European Wireless 2014

Design and Analysis of Compact Multiband Inverted

F-L Patch Antenna Using 3D Metamaterial Structure
for Wireless Communication Applications
Yasser M. Madany

Nour Eldin H. Ismail

Hayman A. Hassan

Senior, Member IEEE, Comm. and

Electro. Dep., Alexandria University,
Alexandria, Egypt.
ymadany@ieee.org

Communications and Electronics

Department, Alexandria University,
Alexandria, Egypt.

Communications and Electronics

Department, Alexandria University,
Alexandria, Egypt.
hayman.hassen@yahoo.com

AbstractElectromagnetic metamaterials are artificially

structured materials composed of periodic arrays of -typically
resonant-sub-wavelength metallic structures whose electric or
magnetic response provides the freedom to design dielectric or
magnetic properties that might not exist in conventional
materials. By changing the geometrical parameters of the
constituent structure of a metamaterial, the realized dielectric or
magnetic properties can be engineered. As a result, metamaterials enable the design of materials with choice electromagnetic properties. In this paper, the design and analysis of
compact multiband inverted F-L (IFL) patch antenna using 3D
metamaterial structure has been introduced and analyzed. The
analysis and design are done by a commercial software. The
radiation characteristics, such as, return loss, VSWR, input
impedance, radiation patterns and the surface current densities
have been introduced and discussed. Finally, the proposed
optimum antenna design structure has been fabricated and the
measured S-parameters of the proposed structure can be
analyzed with network analyzer and compared with simulation
results to demonstrate the excellent performance and meet the
requirements for wireless communication applications.
Keywordsmicrostrip antenna; inverted F-L patch antenna;
3D metamaterial; wireless communication applications.

I.

INTRODUCTION

A metamaterial is a material which gains its properties from

its structure rather than directly from its composition. To
distinguish metamaterials from other composite materials, the
metamaterial label is usually used for a material which has
unusual properties. Metamaterials have entered into the
mainstream of electromagnetics, high-frequency engineering,
and materials science research within a relatively short period.
Even if the rapid progress in this field owes very much to
earlier studies, it has managed to find a distinct profile and
visibility within the first decade of the 21st century [1], [2].
Many important properties of metamaterials have attracted
significant research interest like the miniaturization of antennas
and other microwave circuit components, like waveguide and
filters [3], [4]. Recently, rapid developments have taken place
in wireless communication technology. Portable wireless
terminal devices, such as handheld computers and smartphones
that are capable of integrating both wireless local area network
(WLAN), wireless fidelity (WiFi) and Worldwide Interoperability for Microwave Access (WiMAX), are in great demand.

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Antenna design is focused on multiband with small simple

structures [5]. The 5 GHz band in which 802.11a operates is
divided into several different sections. Each of the Unlicensed
National Information Infrastructure (UNII) bands was
originally intended for different uses, but all can currently be
used by indoor 802.11a with appropriate power restrictions.
The FCC defined only the UNII-1 (5.150 to 5.250 GHz), UNII2 (5.250-5.350 GHz), and UNII-3 (5.725-5.825 GHz) bands,
each of which had four channels. The channels were spaced 20
MHz apart with an RF spectrum bandwidth of 20 MHz,
thereby providing non-overlapping channels [6]. The IEEE
802.16 WiMAX standard allows data transmission using
multiple broadband frequency ranges. The original 802.16a
standard specified transmissions in the range 10 - 66 GHz, but
802.16d allowed lower frequencies in the range 2 to 11 GHz.
Different bands are available for WiMAX applications in
different parts of the world. In this paper, compact multiband
inverted F-L (IFL) patch antenna using 3D metamaterial
structure has been introduced, which has been designed to meet
the requirements for wireless communication applications. The
proposed antenna design has been fabricated and the radiation
characteristics measured using FieldFox network analyzer. The
enhancement design and its varieties have been analyzed using
HFSS simulator [7] and the radiation characteristics, such as,
return loss, VSWR, input impedance, radiation pattern and the
surface current density for a sample of frequency at 5 GHz
have been introduced to illustrate the performance compared
with different conventional IFL antenna [8], [9].
II.

METAMATERIAL UNIT CELL AND ARRAY STRUCTURES

One of the unusual properties achievable with the use of

metamaterials is the possibility of obtaining an epsilon-nearzero (ENZ) permittivity material. The consequence of this
feature is that an ENZ material would impose very little phase
variation on electromagnetic waves traversing it. References
[10] and [11] both demonstrated that electromagnetic waves
introduced into an electrically small cross-section filled with
ENZ material was able to fully propagate to the other side of
the cross-section. Without an ENZ material filling the electrically small waveguide bend, incident fields would be perfectly
reflected back to the feed. The optimum spiral unit cell and
array metamaterial structures have been designed and analyzed
using Rogers RO3010 substrate with (Hr = 10.2, tanG = 0.0035)

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European Wireless 2014

and thickness of 1.25 mm. The dimensions of the proposed

structures in millimeter were illustrated in Fig.1. The real (Re)
and imaginary (Im) parts of the effective permittivity and
permeability have been obtained from the retrieval method
based on the S-parameters scattering simulation [12], [13], as
shown in Fig.2.

For the proposed structures, Fig. 2 shows that the index of

refraction n | 0 would occur at the frequencies where Heff | 0
and/or Peff | 0. Ideally, the proposed metamaterial unit cell and
array structures were optimized to obtain the desired properties
over the frequency band 1-10 GHz. From proposed structures
retrieval results, it was found that all Re [Heff] and Re [Peff] are
closest or equal to zero, then neff | 0 with minimum losses
except when Im [Heff] | Im [Peff] | 0, there is no losses.
III.

(a) 3D view.

THE INVERTED F-L PATCH ANTENNA STRUCTURE

The compact multiband IFL patch antenna with slotted

structure arrangement on the ground plane side and tuning
driven matching network using stacked substrate layers with
embedded 3D metamaterial array structure has been introduced
and analyzed. The proposed antenna is designed and fabricated
on Rogers RO3010 substrate with (Hr = 10.2, tanG = 0.0035)
and thickness of 1.25 mm for top and bottom layers but the
middle layer is foam with Hr = 1 and thickness of 1.6 mm. The
final 3D, bottom and top views of the proposed antenna are
shown in Fig. 3.
Driven matching network
IFL patch antenna

(b) Front view.

Top substrate layer

Fig. 1. The proposed spiral unit cell and array metamaterial structures.
3D metamaterial array
Ground plane
Bottom substrate layer
Middle substrate layer

(a) 3D view.

(a) Unit cell.

(b) Bottom and top views.

Fig. 3. The final proposed compact IFL patch antenna design structure.

(b) Two element array.

For the best performance of the final proposed antenna to

operate at the desired resonant frequency band, the effect of the
stacked substrate layers and embedded 3D metamaterial array
structure have been understood. The final proposed antenna
mechanical parameters in millimeter are shown in Fig. 4.
32

1.25
1.6
1.25
7.35
6.3

(c) Five element array.

10

Fig. 2. The proposed spiral unit cell and array metamaterial retrieval results.

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European Wireless 2014

-6 dB
-10 dB

(d) The effect of the embedded 3D metamaterial array structure underneath the
driven matching network.

Fig. 4. The final proposed compact IFL antenna mechanical parameters.

Thus, simulations were conducted to check the variations of

the return loss against the varieties effect, as shown in Fig.5.
-6 dB
-10 dB

(a) The effect of the stacked substrate layers.

Fig. 5. The variations of S11 vs the varieties effect for the proposed antenna.

Fig. 5 (a) shows the variation effect of the stacked substrate

layers versus the S11 in dB and it was noticed that the 3rd
variety with bottom, middle and top substrate layers is the best
choice at S11 -6 or -10 dB. To study the variation effect of the
embedded 3D metamaterial structure, it must be carried out in
three phases with different suitable arrangements of the two
and five array metamaterial 3D combinations. Fig.5 (c-d) show
the phases variation effect underneath F, L, and the driven
matching network, respectively, showing the best case with
solid black line curve and its configuration at the corner of each
phase. Finally, after carrying out all these parametric analyses,
it was found that the 1st variety in Fig. 5 (d) is the best choice at
different frequency bands. To enhance the proposed antenna
performance, a 3D metamaterial structure sensitivity position
analysis for the 1st variety in Fig. 5 (d) without and with slotted
ground plane has been carried out, as shown in Fig. 6.
-6 dB

-6 dB

-10 dB
-10 dB

(b) The effect of the embedded 3D metamaterial array structure underneath F.

-6 dB
-10 dB

Fig. 6. The sensitivity analysis of the proposed antenna structure.

For the final proposed antenna structure, the Re and Im

parts of the effective permittivity and permeability have been
obtained to demonstrate the performance of the two and five
array metamaterial 3D arrangements with bottom, middle, and
top substrate layers, as shown in Fig.7 (a) and (b).
Middle Layer

(a) Middle substrate layer with embedded 3D metamaterial structure.

(c) The effect of the embedded 3D metamaterial array structure underneath L.

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European Wireless 2014

-6 dB
-10 dB

(a) S11 in dB.

(b) The embedded 3D metamaterial with all substrate layers retrieval results.
E-field

(b) VSWR.
H-field

(c) Zin in ohms.

Jsurf

Etot

(c) The schematic of electromagnetic fields and the magnitude of E-field.

Fig. 7. The proposed embedded 3D metamaterial structure retrieval results.

3D metamaterial array structure with parallelogram lattice

was shown in Fig. 7 (c). The metamaterial array structure was
embedded in foam substrate, with rectangular axes directed
along X-Z and Y-Z planes, which was sandwiched between
two identical Rogers RO3010 substrates, as shown in Fig. 7
(c). The E-field component was set to propagate in Z direction,
with its H-field component directed along parallelogram lattice
circumference [14], [15]. From proposed 3D metamaterial
array structure retrieval results, it was found that all Re [Heff]
and Re [Peff] are closest or equal to zero, then neff | 0 with
relatively losses lower than the proposed spiral unit cell and
array metamaterial retrieval results which were introduced in
Fig. 2 except when Im [Heff] | Im [Peff] | 0, there is no losses.
IV.

EI , ET radiation patterns
Gtot

THE PROPOSED ANTENNA SIMULATION RESULTS AND

EXPERIMENTAL MEASUREMENTS

The simulated radiation characteristics results of the final

proposed compact multiband IFL patch antenna with slotted
structure arrangement on the ground plane side and tuning
driven matching network using stacked substrate layers with
embedded 3D metamaterial array structure, such as, return loss,
VSWR, input impedance, radiation patterns and the surface
current density for a sample of frequency at 5 GHz which have
been shown in Fig.8.

ISBN 978-3-8007-3621-8

E I , I = 0o ,
ET , I = 0 o ,

EI , I = 90o
ET , I = 90o

(d) The far-field radiation patterns.

Fig. 8. The simulated radiation characteristics of the proposed IFL antenna.

Photographs of the final proposed compact multiband IFL

patch antenna which has been printed using printed circuit
technology at antenna laboratory are shown in Fig. 9 with
minimum patch area equals to 7.45 cm2 comparing with the
conventional patch antenna and planar inverted F-L antenna

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European Wireless 2014

(PIFL). The measured S11 in dB versus f in GHz, SWR and Zin

in ohms of the proposed IFL patch antenna structure can be
analyzed using Agilent FieldFox network analyzer N9918A, as
shown in Fig. 10.

For the proposed compact multiband IFL patch antenna

structure, it was found that the measured results have been
relatively differed from the simulated results because of the
effect of the material loss tangent, the connector welding and
practical design accuracy, according to the design compactness
compared with the connector size and the design structure
complexity. To understand the proposed antenna structure, the
total E-field, Etot, in 3D is plotted for sample resonance
frequencies, which gives an intuitive insight into how the
structure constructs and operates, as shown in Table I.
TABLE I.

Fig. 9. The fabricated proposed IFL patch antenna at antenna laboratory.

THE PROPOSED STRUCTURE FAR FIELD ETOT (3D) POLAR

PLOT FOR DIFFERENT RESONANCE FREQUENCIES
Resonance Frequencies

Param.
(Plane)

f = 5.28 GHz

f = 5.5 GHz

f = 6.36 GHz

Etot
(3D)

f = 8.12 GHz

f = 8.74 GHz

f = 9.6 GHz

S11 in dB

VSWR

The proposed antenna structure, which has been introduced

in this paper, was designed to keep the gain relatively high. The
normalized total gain in dB of the proposed IFL patch antenna
at the planes I equals 0o and 90o were shown in Fig. 11.

(a) The plane I = 0o.

Zin in ohms

(b) The plane I = 90o.

Fig. 11. The simulated normalized total gain, Gtot [dB] versus theta [deg] for
different frequencies [GHz].

Fig. 10. The fabricated proposed IFL patch antenna measurment results.

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TABLE II.
THE PROPOSED STRUCTURE MAXIMUM NORMALIZED GTOT
DIRECTION AT DIFFERENT RESONANCE FREQUENCIES

[6]
[7]
[8]

Plane

f = 5.28 GHz

f = 5.5 GHz

f = 6.36 GHz

Max. Normalized
Total Gain Direction
[i.e., Gtot = 0 dB]

Resonance Frequencies

Parameter

I = 0o

T = 0o

T = 0o

T = 0o

I = 90o

T = 5o

T = 0o

T = 15o

f = 8.12 GHz

f = 8.74 GHz

I = 0o

T = 10o

T = 5o

T = 15o

I = 90o

T = 0o

T = 0o

T = 0o

[9]

f = 9.6 GHz

[10]

From Fig. 11, it was cleared that there is no undesired

grating or side lobes. The proposed antenna has different
operating frequencies in the frequency range 1-10 GHz with
S11 -6 dB or -10 dB. The maximum normalized total gain,
Gtot , direction of the proposed IFL patch antenna at a sample of
operating frequencies are tabulated in Table II to illustrate the
behavior of the proposed structure around z-axis.
V.

[11]

[12]

[13]

CONCLUSIONS

The compact multiband IFL patch antenna with slotted

structure arrangement on the ground plane side and tuning
driven matching network using stacked substrate layers with
embedded 3D metamaterial array structure has been
introduced, which has been designed to meet the requirements
for wireless communication applications. The enhancement
design has been fabricated and the radiation characteristics
measured using network analyzer. The proposed compact IFL
microstrip patch antenna design structure have been analyzed
using a commercial software and the measured and simulated
radiation characteristics, such as, return loss, VSWR, input
impedance, radiation patterns and the surface current density
have been introduced to illustrate the antenna performance.
Also, it should be noted that the proposed antenna size
was chosen to fit in the limited space available in most
communication applications circuit board and casings for
portable devices. The designed antenna offers excellent
performance and has lower return loss up to -53 dB with
enhancement absolute bandwidth (ABW) up to 1.5 GHz to
meet the requirement for different frequency bands of the
wireless communication applications, such as UNII and
WiMAX, LTE-A, TVWS and emerging 5G spectrum bands in
the frequency range 2 to 11 GHz.

[14]
[15]

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Y. M. Madany, D. A. Elaziz, and W. A. Elkrim, "Design and analyis of
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