CPW balun for printed balanced antennas

A.M. Snchez, M. Rib, L. Pradell, J. Anguera and

A. Andjar
In coplanar waveguide (CPW) circuits, printed balanced antennas must
be excited through baluns. These baluns often feature coplanar-to-slot-
line transitions that must be tuned and matched by electromagnetic
optimisation, and may interfere with the antenna backward radiation.
A new CPW balun for printed balanced antennas is presented and mod-
elled. As its multimodal circuit model makes clear, it integrates an
impedance-matching network within its structure that can be analyt-
ically designed. The balun has been experimentally tested, exhibiting
good agreement with its circuit model and a weak electromagnetic
interaction with the antenna radiation.
Introduction: The coplanar waveguide (CPW) is a uniplanar trans-
mission line suitable for high-frequency designs since it allows a
simple connection of series and shunt elements. It exhibits a multimodal
behaviour since it can propagate simultaneously the CPW even and odd
modes (see their denitions in Fig. 1a). Both modes interact in most
CPW transitions and asymmetries [1, 2]. The even mode is the mode
commonly used in CPW designs, whereas the odd mode is often
regarded as spurious and suppressed by means of air bridges.
However, the odd mode provides a further degree of freedom to
design new CPW circuits. In particular, it can excite a printed balanced
antenna connected to the lateral CPW ground planes.
Y
0e
= 4Re [Y
A
]
Im [Y
A
] + B
1
= 0
a
1
:
2
b
I
o1
I
e1
I
e2 I
e2
I
o2
I
e1
/2
I
e1
/2
V
o1
/2
V
o1
V
o2
V
e2
V
e1
I
o1
I
o2
V
o1
/2 V
o2
/2
V
o2
/2
I
e2
/2
I
e2
/2
V
e2
V
e1
V
e1
I
o1
I
o2
V
e2
Fig. 1 CPW asymmetric shunt-short-circuit transition
a Layout with voltage and current denitions for even (subscripts e) and odd
(subscripts o) modes
b Multimodal circuit model
l
1
l
1
l
1
l
2
l
2
l
3
l
3
Y
A
Z
0
o
,
b o
Z
0
o
,
b o jB
1
jB
3
V
oA
1:2
a
b
x
y
z
balanced antenna
V
oA
/2
V
oA
/2
V
+
elN
V
+
elN
V
+
elN
Z
0e
,b
e
Z
0o
,b
o
Fig. 2 CPW balun for printed balanced antennas
a Layout
b Multimodal circuit model
To feed printed balanced antennas (such as dipoles, folded dipoles
and quasi-Yagi and bow-tie antennas) in CPW circuits,
CPW-to-slotline (or to-coplanar-strips (CPS)) baluns are used [38].
These baluns may electromagnetically interact with antennas with sig-
nicant backward radiation, modifying their radiation pattern and
input impedance, and thus the matching of the circuit, so it is difcult
to design the balun independently of the antenna. Besides, an analytical
design procedure for most of these baluns is not available [48], and
therefore the designers have to rely on time-consuming parametric
electromagnetic simulations to tune them.
Balun theory: The multimodal behaviour of CPWs can be used to build
CPW baluns for printed balanced antennas based on the asymmetric
shunt-short-circuit transition shown in Fig. 1a. This transition is mod-
elled by the multimodal model shown in Fig. 1b [1, 2], which connes
the contribution of each mode in a different port. Using this transition,
the balun shown in Fig. 2a can be proposed and modelled as shown in
Fig. 2b, where Y
A
is the antenna admittance and Z
0e
,
e
, Z
0o
and
o
are
the characteristic impedance and propagation constant of the even and
odd modes, respectively.
The circuit model shown in Fig. 2b allows, in addition to a rigorous
computation of the system input reection coefcient, a simple ex-
planation of the balun operating principle. The exciting even-mode
wave (V
eIN
+
) propagates until the asymmetric shunt-short-circuit tran-
sition, where it generates transmitted and reected even- and
odd-mode waves, according to the circuit model in Fig. 1b. The reected
even-mode wave propagates backwards to the input port. The reected
odd-mode wave propagates backwards to a distance l
1
until it is short-
circuited by the air bridge, thus generating a stub with the input admit-
tance jB
1
. The transmitted even-mode wave is open-circuited by the gap
at the CPW centre strip. Finally, the transmitted odd-mode wave reaches
the antenna terminals and, along with its reection at the open-circuited
stub of length l
3
(with the input admittance jB
3
for the odd mode),
generates the antenna odd-mode excitation voltage V
oA
.
This balun, besides performing the required unbalancedbalanced
transformation, offers multiple possibilities of impedance matching
since it behaves as the versatile and easy-to-design double-stub
impedance-matching network. This matching network is contained
within the balun structure, which in turn is embedded in the feeding
line of the antenna. The balun almost does not have conductors parallel
to the antenna axis, and thus it weakly interferes with the antenna back-
ward radiation. This fact allows an independent design of both the
antenna (electromagnetic) and balun (analytic), since the antenna
radiation diagram and input impedance are not affected by the balun.
The balun in Fig. 2 can be modied in several ways to satisfy particu-
lar design needs. Since the even mode, due to its voltage conguration,
cannot excite the antenna, it may be allowed to propagate beyond the
asymmetric shunt-short-circuit transition by placing the CPW centre-
strip gap away from the transition; it will generate a further open-
circuited stub. Beyond this gap, the odd mode can be transformed into
a modally compatible slotline (or CPS) mode by removing the centre
strip of the CPW. Finally, the stub of length l
3
may be loaded with a
short circuit. A compact particular case, used below, occurs when l
2
=
l
3
= 0, since then a perfect match is achieved if
Y
0e
= 4 Re Y
A
[ ] Im Y
A
[ ] + B
1
= 0
Experimental validation: The balun in Fig. 3 for a printed-dipole
antenna was designed (with l
2
= l
3
= 0) using the circuit model in
Fig. 2b, fabricated on a Rogers
TM
3003 substrate (with
R
= 3.02 and
thickness 0.8 mm) and measured. The antenna was designed to be
slightly sub-resonant at the design frequency f
0
= 1.9 GHz so as to
exhibit a capacitive behaviour easily compensable with the (inductive)
odd-mode stub of length l
1
.
22.5 mm
l
1
=11.1 mm
2.4 mm
1 mm
1.1 mm
x
y
z
Fig. 3 Fabricated printed-dipole antenna with CPW balun
Fig. 4 compares the measured reection coefcient of the fabricated
antenna with that computed with the circuit model in Fig. 2b. The
good agreement between them validates both the proposed balun struc-
ture and its multimodal circuit model. The antenna with the balun fea-
tures an antenna efciency of 72% at f
0
, and a gain of 2.5 dB (the
simulated gain of the dipole alone is 2.2 dB). Fig. 5 shows its measured
radiation diagrams. As can be seen, they are dipole-like with low
cross-polar-eld levels. Therefore the balun exhibits very weak
ELECTRONICS LETTERS 22nd May 2014 Vol. 50 No. 11 pp. 785786
electromagnetic interaction with the antenna, even in the presence of
strong backward radiation as in this case.
frequency, GHz
|
S
1
1
|
,

d
B
0 0.5 1.0 1.5 2.0 2.5 3.0 3.5 4.0
20
16
12
8
4
0
circuit model
measurement
Fig. 4 Comparison between measured and simulated (using multimodal
circuit model of Fig. 2b) reection coefcient of antenna with CPW balun
of Fig. 3
90
90
0 180
5
10
15
20
90
90
0 180
5
10
15
b a
E
q
/E
MAX
, dB
E
f
/E
MAX
, dB
q q
Fig. 5 Measured radiation diagrams of antenna of Fig. 3
a = 0
b = 90
Conclusion: In this Letter, a new CPW balun for balanced printed
antennas such as dipoles, folded dipoles or quasi-Yagi antennas has
been presented, modelled and tested. It is embedded in the antenna
feeding line, and integrates also an easy-to-design double-stub matching
network within its structure. The balun is based on the interaction
between the exciting CPW even (unbalanced) mode and the CPW odd
(balanced) mode, and can be accurately modelled by a multimodal
circuit which explains its principle of operation and allows its analytic
design. The good agreement between the measurement and the circuit
simulation validates the balun topology and its multimodal circuit
model. The balun features a weak electromagnetic interaction with the
antenna, even in the presence of strong backward radiation, and
allows good antenna-efciency levels.
Acknowledgment: This work was funded by the research project
TEC2010-20318-C02/TCM from the Spanish Ministerio de Ciencia e
Innovacin.
The Institution of Engineering and Technology 2014
18 March 2014
doi: 10.1049/el.2014.0907
A.M. Snchez and M. Rib (La Salle Universitat Ramon Llull,
Barcelona 08022, Spain)
L. Pradell (Universitat Politcnica de Catalunya (UPC), Barcelona
08034, Spain)
E-mail: pradell@tsc.upc.edu
J. Anguera and A. Andjar (Fractus, Sant Cugat del Valls 08190,
Spain)
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ELECTRONICS LETTERS 22nd May 2014 Vol. 50 No. 11 pp. 785786