1

Realization of Rectangular Microstrip Patch Antenna by

Probe Feeding Technique
PROJECT REPORT
SUBMITTED IN PARTIAL FULFILMENT
OF THE REQUIREMENTS FOR THE DEGREE OF
BACHELOR OF TECHNOLOGY
IN
ELCTRONICS AND COMMUNICATION ENGINEERING
BY
Y.VENKATESH (12UQ110497)
V.NAGARAJU (12UQ1A0492)
V.SUBRAMANYAM(12UQ1A0489)
UNDER THE ESTEEMED GUIDENCE OF
B.VENKATESHWAR ROA,
Sr.Asst.Prof, Department of ECE.

DEPARTMENT OF ELECTRONICS & COMMUNICATION ENGINEERING

VIGNANS INSTITUTE OF TECHNOLOGY AND AERONAUTICAL

ENGINEERING
(Approved by AICTE and Affiliated to JNTUniversity)
DESHMUKHI (V), POCHAMPALLY (M)
NALGONDA 508284

DEPARTMENT OF ELECTRONICS & COMMUNICATION

ENGINEERING
VIGNANS INSTITUTE OF TECHNOLOGY & AERONAUTICAL
ENGINEERING
DESHMUKHI (V), POCHAMPALLY (M), NALGONDA 508284

CERTIFICATE
This is to certify that the Project work entitled Realization of
Rectangular Microstrip Patch Antenna by Probe Feeding Technique has
been carried out by
Y.VENKATESH
V.NAGARAJU
V.SUBRAMANYAM

12UQ1A0497
12UQ1A0492
12UQ1A0489

Under our Guidance in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the Award of
the Degree of Bachelor of Technology in Electronics and Communication Engineering
of Jawaharlal Nehru Technological University Hyderabad, is a record of bonafide work
carried out under our guidance and supervision.
The results embodied in this project work have not been submitted to any other
University or Institute for the award of any degree.

Signature of the Internal Guide

Head of the Department

B.VENKATESHWAR RAO
Sr.Asst.Prof, Department of ECE

Signature of the

S.S.G.N. SRINIVASA RAO

Head of the Department of ECE

Signature of the External Examiner

CONTENTS:
1. ABSTRACT ... (4)
1. 1 INTRODUCTION TO ANTENNAS (6)
1.2 TYPES OF ANTENNAS AND THEIR HISTORY...(6)
1.3 PARAMETERS OF ANTENNA..(9)
1.4 METHODOLOGY...(13)
2. INTRODUCTION OF THE MICROSTRIP ANTENNA ....(16)
2.1 INTRODUCTION ...(16)
2.2. MICRO STRIP FEEDS...( 19)
3. INTRODUCTION OF HFSS SOFTWARE ..(22)
3.1 DESIGN OF ANTENNA USING SOFTWARE..... (24)
3.2 ADVANTAGES AND DISADVANTAGES... (38)
4. APPLICATIONS.... (38)
5. FUTURE SCOPE OF MICRO STRIP ANTENNAS.. (39)
6. CONCLUSION. (40)
7. REFERENCE ... (42)

Realization of Rectangular
Microstrip Patch
Antenna by
Probe Feeding Technique

Rectangular Microstrip Patch Antenna :

A patch antenna is a narrowband, widebeam antenna fabricated by etching the antenna

element pattern in metal trace bonded to an
insulating dielectric substrate, such as a printed
circuit board, with a continuous metal layer bonded
to the opposite side of the substrate which forms
a ground plane. Common microstrip antenna shapes
are square, rectangular, circular and elliptical, but
any continuous shape is possible. Some patch
antennas do not use a dielectric substrate and
instead are made of a metal patch mounted above a
ground plane using dielectric spacers; the resulting
structure is less rugged but has a wider bandwidth.
Because such antennas have a very low profile, are
mechanically rugged and can be shaped to conform
to the curving skin of a vehicle, they are often
mounted on the exterior of aircraft and spacecraft,
or
are
incorporated
in
to
mobile
radio communications devices.

Microstrip Patch Antenna

Design Specifications of a Rectangular

Microstrip Patch Antenna by probe feeding
technique
Software Specifications:

The software used here is the ANSYS HFSS

13.0 (High Frequency Structural Simulator)
developed by Ansoft.
The HFSS Antenna Design kit is a stand-alone
GUI-based utility which automates the geometry
creation, solution setup, and post-processing
reports for over 50 antenna elements .

Chassis : Full size desktop work station tower

Processor:Intel xenon E5
Memory :64 GB RAM
Storage
:256GB
Operating system:windows Xp/vista/7/8.

Hardware Specifications:

The Rectangular Microstrip Patch Antenna by probe

feed technique is designed on substrate.The
parameter specifications of rectangular microstrip
patch antenna are mentioned as follows as ,
Substrate selection : The four most commonly
used substrate material are Honeybee
(,Duroid(and
Thickness is about h=1.5mm.
The Length and width of substrate are 19.94mm
and 24.94mm.
A copper plate dimension of Lg = 17.94mm and
Wg = 26.6mm, is chosen to be the ground plane
along Y-axis.
The resonant frequency is selected to be at 2.4
GHz.
Center to center spacing is about
0.64lamda=100mm between patches.

CHAPTER -1
1. 1 Introduction to Antennas:
In the 1890s, there were only a few antennas in the
world. These rudimentary devices were primarly a
part of experiments that demonstrated the
transmission of electromagnetic waves. By World
War II, antennas had become so ubiquitous that their

use had transformed the lives of the average person

via radio and television reception. The number of
antennas in the United States was on the order of
one per household, representing growth rivaling the
auto industry during the same period.
By the early 21st century, thanks in large part to
mobile phones, the average person now carries one
or more antennas on them wherever they go (cell
phones can have multiple antennas, if GPS is used,
for instance). This significant rate of growth is not
likely to slow, as wireless communication systems
become a larger part of everyday life. In addition,
the strong growth in RFID devices suggests that the
number of antennas in use may increase to one
antenna per object in the world (product, container,
pet, banana, toy, cd, etc.). This number would dwarf
the number of antennas in use today. Hence,
learning a little (or a large amount) about of
antennas couldn't hurt, and will contribute to one's
overall understanding of the modern world.
1.2.Types of Antennas and their History:
In the 1890s, there were only a few antennas in the
world. These rudimentary devices were primarly a
part of experiments that demonstrated the
transmission of electromagnetic waves. By World
War II, antennas had become so ubiquitous that their
use had transformed the lives of the average person
via radio and television reception. The number of
antennas in the United States was on the order of
one per household, representing growth rivaling the
auto industry during the same period.

By the early 21st century, thanks in large part to

mobile phones, the average person now carries one
or more antennas on them wherever they go (cell
phones can have multiple antennas, if GPS is used,
for instance). This significant rate of growth is not
likely to slow, as wireless communication systems
become a larger part of everyday life. In addition,
the strong growth in RFID devices suggests that the
number of antennas in use may increase to one
antenna per object in the world (product, container,
pet, banana, toy, cd, etc.). This number would dwarf
the number of antennas in use today. Hence,
learning a little (or a large amount) about of
antennas couldn't hurt, and will contribute to one's
overall understanding of the modern world.
Heinrich Hertz developed a wireless communication
system in which he forced an electrical spark to
occur in the gap of a dipole antenna. He used a loop
antenna as a receiver, and observed a similar
disturbance. This was 1886. By 1901, Marconi was
sending information across the atlantic. For a
transmit antenna, he used several vertical wires
attached to the ground. Across the Atlantic Ocean,
the receive antenna was a 200 meter wire held up
by a kite .
In 1906, Columbia University had an Experimental
Wireless Station where they used a transmitting
aerial cage. This was a cage made up of wires and
suspended in the air, resembling a cage .
A rough outline of some major antennas and their
discovery/fabrication dates are listed:

1. Yagi-Uda Antenna, 1920s:

2. Horn antennas, 1939. Interesting, the early

antenna literature discussed waveguides as "hollow
metal pipes":

3. Antenna Arrays, 1940s:

4. Parabolic Reflectors, late 1940s, early 1950s? :

5. Patch Antennas, 1970s:

10

6. PIFA, 1980s:

Current
research
on
antennas
involves
metamaterials (materials that have engineered
dielectric and magnetic constants, that can be
simultaneously negative, allowing for interesting
properties like a negative index of refraction). Other
research focuses on making antennas smaller,
particularly in communications for personal wireless
communication devices (e.g. cell phones). A lot of
work is being performed on numerical modeling of
antennas, so that their properties can be predicted
before they are built and tested.
1.3.Parameters of Antenna:

In order to describe the performance of an antenna,

we use various, sometimes
interrelated, parameters.
Radiation pattern, beamwidth
Power
Directivity, gain, aperture
Radiation resistance
Radiation Pattern:

11

(Antenna Radiation Pattern). An antenna radiation

pattern or antenna pattern is defined as a
mathematical function or a graphical representation
of the radiation properties of the antenna as a
function of space coordinates.
Defined for the far-field.
As a function of directional coordinates.
There can be field patterns (magnitude of the
electric or magnetic field)
or power patterns (square of the magnitude of the
electric or magneticfield).
Often normalized with respect to their
maximumvalue.
The power pattern is usually plotted on a
logarithmic scale ormore commonly
in decibels.
Radiation Pattern Lobes:

A radiation lobe is a portion of the radiation pattern

bounded by regions of
relatively weak radiation intensity.

12

Main lobe
Minor lobes
Side lobes
Back lobes
Beamwidth:
The beamwidth of an antenna is a very important
figure of merit and often is used as a trade-of
between it and the side lobe level; that is, as the
beamwidth decreases, the side lobe increases and
vice versa.
The beamwidth of the antenna is also used to
describe the resolution capabilities
of the antenna to distinguish between two adjacent
radiating sources or radar targets.
(Half-Power Beam Width (HPBW)),In a plane
containing the direction of the maximum of a beam,
the angle between the two directions in which the
radiation intensity is one-half value of the beam.
(First-Null Beamwidth (FNBW)), Angular separation
between the first nulls of the pattern.

Directivity:

13

The ratio of the radiation intensity in a given

directionfrom the antenna to the radiation intensity
averaged over all directions.
The average radiation intensity: total power
radiated by the antenna divided by 4.
Stated more simply, the directivity of a
nonisotropic source is equal to the ratio of its
radiation intensity in a given direction over that of
an isotropic source.
D=D()= =
Antenna Gain: The parameter that measures the
degree of directivity of antennas radial pattern is
known as gain. An antenna with a higher gain is
more efective in its radiation pattern. Antennas are
designed in such a way that power raises in wanted
direction and decreases in unwanted directions.
G = (power radiated by an antenna)/(power
radiated by refernce antenna)
Aperture: This aperture is also known as the
efective aperture of the antenna that actively
participate in transmission and reception of
electromagnetic waves. The power received by the
antenna gets associated with collective area. This
collected area of an antenna is known as efective
aperture.
Pr=Pd*Awatts
A=pr/ pd m2
Directivity and Bandwidth: The directive of an
antenna is defined as the measure of concentrated

14

power radiation in a particular direction. It may be

considered as the capability of an antenna to direct
radiated power in a given direction. It can also be
noted as the ratio of the radiation intensity in a
given direction to the average radiation intensity.
Bandwidth is one of the desired parameters to
choose an antenna. It can be defined as the range of
frequencies over which an antenna can properly
radiates energy and receives energy.

Polarization: An electromagnetic wave launched

from an antenna may be polarized vertically and
horizontally. If the wave gets polarized in the vertical
direction, then the E vector is vertical and it requires
a vertical antenna. If vector E is in horizontal way, it
needs a horizontal antenna to launch it. Sometimes,
circular polarization is used, it is a combination of
both horizontal and vertical ways.

Effective Length: The efective length is the

parameter of antennas that characterizes the
efficiency of the antennas in transmitting and
receiving electromagnetic waves. Efective length
can be defined for both transmitting and receiving
antennas. The ratio of EMF at the receiver input to

15

the intensity of the electric field occurred on the

antenna is known as receivers efective length. The
efective length of the transmitter can be defined as
the length of the free space in conductor, and
current distribution across its length generates same
field intensity in any direction of radiation.
Effective Length = (Area under non-uniform
current
distrbution)/(Area
under
uniform
current distribution)
Polar diagram: The most significant property of an
antenna is its radiation pattern or polar diagram. In
case of a transmitting antenna, this is a plot that
discusses about the strength of the power field
radiated by the antenna in various angular directions
as shown in the plot below. A plot can also be
obtained for both vertical and horizontal planes
and, it is also named as vertical and horizontal
patterns, respectively

1.4.

METHODOLOGY:

16

The words antenna (plural: antennas in US English,

although both "antennas" and "antennae" are used
in
International
English)
and aerial are
used
interchangeably. Occasionally the term "aerial" is
used to mean a wire antenna. However, note the
important international technical journal, the IEEE
Transactions on Antennas and Propagation. In
the United Kingdom and other areas where British
English is used, the term aerial is sometimes used
although
'antenna'
has
been
universal
in
professional use for many years.
The origin of the word antenna relative to wireless
apparatus
is
attributed
to
Italian
radio
pioneer Guglielmo Marconi. In the summer of 1895,
Marconi began testing his wireless system outdoors
on his father's estate near Bologna and soon began
to experiment with long wire "aerials". Marconi
discovered that by raising the "aerial" wire above
the ground and connecting the other side of his
transmitter to ground, the transmission range was
increased. Soon he was able to transmit signals over
a hill, a distance of approximately 2.4 kilometres
(1.5 mi). In Italian a tent pole is known as l'antenna
centrale, and the pole with the wire was simply
called l'antenna. Until
then
wireless
radiating
transmitting and receiving elements were known
simply as aerials or terminals.
Because of his prominence, Marconi's use of the
word antenna (Italian for pole)
spread
among
wireless researchers, and later to the general public.
In common usage, the word antenna may refer
broadly to an entire assembly including support

17

structure, enclosure (if any), etc. in addition to the

actual
functional
components.
Especially
at
microwave frequencies, a receiving antenna may
include not only the actual electrical antenna but an
integrated preamplifier or mixer.
An antenna, in converting radio waves to electrical
signals or vice versa, is a form of transducer.
Antennas are required by any radio receiver or
transmitter to couple its electrical connection to the
electromagnetic
field. Radio waves
areelectromagnetic
waves which
carry
signals
through the air (or through space) at the speed of
light with almost no transmission loss. Radio
transmitters and receivers are used to convey
signals (information) in systems including broadcast
(audio)
radio, television, mobile
telephones, WiFi (WLAN) data networks, trunk lines and point-topoint communications links (telephone, data
networks),
satellite
links,
many remote
controlled devices such as garage door openers, and
wireless remote sensors, among many others. Radio
waves are also used directly for measurements in
technologies
including radar, GPS,
and radio
astronomy. In each and every case, the transmitters
and receivers involved require antennas, although
these are sometimes hidden (such as the antenna
inside an AM radio or inside a laptop computer
equipped with Wi-Fi).
According to their applications and technology
available, antennas generally fall in one of two
categories:

18

1. Omnidirectional or only weakly directional

antennas which receive or radiate more or less
in all directions. These are employed when the
relative position of the other station is unknown
or arbitrary. They are also used at lower
frequencies where a directional antenna would
be too large, or simply to cut costs in
applications where a directional antenna isn't
required.
2. Directional or beam antennas
which
are
intended to preferentially radiate or receive in a
particular direction or directional pattern.
In common usage "omnidirectional" usually refers to
all horizontal directions, typically with reduced
performance in the direction of the sky or the ground
(a truly isotropic radiator is not even possible). A
"directional" antenna usually is intended to
maximize its coupling to the electromagnetic field in
the direction of the other station, or sometimes to
cover a particular sector such as a 120 horizontal
fan pattern in the case of a panel antenna at a cell
site.
Both the vertical and dipole antennas are simple in
construction and relatively inexpensive. The dipole
antenna, which is the basis for most antenna
designs, is a balanced component, with equal but
opposite voltages and currents applied at its two
terminals through a balanced transmission line (or to
a coaxial transmission line through a socalled balun). The vertical antenna, on the other
hand, is a monopole antenna. It is typically
connected to the inner conductor of a coaxial

19

transmission line (or a matching network); the shield

of the transmission line is connected to ground. In
this way, the ground (or any large conductive
surface) plays the role of the second conductor of a
dipole, thereby forming a complete circuit. Since
monopole antennas rely on a conductive ground, a
so-called grounding structure may be employed to
provide a better ground contact to the earth or
which itself acts as a ground plane to perform that
function regardless of (or in absence of) an actual
contact with the earth.

2.Introduction of the Microstrip Antenna

2.1.Introduction
Microstrip antenna is a printed type of antenna
consisting of a dielectric substrate with relative
permittivity and permeability where sandwiched in
between a ground plane and a metallic patch. The
concept of microstrip antenna was first proposed in
1953, twenty years before the practical antennas
were produced .
Since the first practical antennas were developed in
early 1970's, interest in this kind of antenna increase
and in 1979 the first professional meeting on micro

20

strip antennas was held in New Mexico. The

microstrip antenna is physically very simple and flat,
these are two of the reasons for the great interest in
this type of antenna.
Microstrip antennas have several advantages
compared to other bulky type of antennas. Some of
the main advantages of micro strip antennas are
that it has low fabrication cost, its lightweight, low
volume, and low profile configurations that it can be
made conformal, it can be easily be mounted on
rockets, missiles and satellites without major
modifications and arrays of these antennas can
simply be produced .
However, micro strip antennas have some
drawbacks including narrow bandwidth, low power
handling capability and low gain. But with
technology advancement and extensive research
into this area these problems are being gradually
overcome.
In many practical designs, the advantages of
microstrip
antennas
far
outweigh
their
disadvantages. With continuing research and
development it is expected that micro strip antennas
will replace conventional antennas for most
applications. Some of the notable applications for
microstrip antennas are in the areas of mobile
satellite
Communications, the Direct Broadcast Satellite
(DBS) system and Global Positioning System (GPS).
Microstrip antennas also found useful in non-satellite

21

based application such as remote sensing and

medical hyperthermia application.

General Description
In its simplest form, micro strip antenna is a
dielectric substrate panel sandwiched in between
two conductors. The lower conductor is called
ground plane and the upper conductor is known as
patch. Microstrip antenna is commonly used at
frequencies from to 100 GHz and at frequencies
below ultra high frequency, UHF micro strip patch
become exceptionally large. The radiating patch can
be design in various shapes according to the desired
characteristics. Illustrated in Figure 1.1 is the
simplest structure of a rectangular microstrip patch
antenna.

Conducting Layers :
The common materials used for conducting surfaces
are copper foil or copper foil plated with corrosion
resistant metals like gold, tin and nickel. These
metals are the 3 main choice because of their low
resistivity, resistant to oxidation, solderable, and
adhere well to substrate.

22

An alternative to metal for conducting surface is to

use conductive ink. It is easier to fabricate but have
three disadvantages. First, is that conductive inks
cannot be soldered in the usual way, to overcome
this solder pastes are used. Secondly is oxidation,
but the efect is negligible since the oxide is also
conductive. The third is the problem of silver ion
migration. Silver ions tend to migrate under humid
conditions and this will cause a short across the
conductive ink lines.

Dielectric Substrate :
The first step in designing micro strip antenna is to
choose the suitable substrate. There are various
types of substrate available in market that provides
considerable flexibility in the choice of a substrate
for particular applications.
In most cases, considerations in substrate
characteristics involved the dielectric constant and
loss tangent and their variation with temperature
and frequency, dimensional stability with processing,
homogeneity and isotropicity. In order to provide
support and protection for the patch elements, the
dielectric substrate must be strong and able to
endure high temperature during soldering process
and has high resistant towards chemicals that are
used in fabrication process.

23

The surface of the substrate has to be smooth to

reduce losses and adhere well to the metal used.
Substrate thickness and permittivity determine the
electrical characteristics of the antenna. Thicker
substrate will increase the bandwidth but it will
cause the surface waves to propagate and spurious
coupling will happen. This problem however, can be
reduced or avoided by using a suitably low
permittivity substrate. Below are six categories of
dielectric material that are used for substrates.
(1)Ceramic - Alumina ( r = 9.5, tan () = 0.0003)
This type of dielectric has low loss but brittle. It has
high frequency applications and also has excellent
resistance against chemicals. The temperature
range for alumina is up to 1600oC.
(2) Synthetic materials - Teflon ( r = 2.08, tan () =
0.0004)
These materials possess good electric properties but
have a low melting point and have poor adhesion.
The dimensional stability for this substrate is
relatively poor but reinforcement with glass or
ceramic will improve the dimensional stability to
fairly good.
(3) Composite materials Duroid ( r = 2.2 /6.0/ 10.8,
tan () = 0.0017)
Composite materials are a mixture of fiberglass and
the synthetic materials cited above. These materials
have good electrical and physical properties and
excellent dimensional stability.

24

(4) Ferromagnetic - Ferrite ( r = 9 - 16, tan ()

=0.001)
This type of dielectric is biased by an electrical field.
The resonant ftequency of the antenna depends
upon the biasing; hence magnetically tuneable
antennas are possible.
(5) Semiconductor - Silicon ( r = 11.9, tan ()
=0.0004)
This type of dielectric can be integrated into circuit,
but only small areas are available so it is not suitable
for antenna applications.
(6) Fiberglass - Woven fiberglass ( r = 4.882, tan () =
0.002)
This material is relatively low in cost for such low
loss tangent. However, woven fibers tend to be
anisotropic and this is undesirable in many designs .

2.2. Microstrip Feeds :

Matching is usually required between the antenna
and the feed line, because antenna input
impedances difer from customary 500hm line

25

impedance. An appropriately 6 selected port location

will provide matching between the antenna and its
feed line. And the location of the feed line also
afects the radiation characteristics. There are three
common techniques for exciting a particular
microstrip antenna. These are coaxial probe,
microstrip line and aperture coupling.
The coaxial probe is the most popular technique and
is illustrated in Figure 1.3. The coaxial connector is
attached to the ground plane and the coaxial center
conductor extends through the substrate and is
attached to the radiating patch. For coaxial probe
the location of the feed is normally located at one
third of the distance from the center of the patch to
the side. The advantages of this method are that the
probe location can selectively excite additional
modes and it can be use with plated vias for multi
layer circuits.

Coaxial feed

In the second technique, micro strip line is

connected directly to the radiating patch; see Figure
1.4. The location of the feed line may afect a small
shift in resonant frequency, due to the change in
coupling between the feed line and the antenna.

26

This technique provide good polarization however, it

is very difficult to minimize the spurious radiation
from the microstrip line. Spurious radiation will
increase sidelobes on the radiating pattern.

Microstrip Line Feed

In the aperture coupling the feed line and the patch

are on diferent sides of the ground plane . A slot is
cut in the ground plane to couple the
electromagnetic to the radiating patch, thus no via
connectors needed. This technique is to avoid
spurious radiation escapes from the feed line and
corrupt the sidelobes or polarization of the antenna.

Aperture coupling feed

27

3.Introduction of HFSS software

HFSS is a commercial finite element method solver
for electromagnetic structures from Ansys. The
acronym
originally
stood
for high
frequency
structural simulator. It is one of several commercial
tools used for antenna design, and the design of
complex RF electronic
circuit elements
including
filters, transmission lines, and packaging. It was
originally developed by Professor Zoltan Cendes and
his students at Carnegie Mellon University. Prof.
Cendes and his brother Nicholas Csendes founded
Ansoft and sold HFSS stand-alone under a 1989
marketing relationship with Hewlett-Packard, and
bundled into Ansoft products.[1] After various
business relationships over the period 1996-2006,
HP (which became Agilent EEsof EDA division) and
Ansoft went their separate ways:[2] Agilent with the
critically acclaimed[3] FEM Element and Ansoft with

28

their HFSS products, respectively. Ansoft was later

acquired by Ansys.

In this work a dual band rectangular microstrip

patch
antenna
along
with
the
innovative
metamaterial structure is proposed at a height of
3.2mm from the ground plane, which consists of a
rectangular geometry incorporated with c shaped
structure. This work is mainly focused on increasing
the potential parameters of microstrip patch
antennas and analyzing the dual band operation of
proposed antenna. The proposed antenna is
designed to resonate at 2.478GHz and 2.919GHz
frequency. The impedance bandwidth of the patch
antenna along with the proposed metamaterial
structure at 2.478GHz is improved by 20.4MHz and
return loss is reduced by 20.128dB. At 2.919GHz the
impedance bandwidth is improved by 25.4MHz and
return loss is reduced by 19.564dB. For verifying that
the proposed metamaterial structure possesses
Negative values of Permeability and Permittivity
within the operating frequency ranges, NicolsonRoss-Weir method (NRW) has been employed. For
simulation purpose CST-MWS Software has been
used.

Package Modelling BGA, QFP, Flip-Chip

29

PCB Board Modelling Power/ Ground planes,

Mesh Grid Grounds, Backplanes
Silicon/GaAs-Spiral Inductors, Transformers
EMC/EMI Mobile Communications Patches,
Dipoles, Horns, Conformal Cell Phone Antennas,
Quadrafilar Helix, Specific Absorption Rate
( SAR), Infinite Arrays, Radar Section (RCS),
Frequency Selective Surface (FSS)
Connectors Coax, SFP/XFP, Backplane,
Transitions
Waveguide Filters, Resonators, Transitions,
Couplers
Filters Cavity Filters, Microstrip, Dielectric
HFSS is an interactive simulation system whose
basic mesh element is a tetrahedron. This
allows you to solve any arbitrary 3D geometry,
especially those with complex curves and
shapes, in a fraction of the time it would take
using other techniques.
The name HFSS stands for High Frequency
Strucutre Simulator. Ansoft pioneered the use of
the Finite Element Method (FEM) for EM
simulation by developing / implementing
technologies such as tangential vector finite
elements, adaptive meshing, and Adaptive
Lancozos - pade Sweep (ALPS). Today, HFSS
continues to lead the industry with innovations
such as Modes to Nodes and Full wave Spice.
Ansoft HFSS has evolved over a period of years
with input from many users and industries. In
industry, Ansoft HFSS is the tool of choice for
High productivity research, development, and
virtual prototyping.

30

Analysis of Rectangular Microstrip Patch

Antenna and Metamaterial Structure with
Simulated Results :
The Rectangular Microstrip Patch Antenna is
designed on FR-4 (Lossy) substrate. The parameter
specifications of rectangular microstrip patch
antenna are mentioned . These are calculated from
the above discussed formulae.
Probe Feed Patch Antenna Introduction:

Topview

31

II Getting Started
By now, you can launch HFSS, opening a project and name it
probe_Feed_Patch_Antenna.
Then set the solution type:
- select the menu item HFSS > Solution Type
- choose Driven Terminal
- click Ok button

To set the units

- select the menu item 3D Modeler >Units
- select Units: cm
- click ok button

32

III Creating the Probe Feed Patch Antenna

1 Substrate
To draw the Substrate, click

on the toolbar. Then draw a

box by filling the following data as shown below.

2 Patch
TodrawthePatch,click
onthetoolbar.Thendrawrectanglebyfillingthe following data
as shown below

33

ThenassignaperfectEboundarytothepatch.SelectPatch,doubl
eclick,select
Assign Boundary > Perfect E

3 Ground Plane
TodrawtheGroundPlane,click
following data as shown below.

onthetoolbar.Thendrawrectanglebyfilling the

34

ThenassignaperfectEboundarytothepatch.SelectGround,d
oubleclick,and select Assign Boundary> Perfect E

4 Coax Cable
The antenna is excited using a coax cable port. This port is
located under the
patch.Todrawthecoaxcableport,westartbydrawingtheinfinite
groundCutOut as shown below.

35

Then select the Ground

&Cut_Out,rightclick,selectEdit>Boolean >Substract,
Create the coax.
Sotocreatethecoax,selectthemenuitemDraw>Cylinder,the
nenterthedataas described below

36

Create the Coax Pin

So Select the menu itemDraw>Cylinder, then enter the
data as described below

CreatetheWaveport
To create a circle thatrepresents the port:
Select the menu itemDraw>Circle, then enter the data as
shown below

37

To assign wave port excitation, select Port 1, then go to

menu item HFSS > Excitations > Assign > Wave port
Create the Probe,
Tocreatetheprobe,selectthemenuitemDraw>Cylinder,then
enterthedataas shown below

5 Assign Boundary
TodrawtheAirBox,click
shown below.

onthetoolbar.Thendrawaboxbyfillingthe following data as

38

Now select Box 1, right click> Assign Boundary > radiation

6 Analysis Setup
Finally, you have your model ready to run. Now you need to
identify your analysis setup. To create ananalysis setup,
select the menuitem
HFSS > Analysis Setup > Add
Solution Setup. In the Solution Setup window, click the
general tab, Solution frequency is 2.55GHz ,Maximum
Number of Passes Is 20 and Maximum Delta Sper Pass is
0.02.

ADD
Frequency Sweep
Toaddafrequencysweep,selectthemenuitem
HFSS>AnalysisSetup >Add Sweep. Select Solution
Setup:
Setup1.ClickOK
button.ThenEditSweepWindow.

39

Sweep Type: Fast, Frequency Setup Type:Linear Count,

Start:1 GHz, Stop: 3 GHz, Count: 200. Click OK button.
8 Model Validation
Tovalidatethemodel,selectthemenuHFSS>Validation
Check.ClicktheClose button. To view any errors or warnings
messages, use the Message Manager.

Analyz
e
To start the solution process, select the menu
item HFSS >Analyze. Or click on the icon

10- Solution Data

Note:TheSolutionDatawindowcanbealsodisplayed by
right-click on the Setup1
underanalysisontheHFSSdesigntree.Notealso that
the defaultviewisProfile.Select the Convergence tab

40

The simulation will stop as soon as the

results converge, which is at pass 10.
CreateRepor
s

To
create
a
report,
selectResults>CreateReport.
SetReportTypetoModalSParameters,DisplayTypetoRectangu
larthenclickOK
butt
on.

IntheTracesWindow,setSolutiontoSetup1:Adaptive1.IntheYt
ab,setCategory to S Parameter, Quantity to S (waveport,
waveport), Function to dB and click Add Trace button. Click

41

Done button. Note that you can create any type of report it
all depends on user

12- Radiation
Pattern
To create 2D polar far field plot go to Results > create
Report. When the new window pops up change the Report
Type to Far Field and Display type to Radiation Pattern
then click OK.

42

43

3D POLAR PLOT S-PARAMETER:

GROUP DELAY:

44

3.2 Advantages of Microstrip antenna:

Microstrip antennas are relatively inexpensive to
manufacture and design because of the simple 2dimensional physical geometry.
They are usually employed at UHF and higher
frequencies because the size of the antenna is directly
tied to the wavelength at the resonant frequency.

45

It is relatively easy to print an array of patches on

a single (large) substrate using lithographic techniques.
Patterns are somewhat hemispherical, with a
moderate directivity (about 6-8 dB is typical).

Disadvantages of Microstrip antenna:

Low bandwidth (but can be improved by a variety of
techniques). Bandwidths of a few percent are typical.
Efficiency may be lower than with other antennas .
Efficiency is limited by conductor and dielectric
losses*, and by surface-wave loss.
Extra radiation occurs from its feeds and junctions.

4.APPLICATIONS:
The Microstrip patch antennas are well known for their
performance and their robust design, fabrication and their
extent usage. The advantages of this Microstrip patch
antenna are to overcome their de-merits such as easy to
design, light weight etc., the applications are in the various
fields such as in the medical applications, satellites and of
course even in the military systems just like in the rockets,
aircrafts missiles etc. the usage of the Microstrip antennas
are spreading widely in all the fields and areas and now they
are booming in the commercial aspects due to their low cost
of the substrate material and the fabrication. It is also
expected that due to the increasing usage of the patch
antennas in the wide range this could take over the usage of
the conventional antennas for the maximum applications.
Microstrip patch antenna has several applications.

46

5.Future scope of Micro Strip antennas:

The explosive growth in the demand for wireless
communication and information transfer using
handsets and personal communications (PCS)
devices has created the need for
major
advancements of antenna designs as a fundamental
part of any wireless system. One type of antennas
that fulfills most of the wireless systems
requirements is the microstrip antennas. These
antennas are widely used on base stations as well as
handheld devices. Microstrip antennas have a
variety of configurations and are currently the most
active field in antenna research and development.
The microstrip antennas, due to their great
advantages, have increasingly wide range of
applications in wireless communication systems as
handheld mobile devices, satellite communication
systems, and biomedical applications. In most PCS,
the handheld antenna is placed on a small
plastic/shielding box that is in close proximity to
biological tissue of user body hence its radiation
may cause health hazardous efects. Added to the
operational requirements, the users and service
providers usually demand wireless units with
antennas that are small and compact, cost efective
for manufacturability, low profile, and easy to
integrate with other wireless communication system
components. The antenna designer must consider all
these issues besides the electrical characteristics of
the antenna performance which include antenna
tuning (operating frequency), VSWR and return loss
(input impedance), bandwidth, gain and directivity,
radiation pattern, diversity, and size of the chassis
(expressed as a function of wavelengths) and
specific absorption rate (SAR) of the antenna. These
design considerations have led antenna designers to

47

consider a wide variety of structures to meet the

often conflicting needs for diferent applications.
This special issue contains diferent topics about
microstrip antennas. New designs are investigated
for several wireless communication applications.
Papers are classified from survey about most
literature publications in several topics as RF energy
harvesting to new designs in UWB antennas,
reconfigurable antennas, smart MIMO systems, and
so forth.
We hope the readers and researches of microstrip
antenna systems will find in this special issue not
only new designs about diferent microstrip antenna
characteristics but also valuable information about
numerical analysis and fabrications.
Microstrip-patch elements on a conical surface are a
configuration of great potential interest. However, no
mutual coupling data for this case have been found
in the published literature. This may be due to the
complexity of analyzing the near fields on a coated
cone. There are very few references in the literature
in which the radiation characteristics of microstrippatch antennas on cones have been analyzed. The
results found were obtained using a cavity model of
the patch. Also, conformal spherical antennas have
attracted interest. A well-known example is the
dome radar antenna. This antenna has a passivetransmission-type lens of hemispherical shape. What
do radomes have to do with conformal array
antennas? Radomes are usually thought of as
dielectric shell structures protecting an antenna
installation. If made of metal, a dense array of
openings (slots) can provide the necessary
transmission properties within a restricted range of
frequencies. The result is a conformal frequencyselective structure (FSS). It is not an antenna, of

48

course, but viewed from the outside it exhibits all

the radiating characteristics of a curved antenna
array of radiating elements, just like a conformal
antenna. The hemispherical surface provides an
active area subtended by a conical angle of 120 be
expected to be independent of the scan direction
since we are dealing with a spherical surface.
However, for scan angles larger than a certain value,
in our case 30 from the zenith, the efective area
decreases and is halved at the 90 scan limit based
on our assumed maximum scan angle 60. One
alternative is to extend the sphere downward to
make the efective area constant with scan
The microstrip arrays mounted on a spherical
surface have the advantages of wide-angle
coverage. Such spherical microstrip arrays are
usually designed to have radiation coverage over
nearly a full hemisphere, which can find applications
in ground station-to-satellite, aircraft-to-satellite, and
satellite-to-satellite communication links.
The conical microstrip array may be used to provide
tracking antennas for high-speed missiles, where the
front end of the missile makes a design using
conventional planar microstrip antennas impractical.
Other uses are in curved bodies that have conical or
nearly conical surfaces. As for the conical microstrip
array with typical geometry reports of related
designs are relatively scanty.
Results for E- and H-plane mutual coupling for
cylindrical microstrip antennas and the curvature
efects on the mutual coupling have been presented
in the thesis. On the other hand, the curvature
efects on the mutual coupling in the design and
performance of microstrip antennas mounted on a
spherical and the conical ground surface conforming
to nose cone and canopy may be investigated.

49

By following a theoretical formulation similar to that

for the wide cylindrical microstrip line, the current
density on the coupled lines may first be expanded
in terms of combinations of known basis functions
for modelling the surface current density on the
coupled microstrip lines for numerical convergence.
Since discontinuities in microstrip lines, caused by
abrupt changes in the geometry of the strip
conductor may generate radiating and surface
waves, accurate characterization of the discontinuity
characteristics of microstrip lines is desired.
6.Conclusion:
Future aircraft systems must have the ability to
adapt to fend for itself from rapidly changing threat
situations. The aircraft systems need to be designed
to tackle dynamically threat in the form of Electronic
Attack. In order to thwart the detection of operating
frequency by the enemy and prevent the jamming of
signals, it is necessary to design a frequency agile
microstrip patch antenna. Such a reconfigurable
patch antenna may be designed by employing
multidielectric layers and a cover layers, placed
directly on the surface of the aircraft. Impedance
bandwidth, an important characteristic of microstrip
patch antennas can be significantly improved by
using multilayer dielectric configuration. The
antenna thus, designed may be used for specific
high-performance airborne applications and suitably
be utilized for realization of frequency hopping. For
large (azimuthal) angular coverage conformal arrays
of these antennas can be mounted on singly curved
cylindrical surface with low profile. The singly curved
surface can also be used as an approximation of the
shape of an aircraft wing, fuselage or external pods.
Such a design is expected to facilitate the use of
antenna in defence applications in radar and

50

communication systems to avoid detection by

enemy. Chapter 1 of the thesis is devoted to
introductory overview. In subsequent of the thesis
eforts have been made to design multidielectric
microstrip patch antennas with a cover layer which
are frequency agile, suitable for specific highperformance
airborne
applications
and
are
conformable for mounting on singly curved
cylindrical surface of an aircraft. The design
performance analysis of such microstrip patch
antennas and scope of further work are presented in
the following sections of this chapter.

7.REFERENCE:
Microstrip antennas: the analysis and design of

microstrip antennas and arrays by David M. Pozar, D.

Schaubert, IEEE Antennas and Propagation Society

Antennas and Wave Propagationby A. Harish and

M. Sachidananda,

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