CYLINDRICAL RECTANGULAR MICROSTRIP ANTENNAS

USING SLOT COUPLING

W. Y. Tam
Department of Electronic Engineering
The Hong Kong Polytechnic University
Hung Horn, Hong Kong
A. K. Y. Lai
Department of Electronic Engineering
The Chinese University of Hong Kong
Shatin, Hong Kong
K. M. Luk
Department of Electronic Engineering
City University of Hong Kong
Kowloon Tong, Hong Kong
Abstract
Full wave spectral domain approach together with the reciprocity theorem are used to
analyze a slot coupled cylindrical rectangular microstrip antenna. The slot is excited by
either an open circuited stripline or an open circuited microstripline. The fields excited
by the antenna patch surface current and the slot equivalent magnetic current for a
multiple dielectric substrates coated cylinder are rigorously formulated using the
spectral domain Green's functions. Numerical results for the input impedance and far-
field pattern are presented. It is found that the input impedance is signZicantly affected
by the cylinder size.
1. Introduction
There are many different ways to feed a microstrip antenna i ncl u~i n~ coaxial probe
feed, microstripline edge feed, el ec~om~~neti ca~~ couplied micr
coupling feed. The slot coupling feed was fi st proposed by Poz
many researchers [2-41 because of its potential in monolithic
circuits (MMIC) and millimeter wave applications. The fee
circuited microstripline, which is
plane. The microstrip antenna is
ground plane and the two structures are electromagnetical
electrical small slot in the ground plane. In this paper, the inpu
pattern of a stripline feed and mi
antenna printed on cylinder are studied.
excited.
on another dielectric substrate
The geometry of the c ~ ~ i n ~ i ~ ~ rectangular microstrip anten
asymmetric stripline line through a slot is shown in Fig.
configuration, the inner conducting cylinder is removed, i.e.
For rtaicrostripline feed
0-7803-2674-1/95/$4.00 Q 1995 IEEE. 247 SBMO/IEEE MTT-S IMOC'95 Proceedings
Top View
3-D View
Fig. 1 Stripline feed slot coupled cylindrical rectangular microstrip antenna
2. Formulation
By equivalent principle, the slot can be closed off and replaced by an equivalent
magnetic current distribution M, just above and below the slot. In order to avoid
modeling the exact feedline (stripline or microstripline) current distribution J f, only
the boundary conditions on the surface fo the slot and the antenna patch are enforced.
On the surface of the highly conductive patch, the tangential electric field is vanished,
we have
where sa and s, are respectively the surface of the slot and the patch. G2EM and G,A.EJ
are Green's functions for a dielectric coated conducting cylinder. Jzp is the surface
current distribution of the patch. On the other hand, the continuity of magnetic field
across the slot can be written as
f, G,BdHM(r;r')M+ds+I GZHJ(r;r' Vfds
Sf
r E sa
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where sf is the surface of the feedline. G;i "" and Gt;IfJ are the Green's functions for a
coaxial line with inner and outer radii RQ and Rc, respectively.
Inside the coaxial line, the fields are excited by the surface current of the feedline and
the equivalent slot magnetic current. The interactions of the feedline and the slot are
modeled using reciprocity theorem 151 so that the second term of equation (2) can be
evaluated without the details of J,' .
The solution of the coupled integral equations (1) and (2) are determined by the
Galerkin's procedure. In practice, the length of the aperture is smaller than the
resonant size in order to reduce its radiation power and the patch is resonant so that
the magnetic current is approximated by a piecewise sinusoidal mode and the surface
current of the patch is expanded in a set of entire domain modes:
M,(Q,z) =v,e;(QJ> (3)
where k, is the effective wavenumber.
WP L
2 2
N 1
m=l 2Wp
J ~( $, z) =~am- si n for 1Rd$I 5- , 1z I 5~ and oddm ( 5)
As the slot coupled microstrip antenna appears as a series impedance to the stripline so
that the input impedance can be determined [5].
Finally, the far-field pattern from the electric current on the patch and the magnetic
current on the slot is calculated using saddle point method,
3. Numerical Results
Numerical examples are depicted in Figs. 2 and 3 to show the effect of cylinder size on
input impedance, normalized to 50R, of the antenna fed by stripline and microstripline,
respectively. Measured results for a slot-coupled microstrip antenna fed by
microstripline printed on planar surface [5] are also plotted for comparison. It is noted
that the input impedances change significantly for different size of cylinder because the
input impedances depend not only on the patch but also the self-admittance of the slot.
Furthermore, the impedance locus is shifted towards the inductive region because of
the large self-susceptance of the slot.
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1
Rb=8mm
Rb= 1 Omm
Rb =l 2
measured 151
Fig2 Normalized input impedance of a microstripline-fed aperture-coupled
cylindrical rectangular microstrip antenna for curved (R, =0.8cm, l.Ocm and 1.2cm )
and flat ( R, =- ) surface. R, =0, Wf =0.116cm, L, =l.Ocm, W, =O.llcm, Lp =&m,
Wp =3cm, L, =l.lcm, 4 =1.27mm, 4 =4=1.6mm, ~,,=10.2, E,, =E,, =2.54.
1
Ra=8mm
Ra=lOmm
Ra=l2mm
Fig.3 Normalized input impedance ; f a stripline-fed aperture-coupled cylindrical
rectangular microstrip antenna. R, =0.8cm, l.Ocm and 1.2cm, Wf =0.378cm,
E, =1.12cm, W, =0.155cm, L, =k m, Wp =3cm, L, =2cm, 4 =h, =&=1.6mm,
E,, =E,, =E,, =2.54.
The far-field pattern of a stripline-fed cylindrical rectangular microstrip antenna is
plotted in Figs. 4 and 5. It is noted that the contribution of the slot radiation is much
less than the patch radiation, which is similar in [ 5] .
Theta
0
180
Fig. 4 Normalized E-plane far-field patterns of the stripline-fed aperture-coupled
cylindrical rectangular microstrip antenna of Fig. 3.
-90
90
Fig.5 Normalized H-plane far-field patterns of the stripline-fed aperture-coupled
cylindrical rectangular microstrip antenna of Fig. 3.
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4. Conclusions
A full wave approcah has been presented for analyzing stripline-fed and
microshipline-fed slot coupled microstrip antenna on cylindrical surface. The solution
is obtained by applying the Galerkin method to the coupled integral equations, which
involve spectral domain Green's functions. The feeding is modeled using Lorentz
reciprocity theorem. Results are compared with measured data for antennas on planar
surface. It has been shown that the input impedance is significantly affected by the size
of the cylinder and the patch is radiating much effective than the slot.
5. References
D. M. Pozar, "A microstrip antenna aperture coupled to a microstrip line,"
Electron. Lett., vol. 21, 1983, pp. 49-50.
A. Ittipiboon, R. Oostlander, Y. M. M. Antar, and M. Cuhaci, "A modal
expansion method of analysis and measurement on aperture-coupled microstrip
antenna," IEEE Transactions on Antennas and Propagation, vol. AP-39, 1991,
pp. 1567-1574.
M. Himdi, J. P. Daniel, and C. Tenet, "Analysis of aperture-coupled microstrip
antenna using cavity method,' Electron. Lett., vol. 25, 1989, pp. 391-392.
P. L. Sullivan and D. H. Schaubert, ''Analysis of an aperture coupled microstrip
antenna," IEEE Trans. Antennas Propagat., vol. 34, 1986, pp. 977-984.
D. M. Pozar, "Reciprocity Method of andysis for printed slot and slot-coupled
microstrip antennas," IEEE Trans. Antennas Propagat., vol. 34, 1986, pp. 1439-
1446.
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