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Study of Microstrip-Line Inset-Fed and

Two-Layer Electromagnetically Coupled


Rectangular Patch Antennas
Zhang Ronghui, Tang Xiaohong, Wang Ling, and Zhang Xianjing
School of Electronic Engineering, University of Electronic Science and Technology of China
Chengdu, 610054, China, e-mail: emronghui@yahoo.com.cn

Abstract—This paper presents the parametric study of a


microstrip-line inset-fed rectangular patch antenna and a
two-layer electromagnetically coupled (EMC) rectangular patch
antenna. The influence of the inset position and the air thickness
between the two layers on input impedance, resonant frequency,
and bandwidth is investigated by using software IE3D. The final
results show that the inset depth is the primary factor affecting
the matching and the air thickness mainly affects the bandwidth.
The tested two-layer antenna works at 6.1 GHz with a bandwidth
(S11 ≤ -10dB) of about 11%, 8-dBi gain. The 3-dB beamwidth in
the E-plane and H-plane is 57º and 70º, respectively.
Fig. 1. Geometry of microstrip-line inset-fed rectangular patch antenna
Index Terms—Electromagnetically coupled, inset-fed,
microstrip-line with width wf =2.2 mm. In this section, the
microstrip antennas, rectangular patch antenna.
effects of the inset depth d and the spacing ws between feed-line
and patch conductor are analyzed by using electromagnetic
I. INTRODUCTION software IE3D. In the simulation, the resonant frequency of the
antenna is defined as the frequency at which the maximum
Microstrip antennas are popular in many applications
resistance occurs. The resistance is normalized to R0, which is
because they have a low profile and are easy to manufacture.
the resistance when d=0.
However, narrow bandwidth and low gain often limit their use.
Firstly, the parametric study of the antenna with respect to its
Recently, several kinds of structures, such as aperture coupled,
inset depth d was carried out. The inset depth increased from
multilayer, CPW-fed slot antenna, have yielded relatively large
the edge (d/b=0) to the center (d/b=0.5) of the patch when
bandwidth [1]. Generally, a microstrip antenna can be fed by
ws=2.2 mm. Fig. 2 shows the variation of the normalized input
coaxial probe, microstrip-line, electromagnetically coupled
resistance with the normalized inset depth. It is seen that the
(EMC). Coaxial probe feeding has the advantage of low
values of the normalized input resistance follow the cos4(πd/b)
spurious radiation whereas microstrip-line feeding is suitable
variation [3], except for the inset positions close to the center of
for microstrip array antennas. EMC feeding has the advantage
the patch where the resistance is almost zero.
of offering a wideband characteristic. In this paper, the effects
Secondly, the influence of the spacing ws was investigated.
of the microstrip-line inset feeding and the EMC feeding on
The spacing increased from 0.7 mm to 8.6 mm when d=3.8 mm.
input impedance, resonant frequency, and bandwidth are
discussed. The simulated and experimental results are Simulated resistance
presented. cos-biquadrate
Normalized Resistance

1
0.8
II. MICROSTRIP-LINE INSET-FED RECTANGULAR 0.6
PATCH ANTENNA
0.4
The geometry of a microstrip-line inset-fed rectangular patch
0.2
antenna is shown in Fig. 1. A substrate with a thickness of
t=0.8 mm and loss tangent tanδ=0.001, and dielectric constant 0
of εr=2.6 was used. According to [2], the physical width and 0 0.1 0.2 0.3 0.4 0.5
Normalized Inset Length d/b
length of the patch for dominant TM01 mode at 6 GHz are
a=18 mm and b=15.2 mm. The antenna is fed with a 50-Ω Fig. 2. Variation of normalized input resistance with normalized inset depth

0-7803-9433-X/05/$20.00 ©2005 IEEE. APMC2005 Proceedings

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TABLE I
EFFECTS OF INSET DEPTH
Simulated Resistance a/w a=18 mm, b=15.2 mm, ws=2.2 mm, wf=2.2 mm
0.6 6 d 4 πd Rin Rin fr θ 0. 5 E θ 0.5 H
cos (Ω) (GHz)
0.5 5 b b Ro (deg.) (deg.)
Normalized
Resistance

0.4 4 0 1 277 1 5.86 131 69


0.2 0.43 112 0.4 6.08 129 75

a/w
0.3 3
0.3 0.12 34 0.12 6.04 115 75
0.2 2 0.4 0.009 0.3 0 5.88 Abnormal
0.1 1 0.5 0 20 0.07 5.7 100 77
0 0
0.2 0.3 0.4 0.5 0.6
TABLE II
Normalized Slot Width w/a EFFECTS OF SPACING
a=18 mm, b=15.2 mm, wf=2.2 mm, d=3.8 mm
Fig. 3. Variation of normalized input resistance with normalized slot width
w a Rin Rin fr θ 0.5 E θ0.5 H
The variation of the normalized input resistance with the a w (Ω) R0 (GHz) (deg.) (deg.)
normalized slot width w/a is shown in Fig. 3, where w=2ws+wf. 0.2 5 110 0.4 6 127 76
Compared with Fig. 2, the normalized input resistance 0.3 3.3 81.7 0.3 6.04 124 76
decreases slowly as the spacing increases and its decreasing 0.4 2.5 63.8 0.23 6.1 121 74
0.5 2 51.3 0.19 6.17 119 75
rate is inversely proportional to the normalized slot width. The 0.6 1.7 44.7 0.16 6.26 118 73
main reason is that the patch conductor has an impact on the
characteristic of microstrip-line. When the spacing is large
enough, the coupling between the patch and feed-line will be so
Microstrip-line inset-fed patch antenna
weak that the characteristics of the feed-line will not be 0
obviously changed.
Return Loss (dB)

-10
In both cases, as the reactance is relatively independent of
the feed position, the results are not shown. The simulated -20
results are summarized in Table I and II. The beamwidth in the -30
E-plane decreases with the increased inset depth and spacing
-40
while the beamwidth in the H-plane remains almost unchanged
with the varied inset depth and spacing. The radiation pattern is -50
abnormal when the resistance is zero. 5.94 5.96 5.98 6 6.02 6.04 6.06
From the above study, it can be concluded that a 50-Ω input Frequency (GHz)
impedance can be achieved by adjusting the inset depth with a Fig. 4. Simulated Return Loss of inset-fed patch antenna
fixed spacing. Fig. 4 shows the simulated return loss of an
optimized microstrip-line inset-fed patch antenna. The antenna
works at 6 GHz with a bandwidth (S11 ≤ -10dB) of about 1.5%,
6-dBi gain. The 3-dB beamwidth in the E-plane and H-plane
patterns is 114º and 75º, respectively.

III. TWO-LAYER ELECTROMAGNETICALLY COUPLED


PATCH ANTENNA
The drawbacks of the patch antenna are narrow bandwidth
and low gain. The bandwidth is affected primarily by substrate
thickness and permittivity. In this section, a two-layer EMC
rectangular patch antenna is presented, which has a high gain Fig. 5. Geometry of two-layer EMC patch antenna
region and a relatively large bandwidth region [4]. The
geometry of the antenna is shown in Fig. 5, which consists of a d=2 mm and spacing ws=1 mm. Fig. 6 illustrates the variation
feed patch in the bottom and a parasitic patch on the top. Each of resonant frequency and 3-dB impedance bandwidth with the
was fabricated on a substrate with εr=2.6 and thickness air thickness s which varies from 0 to 5 mm. As can be seen in
t1=t2=0.8 mm. To improve the bandwidth, the two layers are the figure, the 3-dB impedance bandwidth is improved to 12%
separated by air. The feed patch and the parasitic patch have and the resonant frequency increases with the increased air
identical width and length, a1=a2= 15.2mm and b1=b2= 15.2mm. thickness. From the study, it can be concluded that the
The lower patch is fed by a microstrip-line with inset depth bandwidth can be enhanced by proper air thickness.

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ACKNOWLEDGMENT
Resonant Frequency
3dB-Impedance Bandwidth R. H. Zhang would like to thank Q. L. Lan, W. H. Xiao, and
6.4 14 Y. Chen for their support.
Resonant Frequency (GHz)

Impedance Bandwidth (%)


12
6.2
10
6 8 Simulated Measured
0
5.8 6
-5

Return Loss (dB)


4
5.6 -10
2
-15
5.4 0
0 1 2 3 4 5 -20
Air Thickness s (mm) -25
-30
Fig. 6. Variation of resonant frequency and 3-dB impedance bandwidth with
air thickness
5.4 5.6 5.8 6 6.2 6.4 6.6
Frequency (GHz)
IV. MEASURED RESULTS
Fig. 7. Simulated and Measured Return Loss of two-layer EMC rectangular
In this section, the measured results of an optimized patch antenna
two-layer EMC rectangular patch antenna are presented. The
measured return loss together with the simulated result is
shown in Fig. 7. The antenna resonates at 6.1 GHz with a RL of Simulated Measured
27dB. The measured bandwidth (S11 ≤ -10dB) is about 11%. 0
There is a 1.7% difference in the resonant frequency between
Relative Power (dB)

the simulated and measured results. This may be due to that the -10
practical air thickness is different from the simulated one and
the feed patch and the parasitic patch are not concentric. The -20
measured and simulated radiation patterns at 6GHz are plotted
in Figs. 8-9. The 3-dB beamwidth in the E-plane and H-plane -30
is 57º and 70º, respectively. The beamwidth in the E-plane of
the two-layer antenna is narrower than that of single-layer. -40
Since the cross-polarization component is 20 dB less than the -90 -60 -30 0 30 60 90
main polarization component, the patterns of the θ (degree)
cross-polarization are not given. The measured gain against Fig. 8. Radiation pattern in E-plane at 6 GHz
frequency for the two-layer EMC antenna is shown in Fig. 10.
The measured gain ranges from about 7.5 to 8.5 dBi in the
bandwidth and it is greater than the simulation result of the Simulated Measured
single-layer microstrip antenna. It may be due to the parasitic 0
patch which improves the radiation ability of the antenna.
Relative Power (dB)

V. CONCLUSION -10

In this paper, the effects of the inset-fed position, the spacing


between the patch and the feed-line, and the air thickness -20
between two layers on the antennas are investigated. It has
been demonstrated that the matching condition is greatly
-30
affected by the inset depth. With a proper air thickness, the
-90 -60 -30 0 30 60 90
bandwidth of the two-layer EMC antenna can be enhanced.
θ (degree)
The gain of microstrip antenna can also be improved. The
results should be useful for the future development of an array Fig. 9. Radiation pattern in H-plane at 6 GHz
and for the study of the multilayer high-gain EMC microstrip
antenna.

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9

8
Gain (dBi)

5
5.4 5.6 5.8 6 6.2 6.4 6.6
Frequency (GHz)
Fig. 10. Measured gain of the two-layer EMC rectangular patch antenna

REFERENCES
[1] W. R. Deal, Y. Qian, and T. Itoh, “Planar integrated antenna technology”,
Microwave Journal, vol. 42, no. 7, pp. 128-145, July, 1999.
[2] I. J. Bahl, and P. Bhartia, Microstrip Antennas, Norwood, MA, Artech
House, 1980
[3] Basilio L. I., Khayat M. A., Williams J. T., and Long S. A., “The
dependence of the input impedance on feed position of probe and
microstrip line-fed patch antennas”, IEEE Trans. Antennas Propagat., vol.
49, no. 1, pp.45-47, January, 2001.
[4] R. Q. LEE, and K. F. LEE, “Experimental study of the two-layer
electromagnetically coupled rectangular patch antenna”, IEEE Trans.
Antennas Propagat., vol. 38, no. 8, pp. 1298-1302, August, 1990.

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