Double U-Slot Loaded Stacked Microstrip Patch

Antenna with 22 Array for Multiband

Operation
Darakshan Jabin, A.K. Singh, Guthi Srinivas and V.S. Tripathi

AbstractA stacked microstrip patch antenna with 22 array

structure is being proposed in this paper. The antenna has four
(22) rectangular radiating patch array on the top of FR4
substrate having air gap with ground plane. A coaxial probe
feeding is located along the orthogonal axis of the array. The
antenna is simulated using Ansoft HFSS. The designed antenna
can excite six operating bands by double U-slot cut on array
patch having dimension 43 54 mm2. The operating bands are
centered at 1.64, 1.74, 1.99, 2.30, 2.62 and 2.93 GHz. The return
loss, radiation pattern and gain of the proposed antenna are
presented.
Index TermsMicrostrip patch antenna array, double U slot,
multilayer, multiband.

I. INTRODUCTION

N modern wireless communication systems, multiband

antennas are playing vital role for wireless service
requirements [3]. The microstrip patch antenna can easily
operate at several frequencies. Some of the major reasons to
use microstrip patch antenna for mobile communication are its
light weight and low volume [2, 3]. Microwave antenna can be
easily integrated with microwave integrated circuits and are
mechanically robust. The major disadvantages of microstrip
patch antenna are its low bandwidth and low gain. To improve
the gain, the array structure is being proposed in this paper and
to achieve multiband operation double U slot is cut on every
patch element [4]. Multilayer structure in antenna enhances
the impedance bandwidth and gain of the antenna [1].
Many multiband microstrip patch antenna designs have
been reported. Most of these multiband antennas used stacked
structure [5]. Three operating bands are excited by RFID
antenna and compact microstrip slot antenna [6, 7].
These reported antenna structures have sophisticated
designs and involve complex calculations.

In this paper multiple band antenna array using 22 elements

with multilayer structure and excited with probe feeding is
being proposed [1]. The proposed antenna operates at L-band
Darakshan Jabin is with the Department of Electronics and
Communication
Engineering, Motilal Nehru National Institute of
Technology, Allahabad-211004, India (e-mail: darakshan.jabin@gmail.com) .
A.K.Singh, Guthi Srinivas and V.S.Tripathi are with the Department of
Electronics and Communication Engineering, Motilal Nehru National
Institute
of
Technology,
Allahabad-211004,
India
(e-mail:
arbindsingh001@gmail.com , guthisrinivas37@gmail.com , vst@mnnit.ac.in)

978-1-4799-4939-7/14/$31.00 2014 IEEE

(1-2 GHz) and S-band (2-4 GHz) which satisfies the

worldwide interoperability for microwave access (WiMAX)
standards of (2.5-2.69 GHz) [9]. The L band is occupied by
the military for telemetry in the United States and overseas
territories. The S band is defined by an IEEE standard for
radio waves with frequencies that range from 2 to 4 GHz.
Some communication satellites, weather radar and surface
ship radar use S-band of frequencies

II. ANTENNA DESIGN

The proposed antenna geometry is shown in Fig. 1.The four
(22) antenna elements are embedded on FR4 substrate with
air gap to the ground plane. By adjusting the geometry of
antenna the maximum gain can be achieved [1]. The size of
the antenna is 203 220 mm2. The FR4 substrate of thickness
h1 = 1.6 mm and permittivity r1= 4.4 is used with the air gap
of thickness h2 = 5 mm. Double U slots etched on the
rectangular patchs surface of size 43 54 mm2 which is
mounted on the FR4 substrate of size 180 190 mm2. The
length, width and thickness of the bigger U slot are 38, 34 and
4 mm respectively and the length, width and thickness of the
smaller U slot are 30, 22 and 4 mm respectively. The double
U-slot loaded stacked microstrip patch antenna with 2 2
array has been designed with the specifications given in Table
I.
TABLE I.
DIMENSIONS OF PROPOSED ANTENNA

Parameters

Units (mm)

a1
a2
a3
a4
a5=a6
b1
b2
b3
b4
b5

1.5
6.5
3
7.5
54
27.5
25
29.5
43
15

For outdoor application high gain, narrow beam-width and

multiband antenna is desirable. The proposed antenna satisfies
all these requirements. The size of the patch element is 43
54 mm2 and the spacing between two patch elements is 54
mm.

XY Plot 1

Ansoft LLC

0.00

HFSSDesign1

-5.00
re tu rn l o s s d B

-10.00
-15.00
-20.00
-25.00
-30.00
-35.00
1.00

1.25

1.50

1.75

2.00
2.25
frequency [GHz]

2.50

2.75

3.00

Fig. 3 Return loss of double U slot loaded microstrip patch antenna array.

(a)

Antenna array

Ground plane
(b)
Fig. 1 Simulated structure of array antenna. (a) top view ;(b) side view

III. RESULTS AND DISCUSSION

The comparative simulated results of the single U-slot,
double U-slot loaded antenna array and without U-slot antenna
array are shown in Fig. 2. The double U-slot loaded antenna
array gives the better performance as compared to the single
U-slot and without U-slot loaded antenna array.

Fig. 3 shows the return loss versus frequency of double Uslot loaded stacked microstrip patch antenna. The antenna is
operating at six bands with their respective impedance
bandwidth with 10-dB return loss are about 60 MHz (1.61
1.67 GHz), 40 MHz (1.721.76 GHz), 50 MHz (1.962.01
GHz), 70 MHz (2.262.33 GHz), 60 MHz (2.59-2.65GHz)
and 80 MHz (2.97-2.89 GHz), respectively. The antenna is
worth for multi operations such as WiMAX, L-band and Sband. The proposed antenna centered at the resonant
frequencies 1.64 (-33.98 dB), 1.74 (-16.62 dB), 1.99 (-17.38
dB), 2.30 (-16.78 dB), 2.62 (-20.57dB), 2.92 (-16.41dB) GHz.
The radiation pattern is determined in far field region and is
represented as a function of the directional co-ordinates. The
proposed antenna exhibits one major lobe directed at - 6
with 10 dBi realized gain at 1.64 GHz. There are two minor
side lobes also. This radiation pattern shows that the proposed
antenna is directional and the direction of radiation is -6 .
The simulated radiation pattern for frequency 1.64 GHZ, 1.74
GHz and 2.4 GHz are obtained. Fig. 5 shows the result of Eplanes and H-planes with air substrate height 5 mm.
Freq= 2.4GHz Phi= 90deg

Radiation Pattern 3

Ansoft LLC

-30

5.00

HFSSDesign1

30

0.00

-60

60

-5.00
-10.00

-90

90

0
-120

120
-150

-10

150

S 1 1 (d B )

(a) 1.64 GHz

-20
Double U-slot loaded antenna array
Single U-slot loaded antenna array
Without U-slot loaded antenna array

-30
-40

1.4

1.6

1.8

2
2.2
Frequency(GHz)

2.4

2.6

2.8

-30
-60

Fig. 2 Comparison between return loss of single U slot , double U slot and
without slot antenna array.

Freq= 2.4GHz Phi= 90deg

Radiation Pattern 3

Ansoft LLC

0
30
5.00
0.00
-5.00
-10.00

-90

HFSSDesign1

60
90

-120

120
-150

-180

(b) 1.74 GHz

150

Freq= 2.4GHz Phi= 90deg

Radiation Pattern 1

Ansoft LLC

-30
-60
-90

HFSSDesign1

0
30
5.00
0.00
60
-5.00
-10.00
90

-120

120
-150

-180

150

(c) 2.4 GHz

Fig 4. Radiation patterns of double U -slot loaded microstrip patch antenna
array

The VSWR is less than 2 at resonance frequencies. The gain

of the proposed antenna within the operating bands satisfies
the requirement of some wireless communication.

IV. CONCLUSION
In this paper double U-slot loaded stacked 22 antenna
array for multiband operation is being presented. The resonant
frequencies are centred at 1.64, 1.74, 1.99, 2.29, 2.62 and 2.93
GHz for L-band and S-band applications. The maximum gain
of simulated antenna array is about 9.84 dB and the VSWR is
below 2 for resonant frequencies. The proposed design is a
desirable candidate for microwave access WiMAX standard.
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[1]

[2]
[3]
[4]

[5]

[6]

[7]

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H. Wang, X.B.Huang, and D.G.Fang, A Single layer wideband U-slot
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[8]

Ansoft HFSS ver. 13, Ansoft Corporation, Canonsburg, PA, USA,

2011.

[9]

Sapna Verma, Jamshed A. Ansari, and M. K. Verma, A novel compact

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