (High Frequency Simulation Structure) indicate
that it has a high-gain level as well as a good
omnidirectional pattern. Besides, it is of simple structure
and low cost. The proposed antenna needs to be further
fabricated and incorporated into an 8-element circular
array to validate its effectiveness.
References
[1] T.J.Judasz, and B.B.Basley. Improved theoretical and
experimental models for the coaxial collinear antenna.
IEEE Tran. Antennas Propagation, 37(3), pp.289-296
(1989).
[2] H.Miyashita, et al. Electromagnetically coupled coaxial
dipole array antenna. IEEE Tran. Antennas Propagation,
47(11), pp.1716-1726 (1999).
[3] F.R.Hsiao, and K.L.Wong, Omnidirectional planar folded
dipole antenna. IEEE Tran. Antennas Propagation, 52(11),
pp. 1898-1902 (2004).
[4] K.L.Wong, F.R.Hsiao, and T.W.Chiou, Omnidirectional
planar dipole array antenna, IEEE Tran. Antennas
Propagation, 52(2), pp.624-628 (2004).
[5] C.A.Balanis, Antenna theory analysis and design, John
Wiley & Sons, Ch.6 (1997).
 z

PL
x

Front view Side view Back view

Figure. 1 Geometry of the proposed antenna

2.0 -

1.8 -

1.6 -

C 1)
> 1.4 -

1.21 U -

1.CJIi - _
2010 2015 2020 2025
Frequency (MHz)

Figure.2 Simulated VSWR of the proposed antenna

 0
330 30
-10 -
-10 -

-20 -
-20 - 300, 60

-30 -
-30 -

-40 - 270 90 -40 - 90

-30 -
-30 -

-20 -
240 -20 -
120 240 120
-10 -
-10 -

210 150 210 150

180 180
x-z plane y-z plane

90

-10 -

-15 -

-20 - 180

-15 -

-10 -

270
x-y plane

Figure.3. Simulated Radiation pattern at 2.0175 MHz for the proposed antenna

10.0 -

9.8 -

m,_9.6-

9.2 -

U7.U
2010 2015 2020 2025
Frequency (MHz)

Figure.4 Simulated Gain of the proposed antenna