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Design Procedures for Rectangular Patch Antennas

Conference Paper · January 2018

DOI: 10.1049/cp.2018.1033

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 Design Procedures for Rectangular Patch Antennas
G. Buttazzoni, A. Cuttin and R. Vescovo
Department of Engineering and Architecture
University of Trieste
Via A. Valerio 10, 34127, Trieste, Italy
gbuttazzoni(vescovo)@units.it, alessandro.cuttin@phd.units.it
Abstract—The work presented in this paper aims at comparing
different approaches for the design of a rectangular microstrip
patch antenna operating at millimeter waves. In the paper,
the designed antenna is simulated using approximate formulas
available from previous research, and also using the electromag-
netic software CST (Computer Simulation Technology). Precisely,
two optimization procedures are proposed for the same desired
antenna, one using the internal CST optimizer and the other
the modeFRONTIER software, which is specifically designed
for solving optimization problems. All the obtained results are
mutually compared, thus highlighting advantages and drawbacks
of these approaches.
Index Terms—comparative study, numerical formulas, opti-
mization software, rectangular patch antennas.
I. I NTRODUCTION
Microstrip antenna design is a very important topic within
the broad field of antennas. Their great development, both as
single radiators and in array configurations, has occurred since
the seventies of last century, thanks to the availability of good
substrates with low loss tangent and attractive thermal and
mechanical properties, improved photolithographic techniques,
and better theoretical models [1]. Their numerous advantages,
such as, for example, light weight, small volume, low cost,
compatibility with integrated circuits, made them attractive in
many applications ranging approximately from 100 MHz to
100 GHz. Furthermore, some of their limitations, such as low
gain and low power handling capabilities, can be overcome by
making use of array configurations [2]. Nowadays, there are
several applications of antenna arrays using microstrip radia-
tors such as, for example, satellite applications [3], microwave
imaging systems [4], synthetic aperture radars [5] and wireless
power transmission [6]. In this work, an introductory study
is performed on the design of a rectangular microstrip patch
antenna with coaxial probe feed. This antenna is intended to be
used as a basic element in an antenna array to be mounted on a
cubesat, which will operate in the Ka band, with a band-center
frequency of 37.25 GHz. However, in this paper attention
will be focused only on the design of the single element.
In particular, formulas available from the literature for the
analysis and synthesis of the physical properties of rectangular
microstrip antenna elements are used, as well as optimization
procedures provided by two commercial softwares. It will
be shown that the use of such optimization techniques may
avoid, or at least reduce, the trial-and-error process which
is necessary when the design formulas (either based on an
z
y
Patch x
xf W
h Ws = 3W
Substrate, εr L
Ls = 3L
Fig. 1. Rectangular patch antenna with dimensions L, W and coaxial feed
probe at (xf , 0, 0) on a grounded substrate of dimensions Ls = 3L, Ws =
3W , with given thickness h and dielectric constant εr .
approximate procedure, or empirically determined) are used. A
comparison of all the results shows the improvement obtained
by using the adopted softwares.
II. D ESIGN S TRATEGIES
The geometry of the rectangular patch antenna with a coax-
ial probe feed is depicted in Fig. 1. Duroid 5880 (produced
by Rogers Corp.) was chosen as a substrate material, with
permittivity εr =2.2. The substrate dimensions are Ws =3W
and Ls =3L, with thickness h=0.254 mm. The dimensions L
and W are the design parameters considered in the sequel:
L affects the resonant frequency, the resonant resistance and
the E-plane radiation pattern; W affects the resonant frequency
and the H-plane radiation pattern; the feed location xf controls
the resonant resistance [7].
A. Approximate Results
Previous research offers a great number of approximate
formulas for the design of microstrip rectangular patch an-
tennas on a substrate of given thickness h, dielectric constant
εr and a desired resonant frequency fr . Unfortunately, the
ranges of validity of these formulas are often not known and
they do not always yield mutually similar results [7]. After a
detailed analysis of previous literature, we selected the most
appropriate formulas for the patch dimensions and for the feed
position. Specifically, three different formulations were used
for the patch dimensions W and L, which are denoted with:
P #1 (equations (14-1), (14-2), (14-6), (14-7) in [2]), P #2
(equation (18) in [7] and equations (B.4) and (B.71) in [1]),
P #3 (equation (18) in [7] and equations (B.4) and (4.33a) in
[1]). Furthermore, three different formulations were selected
for the feed position (xf ): F #1 (equations (4.78), (14-2), (14-
6) and (4.30) in [1]), F #2 (equations (18) and (13) in [7]),
 TABLE I new information was used to update the parameter values. In
T HE OBTAINED VALUES FOR THE DESIGN PARAMETERS AND THE this context, the optimization was performed separately for
RESULTING PERFORMANCES SIMULATED WITH CST.
the patch dimensions, using a multiobjective algorithm (the
L W xf fres min|s11 | non-dominating sorting genetic algorithm, NSGA), and for the
Method feed position, using the simplex algorithm. The provided patch
[mm] [mm] [mm] [GHz] [dB]
P #1&F #1 2.324 3.181 0.823 39.72 −14.29 dimensions, which are shown in row 11 of Table I, agreed
P #1&F #2 2.324 3.181 0.730 39.45 −18.44 very well with those given by the CST internal optimizer, with
P #1&F #3 2.324 3.181 0.860 39.79 −13.30 the exception of the probe position. Nevertheless, the resonant
P #2&F #1 2.514 2.420 0.888 37.66 −6.31 frequency was very accurate.
P #2&F #2 2.514 2.420 0.803 37.42 −7.27
P #2&F #3 2.514 2.420 1.01 38.02 −5.48 III. C ONCLUSION
P #3&F #1 2.581 2.420 0.911 36.78 −5.91 In this paper a comparative study of different design tech-
P #3&F #2 2.581 2.420 0.825 36.51 −6.78 niques for a rectangular patch antenna with coaxial feed has
P #3&F #3 2.581 2.420 1.03 37.13 −5.17 been presented. The analyzed approaches can be divided into
CST 2.447 3.317 0.911 37.25 −61.94 two categories: approximate formulas and optimization soft-
modeFRONTIER 2.442 3.316 0.653 37.32 −64.76 wares. In particular, different formulations for dimensioning
the patch and for positioning the coaxial feed probe have been
investigated, giving rise to nine antenna configurations (rows
F #3 (equations (14-15), (14-16), (14-12) and (14.20a) in [2]). 1 to 9 of Table I), with results which were mutually differ-
The obtained parameter values, which specify the geometry ent in terms of optimized parameters and resulting antenna
of the antennas, the resonant frequency and the minimum performances. This suggested the adoption of an optimization
modulus of the s-parameter s11 , are listed in Table I, rows 1 process. Two numerical softwares have been used, giving
to 9. As it can be seen, there are significant differences in the comparable results in terms of both antenna geometry (with
design parameters, and in the obtained resonant frequencies. relative error less than 0.3% on the patch dimensions) and
B. Numerical Results resulting performances. Moreover, a comparison between the
method P #3&F #3 (which, among the analyzed approximate
The design formulas for rectangular patch antennas are methods, gave the resonance frequency closest to the desired
based either on approximate mathematical models or on ex- one) and the modeFRONTIER optimization, reveals relative
perimental results, and their accuracy is limited, as it was errors of 5.4% on L, 31.4% on W and 29.1% on xf .
shown above. As a consequence, for an accurate design CST and modeFRONTIER gave essentially the same results,
one has to use a trial-and-error process or a more helpful including the resonant frequency, with the exception of the
optimization technique. In this work, the internal optimizer of probe position. Finally, it is to be noted that in the context
CST has been used, and its results have been compared with of this work the use of the modeFRONTIER optimization
those obtained by using the commercial optimization software platform had the main aim of a validation tool.
ModeFRONTIER.
1) CST internal optimizer: The electromagnetic software
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