19th Telecommunications forum TELFOR 2011
Compact dual band CPW-fed monopole antenna
with L-strips for WLAN/WiMax Applications
Sasan Ahdi Rezaeieh, St. Member IEEE
Abstract—A novel dual band CPW-fed antenna with symmetrical
L-strips is presented for WLAN and WiMax applications. The
proposed antenna is composed of a square ring feedline with a
pair of L-strips added to it for building the radiator structure. By
employing these strips, antenna can yield two different
resonances to cover the desired bands while maintaining small
size and simple structure. Based on this concept, a prototype of
antenna is fabricated and tested. The experimental results show
that the antenna has the impedance bandwidths of 930 MHz
(2.48-3.54 GHz) and 290 MHz (5.12-5.41 GHz), which can cover
both WLAN in the 5.2 GHz band and WiMax in the 2.5/3.5 GHz
bands.
Index Terms— small antennas, WLAN antenna, dual band
antenna
I. INTRODUCTION
In the modern wireless communication systems, multiband
antennas with omnidirectional radiation characteristics are of
significant importance. Multiband antennas can attain
reasonable gain and stable radiation patterns in their functional
bandwidth. Employing CPW structure enhances the antenna
with broader bandwidths and smaller sizes [1], [4]. On the
other hand microstrip antennas owning key advantages like
low profile, ease of fabrication and light way have been
widely used for wireless applications [2], [3], and [5].
However the major drawbacks of these antennas, are large
sizes [2], [3], poor radiation performance [4] and unstable gain
[5]. Starting with this motivation, a very compact CPW-fed
antenna, with square ring radiating patch enhanced with L-
strips for exciting WLAN and WiMax bands is presented. The
antenna has stable gain, high efficiency and simple structure.
The antenna is fabricated and tested and a good alignment
with simulation data is obtained.
II. ANTENNA DESIGN
The geometry and configuration of the proposed dual band
monopole antenna is presented in Fig. 1.The radiating patch
and grounded conductor are mounted on the same layer of a
cheap FR4 square substrate with a side length of L=20 mm,
thickness of h = 0.8 mm, a dielectric constant of r = 4.4, and
a loss tangent of tan į= 0.02 respectively. The antenna is fed
by a 50Ÿ CPW feedline, where the signal strip is fixed at W =
3.1mm, and gap between the radiating patch and grounded
conductor is fixed at g = 0.45mm. The radiating patch is
Sasan Ahdi Rezaeieh is with the Istanbul Technical University, Maslak,
Istanbul, Turkey Email:ahdi@itu.edu.tr
978-1-4577-1500-6/11/$26.00 ©2011 IEEE
Serbia, Belgrade, November 22-24, 2011.
composed of a square ring with two L-strips attached to the
opposite sides of that, connected to the step CPW feed line
with length of 6.5mm. In general, the length of monopole
antenna is usually about a quarter-wavelength. The
approximate value for the length L2 of monopole radiating
ఒ௚
strip is then given by ‫ ʹܮ‬ൌ ସ ǡ ܽ݊݀ߣ݃ is
ఒ௥ ௖
ߣ݃ ൌ ൌ (1)
ඥ௘௙௙ ඥ௘௙௙௙௥
௥
 ାଵ
݁ ݂݂ ൌ
ଶ
(2)
where in (1), c is the speed of light, ߣ‫ ݎ‬is the free-space
wavelength of the monopole resonant frequency fr , and in (2)
݁ ݂݂ is the approximated effective dielectric constant [6]. The
overall length of the monopole antenna is calculated to be L2 =
18 mm. In the feedline step shape structure is employed to
achieve longer current path which leads to wider impedance
matching bandwidth. Grounded elements of the antenna are
composed of two simple rectangles with 8 × 1.5 mm2
dimensions. The ring square slot creates the first resonance of
the antenna at center frequency of 3.01 GHz for WiMax
applications and two attached L-strips generate the second
resonance for WLAN band at center frequency of 5.2 GHz.
The lengths of the L-strips are chosen as Ȝ/4 of the wavelength
of the center frequency of second operating band (5.2 GHz).
The optimal antenna dimensions are presented in Fig. 1, where
optimized value of d is calculated as 7 mm.
L2
W
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Fig. 1. Geometry details and prototype of the proposed C
CP monopole antenna.

(b)
III. PARAMETRIC STUDY AND EXPERIMEN
NTAL RESULTS
The simulated results obtained using Annsoft HFSS and
validated using and Agilent N5230A vectoor analyzer. The
simulated results for different values of d andd W are shown in
Figs. 2a and 2b. It is observed that the 5.2 GGHz WLAN band
is very sensitive to the dimensions of dual L L-shape strip and
the W width of the feedline. To study the e ffect of modified
structures on the antenna performance, thhe simulated and
measured S11 results of the antenna with and w without L-strip (d
= 0) is presented in Fig. 2. There is a good allignment between
the simulated and measured curves presenteed in Fig. 2c. A
small discrepancy exists between measured and simulated
(c)
results which is mainly due to the solderinng problems and Fig. 2. (a) S11 for different distances of d,
SMA effect. From Fig. 2 it could be undersstood that the 5.2 measured S11 of the
GHz WLAN band is achieved through addiing L-strips. The
measured 10dB impedance bandwidths are 930 MHz (2.48-
3.54 GHz) and 290MHz (5.12-5.41 GHz), w which are equal to
31 and 5 % with respect to the resonnance frequency,
respectively. Measured radiation patterns at two different
frequencies of 3.5 GHz and 5.2 GHz in the xx-z and y-z planes
are shown in Fig. 3. The radiation patterns aree showing a good
performance due to the symmetrical structurre. The measured
gain and simulated efficiency of the antennaa are presented in
Fig. 4. Antenna shows a high efficiency andd stable gain over
all its operating frequencies. The peak meassured gain of the (a)
antenna is 3dB.

(b)

Fig. 3. Measured radiation patterns of the

plane (right) at (a)3.5GHz

(a)

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 Fig. 4. Measured gain and simulated efficiency oof the antenna.

IV.CONCLUSION

A simple, yet novel and efficient monopolle antenna design

for WLAN/WiMax applications is presented. In this work two
L-strips are added to the radiator to excite thee 5.2 GHz WLAN
band. By combining the L-strips with the squuare ring radiator
multiple impedance bandwidths (2.48-3.54, 55.12-5.4 GHz) are
obtained. Within its miniaturized size andd good radiation
pattern performance, high efficiency and stable gain, the
proposed antenna is of desired dual band moonopole antennas
for wireless applications.

REFERENCES
[1] Wei Hu, Ying-Zeng Yin, Peng Fei and Xi Yangg, “Compact Triband
Square-Slot Antenna With Symmetrical L-Strips for WLAN/WiMAX
Applications”, IEEE ANTENNAS AND WIRELE ESS PROPAGATION
LETTERS, VOL. 10, 2011
[2] Lin Dang, Zhen Ya Lei, Yong Jun Xie, Gao Li N Ning, and Jun Fan, “A
Compact Microstrip Slot Triple-Band Antenna for WLAN/WiMAX
Applications”, IEEE ANTENNAS AND WIRELE ESS PROPAGATION
LETTERS, VOL. 9, 2010
[3] B. Manimegalai, S. Raju and V. Abhaikumar, “A A Multifractal Cantor
Antenna for Multiband Wireless Applications”, IEEE ANTENNAS
AND WIRELESS PROPAGATION LETTERS, VO OL. 8, 2009 359
[4] S. Baek and Y. Jee, “Compact integrated monopolle antenna with CPW-
fed meander resonators”, ELECTRONICS LETTER RS 20th January 2011
Vol. 47 No. 2
[5] Kai-Fong Lee, Shing Lung Steven Yangand Ahm med A. Kishk, “Dual-
and Multiband U-Slot Patch Antennas”, IEEE ANTENNAS AND
WIRELESS PROPAGATION LETTERS, VOL. 77, 2008 645
[6] S. Ahdi Rezaeieh and M. Kartal, "A new triple bannd circularly polarized
square slot antenna design with crooked t and f-shaape strips for wireless
applications," Progress In Electromagnetics Reseaarch, Vol. 121, 1-18,
2011.

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