PIERS Proceedings, Suzhou, China, September 1216, 2011

844

Design and Construction of UWB Antennas

J. Sosa-Pedroza, E. Gardu
no-Nolasco, F. Martinez-Z
un
iga, and M. Enciso
Instituto Politecnico Nacional, SEPI-ESIME-Zacatenco, Edif. Z-4 3er Piso, CP 07738, Mexico

Abstract We present design results of two cases of Ultra Wide Band (UWB) quasi circular
patch antennas, one with coplanar feeding (CPW) and the other one with microstrip feeding.
Both antennas are an evolution from a circular patch structure softening the edges to improve the
antenna performance, agreeing with the theory proposed Kraus. After the evolution there were
improvements concerning reflection coefficient and number of resonant frequencies throughout
the operating bandwidth. The operational frequency range is from 500 MHz to 15 GHz using a
design frequency of 4.5 GHz. The antenna feeding impedance is proposed to be 50 ohms. The
antennas with the best simulation response are constructed to test the practical performance of
experiment.
1. INTRODUCTION

The technique to increase the bandwidth (BW) of circular antenna was proposed by Kraus in
1988 [1], by smoothing the transition between feed line and the antenna; this technique is easily
applied to patch antennas with microstrip or coplanar feeding; radiator patch and ground plane
can provide an almost constant input impedance over wide bandwidths
Radiating elements patches of printed antennas have a variety of forms, as triangular, rectangular, square, elliptical, circular, among others [2, 3]. However, it has been found that circular
structures have smaller dimensions related with the operation frequency [4], Moreover, the circular
structure offers another important advantage: the only control variable for the structure design is
the patch radius, that is the reason circular or disk antennas are very popular and widely used
nowadays.
Recently some techniques have been developed to improve BW of circular planar antenna, as
introducing a slot into the circular patch, adding new resonant frequencies. We propose in this paper
a smooth transition between the circular planar antenna and the ground plane and the microstrip
feeding, as was originally established by Kraus in histheoretical volcano smoke antenna [1]. We
start with the design of a circular patch antenna working in a frequency of 4.5 GHz.
2. GEOMETRICAL PARAMETERS

Both antennas were designed using CST and ADS commercial available software, comparing results
to ensure the best performance. The only design parameter is the circular patch diameter, after
obtain the initial diameter we smooth edges of circular patch with feeding and ground plane, until
we get the best S11 parameter; after that, the best antenna was constructed. For the 4.5 GHz,
selected frequency, the design patch radius was 11.24 mm, after use [5]:
R=

F
2h
q
1+ eff F [ln F2h +1.7726]

where:
9

F = 8.79110
fr eff ;
fr = Resonant frequency in Hz;
eff = Dielectric effective constant;
R = Patch radius in mm;
h = Substrate thickness in mm.
On the other hand, the microstripline dimensions are obtained as [4]:
8`A
W
`2A2 ,
d <2

W
=
B

ln(2B

1)
2
d
, W
0.61
r 1
d >2
+ 2
{ln(B

1)
+
0.39

r
r

(1)

(2)

Progress In Electromagnetics Research Symposium Proceedings, Suzhou, China, Sept. 1216, 2011

845

where ` is the line length and:

r

Z0 r + 1 r 1
0.11
A=
+
0.23 +
60
2
r + 1
r
377
B=

2Z0 r
For the CPW feeding line the design equations are [4]:

W
x,
Z < 120

r 0
=
0.85 0.6 x,
r Z0 > 120
d
where:

30
0.441
x=
r Z0

(3)

(4)

(5)

3. CONSTRUCTION

Antennas were constructed over a substrate RF35-A with r = 3.5 and 0.762 mm thick, the sharp
edges of the original circular patches were softened for both antennas following procedure outlined
in [6]; Figure 1 shows the CPW circular patch, and Figure 2 the modified antenna, while Figure 3
shows the circular microstrip patch and Figure 4 the modified microstrip antenna.
4. EXPERIMENTAL AND NUMERICAL RESULTS

Both, simulation and measurementsresults are presented for reflection coefficient S11 , gain and
field pattern, over a band from 500 MHz to 15 GHz, for circular and modified antennas. Following
are simulated results comparison of circular patches with microstrip and CPW feeding and the
corresponding modified antennas. Figures 5 and 6 show S11 parameter.We consider the 10 dB line
the reference for good matching conditions.
Figures 7 and 8 show the response in gain and Figures 9, 10, 11 and 12 some field patterns at
different frequencies.
As it is seen, there is a very good improvement for each parrameter after smothing edges of
circular antennas. We also can compare results for the two feeding types: coupling is better for
coplanar feeding, while gain is better for miscrostrip line. Field patterns are almost the same in
both cases.

Figure 1: CPW circular patch.

Figure 2: Modified CPW antenna.

Figure 3: Microstrip circular patch.

Figure 4: Modified microstrip antenna.

PIERS Proceedings, Suzhou, China, September 1216, 2011

846

Figure 5: S11 for circular antennas.

Figure 6: S11 for modified antennas.

Figure 7: Circular antenna gain.

Figure 8: Modified antenna gain.

(a) 2.5 GHz

(b) 5 GHz

Figure 9: Patterns for circular patches.

(a) 2.5 GHz

(b) 5 GHz

Figure 11: Patterns for circular patches.

(a) 2.5 GHz

(b) 5 GHz

Figure 10: Patterns for modified patches.

(a) 2.5 GHz

(b) 5 GHz

Figure 12: Patterns for modified patches.

In the same way we present the experimental results. Figures 13 and 14 show the S11 measured
for the circular and modified antennas respectively.
Figures 15 and 16 show the measured gain for microstrip and CPW antennas respectively.

Progress In Electromagnetics Research Symposium Proceedings, Suzhou, China, Sept. 1216, 2011

Figure 13: S11 for circular antennas.

Figure 14: S11 for modified antennas.

Figure 15: Microstrip antenna gain.

Figure 16: CPW antenna gain.

847

Comparing Figures 13 and 14, we can see that there is a good improvement for the the modified
antennas, mainly in that of CPW feeding. It seems that construction of microstrip feeding antenna
was not as good as what we expected, and we have to improve the way we did it. On the other
hand, comparing Figures 15 and 16 with simulated gain response of Figure 8, we can see the good
agreement between them;as it seen, microstrip feeding antenna shows a higher gain,compared with
the CPW feed antenna but coplanar feeding antenna has better reflection coefficient in a softness
curve.
5. CONCLUSION

We have applied the edge smoothing technique in the design of UWB antennas, improving reflection and gain parameter over a wide band for two different feeding techniques: microstrip and
coplanar. Although practical results are not as good as they were expected, needing to improve
our construction techniques, we conclude that the employed technique provide good results.
REFERENCES

1. Kraus, J. D., Antennas, 2nd Edition, 692694, McGraw Hill, New York, 1988.
2. Wong, K. L., Compact and Broadband Microstrip Antennas, 1st Edition, Chap. 1, 2 and Chap.
4, 144154, Wiley Ed., 2006.
3. Martnez-Vazquez, M., O. Litschke, M. Geissler, D. Heberling, M. Antonio, and D. MartnezGonzalez, Integrated planar multiband antennas for personal communication handsets, IEEE
Transactions on Antennas and Propagation, Vol. 54, No. 2, February 2006.
4. Liang, J., C. C. Chiau, X. Chen, and C. G. Parini, Printed circular disc monopole antenna
for Ultrawideband applications, Electronics Letters, Vol. 40, No. 20, September 30, 2004.
5. Pozar, D., Microwave Engeenering, 2nd Edition, 162, University of Massachusetts at Amherst,
John Wiley & Sons, 1998.
6. Gardu
no-Nolasco, E., J. R. Sosa-Pedroza, and H. Jardon-Aguilar, An UWB microstrip feeding quasi circular antenna, 7th International Congress on Electrical Computer Science and
Automatic Control, Tuxtla Gutierrez, Chiapas, Mexico, September 2010.