Final Training Manual Lab 1-8 For Printing by Olga Gerasta PDF

Radio Frequency and
Communications Laboratory
5-Day Training on
ANTENNA DESIGN,
FABRICATION, and
SOFTWARE DEFINED
RADIO (SDR)
APPLICATIONS
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Antenna Design, Fabrication and SDR Applications RF and Communications Laboratory, MSU-IIT
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Training Contents
Lab 1: Coaxial Feed Rectangular Patch Antenna Design in CST Microwave Studio ....................................... 1
I. Creating Project Template ..................................................................................................................... 2
Overview........................................................................................................................................................ 7
Procedures: .................................................................................................................................................... 8
II. Modeling the First Layer (Patch) of the Antenna .................................................................................. 8
III. Modeling the Second Layer (Substrate) .......................................................................................... 10
IV. Modeling the Third Layer (Ground Plane) ....................................................................................... 14
V. Modeling the Coaxial Feed Point or SMA ............................................................................................ 16
V.a. Modeling the Inner Conductor ........................................................................................................ 16
V.b. Modeling the Middle Cylinder made of Teflon/PTFE ....................................................................... 18
V.c. Modeling the Outer Cylinder ............................................................................................................ 22
VI. Simulation Set-up/Pre-simulate ...................................................................................................... 26
VI.a. Setting up Frequency Sweep of the simulation............................................................................... 26
VI.b. Setting up Boundary Condition ....................................................................................................... 26
VI.c. Setting Up Field Monitors ................................................................................................................ 27
VI.d. Creating Port for your Coaxial Feed Point ....................................................................................... 29
VII. Simulate ........................................................................................................................................... 30
VIII. Analyze Post-Process Data .............................................................................................................. 32
VII.a. Port Signals ..................................................................................................................................... 32
VII.b. S-11 Parameters/Return Loss ......................................................................................................... 33
VII.c Smith Chart ...................................................................................................................................... 34
VII.d VSWR result ..................................................................................................................................... 34
VII.e. Radiation Pattern ........................................................................................................................... 35
Appendix ...................................................................................................................................................... 38
Lab 2: Transmission Line Feed Rectangular Patch Antenna Design in CST Microwave studio ................... 43
Overview...................................................................................................................................................... 44
Procedures: .................................................................................................................................................. 45
I. Modeling the First Layer (Patch) of the Antenna ................................................................................ 45
II. Modeling the Second Layer (Substrate) .............................................................................................. 47
III. Modeling the Third Layer (Ground Plane) ....................................................................................... 51
IV. Modeling the Transmission Line Feed Point ................................................................................... 53
V. Simulation Set-up/Pre-simulate .......................................................................................................... 58
VI.a Setting up Boundary Condition ........................................................................................................ 58
VI.b. Setting up Field Monitors ................................................................................................................ 59
VI.c. Creating a Port at the Transmission Line ......................................................................................... 61
VI. Simulate ........................................................................................................................................... 63
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VII. Analyze Post-Process Data .............................................................................................................. 64
VII.a. Port Signals ..................................................................................................................................... 64
VII.b. S-11 Parameters/Return Loss ......................................................................................................... 64
VII.c. Smith Chart ..................................................................................................................................... 65
VII.d. VSWR Result ................................................................................................................................... 66
VII.e. Radiation Pattern of the antenna................................................................................................... 66
VIII. Return Loss Improvement ............................................................................................................... 68
Appendix ...................................................................................................................................................... 72
Lab 3: Impedance Matching ........................................................................................................................... 77
Procedures: .................................................................................................................................................. 78
I. Open your existing Project .................................................................................................................. 78
II. Modeling your Transmission Line ........................................................................................................ 81
III. Modeling the Substrate ................................................................................................................... 82
IV. Modeling the Ground Plane ............................................................................................................ 82
V. Simulate ............................................................................................................................................... 83
V.a. Comparing S11 results of your antenna and Schematic Set-up ....................................................... 91
V.b. Comparing VSWR Results ................................................................................................................. 93
VI. Impedance Mismatch Example I ..................................................................................................... 95
VI.a. Comparing S11 results ..................................................................................................................... 97
VI.b. Comparing VSWR results ................................................................................................................. 98
VII. Impedance Mismatch Example II .................................................................................................. 100
VII.a. Comparing S11 results .................................................................................................................. 101
VII.b. Comparing VSWR results.............................................................................................................. 102
VIII. Applying Quarter-Wave Impedance Matching to a Mismatched Load and Antenna ................... 103
VIII.a. Comparing S1,1 result of Quarter-Wave Match and Unmatched Network ................................ 105
VIII.b. Comparing VSWR result of Quarter-Wave Match and Unmatched Network ............................. 105
Lab 4: Fabricating Patch Antenna in MITS Autolab ..................................................................................... 107
Procedures: ................................................................................................................................................ 108
I. Exporting and Creating Gerber files of your Antenna ....................................................................... 108
I.a. Create a .gbr file of your Patch Layer .............................................................................................. 108
I.b. Create a .gbr file of the Substrate/Ground Plane Layer .................................................................. 109
II. Importing Files to Design Pro (Easy CAD) .......................................................................................... 111
III. Creating Drill data to Design Pro ................................................................................................... 112
IV. Creating milling outline of the PCB................................................................................................ 112
V. Creating Rubout Data of the PCB ...................................................................................................... 113
VI. Creating Routing Data of the PCB.................................................................................................. 113
VII. Operating the MITS AutoLab ......................................................................................................... 114
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VI.a. PCB Drill Set-up/Adjustment/Calibration ...................................................................................... 114
VI.b. Begin Operation ............................................................................................................................ 118
VIII. Finished Fabrication/Actual Antenna ............................................................................................ 119
Lab 5: Antenna Measurement in Vector Network Analyzer ...................................................................... 121
Procedures: ................................................................................................................................................ 122
I. VNA Calibration ................................................................................................................................. 122
II. Antenna Measurement ..................................................................................................................... 124
II.a. Return Loss/S11 Parameter ............................................................................................................ 124
II.b Viewing the Smith Chart .................................................................................................................. 125
III. VSWR Measurement ..................................................................................................................... 126
Lab 6: Antenna Radiation Pattern Measurement in Antenna Lab ............................................................. 129
I. System Architecture .......................................................................................................................... 130
II. Hardware Assembly ........................................................................................................................... 131
III. Antenna Lab Software Set-up ........................................................................................................ 134
IV. Launching the Antenna Lab software ............................................................................................ 134
IV.a. Antenna Lab User Interface ........................................................................................................... 135
IV.b. Basic Front Panel Window............................................................................................................. 138
Lab 7: FM Receiver using GNU radio ........................................................................................................... 139
I. Receiving Section ............................................................................................................................... 140
II. Filtering Section ................................................................................................................................ 145
III. Audio Section ................................................................................................................................ 148
IV. Executing and Saving .................................................................................................................... 150
Milestones: ................................................................................................................................................ 152
Lab 8: FM Transmitter with Audio Source using GNU radio ....................................................................... 153
I. Audio Section ..................................................................................................................................... 154
II. Filtering Section ................................................................................................................................. 157
III. Transmitting Section...................................................................................................................... 160
IV. Executing And Saving ..................................................................................................................... 161
Milestones: ................................................................................................................................................ 162
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Lab 1:
Coaxial Feed Rectangular

Patch Antenna Design in CST
Microwave Studio
Introduction
In this activity, you will learn how to design a coaxial feed rectangular patch antenna. This type of
antenna is simple and can be implemented in a standard commercially available Printed Circuit Board
(PCB). Basically, this antenna consists of a radiating layer called “patch” and a “ground plane”
separated by substrate made of a dielectric material. In this activity, simple feeding of the antenna
will be used which is the coaxial feeding method.
Lab Objectives:
1. To learn the basics of Computer Simulation Technology (CST) – MWS.
2. To design and simulate a Coaxial Feed Rectangular Antenna in CST – MWS.
3. To analyze the simulation results of the antenna such as the Return Loss, Voltage Standing
Wave Ratio, Radiation Pattern, and Smith Chart.
Prerequisite:
1. Initial design of Coaxial Feed Rectangular Patch Antenna. Refer to Appendix of this
Laboratory for on hand calculation of Patch Antenna dimensions.
I. Creating Project Template
Creating Template Flow Chart
1. Click File (1) and select New Template (2).
2. Open MW & RF & Optical (1) and select Antennas (2) on the options. Click Next (3).
3. Select Planar Patch, Slot, etc. (1) in the workflow and click Next (2).
4. Select Time Domain (1) in the solver and click Next (2).
Note: Time Domain solvers is an efficient solver for high frequency applications such as
antennas, transmission lines, filters, connectors etc. and can obtain the entire broadband
frequency behavior of the simulated device from a single calculation run.
5. Click the field box (1) of Dimensions and select mm (2).
6. Click the field box (1) of Frequency and select GHz (2).
7. Click the field box (1) of Time and select ns (2). Click Next (3) to continue.
8. Set the Minimum and Maximum Frequency Range for simulation in (1) and (2) respectively.
Check the E-field, H-field and Farfield in the Monitors (3). Define the frequency (3) at 2.4
GHz and click next (5).
Note: This setting can be edited during modeling of antenna.
9. Choose a Template name in (1) and Review the summary of your template in (2). Click
Finish (3) to save and begin modeling.
Overview
The figure above shows the front, back and sectioned view of the Patch antenna to be designed.
Designing and Simulating Patch Antenna in CST Steps
The flow graph above will serve as a guide for designing and simulating the patch antenna in
Computer Simulation Technology – MWS.
Procedures:
II. Modeling the First Layer (Patch) of the Antenna
11. Go to Modeling Tab by clicking (1) and activate the Local WCS (2) to show WCS in the
working plane. Look and click the Brick (3) inside the modelling tab.
Note: The Local WCS is different from Global Coordinates. U,V,W axis of Local WCS
corresponds to X,Y,Z axis of Global Coordinates respectively.
The Modeling ribbon tab contains all commands for cad import/export, for defining
materials, and for modeling the shapes.
12. Press the ESC (4) key on your keyboard to open the Brick Dialog Box (5) and continue to
the next step to edit Brick Dialog Box.
Enter the Dimension of the First Layer (Patch)
13. Assign a name to your component by entering a name to the name field box (1). Enter the
dimension on the field box (2) according to your design; refer to the figure on the right as a
guide in the dimension of your component.
Note: Wmax and Wmin defines the thickness of your component.
14. Choose the type of material of your component by clicking (3). Click the Load from Material
Library (4) to choose the material and proceed to the next step for instructions in choosing
material. Click OK (5) after choosing the material.
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Choose the material type of the layer
15. The dialog box above will show after clicking load material from library. Type copper on
the search box (1). Select the Copper pure (2) in the options shown. Click Load (3) to
choose the material and apply it on the component.
Review the First Layer
16. Go to Navigation Bar (1) and check the component you made (2). The material’s information
of your component is displayed on (3).
III. Modeling the Second Layer (Substrate)
17. Go to Modeling Tab (1) and click the Brick (2) shape. Press the ESC (3) key on your keyboard
to open the Brick Dialog Box (4) and continue to the next step to edit Brick Dialog Box.
Enter the dimensions of the second layer
Note: Wmax and Wmin defines the thickness of your component
19. Choose the type of material of your component by clicking (3). Click the Load from Material
Library (4) to choose the material and proceed to the next step for instructions in choosing
material. Click OK (5) after choosing the material.
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20. The dialog box above will show after clicking load material from library. Type FR-4 on the
search box (1). Select the FR-4 lossy (2) in the results shown. Click Load (3) to choose the
material and apply it on the component.
Review the second layer
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Note: Move the World Coordinate System (WCS) before modeling the third layer to set a
new reference.
22. Click the View Perspective Selection (1) and select Back on the options (2).
Note: You can select a different view of your modeled component in the View Perspective
Selection (1).
23. Go to Modeling Tab (1). Click the arrow beside the Pick Points (2). Select the Pick Face
Center (3) on the options (Note: this function will automatically place a point at the center of
a plane surface). Click on the surface of the substrate (4) to create a point on its center (5).
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24. Still at the Modeling Tab (1), click the arrow beside the Align WCS (2). Select Align WCS
with selected Point (3). Note: This function will automatically move the WCS to the picked
point. You should see a WCS after selecting this option.
Return to 3D Perspective view
25. Go to View Perspective Selection (1) and select Perspective (2) in the option. Or you can press
“0” on your keyboard to reset your view to perspective and Spacebar key to fit your view of
the models in the working plane.
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IV. Modeling the Third Layer (Ground Plane)
26. Go to Modeling Tab (1) and select the Brick (2) shape. Press the ESC (3) key on your
keyboard to bring up the Brick Dialog Box (4).
Enter the Dimension of the Third Layer
Note: Wmax and Wmin defines the thickness of your component
28. Choose the type of material of your component by clicking (3). Click the Copper pure (4) to
choose the material. Click OK (5) after choosing the material.
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Review the Third Layer
View your components at different angles and activate cutting plane at x, y, z axis
30. Go to Modeling Tab (1) and click Cutting Plane (2). You can change the cutting plane where
you want to view your component at (3). You can also click the rotate mode (4) to view your
components at different angles.
Note: Click the Cutting Plane again to deactivate Cutting Plane view.
To return to the default view, press 0 (shortcut for perspective view) on your keyboard
and space (shortcut for fitting in your components in the working plane).
You can also use your mouse wheel to zoom in and zoom out on the working plane.
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V. Modeling the Coaxial Feed Point or SMA
Coaxial Feed Point Model and Sectional View
V.a. Modeling the Inner Conductor

Move the WCS first to the surface of the Patch
31. Go to Modeling Tab (1) and click on the arrow beside the Local WCS (2). Select Align WCS
(3) on the options. Select and double click on the surface of your Patch (5) to automatically
move the WCS.
Note: You can use this function to automatically move your WCS without using pick points.
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32. Go to Modeling Tab (1) and click the arrow beside the Cylindrical Shapes (2). Select the
Cylinder (3) in the options. Press ESC (4) key on your keyboard to open the Cylinder Dialog
Box (5) and continue to the next step to edit Brick Dialog Box.
Enter the dimension of the Inner Conductor
33. Assign a name by typing in the text field (1). Select the orientation at W-axis (2). Enter the
dimensions of the cylinder (3), refer to the figure on the right side for the dimension of the
cylinder. Place this cylinder to a new component using the name Coaxial Feed (4) to separate
this shape to the patch components. Choose the material of this shape to be Copper pure (6).
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Check Coaxial Feed Component inside the Navigation Tree
34. View your components inside the navigation tree (1).

Note: Click on the “+ sign” to show the contents of the folder
V.b. Modeling the Middle Cylinder made of Teflon/PTFE
Move the WCS before modeling the middle cylinder.
Hide the component “Ground Plane” in the Navigation Tree
35. Go to View Tab (1) and click the Ground Plane Component (4). Click the Hide (5) function
under the View Tab.
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Align the WCS to the surface of the Substrate
36. Go to Modeling Tab (1) and click the arrow beside the Align WCS (3). Select Align WCS (4)
in the options and click on the surface of the Substrate (6).
Note: If your Local WCS axis does not co-align with the Global Coordinates, that is the
U,V,W and X,Y,Z axis does not point on the same direction, click Align WCS with
XY Plane (7) to co-align Local WCS and the Global Coordinates.
Use Rotate View mode (1) to bring the view at the back to view the substrate.
Reset the view to perspective mode
37. Go to View Perspective Selection (1) and select Perspective View (2).
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38. Go to Modeling Tab (1) and click the arrow beside the Cylinder Shapes. Select the Cylinder
(3) on the options. Press ESC key on your keyboard to bring up the cylinder dialog box (5)
and continue to the next step to edit Cylinder Dialog Box.
Enter the Dimension of the Middle Cylinder
39. Assign a name to the cylinder by typing in the text box (1). Set the orientation of the cylinder
to W-axis (2). Enter the dimensions of the cylinder in the field boxes (3); refer to the figure
on the right side for the dimensions of the cylinder. Place the cylinder on the component
named Coaxial Feed (4). Select the material of the cylinder to be Copper pure (5). Click OK
(7) to finish the shape.
Note: On Wmax field box (3), the thickness of substrate and the ground plane is subtracted
from the total length of the cylinder, since we want to make a contact to the substrate and
avoid extending our cylinder through the patch.
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Choose the material Teflon
40. Type PTFE in the search box (1) as the material to be used. Select the PTFE lossy (2) on the
results and click Load (3) to create the shape.
Review your work
41. Go to the Components folder (1) to view the shapes created.
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V.c. Modeling the Outer Cylinder
42. Go to Modeling Tab (1) and click the arrow (2) beside the Cylinder shapes (3). Press ESC key
on your keyboard to show dialog box of the Cylinder shape (5) and continue to the next step
to edit Cylinder Dialog Box.
Enter the dimension of outer conductor
43. Type a name for your shape (1) and select the W-axis orientation (2). Enter the dimension of
the cylinder (3). Refer to the figure on the right for the dimension of the cylinder. Place the
cylinder on the component Coaxial Feed (4). Select the Copper pure (5) for the material type.
Click OK (6) to finish.
Note: On Wmax field box (3), the thickness of substrate and the ground plane is subtracted
from the total length of the cylinder, since we want to make a contact to the substrate
and avoid extending our cylinder through the patch. Thus, this also make the outer
cylinder the same length with the middle cylinder.
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Review your work
44. View your shapes in the navigation tree (1).
Unhide the Ground Plane
45. Go to the View Tab (1). Select the Ground Plane (2) inside the Navigation Tree. Click the
Show (3) function in the View Tab.
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Move the coaxial feed component with distance Yf to the +y-direction (Refer to Appendix of this
laboratory for computation of Yf)
46. Go to Modeling Tab (1) and select Coaxial Feed (2). Click the arrow below the Transform (3)
and select the Translate (4) in the options. On the dialog box, set the operation to Translate
(5) and set the distance of translation at 9.4 mm along v-axis (6). You can click Preview (7)
to view the shape before implanting. Click OK (8) to confirm.
Check the shape intersection
47. The Shape Intersection Dialog box (1) will always appear everytime a two different
components overlap.
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Shape Intersection Dialog Options
These are the functions for the shape intersection:
a. Insert highlighted shape - Inserts shape B into shape A
b. Trim highlighted shape - Inserts shape A into shape B
c. Add both shapes - Adds shape A and shape B
d. Intersect both shapes - Intersects shape A and shape B
e. Cut away highlighted shape - Subtract B from A
48. Select None to all (1) in the Shape Intersection Dialog

Box to do nothing about the overlapping.
49. Click OK (2) to finish.
Note: Insert the Coaxial feed component to the Antenna Components to avoid overlapping of
components as it might cause errors in the simulation results.
50. Go to the Modeling Tab (1) and Highlight the Coaxial Feed shapes (2). Click the arrow beside
the Boolean (3) and select Insert (4) in the option. Highlight the Patch components (5) and
press Enter (6) key on your keyboard to confirm changes.
Patch Antenna Modeling

Complete
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VI. Simulation Set-up/Pre-simulate
VI.a. Setting up Frequency Sweep of the simulation
51. Go to Simulation Tab (1) and Click on the Frequency settings (2). Set the Minimum
Frequency to 1.5 GHz (4) and Max Frequency to 3 GHz (5). Defining your frequency range
affects the time to complete the simulation. The wider the range, the longer it takes to perform
simulations. Click OK (6) to finish.
Note: It is important to consider a 20% - 100% bandwidth to make sure that we can still read
the results of our simulation at the desired frequency
VI.b. Setting up Boundary Condition
52. Still in the Simulation Tab (1), click the boundaries Settings (2). Select the Boundaries Tab
(4) and set the boundary of every axis to open add space (5).
Note: The Open (add space) will serve as a free space behind the boundary planes. Free
space means that the electromagnetic fields are absorbed at these boundaries with virtually
no reflections as if they propagate in infinite empty space. This option is recommended for
antenna problems and allows farfield calculations.
53. Open the Open Boundary settings (6) and set the ERL to 0.0001 (8). Set the fraction of
wavelength to 8 (9) and define the User frequency (11) at 2.4 GHz (12).
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Note: As a general rule, the open boundary conditions work best if they are at least 1/8
wavelength apart from the field source.
Decreasing the value of Estimated reflection level improves the accuracy of the
simulation, however, this also increases the simulation time and computing power needed
for simulation. Leave the default value 0.0001.
VI.c. Setting Up Field Monitors
54. Go to the Simulation Tab (1) and click Field Monitor (2) to open Field Monitor Setting (3).
Continue to the next step to edit Field Monitor Setting.
Field Monitor Dialog Box
55. Select the E-field (1) and select the frequency on the specification (2) & (3), set the frequency
at 2.4 GHz (4) and click Apply (5). Select the H-Field (6), set the frequency to 2.4 GHz (9)
and click Apply (10).
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56. Select the Farfield/RCS (1), set frequency at 2.4 GHz (4) and click Apply (5). Select Surface
current (6) and set the frequency to 2.4 GHz (9)
57. Select the Current density (1) and set the frequency to 2.4 GHz (4) and click OK (6). If this
dialog box (7) appears, just click Yes (8) to proceed.
Note: Having multiple frequency of interest for field monitor increases the simulation time.
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Review your Field Monitors inside the Navigation Tree
58. You can view the Field Monitors settings in the Navigation Tree (1).
VI.d. Creating Port for your Coaxial Feed Point
59. Go to Modeling Tab (1) and click the arrow below the Picks (2). Select the Pick Face (3) in
the option. Select the surface of the middle cylinder (5).
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60. Go to Simulation Tab (1) and open the Waveguide Port setting (2). Choose a number for your
Port (3) and set the orientation to Positive (4). Select Use picks (5) on the coordinates. Set the
number of modes to 1 (6) and click OK (7) to finish set-up.
VII. Simulate
61. Go to Simulation Tab (1) and click the Setup Solver (2). Select the Mesh Type Hexahedral
(3) and set the Accuracy to -40 dB (4). Click Start (5) to begin simulation.
Note: Reducing this value will improve the accuracy of the simulation but it will also increase
the simulation efforts. Use the default value -40 dB.
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Track the progress of your Simulation in the Progress Panel
62. Go to Progress Tab (1) and view the simulation progress (2) & (3) under the progress tab.
Note: Once the simulation is completed, this interface will disappear, otherwise, an error will
appear in the message and halt the simulation. During the simulation, the Message
Window will show some details about the performed simulation. If there are any
warning or error messages during the simulation they will be written into the message
window, as well.
Meshcells (4) refers to the resolution of the model for the simulation. As far as the
results are concerned, the finer the mesh, the better. However, a very fine mesh has a
large number of mesh cells and with this a large number of unknowns to be solved.
Every increase of unknowns extends the need of memory and simulation time.
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VIII. Analyze Post-Process Data
• Port Signals
• S11 Parameter/Return Loss
• Smith Chart
• VSWR
• Farfield Plot
• 3D Plot
• Cartesian Plot
• Polar Plot
VII.a. Port Signals
63. Go to Navigation Tree (1) and click the Port Signals (3) under the 1D Results Folder (2). You
will notice two graph of port signals, one is the i1 (4) and the other is o1,1 (5). The plot shows
the incident and reflected wave amplitudes at the waveguide port versus time. The incident
wave amplitude is called i1 (referring to the port name: 1) and the reflected wave amplitude
is o1,1. As evident from the above time-signal plot, the patch antenna array has a strong
resonance that leads to a slowly decreasing output signal.
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VII.b. S-11 Parameters/Return Loss
64. View the S11 Parameter (1) under 1D Results folder. When viewing S11 Parameter, always
make sure to plot the graph in dB (3) which is located under 1D Plot Tab (2).
Recall: S11 represents how much power is reflected from the antenna, and hence is known as
the reflection coefficient.
Note: If S11= 0 dB, then all the power is reflected from the antenna and nothing is radiated.
If S11 = -10 dB, this implies that if 3 dB of power is delivered to the antenna, -7 dB is the
reflected power.
Check the lowest peak of the return Loss
65. Still under the S-parameter results (1), right click on the graph (2) to open the context menu
and select show axis marker (3). This marker will serve as your cursor for reading your graph,
you can drag this marker left and right to a desired frequency. The number below (4) is the
indicator for frequency and the number above (5) is for the magnitude at that frequency.
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VII.c Smith Chart
66. Under the 1D Plot Tab (2), you can view the Smith Chart representation of your antenna by
clicking on the Z Smith Chart plot type (3). The label on the upper left (4) represents the
starting 1.5 GHz and ending frequency 3 GHz. Impedances both real and reactive impedance
is displayed inside the parentheses. The label on the upper right (5) displays the normalizing
impedance for plotting the Smith Chart.
VII.d VSWR result
67. Under the 1D Results (1), you can view your Voltage Standing Wave Ratio – VSWR (2)
graph. Right click anywhere on the graph (3) to open the context menu and select Show Axis
Marker (4). Drag the marker to the lowest point of the graph.
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VII.e. Radiation Pattern
68. Go to Farfields Folder (2) located in Navigation Tree (1). Look and click for the Farfield
f=2.4 (3). On the Farfield Plot Tab (4), click 3D Plot Type (5) to view the 3D representation
of your farfield (6). The intensity color and magnitude is displayed in (8). The box located
on (7) displays information of your Antenna’s Farfield. Click rotate mode (9) to view your
radiation pattern at different angles.
Note: (7) displays the frequency, the type of farfield, Radiation efficiency and Total
efficiency. Radiation efficiency refers to the power delivered to the antenna vs power
radiated by the antenna, while Total efficiency takes account of the mismatch losses of the
antenna.
View your radiation pattern relative to your antenna
69. Go to Farfield Plot Tab (1) and check Show Structure (3) and Farfield Transparent (4). You
can now view your radiation pattern with respect to your antenna (5).
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View your radiation pattern in Cartesian Mode
70. Go to Farfield Plot Tab (1) and change the plot type to Cartesian (2). Open the Plot Properties
(3) and go to General Tab (5). Check the Plot range 360 degrees (6) and Plot range -180 to
180 degrees (7). Click OK (8) to save settings. You must see the new plot of your graph now
as seen from the figure above.
View your radiation pattern in Polar Mode
71. Change the Plot type to Polar (2) and view your Polar representation (3) of your radiation
pattern. The label on the lower right (4) displays basic information of your Radiation Pattern.
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Coaxial Feed Patch Antenna
Simulation Complete.
-end-
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Appendix
Calculation of Patch Dimensions
𝐶𝑂 2
Width of the Patch: 𝑊= √(1+ℇ [1]
2𝑓𝑂 𝑟)
Where 𝐶𝑂 is the free-space velocity of light i.e. 3×108 m/s, ℇ𝑟 is the dielectric constant of the
substrate, 𝑓𝑂 is the frequency of operation.
Effective Dielectric constant
ℇ𝑟 +1 ℇ𝑟 −1
of the substrate: ℇ𝑟𝑒𝑓𝑓 = + [2]
2 ℎ
2√1+12∗
𝑊
Where h is the height of the substrate and W is the width of the Patch layer.
𝑊
(ℇ𝑟𝑒𝑓𝑓 + 0.3)∗( +0.264)
ℎ
Length Extension: 𝑑𝐿 = 0.412 ∗ ℎ ∗ 𝑊 [3]
(ℇ𝑟𝑒𝑓𝑓 −0.258)∗( +0.8)
ℎ
𝐶𝑂
Length of the Patch: 𝐿𝑒𝑓𝑓 = 2∗𝑓 - 2𝑑𝐿 [4]
𝑂 √ℇ𝑟𝑒𝑓𝑓
Where dL is the length extension due to the fringing field and can be calculated using equation [3].
38
Calculation of Ground and Substrate Dimensions
Width of the ground: 𝑊𝑔 = 𝑊 + 12ℎ
[5]
Where W is the width of the Patch and h is the height of the Substrate
Length of the ground: 𝐿𝑔 = 𝐿 + 12ℎ [6]
Where L is the length of the Patch and h is the height of the Substrate
Coaxial Feed Point Position

𝑊
Along the width of the Patch: 𝑋𝑓 = [7]
2
𝐿 50
𝑌𝑂 = − 𝑐𝑜𝑠 −1 √𝑍 Note: Calculator should be in Radian Mode [8]
𝜋 𝑂
𝑍𝑂 = √50 ∗ 𝑍𝑖𝑛 [9]

ℇ2𝑟 𝐿
𝑍𝑖𝑛 = 90 ∗ ℇ ∗ (𝑊)2 [10]
𝑟 −1
Along the length of the Patch: 𝑌𝑓 = 𝑌𝑂 − 𝑑𝐿 [11]
The most common technique Coaxial-probe feeding was used for microstrip patch antennas. The
main advantage of this type of feeding scheme is that the feed can be placed at any
desired location inside the patch in order to match with its input impedance. The impedance match
will depend on its location on the patch. Feed point locations in order to match 50
ohm impedance were calculated using the equations above.
Calculation of Coaxial Cable Dimension
𝐷
138∗𝑙𝑜𝑔10 ( 𝑜 )
𝐷𝑖
Coaxial Cable Impedance: 𝑍𝑂 = [12]
√ℇ𝑟
11.8
Cutoff Frequency: 𝑓𝑐𝑢𝑡𝑜𝑓𝑓 = 𝐷𝑜 + 𝐷𝑖 [13]
√ℇ𝑟 ∗𝜋∗( 2
)
39
Parametric Variation of Patch Dimensions
Target Frequency: ____________ GHz
Now, try to vary the length and width of your patch layer, simulate and observe its effects on return
loss. Use the initial value of your length and width for incrementing and decrementing your Width
and Length based on the table below. Record your simulation results.
Peak Return
Resonant
Wnew Lnew Loss/S-Parameter VSWR
Frequency (GHz)
(dB)
W + 0.05W L + 0.05L
W + 0.10W L + 0.10L
W + 0.15W L + 0.15L
W + 0.20W L + 0.20L
W + 0.25W L + 0.25L
W – 0.05W L – 0.05L
W – 0.10W L – 0.10L
W – 0.15W L – 0.15L
W – 0.20W L – 0.20L
W – 0.25W L – 0.25L
What happens to the return loss/S-parameter and VSWR as you increase your width and length? As
you decrease your width and length?
Discussions:
Now, try to vary the position of the coaxial feed point along the length of the Patch antenna. Use
your optimized width and length design for this activity and record your simulation results in the
table below.
Peak Return Loss/S-

Yf VSWR
Parameter
Yf + 0.05Yf
Yf + 0.10Yf
Yf + 0.15Yf
Yf + 0.20Yf
Yf + 0.25Yf
Yf + 0.30Yf
Yf + 0.35Yf
Yf - 0.05Yf
Yf - 0.10Yf
What happens to your S-Parameter and VSWR results as you change the position of the feeding
point?
Discussions:
40
Design Summary at ____________ GHz
Dimension (mm)
Parameter
Initial/Calculated Values Optimized
W
L
Wg
Lg
Xf
Yf
h
Optimized Patch Antenna Results:
Parameter Simulation Actual Measurement

Return Loss / S-Parameter
Peak (dB)
Lower Upper Lower Upper
Frequency Frequency Frequency Frequency
-10 dB Bandwidth (GHz) (GHz) (GHz) (GHz)
Real Reactive Real Reactive

Smith Chart Impedance
VSWR
Radiation Pattern Main Lobe
Radiation Pattern Back Lobe
Radiation Pattern -3 dB
Beamwidth
41
42
Lab 2:
Transmission Line Feed

Rectangular Patch Antenna
Design in CST Microwave
Studio
Introduction
In this activity, you will learn how to design a Transmission Line Feed rectangular patch antenna.
This type of antenna is simple and can be implemented in a standard commercially available Printed
Circuit Board (PCB). Basically, this antenna consists of a radiating layer called “patch” and a “ground
plane” separated by substrate made of a dielectric material. In this activity, instead of using coaxial
feeding method, another method of feeding will be introduced which is the Transmission Line Feed
method.
Lab Objectives:
1. To design and simulate a Transmission Line Feed Rectangular Antenna in CST – MWS.
2. To analyze the simulation results of the antenna such as the Return Loss, Voltage Standing
Wave Ratio, Radiation Pattern, and Smith Chart.
3. To learn to enhance the Return Loss and Voltage Standing Wave Ration of the antenna.
Prerequisite:
1. Initial design of Transmission Line Feed Rectangular Patch Antenna. Refer to Appendix of
this Laboratory for on hand calculation of Patch Antenna dimensions.
43
Overview
The figure above shows the front, back and sectioned view of the Patch antenna to be designed.
Designing and Simulating Patch Antenna Flow Graph
The flow graph above will serve as a guide for designing and simulating the patch antenna in
Computer Simulation Technology – MWS.
44
Procedures:
I. Modeling the First Layer (Patch) of the Antenna
1. Go to Modeling Tab (1) located below the quick access toolbar and click the Brick shape (2).
Then, press ESC (3) key on your keyboard to open the Brick Dialog Box (4) and proceed to
the next step to edit Brick Dialog Box.
Enter the Dimension of the First Layer (Patch)
2. Inside the Brick Dialog Box, assign a name (1) to the shape you want to make and define the
dimensions of the first layer of the antenna (2). Refer to the figure on the right for the
dimensions of your component, Wmin and Wmax sets the thickness of the component.
3. Click the Vacuum under the material to show Option Box (3). After that, click Load from
Material Library (4) and continue to the next step for instructions in choosing material. Click
OK (5) after choosing material to create the component.
45
4. Search for the copper in the search box (1) and select Copper pure (2) on the results shown.
Click Load (3) to apply changes.
Review the First Layer
5. You can view the details (3) of your shape by simply clicking on the shape (2) under the
Navigation Tree (1).
46
II. Modeling the Second Layer (Substrate)
6. Go to Modeling Tab (1) and click Brick shape (2). Press ESC (3) key on your keyboard to
open the Brick Dialog Option Box (3) and proceed to the next step to edit Brick Dialog Box.
Enter the dimensions of the second layer
7. Enter a name for your component (1) and define its dimensions in the field boxes (2). Select
the Material (3) of the shape by loading a material in the Library (4) and proceed to the next
step for instructions in choosing material. Click OK (5) after choosing a material for your
component.
47
8. Search for FR-4 in the search box (1) and select the FR-4 lossy (2) in the results. Click Load
(3) to apply changes.
Review the second layer
48
Move the WCS reference point at the back of substrate. This is to set a new reference point to
model the ground plane.
10. Click the View Perspective Box (1). Select the Back perspective (2) to change your angle of
view.
11. Go to Modeling Tab (1) and click the arrow beside the Pick Points (2). Select the Pick Face
Center (3) and click the face of the substrate (4). The point in the center (5) will appear after
picking the face of the substrate.
49
12. Go to Modeling Tab (1) and click the arrow beside the Align WCS (2). Select the Align WCS
with Selected Point (3). This will set your new WCS at the surface of the substrate.
Return 3D Perspective View
13. Click the View Perspective Box (1). Then select the Perspective View (2) or you can simply
press 0 on your keyboard to change your angle of view.
50
III. Modeling the Third Layer (Ground Plane)
14. Go to Modeling Tab (1) and click the Brick shape (2). Press ESC (3) on your keyboard to
open the Brick Dialog Box (4).
Enter the Dimension of the Third Layer
15. Name your component (5) and define its dimension in the field box (2). Select Copper pure
(4) as the material for your ground plane.
51
Review the Third Layer
View your model by clicking rotate mode at view and activating cutting plane at x, y, z axis
15. Go to Modeling Tab (1) and click Cutting Plane (2). Select which plane you want to view
your components (3). Click Rotate view (4) to change your angle of view freely and use
your mouse wheel to zoom in and out of your drawing plane.
52
IV. Modeling the Transmission Line Feed Point
Move the WCS reference point at the back of substrate. This is to set a new reference point to model
the ground plane.
16. Go to Modeling Tab (1) and click the arrow beside the Pick Point (2). Select Pick Edge Center
(3) and click on the lower edge of the Patch (4), the point in (4) will appear after doing so.
53
17. Still under the Modeling Tab (1), click the arrow beside the Align WCS (2) to show its options.
Select Align WCS (3) and Align WCS with XY Plane (4).
18. Measure the distance from the edge of your Patch to the edge of substrate. This distance will
serve as the length for your Transmission Line. To do that, go to Modeling Tab (1) and select
Pick Edge Center (3) on the Pick Points Options (2). Click the bottom edge of the Substrate
(4). The information shown in (5) represents the coordinates of the picked point with respect
to the WCS. Therefore, the distance of the transmission line should be 8.89mm.
54
19. Go to Modeling Tab (1) and select 3D Polygon (3) on the Curves Options (2). Enter the
coordinates for the 3D polygon in the dialog box (5).
20. In the 3D Polygon dialog box, set the cross-section dimension of the transmission line. Refer
to the figure on the right for setting coordinates on each point.
Note: The width used in this example is not computed to achieve 50 Ohms.
For the computation of the width of Transmission Line with 50 Ohms impedance, refer
to appendix of this Laboratory.
55
21. Go to Modeling Tab and click the arrow beside the Extrude Curve Icon (2). Select Extrude
Curve (3) in the options. Double click on the outline of the 3D Polygon Curve (5). The
dialog box for extruding curve is displayed on (6).
22. On the dialog box (1), define a name (2) and thickness (2) of your curve which will serve as
the length of your transmission line. Choose a component to group the shape (4) and choose
Copper pure (5) as the material of your Transmission Line. Click OK (8) to save the model.
56
23. Go to Modeling Tab (1) and select Clear Picks (2). The pick points on (3) should disappear
after clearing picks. The Transmission Line shape can be located inside the Navigation Tree
(4).
Note: Clear Picks function will delete all the picked elements in your working plane.
Patch Antenna Modeling

Complete
57
V. Simulation Set-up/Pre-simulate
24. Go to Simulation Tab (1) and Click on the Frequency settings (2). Set the Minimum
Frequency to 1.5 GHz (4) and Max Frequency to 3 GHz (5). Defining your frequency range
affects the time to complete the simulation. The wider the range, the longer it takes to
perform simulations. Click OK (6) to finish.
Note: It is important to consider a 20% - 100% bandwidth to make sure that we can still read
the results of our simulation at the desired frequency.
VI.a Setting up Boundary Condition
25. Still in the Simulation Tab (1), click the boundaries Settings (2). Select the Boundaries Tab
(4) and set the boundary of every axis to open add space (5).
Note: The Open (add space) will serve as a free space behind the boundary planes. Free
space means that the electromagnetic fields are absorbed at these boundaries with virtually
no reflections as if they propagate in infinite empty space. This option is recommended for
antenna problems and allows farfield calculations.
58
26. Open the Open Boundary settings (6) and set the ERL to 0.0001 (8). Set the fraction of
wavelength to 8 (9) and define the User frequency (11) at 2.4 GHz (12).
Note: As a general rule, the open boundary conditions work best if they are at least 1/8
wavelength apart from the field source.
Decreasing the value of Estimated reflection level improves the accuracy of the
simulation, however, this also increases the simulation time and computing power
needed for simulation. Leave the default value 0.0001
VI.b. Setting up Field Monitors
27. Go to the Simulation Tab (1) and open Field Monitor settings (2).
28. Select the E-field (1) and select the frequency on the specification (2) & (3), set the frequency
at 2.4 GHz (4) and click Apply (5). Select the H-Field (6), set the frequency to 2.4 GHz (9)
and click Apply (10).
59
29. Select the Farfield/RCS (1), set frequency at 2.4 GHz (4) and click Apply (5). Select Surface
current (6) and set the frequency to 2.4 GHz (9).
30. Select the Current density (1) and set the frequency to 2.4 GHz (4) and click OK (6). If this
dialog box (7) appears, just click Yes (8) to proceed.
60
Review your Field Monitors inside the Navigation Tree
31. You can view the Field Monitors settings in the Navigation Tree (1).
VI.c. Creating a Port at the Transmission Line
32. Go to Modeling Tab (1) and select Pick Face (3) on the Picks Options (2). Click the bottom
surface of the Transmission Line (5).
61
33. Go to Home Tab (1) and click Macros (2). Go to Solver (3), then Ports (4) and select Calculate
port extension coefficient (5) to open Port Extension Coefficient dialog box (6). Click
Construct port from picked face (7). The value of extension coefficient for the port is shown
in (8).
34. The Port of the Transmission Line is shown in the Red Highlighted Area (1) of the patch
antenna.
62
VI. Simulate
35. Go to Simulation Tab (1) and click the Setup Solver (2). Select the Mesh Type Hexahedral
(3) and set the Accuracy to -40 dB (4). Click Start (5) to begin simulation.
Note: Reducing this value will improve the accuracy of the simulation but it will also increase
the simulation efforts. Use the default value -40 dB.
Track the progress of your Simulation in the Progress Panel
36. Go to Progress Tab (1) and view the simulation progress (2) & (3) under the progress tab.
Note: Once the simulation is completed, this interface will disappear, otherwise, an error will
appear in the message and halt the simulation. During the simulation, the Message
Window will show some details about the performed simulation. If there are any
warning or error messages during the simulation they will be written into the message
window, as well.
Meshcells (4) refers to the resolution of the model for the simulation. As far as the
results are concerned, the finer the mesh, the better. However, a very fine mesh has a
large number of mesh cells and with this a large number of unknowns to be solved.
Every increase of unknowns extends the need of memory and simulation time.
63
VII. Analyze Post-Process Data
VII.a. Port Signals
37. Go to Navigation Tree (1) and click the Port Signals (3) under the 1D Results Folder (2). You
will notice two graph of port signals, one is the i1 (4) and the other is o1,1 (5). The plot shows
the incident and reflected wave amplitudes at the waveguide port versus time. The incident
wave amplitude is called i1 (referring to the port name: 1) and the reflected wave amplitude
is o1,1. As evident from the above time-signal plot, the patch antenna array has a strong
resonance that leads to a slowly decreasing output signal.
VII.b. S-11 Parameters/Return Loss
38. View the S11 Parameter (1) under 1D Results folder. When viewing S11 Parameter, always
make sure to plot the graph in dB (3) which is located under 1D Plot Tab (2).
64
Check the lowest peak of the return loss
39. Still under the S-parameter results (1), right click on the graph (2) to open the context menu
and select show axis marker (3). This marker will serve as your cursor for reading your graph,
you can drag this marker left and right to a desired frequency. The number below (4) is the
indicator for frequency and the number above (5) is for the magnitude at that frequency.
(Change Figure Above)
VII.c. Smith Chart
40. Under the 1D Plot Tab (2), you can view the Smith Chart representation of your antenna by
clicking on the Z Smith Chart plot type (3). The label on the upper left (4) represents the
starting 1.5 GHz and ending frequency 3 GHz. Impedances both real and reactive impedance
is displayed inside the parentheses. The label on the upper right (5) displays the normalizing
impedance for plotting the Smith Chart. (Change Figure above).
65
VII.d. VSWR Result
41. Under the 1D Results (1), you can view your Voltage Standing Wave Ratio – VSWR (2)
graph. Right click anywhere on the graph (3) to open the context menu and select Show Axis
Marker (4). Drag the marker to the lowest point of the graph.
VII.e. Radiation Pattern of the antenna
42. Go to Farfields Folder (2) located in Navigation Tree (1). Look and click for the Farfield
f=2.4 (3). On the Farfield Plot Tab (4), click 3D Plot Type (5) to view the 3D representation
of your farfield (6). The intensity color and magnitude is displayed in (8). The box located
on (7) displays information of your Antenna’s Farfield. Click rotate mode (9) to view your
radiation pattern at different angles.
Note: (7) displays the frequency, the type of farfield, Radiation efficiency and Total
efficiency. Radiation efficiency refers to the power delivered to the antenna vs power
radiated by the antenna, while Total efficiency takes account of the mismatch losses
of the antenna.
66
View your radiation pattern relative to your antenna
43. Go to Farfield Plot Tab (1) and check Show Structure (3) and Farfield Transparent (4). You
can now view your radiation pattern with respect to your antenna (5).
View your radiation pattern in Cartesian Mode
44. Go to Farfield Plot Tab (1) and change the plot type to Cartesian (2). Open the Plot Properties
(3) and go to General Tab (5). Check the Plot range 360 degrees (6) and Plot range -180 to
180 degrees (7). Click OK (8) to save settings. You must see the new plot of your graph now
as seen from the figure above.
67
View your radiation pattern in Polar Mode
45. Change the Plot type to Polar (2) and view your Polar representation (3) of your radiation
pattern. The label on the lower right (4) displays basic information of your Radiation Pattern.
VIII. Return Loss Improvement

For the Impedance Matching improvement of the Transmission Line Fed Patch Antenna, an
inset fed slot will be introduced between the patch layer and transmission line which could also
improve the S-parameter and VSWR of the patch antenna. Refer to appendix of this laboratory for
computation and geometry of the slot.
46. Align the WCS on the corner between the Patch and Transmission Line (3). Select Align
WCS (2) on the Align WCS options (1) and click on the corner (3).
Note: Make sure that the WCS stays on top of the Patch Layer (4).
68
47. Go to Modeling Tab (1) and create a Brick (2). Press ESC (3) key on your keyboard and enter
the dimensions of the slot on the field boxes (5) inside the Brick Dialog Box (4). Select Copper
pure (6) for the Material of the slot. Click OK (7) to create shape. This Shape should be visible
(8) on the Patch Layer.
48. Go to Modeling Tab (1) and click Local WCS to remove the WCS axis off the working Plane.
Select the slot (3) in the Navigation Tree. Open the Pick Points Options (4) and select Pick
End Point (5). Click on the points as indicated on the Patch Layer (6).
69
49. Click Transform Options (1) and select Translate (2) to open Transform Dialog Box (3). Select
Translate (3) under operation, check Copy (5) and Use picked points (6). Click OK (7) to
apply transformation. The copied shape should appear on the Patch Layer (8).
Note: The Transform function contains operation such as Translate, Scale, Rotate, and Mirror
which could be useful for manipulating your shape in the working plane.
50. Select the Patch (1) on the Navigation Tree. Open the Boolean Options (2) and Select Subtract
(3). Select the Slots (4) on the Navigation Tree and press Enter (5) key on your keyboard.
Observe the slot (8) on the Patch Layer after performing Boolean Subtract. Start simulation
to view the results.
Note: The design of the inset fed slot in this simulation is not optimized. Refer to appendix
of this laboratory for optimization of inset fed slot design.
70
51. Check the S-parameter Result (1) on the Navigation Tree.
52. Check the VSWR Result in the Navigation Tree (1).
Transmission Line Fed Patch

Antenna Simulation Complete.
-end-
71
Appendix
Calculation of Patch Dimensions
𝐶𝑂 2
Width of the Patch: 𝑊= √(1+ℇ [1]
2𝑓𝑂 𝑟)
Where 𝐶𝑂 is the free-space velocity of light i.e. 3×108 m/s, ℇ𝑟 is the dielectric constant of the substrate,
𝑓𝑂 is the frequency of operation.
ℇ𝑟 +1 ℇ𝑟 −1
Effective Dielectric constant of the substrate: ℇ𝑟𝑒𝑓𝑓 = + [2]
2 ℎ
2√1+12∗
𝑊
Where h and W are the height and width of substrate material of the antenna respectively.
𝐶𝑂
Length of the Patch: 𝐿𝑒𝑓𝑓 = 2∗𝑓 - 2𝑑𝐿 [3]
𝑂 √ℇ𝑟𝑒𝑓𝑓
Where dL is the length extension due to the fringing field and can be calculated using equation [4].
𝑊
(ℇ𝑟𝑒𝑓𝑓 + 0.3)∗( +0.264)
ℎ
Length Extension: 𝑑𝐿 = 0.412 ∗ ℎ ∗ 𝑊 [4]
(ℇ𝑟𝑒𝑓𝑓 −0.258)∗( +0.8)
ℎ
Width of Substrate and Ground Plane: Wg = W + 12h [5]

Length of Substrate and Ground Plane: Lg = L +12h [6]
Where: L and W is the length and width of Patch respectively;
h is the height of substrate
72
Calculation of Transmission Line Dimension for 50Ω Impedance
𝑊 ℇ𝑟 + 1 ℇ𝑟 − 1 1 𝑤 2
 For <1 ℇ𝑒𝑓𝑓 = + [ + 0.04 (1 − ℎ ) ] [7]
ℎ 2 2 12ℎ
√1+
𝑊
𝑊 ℇ𝑟 + 1 ℇ𝑟 − 1 1
 For >1 ℇ𝑒𝑓𝑓 = + [ ] [8]
ℎ 2 2 12ℎ
√1+
𝑊
Where; ℇ𝑟 is the Relative Dielectric Constant

W is the Width of the Transmission Line
t is the Thickness of the Transmission Line
h is the Thickness of the Substrate
𝑊 60 8ℎ 𝑊
 For <1 𝑍0 = ∗ ln( 𝑊 + 4ℎ) [9]
ℎ √ℇ𝑒𝑓𝑓
𝑊 120 𝜋
 For >1 𝑍0 = ∗ 𝑊 𝑊 [10]
ℎ √ℇ𝑒𝑓𝑓 [ +1.393+0.677∗ln( +1.444)]
ℎ ℎ
Where; ℇ𝑒𝑓𝑓 is the Effective Relative Dielectric Constant

W is the Width of the Transmission Line
t is the Thickness of the Transmission Line
h is the Thickness of the Substrate
Z0 = 50 Ohms
Inset Fed Transmission Line Patch Antenna Design
ws = 0.5*wtl [11]
hs = 4*h [12]
where; ws is the slot width

hs is the height of the slot
wtl is the transmission line width
h is the substrate height
73
Patch Antenna Dimension:
Target Frequency: ____________ GHz
Now, try to vary the length and width of your patch layer, simulate and observe its effects on return
loss. Use the initial value of your length and width for incrementing and decrementing your Width
and Length based on the table below. Record your simulation results.
Peak Return
Resonant
Wnew Lnew Loss/S-Parameter VSWR
Frequency (GHz)
(dB)
W + 0.1W L + 0.1L
W + 0.2W L + 0.2L
W + 0.3W L + 0.3L
W + 0.4W L + 0.4L
W + 0.5W L + 0.4L
W – 0.1W L – 0.1L
W – 0.2W L – 0.2L
W – 0.3W L – 0.3L
W – 0.4W L – 0.4L
W – 0.5W L – 0.5L
What happens to the return loss/S-parameter and VSWR as you increase your width and length? As
you decrease your width and length?
Discussions:
Now, try to vary the height and width of the inset fed slot, simulate and observe its effects on return
loss. Use your optimized design of Patch layer and record your simulations.
Peak Return Loss/S-

hslot VSWR
Parameter
hslot + 0.05hslot
hslot + 0.10hslot
hslot + 0.15hslot
hslot + 0.20hslot
hslot - 0.05hslot
hslot - 0.10hslot
hslot - 0.15hslot
hslot - 0.20hslot
What happens to the return loss/S-parameter and VSWR as you increase and decrease the height of
the inset feed slot?
Discussions:
74
Design Summary at ____________ GHz
Parameter Dimension (mm)

Initial Optimized
W
L
Wg
Lg
h
hs
ws
Optimized Patch Antenna Results:
Without Inset Fed Inset Fed Actual

Parameter Inset Fed Simulation
Simulation Measurement
Return Loss /
S-Parameter
Peak
Lower Upper Lower Upper Lower Upper
-10 dB Frequency Frequency Frequency Frequency Frequency Frequency
Bandwidth (GHz) (GHz) (GHz) (GHz) (GHz) (GHz)
Smith Chart Real Reactive Real Reactive Real Reactive

Impedance
VSWR
Radiation
Pattern Main
Lobe
Radiation
Pattern Back
Lobe
Radiation
Pattern -3 dB
Beamwidth
75
76
Lab 3:
Impedance Matching
Introduction
In this activity, you will learn the importance of impedance matching. Impedance Matching is the
process of reducing the mismatch loss between the source and antenna. This is to minimize the
reflection coefficient to reduce the power reflected from the antenna hence, maximizing the power
delivered to the antenna. This is a fundamental concept to learn in getting an antenna to radiate.
Lab Objectives:
1. To design and simulate a system using the designed antenna in previous activities.
2. To simulate a system with mismatched impedances in CST.
3. To compare and analyze the performance of matched and mismatched system.
4. To learn basic matching method and simulate it in CST-MWS.
77
Procedures:
I. Open your existing Project
1. Go to File (1) just below the quick access toolbar and click New and Recent (2). In this
window, you can access your recently accessed files. Look for the file name of your simulation
and click to open your file (3).
2. Go to Schematic Tab (1) and click Simulation Project (2). Select the Block Representation
(3).
78
3. Click on the Schematic Block of the antenna (1) and select Schematic Model (2). Click Create
Simulation Project (3) to open settings for new simulation project (4).
4. Name a title for your Simulation Project (1) and click on the Project Type box (2). Select
High Frequency (3) in the options. Click project template (4) & (5) and select Planar
Antenna as your template (6).
Note: This template should be the same as the template used for simulating the patch
antenna.
79
5. Click the Solver Type Selection Box (1) and select Transient (2) on the options. Select a
reference model (3) & (4) and click OK (5) to save and finish set-up.
6. You can access the Simulation Project (1) in the Active Project Bar.
Note: Simulation Project is different from Main Project Window. Simulation Project is
dependent on your Main Project Window, that is, every result of simulation from the Main
Project will be copied to the Simulation Project.
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7. Go to Schematic Mode (1). The Schematic Block (2) represents the block for the Main
Project and the Schematic Block (3), an empty block, represents the Simulation Project.
II. Modeling your Transmission Line
8. Go to 3D mode (1) of simulation, and select Brick shape (2). Press the ESC (3) key on your
keyboard to bring up the Brick Dialog Box (4).
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9. Name your component on the field box (1) and enter the dimensions of your transmission
line (2). Refer to the figure on the right for the dimension of your transmission line. The Y-
axis serves as the thickness for your transmission line. Select Copper pure (3) as the material
for your transmission line. Click OK (4) to finish your component.
III. Modeling the Substrate
10. For modeling your Substrate, enter the dimension on (2) and select FR-4 as the type of
material. Click OK (4) to finish modeling.
IV. Modeling the Ground Plane
11. For modeling the ground plane, enter the dimension on (2) and select Copper pure (3) as the
material of your ground plane. Click OK (4) to finish modeling.
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V. Simulate
Creating Port 1
12. Go to Modeling Tab (1) and click the arrow below the Picks (2). Select Pick Face on the
options (3) and click on the face of the transmission line (4).
13. Go to Home Tab (1) and click the arrow below the Macro (2). Go to Solver (3), then Ports
(4) and select the Calculate port extension coefficient (5) to bring up the port extension
settings (6). Click the Calculate port from picked face (7) to automatically create port from
picked face.
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Creating Port 2
14. Go to Modeling Tab (1) and pick the face of the other end of the transmission line (4) using
pick face function (3). Create a port on the face of transmission line (4) using the Macro
function discussed in the previous step.
15. You can view the ports you made under the Ports folder (1) of Navigation Pane. Click Start
Simulation (2) in the Home Tab.
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16. View the S-Parameter of the modeled Transmission Line (2) under 1D Results (1).
Note: Even the Transmission Line has its own S-Parameter Characteristics and can act as
antenna but this is normal.
17. View the Smith Chart of the Transmission Line (1). The normalizing impedance for this
Smith Chart is 50 Ohms (2).
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18. Go to Post Processing Tab (1) and click S-Parameter Calculations (2). Select Renormalize
S-Parameter (3) on the options to open the Renormalize S-Parameter Window (4). On (5)
you can see important information of Port 1 & Port 2 such as the Mode, Type, Z-Wave, Z-
Line and Z-Normalize.
Note: Mode refers to the mode pattern for which S-Parameters and reference impedance are
calculated. This is also used for defining the excitation signal.
Type refers to the mode type which can be one of the following: TE,
TM, TEM, Quasi TEM and etc.
Z-Wave refers to the wave impedance (E/H).
Z-Line refers to the line impedance for TEM and QTEM modes. This is
also used as reference for the impedance of the port.
Z-Normalize refers to the normalizing impedance of the smith chart.
19. View the farfield plot f=2.4 of the Transmission Line (2) under the Farfield Folder.
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20. Go to Schematic mode of simulation (1). The block on (2) represents the transmission line
you modeled in the Simulation Project and the block on (3) represent the model from the
Main Project. You view the 1D Results of these blocks on the Navigation Tree (6) & (8).
Note: MWSSCHEM1 represents the simulation results of the Simulation Project.
MWSSCHEM1_1 represents the simulation results of the Main Project.
21. On Schematic, click the External Port (1) and place a port inside the drawing plane (2).
Connect the External Port to Port 1 of Transmission Line using Connector (3) and connect
Port 2 of Transmission Line to Port 1 of the Antenna.
Note: The External Port will serve as the source of our signal.
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22. To change the parameter of external port, double click on the external port (1) to open its
settings (2). Port Numbering can be edited on (3) and change the impedance to Fixed with
50 Ohms Real Impedance (4). Click OK (5) to save the settings.
23. On the Schematic Mode, click the arrow below tasks (1) and select New Task (2) to open
the Simulation Task Simulation (3). Select S-Parameter (4) under the Circuit Folder. Click
OK (5) to open the S-parameter settings window.
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24. Go to S-Parameter Tab (1) and set the Samples (2) to 1001. Select the S-parameter
interpolation scheme Real/Imaginary (3). Go to Results Settings Tab (4) and change the value
of VSWR by clicking on the field box (5) and select On Parametric (6). Click OK (7) to save
set-up and exit.
25. View your SPara1 Task (2) created under the Tasks Folder (1). Click Update (3) to start
performing the task.
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26. Viewing the schematic simulation result is same as viewing the result in 3D simulation. Go
to SPara1 (1) under the Tasks Folder and select S-Parameter (2) to display the graph of S11
Parameter. Right click on the graph (3) to open the context menu and select Move Axis Marker
to Minimum (6).
27. Still under the SPara1 (1), click the VSWR Folder (2) to view VSWR Graph. Right click
anywhere on the graph to show the context menu (3) and select Move Axis Marker To
Minimum (4).
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V.a. Comparing S11 results of your antenna and Schematic Set-up
 Copy the S-Parameter of the schematic of the Impedance Matching Project into the original
Project.
 Copy the VSWR of the schematic of the Impedance Matching Project into the original Project.
28. Under the S-Parameter Folder (1), right click on the S1,1 graph (2) and select Copy (3).
29. Go to the Main Project (1) and right click on the S-parameter folder (2) and select Paste (3)
to paste the S-Parameter result from the Simulation Project.
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30. Rename the newly pasted S11 Graph from the Simulation Project to avoid confusion of
results during comparison of results. Right click on the copied S11 Parameter (1) and select
Rename (2) and enter a name for your graph.
31. Click the S-Parameter folder (1) to view the S11 Parameter simultaneously. The legend on (2)
displays the name of the curve and the corresponding color.
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V.b. Comparing VSWR Results
32. Go to Simulation Project (1). Right click on the VSWR graph (3) under the VSWR Folder
(2) and select Copy (4).
33. Go to Main Project (1). Right click on the VSWR Folder (2) and select Paste (3) on the
options.
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34. Rename your Graph (2) by right clicking on the VSWR graph (1).
Note: The VSWR graph format from the Simulation Project is different from the VSWR graph
format from the Main Project and it is necessary to have the same format to view the results
simultaneously.
35. On the Main Project, right click on the copied VSWR graph (1) and select Curve Properties
(2) to edit properties (3). Click the field box (4) under the data format and select Magnitude
(5).
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36. Click the VSWR folder (1) to view the VSWR Graph simultaneously. The legend (2) on the
upper right shows the name of the curve with its corresponding color.
VI. Impedance Mismatch Example I
Adjust the width of the transmission line to obtain an impedance of ≈75 Ohms on each port.
37. Go to the Simulation Project (1) and change to 3D mode (2). Double click on the
Transmission Line (3) to open the History Tree (4). Double click on the Define brick (5) to
open the Brick editing box (6). Edit the X-axis dimensions (7) to change the impedance of
the transmission line and click OK (8) to save your model. Go to Home Tab (9) and click
Start Simulation (10).
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38. After simulation, go to Post-Processing Tab (1) and click S-Parameter Calculations (2) and
select Renormalize S-Parameter (3) to open the settings. You can view the impedance at the
port on the column Z-Line (5). Click OK (6) to exit.
39. Still on the Simulation Project, go to Schematic Mode (1) and click Update (2).
Note: The Tasks is already defined in this Simulation Project for S-Parameter and VSWR
result so you can start simulation without setting up a new task.
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VI.a. Comparing S11 results
40. After simulation, right click on the S11 Graph (1) and select Copy (2).
41. Go to Main Project (1). Right click on the S-Parameter Folder (3) and select Paste (4).
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42. Rename the S11 graph you copied by right clicking on the graph (1) and selecting rename (2).
Click on the S-parameter folder (3) to view the S11 Parameters simultaneously.
VI.b. Comparing VSWR results
43. On the Simulation Project (1), right click on the VSWR graph (2) and select copy (3).
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44. On the Main Project (1), right click on the VSWR Folder (2) and select Paste (3).
45. Rename (2) the VSWR graph you copied by right clicking on the graph (1). Change the
Format (3) of the curve to magnitude. Show the axis marker and move it to the lowest point
of the curve (5).
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VII. Impedance Mismatch Example II
Adjust the width of the transmission line to obtain an impedance of ≈150 Ohms on each port.
46. Go to the Simulation Project (1) and double click on the Transmission Line component (3)
to open the History Tree (4). Double click on the Define brick (5) to open the Brick edit box
(6). Edit the X-axis dimensions of the Transmission Line (7) to change the impedance at the
port. Click OK (8) to save the model. Go to Home Tab (9) and click Start Simulation (10).
47. On the Post Processing Tab (1), click S-parameter Calculations (2) and select Renormalize
S-Parameter (3) to open setting (4). Observe the impedance change on the Z-Line column
(5) and click OK (6) to exit.
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48. Go to Schematic Mode (1) and click Update (2). After simulation, copy the S11 result and
VSWR result to the main project.
VII.a. Comparing S11 results
49. After copying the S11 Parameter from the Simulation Project, go to Main Project (1) and
view the S-Parameters simultaneously (2).
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VII.b. Comparing VSWR results
50. After copying VSWR result from the simulation project to the main project, view the
VSWR simultaneously (1).
Note: Make sure to change the format of the copied VSWR from the Simulation Project
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VIII. Applying Quarter-Wave Impedance Matching to a Mismatched Load and
Antenna
𝑍𝑇𝑟𝑎𝑛𝑠𝑚𝑖𝑠𝑠𝑖𝑜𝑛 𝐿𝑖𝑛𝑒 = X Ω
To compute for the 𝑍𝑇𝑟𝑎𝑛𝑠𝑚𝑖𝑠𝑠𝑖𝑜𝑛 𝐿𝑖𝑛𝑒 , use this formula:
𝑍𝑇𝑟𝑎𝑛𝑠𝑚𝑖𝑠𝑠𝑖𝑜𝑛 𝐿𝑖𝑛𝑒 = √𝑍𝐿𝑜𝑎𝑑 ∗ 𝑍𝐴𝑛𝑡𝑒𝑛𝑛𝑎
𝑍𝑇𝑟𝑎𝑛𝑠𝑚𝑖𝑠𝑠𝑖𝑜𝑛 𝐿𝑖𝑛𝑒 = 61.23 Ω
Quarter-Wave Transmission Line Geometry
Note: The length of the transmission line is computed as a function of wavelength in free-space
The width of the transmission line is computed to have an impedance of ~61.23 Ohms
Apply this changes to your Simulation Project Transmission Line
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51. Go to Simulation Project (1) and edit the necessary dimension of the Transmission Line
based on the computation for Quarter Wave Matching Impedance and simulate. Next,
proceed to Schematic (2) and click Update (3) to simulate.
52. After simulating in Schematic, view the S11 Parameter result of your simulation (1).
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VIII.a. Comparing S1,1 result of Quarter-Wave Match and Unmatched Network
53. Copy the S11 Parameter result from the Simulation Project to the Main Project (1), and
Compare (2) the results from the mismatch examples.
VIII.b. Comparing VSWR result of Quarter-Wave Match and Unmatched Network
54. Copy the VSWR result from the Simulation Project to the Main Project, and Compare (1)
the results from the mismatch examples.
Matching Impedance Simulation

Complete
-end-
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Lab 4:
Fabricating Patch Antenna in

MITS Autolab
Introduction
In this activity, you will learn how to use the MITS AutoLab Prototyping Machine for fabrication of
the design antenna. This machine uses drill as a tool for scraping/milling the excess copper of the
PCB and able to mill a surface with a width of 0.3 mm to mill a sharp corner on the PCB. The
machine has an advantages speedy process and eliminates the use of chemicals for removing excess
copper in the PCB compared to traditional etching method. For fabrication of antenna, a
commercially available PCB will be used with copper thickness of 36 µm and substrate height of
1.5 mm made of FR-4 material.
Lab Objectives:
1. To generate a gerber (.gbr) file from the designed antenna in CST-MWS.
2. To import the generated .gbr file in MITS AutoLab EasyCAD.
3. To learn the basics and operation of MITS AutoLab Prototyping Machine.
4. To fabricate the designed antenna in MITS AutoLab Protyping Machine.
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Procedures:
I. Exporting and Creating Gerber files of your Antenna
I.a. Create a .gbr file of your Patch Layer
1. Select Pick Face Center (2) on the Pick Points Options (1) and click on the face of the patch
to create a Pick element (3). Select Align WCS (5) in the Align WCS Options (4).
Note: CST exports .gbr file of the shapes layer by layer, with this, make sure to place the
Local WCS to the surface of shape to be exported in .gbr files.
2. Go to Modeling Tab (1) and open Import/Export Options (2). Go to 2D Files (3) under
Export and select Gerber Single Layer (4).
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3. You will notice a red highlight on your patch antenna which represents the outline that will
be exported as Gerber file. Press the Enter key (1) on your keyboard and choose a directory
(2) for which your file will be saved. Choose a name (3) for the Gerber file you want to
export and click Save (4) to finish.
I.b. Create a .gbr file of the Substrate/Ground Plane Layer
4. Select Pick Face Center (2) on the Pick Points Options (1). Click on the face of the ground
plane to place a picked element (3). Select Align WCS (5) on the Align WCS options (4).
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5. Go to Modeling Tab (1) and open Import/Export options (2). Go to 2D Fields and select
Gerber Single Layer (4).
6. Press Enter key on your keyboard (1) and select a directory to save your file (2). Choose a
file name (3) for your .gbr file and click Save (4) to finish.
Note: You will notice a red highlight on the ground plane which represents the layout of .gbr
file to be exported.
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II. Importing Files to Design Pro (Easy CAD)
7. On the MITS AutoLab PCB software, go to Application Tab (1) and select Easy CAD (2).
Click File (3), go to Import (4) and select Gerber In (5). Locate the directory (6) of the
Gerber files you exported in CST. Select the .gbr file of the Patch Layer of the antenna (7)
and click Open (8) to finish.
Note: Switch the application of MITS PCB Software to Easy CAD when creating/editing
your PCB Layout.
8. Click File (1), go to Import (2) and select Gerber In (3). Locate the directory (4) of the .gbr
files you exported in CST. Select the .gbr file for your ground plane layer (5) and click Open
to finish.
Note: The green layer in the background represents your Patch Layer and the blue layer in
the background represents the Ground Plane Layer. The Patch Layer will serve as the
Top Layer and the Ground Plane for the Bottom Layer.
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III. Creating Drill data to Design Pro
9. Click Place Hole (1). Set the point selection (2) option to Auto (3). Select 2 mm for the size
of the drill bit (5) in the drill hole selection (4). Click the hole in the Patch Layer (6) and select
flash/drill (8) in the dialog box (7).
IV. Creating milling outline of the PCB
10. Click Make Milling Outline (1) and assign Ground Plane.gbr as the PCB Outline (3) and the
Patch.gbr as the Pattern Top (4). Click OK (5) to finish.
Note: You can edit the Number if Passes, Overlap Ratio, and Milling Tool Diameter in the
Generation Settings (2). Click OK (5) to save and exit.
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V. Creating Rubout Data of the PCB
11. Click Make Rubout data (1) to open Rubout Generation Settings (2). Set the Minimum
Length to 20 (3) and direction of mill to Y-direction (4). Click OK (5) to save and exit.
Note: Rubout operation is the operation for removing excess copper in the PCB through
milling.
VI. Creating Routing Data of the PCB
12. Click Make Contour Routing data (1) and set the Gap to 0 (3). Click OK (4) to save and
exit.
Note: Contour is the operation for cutting the antenna out of the PCB.
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VII. Operating the MITS AutoLab
13. Go to Application (1) and select CAM-Auto (2). Click Start Job (3) and set the milling
sequence in the settings (4). Select the operation in (5) and set the sequence of operation in
(6). Click OK (7) to save and exit.
14. In the pre-operation dialog box (8) place the tools in their respective Tool Post No. (9). In
the dialog box, you can also view the information of Tool Size, Time Estimated, Type of
Operation and Tool Post No. Click OK (10) to save and exit.
Note: Always put the Routing operation the last.
VI.a. PCB Drill Set-up/Adjustment/Calibration
In this part, you will perform the steps below.

a. Set points P1 and P2
b. Set Milling Width
c. Drill Fiducial Holes
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Note: P1 and P2 are the points used to determine the actual working area during the
fabrication. As shown in the picture below, P1 is the intersected point which is 2mm
to the left and down from the working area P2 is 2mm right and up from the working
area.
15. After clicking Start Job, click Adjust (2) for calibration in the Job Dialog Box (1). The
buttons in (4) are used for controlling the movement of the drill chuck in the working board.
After selecting a P1 and P2 in the PCB, click Set P1-P2 (5) and select NO (7) in the
confirmation box (6).
Note: P1 and P2 serve as your reference points of your PCB for job requiring operation on
both sides of your PCB
This is how your P1 and P2 will look like in your PCB after setting your P1 and P2.
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16. Click Automatic Tool Change ATC (1), choose the Post No. 1 for pick-up (3) and click OK
(4) to execute ATC.
Note: Automatic Tool Change – ATC is the operation used for changing the drill bit.
Open Camera Mode (5) before proceeding to the next step. You can close the camera
mode after using by clicking the Camera button (5). The figure below shows the
camera view of Machine to the PCB. Open the camera view application in the
desktop to access the camera view option of Manual Operation.
17. After picking the Milling bit, with the camera on, click Milling Width (6) for calibration of
the diameter of the milling bit. Click Go (7) for surface milling until 0.3 mm is achieved.
The diameter of the surface milled is displayed in (9). Close the Check Milling Width dialog
box (7) when 0.3 mm drill diameter is achieved.
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18. This milling width is > 0.3 mm (1).
This milling width is > 0.3 mm (2).
This milling width is ≈ 0.3 mm (3).
Note: Adjust the Depth Adjustment in the spindle head to adjust the diameter of mill bit.
Turn the spindle head clockwise to lower the milling bit and counter clockwise to
raise the milling bit.
19. The tool in (1) is the 900 Milling Bit used for removing excess copper in the PCB. The
diameter of the mill bit will depend on the height during calibration. This tool should be
place in Tool Post # 1.
20. This is the Drill Bit (2) for drilling a hole in your PCB. This bit should be place on Post # 4
(for 1mm diameter drill bit).
21. This is the Routing Bit (3) for trimming the Fabricated Antenna off of the PCB. This bit
should be placed on Post # 8.
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VI.b. Begin Operation
22. The estimated time to accomplish an operation is displayed in (1). The yellow highlighted
(2) part is the current path to be milled by the drill while the red highlight is the milled path.
23. When an operation is finished, the display bar should show 0 hr 0 min. The red highlight (2)
in the layout signifies that milling is finished.
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24. The operation for Routing is displayed in (2) and the estimated time to complete the
operation in (1).
VIII. Finished Fabrication/Actual Antenna
25. This is the actual PCB to be printed with the designed patch antenna (1).
This is the actual PCB after the milling outline and rubout operation (2).
This is the actual PCB after the routing operation (3).
This is the Actual Patch Antenna ready for SMA Port soldering (4).
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Antenna Fabrication Complete
-end-
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Lab 5:
Antenna Measurement in
Vector Network Analyzer
Introduction
In this activity, you will learn how to measure the important parameters of your antenna using Vector
Network Analyzer (VNA). Vector Network Analyzer is an essential instrument for RF designs. Its
purpose is measure the response of a network to characterize the performance of a network. With the
use of VNA, we can measure the Return Loss/S11 Parameter, Voltage Standing Wave Ratio and the
view the Smith Chart of the antenna.
Lab Objectives:
1. To know the basic operation of the Vector Network Analyzer.
2. To measure the fabricated Antenna Parameters; the S11 Parameter, VSWR and Smith Chart.
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Procedures:
I. VNA Calibration
1. For VNA calibration, first (1) Press the Cal button on the right side of the device, then the
Menu (2) for Calibration will appear after pressing the Cal button. Next, select the Calibrate
(3) on the Menu by using the knob (4) or pressing directly on the screen. Turn the knob
counter clockwise to navigate left and down. Turn the knob clockwise to navigate right and
up. Lastly, (5) Click Enter button for confirmation.
2. Select 1-Port Cal on the Calibrate Menu to begin calibration.
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3. Choose the Port (1) to which the calibration will be performed. Connect the Open labeled
load to the Port 1 and click Open (2) on the Menu. You will notice a check mark after
clicking the Open menu. Disconnect the Open Load after hearing a beep tone.
4. Connect the Short labeled load to the Port 1 and click Short (3) on the Menu. You will
notice a check mark after clicking the Short menu. Disconnect the Short Load after hearing a
beep tone.
5. Connect the 50 Ohms labeled load to the Port 1 and Click Load (4) on the Menu. You will
notice a check mark after clicking the 50 Ohms menu. Disconnect the 50 Ohms Load after
hearing a beep tone. Click the Done in the Menu to finish the calibration.
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II. Antenna Measurement
II.a. Return Loss/S11 Parameter
6. To measure the actual S11-parameter of the antenna. First, press Format (1) on the soft
buttons. Then, select Log Mag (2) on the Menu. Next, press Enter (3) on the Soft Buttons to
confirm. After that, press Start (4) on the Soft Buttons and enter the desired frequency using
the Keypad on the soft buttons (6). Lastly, press Stop (5) on the Soft Buttons and enter the
desired frequency using the Keypad on the soft buttons (6)
Note: The graph shown in the screen of VNA displays the return loss/ S11 Parameter of
the antenna. You can Zoom in and Zoom out the display by adjusting the Start
and Stop Frequency.
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7. To place a cursor at the desired frequency, press Marker (1) on the Soft Buttons. Select
Marker 1 (2) on the Menu and press Enter (3) on the Soft Buttons. The frequency marker (4)
should show after selecting the Marker 1. Turn the knob (5) clockwise or counter clockwise
to move the cursor on the desired frequency.
II.b Viewing the Smith Chart
8. Press Format (1) on the Soft Button. Select Smith (2) on the Menu and press Enter (3) on the
Soft Buttons.
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9. The Smith Menu will appear after selecting the Smith on the Format. Select R + jX (2) on
the menu to display the smith chart of the antenna. Press Enter (3) on the soft buttons
Note: The graph shown in the screen of VNA displays the Smith Chart of the antenna.
III. VSWR Measurement
10. Press the Format (1) button on the Soft Buttons. The Format Menu (2) will appear and select
the SWR (3) on the Menu to display the graph of the antenna.
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Antenna Measurement
Complete
-end-
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Lab 6:
Antenna Radiation Pattern

Measurement in Antenna
Lab
Introduction
The Antenna Laboratory is a test bench developed for measuring actual radiation patterns of antennas
by the far field measurements method. Antenna Lab includes a turntable tripod used for mounting
antennas to be tested, auxiliary antenna, data acquisition modules, and other components based on
the National Instruments (NI) programmable data acquisition and control platform. The test bench
software has a simple and intuitive user interface developed in LabVIEW Graphical Programming
Environment.
Lab Objectives:
 To learn the basics of Antenna Lab.
 To acquire knowledge about National Instruments tools.
 To measure the actual radiation pattern of the fabricated antenna.
 To gain knowledge and insight of significance of Radiation Pattern of the antenna.
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I. System Architecture
The Antenna Lab test bench includes laboratory equipment and software required for the
measurement of antenna radiation patterns by the far field measurements method. The structural
diagram of the test bench is shown below:
 The test bench consists of the turntable tripod with the attached antenna under test and
auxiliary antenna tripod with the attached auxiliary antenna.
 The USRP is connected to the Personal Computer through LAN. The PC instructs the USRP
to generate the transmitted signal which, from the Tx1 output, is applied through the Control
Unit to the auxiliary antenna.
 The signal received by the tested antenna is applied to the input RX2 of the USRP, which
sends it to the PC for processing and analysis.
 The Personal computer controls the turntable motor through the NI 9482 relay module and
the Control Unit. The angular position of the receiving antenna is determined by the encoder
on the turntable and is sent, through the Control Unit, to the NI 9401 data acquisition
module.
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II. Hardware Assembly
1. This is the NI cDAQ 9174 Chassis (1) with its NI 9482 (2) and NI 9401 (3) modules. The
cDAQ-9174 is a Compact DAQ USB chassis designed for small, portable sensor
measurement systems. The chassis provides the plug-and-play simplicity of USB to sensor
and electrical measurements. It also controls the timing, synchronization, and data transfer
between C Series I/O modules and an external host.
2. Assemble the control cable and insert the cable fan into the block terminal (1). Make sure
that the wires marked “2” and “8” on the cable fans are inserted into the matching sockets
marked “2” and “8” on the terminal block, and fix the screws. Assemble the housing and fix
the screws. This connector should be connected to NI 9482. Connect this connector (2) to NI
9401.
This is the final connections of our NI cDAQ 9174 chassis.
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3. Using the SMA-0.5 cable, connect the TX1-RX1 (1) connector on the NI USRP-2932 to the
connector marked IN on the Control Unit.
4. Using the SMA-4 cable, connect the RX2 connector on the NI USRP-2932 (1) to the tested
antenna/receiver.
5. Connect the LAN cable from the computer to USRP 2932 (1) for interfacing. Connect
power to USRP 2932 (2).
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6. Connect the SMA-2 cable, connect the connector marked OUT on the Control Unit to the
Auxiliary/Transmitter antenna (1). Mount the antenna to the turntable tripod.
7. Connect the turntable to the connector marked Turntable on the Control Unit (1).
8. Connect the control cable from the NI 9401 to the connector marked Control on the Control
Unit (1).
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III. Antenna Lab Software Set-up
9. Open the Antenna Lab software (1) and click Menu on the upper left of the software UI (2).
Select USRP Configuration (3) to open the settings (4). This part of the window is for the
Transmitter Tx (5). Enter the USRP ID or IP address into the field USRP ID or IP (6). Select
the active antenna channel of the transmitter (7). This part of the window is for the Receiver
Rx (9). Enter the USRP ID or IP address into the field USRP ID or IP (9). Select the active
antenna channel of the transmitter (10). Click save and exit set-up (11).
IV. Launching the Antenna Lab software
10. Before logging-in (3) in the software, you have to make your account first by clicking on
registration (4). Define an Username (6) and Password (7) and select a folder to save the
information of your account (8). Find a directory to save your account (9) and click select
folder to save (10). Click Registration (11) to save your account and log-in in the software
(3).
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11. Click Login Icon (1) and enter your username and password (2).
IV.a. Antenna Lab User Interface
12. This is how will the Antenna Lab software look like after logging-in (1). Click Dipole
Antenna (2) to begin.
135
13. The Menu Elements Bar (1) is located on top. The control panel on (2) and work field
elements on (3).
14. The Menu Elements Bar is situated above the Control panel tools and consists of the
following elements:
1 – File
Home – return to the list of labs
2 – Tools
Cartesian coordinate system – opens a window in which you can plot the experimental
results in Cartesian coordinate system
Polar coordinate system - opens a window in which you can plot the experimental results
in polar coordinate system
Simulation – opens the simulation menu for all antenna types used in the labs.
3 – Measurement
Start/Stop - starts/stops the lab by applying/disconnecting the power. The obtained results
and graphs in open diagram windows are maintained.
Erase data – erases all measurement results for current lab in the MS Excel file and in the
open diagram windows.
New session – allows repeating the experiment with new antennas and source parameters.
4 – Other
MS Excel – opens the MS Excel file in which the experimental results are stored after each
click on the Motor button.
Calculator – opens the standard Windows calculator.
136
15. The Control panel consists of Main Menu elements represented as mnemonic icons. When you aim
the mouse pointer at the icons, a hint with function name will be displayed:
1 – Start/Stop
The Start/Stop switch also acts as the USRP indicator:
- Red if the USRP is not active, - Green if the USRP is active.
Note: In case of failures or any changes to the parameters, stop the antenna by clicking the Home
button, manually turn the antenna to the initial state, make the required changes and start over
the lab.
2 – Erase data – erases all measurement results for current lab in the MS Excel file.
3 – New session – creates a new table in the MS Excel file and starts plotting a new diagram in the
graph windows.
4 – MS Excel – opens the MS Excel file in which the experimental results are stored after each click
on the Motor button.
5 – Cartesian coordinate system – opens a window in which you can plot the experimental results in
Cartesian coordinate system.
6 – Polar coordinate system – opens a window in which you can plot the experimental results in
polar coordinate system.
7 – Simulation – opens the simulation menu for all antenna types used in the labs.
8 – Calculator – opens the Calculator window.
9 – Home – returns control to the main menu with the list of labs
16. The USRP window on the left of the work field consists of the following elements:
1 – Transmission Frequency (GHz) – carrier frequency.
5 – Received power (dB) – received signal power indicator.
The turntable control window consists of the following elements:
2 – Angle step (degree) – the step at which the automatic measurements are recorded.
3 – End angle (degree) – antenna’s maximum turning angle. When the End step is reached, the
motor turns back to the initial angle (zero degrees) and stops.
4 – Motor – starts the motor rotation. After the start the motor will turn the antenna clockwise up to
the set angle, then will return it to the initial position and stop. When the motor is
running, the control buttons are inactive. The measurements are taken automatically in
the process of rotation (in both directions).
6 – Current angle (degree) – antenna’s current rotational position.
7 – Reset – resets to zero the Current angle value. p
137
IV.b. Basic Front Panel Window
Cartesian coordinate system
17. The Cartesian coordinate window is used for plotting radiation pattern graphs in Cartesian
coordinates. (1) Saves the diagram as a .png image (2) Erase graph suspends the display of
the graph in the diagram window (measurement data are not erased). (3) Exit closes the
window
Polar coordinate system
18. The Polar coordinate system window is used for plotting radiation pattern graphs in polar
coordinates. (1) Saves the diagram as a .png image. (2) Erase graph suspends the display of
the graph in the diagram window (measurement data are not erased). (3) Exit closes the
window
Antenna Radiation Pattern

Measurement Complete
-end-
138
Lab 7:
FM Receiver using GNU radio

Introduction
A radio or FM receiver is an electronic device that receives radio waves and converts the
information carried by them to a usable form. An antenna is used to catch the desired frequency
waves. The receiver uses electronic filters to separate the desired radio frequency signal from all the
other signals picked up by the antenna, an electronic amplifier to increase the power of the signal for
further processing, and finally recovers the desired information through demodulation.
GNU Radio is a free software development tool kit that provides signal processing blocks to
implement software – defined radios and signal – processing systems. It can be used with external
RF hardware to create software-defined radios, or without hardware in a simulation-like environment.
It is widely used in hobbyist, academic, and commercial environments to support both wireless
communications research and real-world radio systems.
Objectives
 To understand the basics of GNU-Radio for SDR development.

 To learn to build a flowgraph in GNU-Radio.
 To design and implement a flowgraph for FM reception
Procedures
I. Receiving Section
II. Filtering Section
III. Audio Section
IV. Executing and Saving
139
I. Receiving Section
1. Connect the ADALM-PLUTO to your computer. Make sure that the antenna is in the Receiver
(Rx) side.
2. Open terminal and type “gpr-grc”. Press Enter and wait for the GNU radio to open.
3. Click File then hover your mouse to New and select which GUI you would like to use. For
this part, we use QT GUI.
4. Double click the Options block to edit its properties. We would like to rename it as “fm_rx”
instead of its default name, “top_block”.
140
5. At the left side of the screen, we select blocks for our FM Receiver. First, select the
PlutoSDR Source as the source block of our flow graph, which can be found under
“Industrial IO – PlutoSDR – PlutoSDR Source”.
Basically, the PlutoSDR Source is the block representing the hardware that we are using,
which is the ADALM-PLUTO.
6. Edit the value of the sample rate “samp_rate” to 1000000 or any desired sample rate instead
of 32000. If the sample rate is very low, we will not be able to capture the full of amount of
information in the signal. Hence, we opt to have higher sample rates.
7. At the search bar, look for the QT GUI Range. It is under the “Core – GUI Widgets – QT – QT
GUI Range”.
This block is kind of similar to the variable block. However, it creates a slider or a counter
where the user will be able to adjust the parameters in real – time.
141
8. Name its ID as “ch_freq”. Set the Default Value to any existing FM station. In this activity,
we use 103100000 (103.1MHz). Then set the Start value to 89800000 (89.9MHz), Stop value
to 108000000 (108MHz) and Step value to 10. Change the Widget to “Counter + Slider”
instead of Slider alone.
9. Edit the properties of the PlutoSDR Source. Input the Device URI. In this case, “ip:pluto.local”.
The LO Frequency is an integer value of the channel frequency “int(ch_freq)”, sample rate as
the “samp_rate”, and the Manual Gain (dB) is 20.
10. Look for the QT GUI Frequency Sink under “Core – Instrumentation – QT – QT GUI
Frequency Sink” and the Throttle under “Core – Misc – Throttle”.
142
11. Place the inputs of the Throttle and the QT GUI Frequency Sink to the output of the PlutoSDR
Source.
The Throttle limits the data throughput within the specified sampling rate. Basically, it prevents
the GNU Radio from consuming all of the CPU resources when the flow graph is not being
regulated by any external hardware.
On the other hand, the QT GUI Frequency Sink is a graphical representation where it displays
multiple signals in frequency.
12. Edit the properties of the QT GUI Frequency Sink and set the Center frequency to “ch_freq”.
As we receive radio signals, we need to have our desired FM station at the center of our FFT
Plot. Hence, the center frequency must be the channel frequency.
143
13. Add another variable that would function as the channel width and edit the ID as
“ch_width”. Set its value to 200000.
14. Create another variable that would function as the center frequency and edit the ID as
“center_freq”. Set its value to any available FM station that lies in the middle of the FM
frequency range. In this case, we use 98.1MHz
144
15. Add a Low Pass Filter at the output of the Throttle.

In a Low Pass Filter, frequencies that are above the threshold are being held and will not
pass the filter.
16. Set its Decimation to an integer value equal to the sample rate divided by the channel width
“int(samp_rate/ch_width)”. Hence, we will get a Decimation of 5, which will yield a total
sample rate of 200000. In the Cutoff frequency, the frequency above the filter starts to
attenuate the signal. On the other hand, the transition width controls how steep the
attenuation is. With that, the Low Pass Filter will have 75000 and 25000 as values for Cutoff
Frequency and Transition Width respectively.
145
17. Add a Rational Resampler at the output of the Low Pass Filter. This block tends to convert
one sample rate to another as long as they are related by a ratio. CSR = SR x
Interpolation/Decimation.
18. Since our aim is to obtain a 48KHz Audio Sink, we have to convert the resulted sample rate
from the Low Pass Filter with Interpolation and Decimation values of 12 and 5 respectively.
146
19. Look for the WBFM Receive. At the output of the Rational Resampler, connect the input of
the WBFM Receive.
20. As we open the properties of the WBFM Receive, we can see two parameters that we
already know about. The Quadrature Rate is the output of our Rational Resampler while the
Audio Decimation is the value that we need in order to obtain our desired Audio Sink value,
which is 48KHz. Hence, we input the values 480000 and 10 in the Quadrature Rate and
Audio Decimation respectively.
147
III. Audio Section
21. Add another QT GUI Range block and name its ID as “audio_gain”. This works as the
adjustable variable for the volume of the radio.
22. Set the Default Value to 1. Then set the Start value to 0, Stop value to 10 and Step value to
0.2. Change the Widget to “Counter + Slider” instead of Slider alone.
23. Look for the Multiply Const and connect its input to the output side of the WBFM Receive.
148
24. Change the IO Type to Float instead of Complex. Then, set the Constant value to
“audio_gain”. We can basically opt not to add this block because we already have our desired
value for the Audio Sink. Yet, it is still recommended to add the Multiply Const block since
this will multiply the input with the constant given. In this case, this works as a volume.
25. To complete the flow graph, add an Audio Sink.
26. Click the arrow down located beside the samp_rate and change its Sample Rate value to
48KHz.
149
27. Connect the input of the Audio Sink to the output of the Multiply Const. In this block, the
signal will be played through the speakers or any external device plugged into the computer.
28. At the middle – top part, click the green arrow to Execute the flow graph.
29. Rename your file then save your work to your computer. Do not delete the “.grc” extension
while renaming the file.
150
30. After saving your work, an “FM_rx.py” app will display the output of the flow graph you
have made.
31. The laboratory activity has been completed. Try and search for other local FM stations and
input the desired frequency in the “ch_freq” counter+slider. You can also reduce its volume
by altering the counter+slider for “audio_gain”.
NOTE when using WX GUI:

Everything is just the same except for the following key points:
32. Instead of using QT GUI Range for the channel frequency “ch_freq” and the volume
“audio_gain”, use the WX GUI Slider.
33. Edit its properties as shown below:
151
34. The WX GUI equivalent for QT GUI Frequency Sink is the WX GUI FFT Sink.
35. Edit the properties of the WX GUI FFT Sink. Set the Baseband Freq to “ch_freq” and the FFT
Size to “2000”.
Milestones:
1. Designed an FM Receiver with the use of GNU Radio.
2. Organized a Flow Graph of FM Receiver using QT GUI and WX GUI.
3. Obtained the desired FFT Plot.
FM Receiver in GNU-Radio
Complete
-end-
152
Lab 8:
FM Transmitter with Audio
Source using GNU radio
Introduction
In electronics and telecommunications, a transmitter or radio transmitter is an electronic

device which produces radio waves with an antenna. The transmitter itself generates a radio frequency
alternating current, which is applied to the antenna. When excited by this alternating current, the
antenna radiates radio waves.
GNU Radio is a free software development tool kit that provides signal processing blocks to
implement software – defined radios and signal – processing systems. It can be used with external
RF hardware to create software-defined radios, or without hardware in a simulation-like environment.
It is widely used in hobbyist, academic, and commercial environments to support both wireless
communications research and real-world radio systems.
Objectives
 To add more experience in building flowgraphs for GNU-Radio.

 To design and implement an FM transmitter in GNU-Radio.
 To learn how to configure system parameters to implement a flowgraph in different cases.
Procedures
I. Audio Section
III. Transmitting Section
153
I. Audio Section
1. Connect the ADALM-PLUTO to your computer. Make sure that the antenna is in the Receiver
(Rx) side.
2. Open terminal and type “gpr-grc”. Press Enter and wait for the GNU radio to open.
3. Click File then hover your mouse to New and select which GUI you would like to use. For
this part, we use QT GUI.
4. Double click the Options block to edit its properties. We would like to rename it as “fm_tx”
instead of its default name, “top_block”.
154
5. Edit the value of the sample rate “samp_rate” to 1000000 or any desired sample rate instead
of 32000. If the sample rate is very low, we will not be able to capture the full of amount of
information in the signal. Hence, we opt to have higher sample rates.
6. Create a new Variable and edit its ID as the “center_freq”. Set its value to 459000000.
7. At the left side of the screen, we select blocks for our FM Receiver. First, select the Audio
Source as the source block of our flow graph. The Audio Source acts as the microphone of
the FM Transmitter.
155
8. Double click on the Audio Source block to edit its properties and change the Sample Rate to
48KHz instead of the variable “samp_rate”. We tend to set the Sample Rate to 48KHz since
the audio card of our computer operates at the said frequency.
9. Look for the Multiply Const, which can be found under “Core – Math Operators – Multiply
Const”, and connect its input to the output of the Audio Source.
156
10. Edit the properties of the Multiply Const and set the Constant to 5. Change the IO Type to
Float instead of Complex. This block tends to Multiply the output it got from the Audio
Source by a certain Constant Value.
11. Add a Low Pass Filter at the output of the Multiply Const.
157
12. Set its Decimation to a constant value of 5. For the Cutoff frequency of a Low Pass Filter, the
frequency above the filter starts to attenuate the signal. On the other hand, the transition width
controls how steep the attenuation is. With that, the Low Pass Filter will have 75000 and 25000
as values for Cutoff Frequency and Transition Width respectively. Also, set the FIR Type to
“Float→Float (Decimating)”.
13. Look for the WBFM Transmit and connect its input to the output of the Low Pass Filter.
158
14. Edit the properties of the WBFM Transmit with the following values: 48000 for the Audio
Rate, 192000 for the Quadrature Rate and a constant value of 5000 for the Max Deviation. The
Audio Rate is the value that we got in the output of the Low Pass Filter. The Quadrature Rate
on the other hand is a multiple of Audio rate, in this case 48000*4 = 192000.
15. Add a Rational Resampler at the output of the WBFM Transmit. This block tends to convert
one sample rate to another as long as they are related by a ratio. CSR = SR x
Interpolation/Decimation.
159
16. Set the Interpolation value to 130 and the Decimation value to 5.
III. Transmitting Section
17. Look for the QT GUI Frequency Sink and PlutoSDR Sink and connect both of the inputs to
the output of the Rational Resampler.
The QT GUI Frequency Sink is a graphical representation where it displays multiple signals
in frequency.
Meanwhile, the PlutoSDR Sink is basically the block representing the hardware that we are
using, which is the ADALM – PLUTO.
160
18. Edit the properties of the PlutoSDR Sink and set the IIO context URI, in this case,
“ip:pluto.local”. Also, set the LO Frequency to the variable “center_freq” and the Sample
Rate is set to the variable “samp_rate”.
IV. Executing And Saving
19. At the middle – top part, click the green arrow to Execute the flow graph.
20. Rename your file then save your work to your computer. Do not delete the “.grc” extension
while renaming the file.
161
21. After saving your work, an “Fm Tx” app will display the output of the flow graph you have
made.
22. The laboratory activity has been completed. Try using the FM transmitter and have another
computer do the FM receiver. Observe if you can receive what you have transmitted. Note:
both the receiver and the transmitter should have the same LO Frequency in order to
communicate.
Milestones:
1. Designed an FM Transmitter with an audio source while using the GNU Radio.
2. Obtained the desired FFT Plot.
FM Transmitter in GNU-
Radio Complete
-end-
162
Antenna Design, Fabrication
and SDR Applications
Training Complete
Thank you.
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Radio Frequency and

Coaxial Feed Rectangular

Creating Template Flow Chart

1. Click File (1) and select New Template (2).

5. Click the field box (1) of Dimensions and select mm (2).

Note: This setting can be edited during modeling of antenna.

Designing and Simulating Patch Antenna in CST Steps

Enter the Dimension of the First Layer (Patch)

Review the First Layer

Enter the dimensions of the second layer

Review the second layer

Return to 3D Perspective view

Enter the Dimension of the Third Layer

Coaxial Feed Point Model and Sectional View

V.a. Modeling the Inner Conductor

Enter the dimension of the Inner Conductor

34. View your components inside the navigation tree (1).

Reset the view to perspective mode

Enter the Dimension of the Middle Cylinder

41. Go to the Components folder (1) to view the shapes created.

Enter the dimension of outer conductor

44. View your shapes in the navigation tree (1).

Unhide the Ground Plane

Check the shape intersection

48. Select None to all (1) in the Shape Intersection Dialog

Patch Antenna Modeling

VI.b. Setting up Boundary Condition

VI.c. Setting Up Field Monitors

Field Monitor Dialog Box

Field Monitor Dialog Box

VI.d. Creating Port for your Coaxial Feed Point

Check the lowest peak of the return Loss

VII.d VSWR result

View your radiation pattern relative to your antenna

View your radiation pattern in Polar Mode

Length of the ground: 𝐿𝑔 = 𝐿 + 12ℎ [6]

Coaxial Feed Point Position

𝑍𝑂 = √50 ∗ 𝑍𝑖𝑛 [9]

Along the length of the Patch: 𝑌𝑓 = 𝑌𝑂 − 𝑑𝐿 [11]

Calculation of Coaxial Cable Dimension

Target Frequency: ____________ GHz

Peak Return Loss/S-

Optimized Patch Antenna Results:

Parameter Simulation Actual Measurement

Real Reactive Real Reactive

Transmission Line Feed

Designing and Simulating Patch Antenna Flow Graph

Enter the Dimension of the First Layer (Patch)

Enter the dimensions of the second layer

Review the second layer

Return 3D Perspective View

Enter the Dimension of the Third Layer

Patch Antenna Modeling

VI.a Setting up Boundary Condition

VI.b. Setting up Field Monitors

VI.c. Creating a Port at the Transmission Line

VII.b. S-11 Parameters/Return Loss

VII.c. Smith Chart

VII.e. Radiation Pattern of the antenna

View your radiation pattern in Cartesian Mode

VIII. Return Loss Improvement

52. Check the VSWR Result in the Navigation Tree (1).