Tapan Nahar, O.P.

Sharma| Performance Comparison of Modified Structures of Corporate fed

Microstrip Antenna Aarray for L band

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Performance Comparison of Modified Structures of

Corporate fed Microstrip Antenna Aarray for L band
Tapan Nahar1, O.P.Sharma2
Research Scholar, Dept. Of ECE, Poornima College of Engineering
2
Professor, Dept. Of ECE, Poornima College of Engineering

ABSTRACT
This paper presents analysis of modified Multiband
Corporate fed Antenna Array of triangular shape, Bow
tie Shape and Rhombus Shape having tuned in L Band.
Proposed antennas are simulated on HFSS virtual tool.
Rhombus shaped antenna array provides maximum
bandwidth 17.6% and 6.7% at 1.17GHz & 2.51 GHz
respectively which can be usable for GPS and WLAN
applications. Bowtie shaped antenna array provides
maximum bandwidth 16.23% and 8.47% at 1.6GHz &
2.1GHz respectively which can be suitable for
applications such as Marine Satellite and Optical
communications.
Keywords: Microstrip patch antenna, Impedance
Bandwidth, HFSS bow tie antenna, corporate feed
Network.
1.

INTRODUCTION

Microstrip patch antennas are increasing in popularity

for use in wireless applications due to their low profile
structure, light weight, low cost and ease of fabrication
[1]. Therefore, they are compatible for embedded
antennas in mobile, satellite, radar, GPS etc. Microstrip
antenna suffers from a number of disadvantages as
compared to conventional antenna like narrow
bandwidth, small gain, efficiency and low power
handling capacity. These antennas have a high quality
factor which increases the losses. The large quality
factor leads to narrow bandwidth and low efficiency.
Problems such as lower gain and low power handling
capacity can be overcome by using array configuration
of patches [2]. Quality factor of microstrip antenna can
be decreased by increasing the thickness of substrate
and decreasing the dielectric constant which can
increase the bandwidth [3-4]. But as the thickness of
substrate increases, the surface wave increases. Surface
wave increases the unwanted power loss and degrade

the performance of antenna [5]. Aperture coupled

feeding technique [6] and stacked arrangement of
patches [7] can increase the bandwidth. Another
technique to reduce the quality factor is cutting slots of
different shapes in patch. The H shape [8], U shape [6],
annular ring [9], L shape [10], Inverted F shape [11] and
bowtie shape [12] antennas are popularly used structure
for bandwidth enhancement.
In this paper, three different shapes of array: triangular,
Rhombus and bowtie are simulated on HFSS. Corporate
feed network is used for proper impedance matching
and prevent antenna from fading. Array configuration is
used for increasing the gain [13].
This Paper is divided into five sections. Section I
describes the introduction. Introduction of array and
different feeding techniques are described in section II.
Section III consists Different antenna geometries and
their simulation results. The comparison of different
geometries is discussed in section IV. Paper is
concluded in section V.
2.

ARRAY FUNDAMENTALS

A. ARRAY THEORY
To increase the gain and directivity of single element
antenna, number of antennas are placed with equal
inter-element spacing /2, is called as antenna array. As
the no. of antenna elements are increased, the narrower
beam width and high directivity can be achieved [15].
For a linear array of N even identical elements with
uniform spacing positioned symmetrically along the y
axis, Array factor (
) can be written as equation (1)
=

+
+.+

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Tapan Nahar, O.P.Sharma| Performance Comparison of Modified Structures of Corporate fed

Microstrip Antenna Aarray for L band
+

+.+

(1)

After simplification, this equation can be written as

Return loss versus frequency plot is shown in figure 2.

It is observed that antenna is tuned in four bands at
resonant frequency 1.17GHz, 1.65GHz, 2.12GHz and
providing bandwidth 17.09%, 12.12% and 8.01%
respectively.

=
(2)
Where

is amplitude and

is phase excitation of individual elements.

B. ARRAY FEED NETWORKS
In general, there are two types of feeding mechanism
used in the antenna arrays: Series feed network and
corporate feed network.
Each element is fed by a single feed line in the series
fed network. If shape of any element is changed then it
affects the performance of others so this technique is
used only for arrays with fixed beam [14-15].
Each element is fed by multiple feed lines in the
corporate feed network [14]. It is used to provide power

Figure2: Plot between return losses (S11) versus

frequency
Return loss is logarithmic ratio measured in dB that
compares the power reflected by the antenna to power
that is fed into antenna.
The radiation pattern in 2D is shown in figure 3. The
radiation is obtained above the ground plane.

splits of
(i.e. n=2, 4etc). This can be achieved by
quarter wavelength transformers. With this method feed
of each element can be controlled and it is ideal for
scanning shaped beam array or multiple beam array and
phased arrays. The phase of each element can be
controlled using phase shifters [16].
3.

ANTENNA DESIGN AND SIMULATIONS

RESULTS

A. TRIANGULAR SHAPED ANTENNA ARRAY

On the FR4 substrate of 400*200*1.6 cube mm having
relative permittivity 4.4, for triangular shaped patches
are separated by distance of 62.5 mm far apart from
each other and fed by Corporate type feed network
(symmetrical fed network) as shown in figure 1.
Triangular patch having 62.5 mm base and 27.9 mm
height.

Figure 3: Radiation pattern of Triangular shaped array

B. BOW-TIE SHAPED ANTENNA ARRAY
In the previous antenna some modification is done and
same shape of two triangles are arranged in bow-tie
shaped as shown in figure 4.

Figure 4: Geometry of Bowtie Shaped Antenna Array

Figure 1: Geometry of Triangular Shaped Antenna
Array

Return loss versus frequency plot is shown in figure 5.

It is observed that antenna is tuned at 1.17GHz,

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Tapan Nahar, O.P.Sharma| Performance Comparison of Modified Structures of Corporate fed

Microstrip Antenna Aarray for L band
1.65GHz and 2.12 GHz frequencies and providing
bandwidth 16.23%, 12.9% and 8.47% respectively.

Return loss versus frequency plot is shown in figure 8.

It is observed that antenna is tuned at 1.17GHz,
1.65GHz, 2.12GHz and 2.51 GHz frequencies and
providing bandwidth 17.6%, 11.39%, 7.44 % and 6.7%
respectively.

Figure 5: Plot between return loss and frequency

The radiation pattern in 2D is shown in figure 6. The
radiation is obtained above the ground plane.
Figure 8: Plot between return loss and frequency
The radiation pattern in 2D is shown in figure 9. The
radiation is obtained above the ground plane.

Figure 6: two dimensional Radiation pattern.

C. RHOMBUS SHAPED ANTENNA ARRAY
In the geometry of figure 1 some modification is done
and two triangles of same shaped are connected back to
back and arranged in Rhombus shaped as shown in
figure 7.

Figure 9: two dimensional radiation pattern

4.

COMPARATIVE ANALYSIS

The bandwidth comparison is presented in table 1 and

figure 10. It is observed that at 1.17 GHz and 2.5 GHz
frequencies, Rhombus antenna array has greater
bandwidth than others and it is suitable for GPS
applications and WLAN Applications. At 1.6 GHz and
2.1 GHz frequencies, Bow-tie antenna array is suitable
for Marine Satellite applications and Optical
Applications and provide good bandwidth.
Table 1. Bandwidth comparison
S.No

Array
% Bandwidth
Configuration Fr=1.17GHz Fr=1.6GHz Fr=2.1GH Fr=2.5GHz
z

Figure 7: Geometry of Rhombus Shaped Antenna Array

Triangular
shaped
2 Bowtie shaped

17.09

12.12

8.01

--

16.23

12.9

8.47

--

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Tapan Nahar, O.P.Sharma| Performance Comparison of Modified Structures of Corporate fed

Microstrip Antenna Aarray for L band
3

Rhombus
shaped

17.6

11.39

7.44

6.7

is tuned at three frequencies and suitable for Marine

Satellite applications and Optical Applications. Based
on the analysis discussed in previous section III and IV
it may be concluded that gain is increased due to array
configuration and bandwidth is enhanced due to
symmetrical structure and corporate feed network.
REFERENCES
[1]

[2]

Figure 10: Bandwidth comparison chart

[3]
The return loss values are presented in table 2 and a
comparative chart is plotted in figure 11. It may be
observed that Rhombus antenna array have minimum
return loss at 1.17 GHz and 2.5GHz. Bow tie antenna
array have minimum return loss at 1.6 GHz and 2.1
GHz.
Table 2. Bandwidth comparison

[4]
[5]

[6]
S.
N
o
1
2
3

Array
Configura
tion
Triangular
shaped
Bowtie
shaped
Rhombus
shaped

Return loss in dB
Fr=1.17G
Hz

Fr=1.6G
Hz

Fr=2.1
GHz

Fr=2.5G
Hz

-20.41

-17.62

-15.11

-13.23

-20.43

-17.86

-17.22

-13.09

-22.78

-17.62

-12.79

-15.55

[7]

[8]

[9]

[10]

[11]
Figure11: Return Loss comparison chart
5.

CONCLUSION

In the above mentioned geometries, Bow tie antenna

array and Rhombus shaped antenna array provide
sufficiently large bandwidth and minimum return loss at
1.17 & 2.5 GHz and 1.6 & 2.1GHz frequencies
respectively. The Rhombus shaped array antenna is
tuned at four frequencies and is suitable for GPS and
WLAN applications while Bowtie shaped array antenna

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Tapan Nahar, O.P.Sharma| Performance Comparison of Modified Structures of Corporate fed

Microstrip Antenna Aarray for L band
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