International Conference on Communication and Signal Processing, April 6-8, 2016, India
Bandwidth Enhancement of Microstrip Patch
Antenna for 5.8GHz by Optimized Feed Offset
Merbin John, Ayyappan.M, Manoj.B and Stephen Rodrigues
Abstract—Patch antennas always find a better match in
embedded applications because of their ease of fabrication, small
size etc. With embedded systems becoming mobile, narrow
bandwidth of patch antennas are a major bottle neck in their
usage in mobile embedded applications. Here we propose a
method for improving the bandwidth of the patch antenna by
optimizing the feed offset position. In this paper a rectangular
microstrip patch antenna operating at 5.8GHz with bandwidth
enhanced by 54 percent from 260 MHz to 400 MHz by optimizing
the feed position, but with a slight trade-off in gain is reported.
While the return loss remains almost same at -17.5 dB and -17 dB
respectively, gain and directivity are slightly reduced from
7.18dB and 7.23dB to 5.17 dB and 5.24 dB. The antenna is
fabricated using RT-Duroid substrate that has low dielectric
constant and loss tangent.
Index Terms—Feed offset, Inset Feeding,ISM
Band,Microstrip Patch Antenna,Return loss, RT-Duroid
substrate
I. INTRODUCTION
Embedded systems have its own relevance in the field of
communication. Most of the present day embedded
applications need to be mobile. Embedded communication has
a vital role since we need to communicate with other mobile
embedded systems. In order to improve the performance of the
embedded systems we can either modify the controller part or
the transceiver part of the mobile embedded systems or we can
modify the antenna part of the transceiver. This necessitates
the need of an efficient antenna. A microstrip patch antenna
has all the required characteristics for the above purpose
Antenna characteristics depend on its dimensions, substrate
used and feeding technique. In order to design a compact
microstrip patch antenna, substrate with higher dielectric
constants must be used which are less efficient and result in
narrower bandwidth. Hence a trade-off must be realized
between the antenna dimensions and antenna performance
.
Merbin John is with the Electronics and Communication Engineering
Department,College of Engineering Munnar, Kerala, India (e-mail:
merbinjohn92@gmail.com).
Ayyappan.M is with the Electronics and Communication Engineering
Department,College of Engineering Munnar, Kerala, India (e-mail:
ayyappan995@gmail.com
Manoj.B is with the College of Engineering Munnar, Kerala, India(e-
mail: 2002manojbk@gmail.com)
Dr.Stephen Rodrigues is with the Cochin University of Science and
Technology, Kerala, India (e-mail: 2002manojbk@gmail.com)
978-1-5090-0396-9/16/$31.00 ©2016 IEEE
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Other than this, some of the major mobile wireless embedded
applications such as wireless local area networks are
operated in the ISM band necessitate an antenna that c a n
b e operated in this ISM band frequency. The 5-5.8GHz
ISM frequency is often used in commercial Wi-Fi applications
also. Many times it is used as a backhaul link connecting two
2.4 GHz systems oversome distance. 5 GHz is also the frequen
cy used for the emerging standard802.11ac which will provide
up to 1.3 Gbps of wireless data throughput.Additionally 802.1
1n can use the 5 GHz frequency. There are several works that
explain the design of a RMSA. Angana Sarma [1] explains
the design of a low return loss RMSA operated at 2.4 GHz.
Another paper gives the design of a novel dual broadband
rectangular slot antenna for 2.4 and 5 GHz wireless local area
network (WLAN).However, the change in radiation
characteristics with change the position of feed and the
impact of feed offset of antenna is not reported. None of the
previously designed RMSA has broad bandwidth for 5.8GHz
ISM band. Also all the designs explained in the above papers
have directivity and gain almost below 5db.
In this paper design of a slotted rectangular
microstrip patch antenna having wide band width, high gain,
low return loss and high directivity is presented. Then an
optimized model of the normal RMSA design after changing
the feed position is also explained along with simulation
results. The proposed RMSA is built on RT-Duroid substrate
having minimum height of 2 mm that satisfy all design
equations. Since RT-Duroid has a dielectric constant of εr=2.2,
it has the low loss tangent and hence the least dielectric losses
associate with an antenna. Since most of the wireless
embedded systems are operated in ISM band, the preferred
antenna is designed at 5.8 GHZ ISM band frequency.So this
paper contribute an new feed offset design of a RMSA with
ultra wide band at 5.8 GHz frequency.
The paper sectioned as follows: Section II describes
the antenna design. Section III describes the proposed original
and feed offset antenna models. Section IV discuss the results.
Section V concludes the paper.
II.ANTENNA DESIGN
Microstrip patch antenna design is based on a model
known as “Transmission Line Model”. In this model
microstrip antenna with width W and height h will be
separated by a transmission line of length L.A rectangular
microstrip antenna consist of three layers, ground plane,
substrate and a patch in rectangular shape. The minimum
required height of substrate required above the ground plane is
0.333λ0 ≤ h≤ 0.5λ0, where λ0 is the free space wavelength.
A. Selection of substrate
Selection of substrate has major role in antenna design.
There are many substrates that can be used widely for the
microstrip antennas design. These substrate should have a For a given characteristics impedance and dielectric
dielectric constants within the range of 2.2 ≤ Ԑ” ≤ 12.Substrate constant, the relation between width (Ws) of strip line and
with low loss tangent reduces the dielectric power losses in thickness (h) of the dielectric layer is given by
antenna.
The antenna used in embedded applications should have ௐೞ
=
minimum power losses. So substrate with low loss tangent can ௛
଼ൈ௘ ಲ ௐೞ
be used for RMSA design. The papers [2] [3] explained about ‫ۓ‬ ௘ మൈಲ ିଶ
ǡ ݂‫ݎ݋‬
௛
 ൑ ʹ ۗ
different substrates that are commonly used for RMSA design. ۖଶ ఌೝ ିଵ ଴Ǥ଺ଵ
ۖ
ቂ‫ ܤ‬െ ͳ െ ݈݊ ቀʹ‫ ܤ‬െ ͳሻ ൅ ൈ ቄ݈݊ሺ‫ ܤ‬െ ͳሻ ൅ ͲǤ͵ͻ െ ቅቃ ǡ 
RT-Duroid substrate has minimum possible dielectric constant ‫۔‬గ ଶൈఌೝ ఌೝ ۘ
of εr = 2.2 and loss tangent of which is perfect for RMSA ۖ ݂‫ݎ݋‬
ௐೞ
 ൐ ʹ ۖ
‫ە‬ ௛ ۙ
design. (8)
B. Selection of Patch dimension Where A =
௓బ
ൈට
ఌೝ ାଵ
൅
ఌೝ ିଵ
ൈ ቀͲǤʹ͵ ൈ
଴Ǥଵଵ
ቁ
଺଴ ଶ ఌೝ ାଵ ఌೝ
The performance of the microstrip antenna depends B=
ଷ଻଻ൈగ

on patch dimensions. A paper [4-5] reported the design ଶൈ௓బ ൈξఌೝ

equations for the RMSA design. To design the proposed

For the present design, the characteristics impedance =50.The
antenna we calculated the following dimensions using the ఒ೒ ఒబ
reference equations given below length of strip is , whereߣ௚ ൌ .
ସ ξఌೝ

1). Calculation of Width (W) of patch [6]

D.Feeding Techniques:
W= ଵ
௙௥ඥఓబ ఌబ
ටఌ
ଶ
ೝ ାଵ
= 
஼
ଶ௙௥
ටఌ
ೝ ାଵ
ଶ
(1)
There are mainly two feeding techniques, contacting
or non-contacting [5]. In the contacting method, either a micro
c = free space velocity of light strip line or coaxial cable is used to directly excite the
fr = resonating frequency radiating patch. This makes these techniques easy to fabricate
εr = Dielectric constant of substrate and simple to model. The main advantage of these techniques
is that impedance matching is relatively easy since the probe
2) The effective dielectric constant of the rectangular or micro strip line can be placed at any desired position
microstrip patch Antenna [4],[6]
Here inset feed is used to feed the antenna. Inset
க౨ ାଵ க౨ ିଵ ଵ length of micro-strip patch antenna is given by[4]
εeff = ଶ
൅ ଶ
ሺ ሻ (2)
భమ౞
ටଵା
౭ ݈ ൌ ͳͲସ ሺͲǤͲͲͳ͸ͻͻߝ௥ ଻ ൅ ͲǤͳ͵͸͹ͳߝ௥ ଺ െ ͸Ǥͳ͹ͺ͵ߝ௥ ହ ൅ ͻ͵Ǥͳͺ͹ߝ௥ ସ െ
௅
͸ͺʹǤ͸ͻߝ௥ ଷ ൅ ʹͷ͸ͳǤͻߝ௥ ଶ െ ͶͲ͵ͳߝ௥ ൅ ͸͸ͻ͹ሻ  (9)
ଶ
3) The actual length of the Patch (L)
L=Leff -2ο‫ܮ‬ (3)
E) Lumped port
Where A lumped port is inserted as excitation and it would
Leff=
௖
(4) be selected in such a way that impedance matching with the
ଶ௙௥ඥఌ೐೑೑ characteristic impedance should be satisfied. The height and
length of the lumped port is denotes as Hlumped and Llumped
∆L= Length Extension. respectively.

III.PROPOSED ORIGINAL AND FEED OFFSET ANTENNA

4) Calculation of Length Extension[4],[6]. MODELS

ೢ
The proposed antenna is designed using RT-Duroid
ο௅
=ͲǤͶͳʹ
൫ఌ೐೑ ା଴Ǥଷ൯ቀ ೓ ା଴Ǥଶ଺ସቁ
(5) substrate that has lower dielectric constant of 2.2 and low loss
ೢ
௛ ሺఌ೐೑೑ ି଴Ǥଶହ଼ሻቀ ା଴Ǥ଼ቁ
೓ tangent of 0.0004.Inset feeding technique is used for strip line
feeding. Normal model is designed simply by calculation all
Here, we take h=4mm, 3mm, 2mm for different calculations the dimensions required for RMSA design using design
equations and the antenna model is symmetric about both the
5) Length of ground [4] sides of its feed line. After simulating and analyzing the
Lg = 6h+L (6) design the normal RMSA model is optimized by changing the
feed position from the central to 3mm right side. The antenna
dimensions for RMSA operated in 5.8GHz frequency is given
in the table1.The feed offset design help to achieve wide band
6) Width of ground[4] width for the RMSA along with moderate gain and directivity.
Wg = 6h+w (7) There is a tradeoff between band width and return loss, gain
and directivity. But the proposed design almost optimized
C. Design of strip line [4] these parameters as much as possible .In our design feed offset
is optimized. The general layout of RMSA shown in fig.1 and
layout of antenna with normal feed and feed offsets are shown
in fig 2 and fig.3 respectively.

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 bandwidth .The VSWR of the proposed model is found to be
TABLE I almost 1 at 5.8 GHz. For normal design, the gain and
ANTENNA DIMENSIONS directivity are found out to be 7.18dB and 7.23dB
respectively. From its simulation of the antenna after shifting
Dimension Parameters Values for h=2mm feed 3 mm right, the return loss, band width, gain and
directivity are found as -17 dB, 400 MHz, 5.17dB and 5.24dB
respectively. Corresponding plots of designed antennas
Lg 28.772 obtained from the simulation are given below.A comparison
Wg 32.44 between the original antenna and feed offset optimized
L 16.772 antenna is given below in the Table II.
W 20.44
TABLE II
Ws 6.16
Ls 8.7176 COMPARISON BETWEEN NORMAL AND FEED OFFSET
L 4.03 ANTENNA.
Llumped 10.16 Parameter Normal Feed offset
Hlumped 4 Antenna Antenna
Bandwidth 260 MHz 400MHz
Directivity 7.23 Db 5.24 dB
Gain 7.18 dB 5.17 dB
Return loss -17.5 dB 17.5 dB

From the table we can understand that the feed offset

optimized antenna has a great improvement in terms of band
width. So such an antenna can be used for ultra wide band
applications. But there in a small reduction in gain and
directivity. Even there is a reduction in gain and directivity,
the offset optimized design contribute an antenna design with
Fig. 1. General layout
moderately high gain and directivity along with ultra wide
band than the existing RMSA designs.

Fig. 2. Normal RMSA Layout

Fig. 4. Return loss plot of normal RMSA design

Fig. 3. Feed offset Design

IV.RESULTS
The proposed antenna models are designed and simulated Fig. 5. Return loss plot of RMSA with feed offset
using HFSS design tool. From the simulation of the normal
design of antenna with feed line at the central, the return loss
is found to be in the order of -17.5 dB with 260 MHz

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 Fig. 5a
Fig. 6b
Fig.6a, 7b Gain and directivity plots for antenna with feed offset respectively.

V.CONCLUSION

Design of normal RMSA operating at 5.8 ISM band

frequency using RT-Duroid substrate was done. It is found
that when feed position is optimized, the improvement in
band width achieved is 54 percent. The normal design has
better gain and directivity compared with feed offset design.
But the feed offset design enhanced bandwidth by 54 percent
with moderate gain and directivity.
REFERENCES

[1] K. K. S. Angana Sarma, Kumaresh Sarmah, “Low return loss slotted

Fig.5b rectangular microstrip patch antenna at 2.4 ghz,” in Proceedings of
second international Conference on Signal Procesing and integrated
Fig. 5a, 5b Gain and Directivity plots for Normal antenna Networks (SPIN 2015), 2015.
Design Respectively. [2] A. A. D. Al-Sajee and K. A. Hamad, “Improving bandwidth rectangular
patch antenna using different thickness of dielectric substrate,” 2006.
[3] R. Nema and A. Khan, “Analysis of five different dielectric substrates
on microstrip patch antenna,” Analysis, vol. 55, no. 14, 2012.
[4] M. Ramesh and K. Yip, “Design formula for inset fed microstrip patch
antenna,” Journal of Microwaves and Optoelectronics, vol. 3, no. 3, pp.
5–10, 2003
[5] A. Kumar, J. Kaur, and R. Singh, “Performance analysis of different
feeding techniques, “International Journal of Emerging technology and
Advanced Engineering, vol. 3, no. 3, pp. 884–890, 2013.
[6] D.M Pozar, Microwave engineering, John wiley & sons, 2009

Fig. 6a

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