A Compact CPW Fed Ultra-wideband Antenna With

a Band-Notch Characteristic

Osama M. Haraz1 Abdel-Razik Sebak1,2 and Khalid Jamil2

1 2
Electrical and Computer Engineering Department, KACST Technology Innovation Center in RFTONICS
Concordia University, PSATRI, King Saud University
Montreal, Quebec, Canada Riyadh, Saudi Arabia 11421
o_ahm@encs.concordia.ca

Abstract—A Compact coplanar waveguide (CPW) fed ultra- performance can be obtained by modifying the proposed UWB
wideband (UWB) antenna is presented. The antenna consists of a antenna by embedding a simple U-shaped slot into the radiating
corrugated half circular disc radiator and a notched CPW patch. The band-notched resonance frequency and the
ground plane which are used to improve the impedance bandwidth can be controlled by adjusting the dimensions of the
bandwidth and also to reduce the overall size to only 0.22 × 0.22 slot. In Section II, we describe the configuration and calculated
λ2 at 3GHz. The calculated impedance bandwidth of the results of the proposed UWB antenna. The bandstop antenna
proposed antenna ranges from 3.5GHz to 11GHz for a reflection configuration and results are presented and discussed in section
coefficient (S11) less than -10dB. The proposed antenna has a III. Finally, the conclusions of this work are given in Section
relatively stable radiation patterns over its whole frequency band IV.
of interest. A U-shaped slot is embedded to obtain the band-
notched characteristic in the 5.0-6.0 GHz wireless local area II. PROPOSED UWB ANTENNA
network (WLAN) band.
A. Antenna Geometry
Keywords-bandstop; coplanar waveguides (CPW); planar Fig. 1 shows the geometry and photograph of the proposed
monopole; band-notched; ultra-wideband (UWB) antenna antenna fed by a 50Ω coplanar waveguide. The radiating
element consists of a simple corrugated half circular disc of
I. INTRODUCTION radius R = 14 mm etched on a FR-4 substrate with dielectric
Recently, Ultra-wideband (UWB) antennas as a part of a
UWB system have drawn a great attention since Federal
Communication Commission (FCC) released its report in 2002
[1] to allow using UWB frequency band in commercial
applications. A UWB system requires an antenna of small size,
wide impedance bandwidth of 3.1−10.6GHz, omni-directional
radiation patterns, and stable gain. Various types of planar
UWB antennas have been developed for UWB applications [2-
10]. However, there are several narrowband communication
systems operating below 10GHz and may cause interference
with the UWB systems such as wireless local area network
(WLAN) systems operating at 5.15−5.825GHz frequency band.
To solve this problem, many UWB antennas with different
techniques had been proposed for achieving band-notched (a)
characteristic [8-11]. Some techniques are based on embedding
a thin slot in the radiating patch, i.e. π-shaped slot [8], or using
parasitic strips, i.e. inverted C-shaped parasitic strip [9]. Other
techniques are based on embedding stub inside a slot cut in the
radiating patch [10], or even using a slot defected ground
structure (DGS) in the ground plane, i.e. H-shaped slot DGS
[11].
In this paper, we present a compact coplanar waveguide
(CPW) fed planar monopole antenna for UWB operation. The (b)
proposed antenna consists of a corrugated half circular disc Fig. 1. (a) Geometry and (b) photograph of the proposed UWB antenna
radiating element and is fed by a CPW-fed line. Bandstop design.
constant εr = 4.4, and thickness H = 1.6 mm. The ground plane
is of a trapezoidal shape with lengths L1, L2, L3 and widths W3,
W4 respectively. To make the characteristic impedance of the
feedline Zo = 50Ω, the feedline width is Wfeed and the feed gap
width between the feedline and the ground plane is W1. The
ground plane has been notched to increase the bandwidth of the
proposed antenna as well as reducing its size. The width of the
ground plane notches is W2. The feed gap between the ground
plane and the feeding point is d and it is strongly affects the
antenna bandwidth. In addition, the effect of feed gap on the
antenna performance is also analyzed. The other optimized
parameters are summarized in Table I. Thus, this antenna has a
compact overall size of 22.5 × 22.5 mm2.

TABLE I: PROPOSED UWB ANTENNA PARAMETERS

Proposed UWB Antenna Fig. 3. Reflection coefficient |S11| curve of the proposed UWB antenna.
Parameter
W (= L) R L1 W1 L2 W2 Wfeed
Value (mm) 22.5 14 4.4 0.23 3.6 0.5 2.26

Parameter L3 W3 W4 LS WS DS d
Value (mm) 6.8 3.5 7.1 2.5 1.0 2.0 0.51

B. Parametric Study
The antenna is simulated by two different software engines
based on two different numerical techniques. One is Ansoft
High Frequency Structure Simulator (HFSS) [12] while the
other is CST Microwave Studio (CST MWS) [13]. Fig. 2
shows the effect of varying the antenna feed gap d as a function
of frequency. The results show that the antenna bandwidth is
significantly sensitive to varying this antenna parameter.

C. Fabrication
The fabrication process is carried out at Concordia
University laboratories. It is done using a printed circuit board
(PCB) milling machine. The substrate FR-4 (εr = 4.4 & H = 1.6 Fig. 4. Simulated E-plane (yz-cut) radiation patterns for the proposed
UWB antenna.
mm) is replaced with its equivalent Rogers TMM-4 ceramic
thermoset polymer composite material designed for high
frequency microwave applications with dielectric constant εr =
4.5 and thickness H = 1.524 mm. Also, the CPW feedline is
increased by 3.5 mm to be able to install the SMA connector
for measurements purposes.

Fig. 5. Simulated H-plane (xz-cut) radiation patterns for the proposed

UWB antenna.

Fig. 2. Effect of antenna feed gap parameter d with frequency.

D. Results
The simulated and measured reflection coefficient against
the frequency for the proposed UWB antenna is presented in
Fig. 3. It is observed from the results that the designed antenna
exhibits an impedance bandwidth of more than 7.5 GHz starts
from 3.5 GHz to 11 GHz. Figs. 4 and 5 show the simulated E-
plane (yz-cut) and H-plane (xz-cut) radiation patterns at
frequencies 3, 5, 7 and 9 GHz, respectively. As expected, the
antenna exhibits a good omni-directional radiation patterns in
H-plane.

III. BANDSTOP ANTENNA

A. Antenna Geometry
Band-notched characteristic can be obtained by modifying
the above UWB antenna. A simple U-shaped slot has been cut
away from the radiating patch as shown in Fig. 6. The slot
Fig. 7. Simulated VSWR curves for different slot lengths LN.
resonating element dimensions will control the rejection band
of the band-notched filter. The optimized slot parameters are
summarized in Table II.

(a)

Fig. 8. Simulated VSWR curves for different slot widths WN.

(b)
Fig. 6. (a) Geometry and (b) photograph of the band-notched antenna.

TABLE I. PROPOSED BANDSTOP ANTENNA PARAMETERS

Proposed Bandstop Antenna
Parameter
WN LN DN T
Value (mm) 7.0 5.2 3.0 1.0

B. Parametric Study
By adjusting the dimensions of the U-shaped slot such as
the overall length WN+2*LN, the thickness T, and the location
DN, the bandstop characteristic can be easily controlled. A Fig. 9. Simulated VSWR curves for different slot thickness T.
parametric study has been carried out to address the effect of
slot parameters on the frequency response of the proposed
 Fig. 11. VSWR of the bandstop antenna and the UWB antenna.
Fig. 10. Simulated VSWR curves for different slot locations DN.

bandstop antenna. It is found that the bandstop antenna is very

sensitive to the length of the slot LN and its width WN for a
fixed location DN.
Figs. 7 and 8 show the effect of varying the slot length LN
and width WN as a function of frequency, respectively. It can be
noticed that the simulated resonant frequency of the bandstop
filter is dependent on both slot length and width or the overall
length of the slot. By increasing the overall slot length, the
resonant frequency of the bandstop filters decreases and vice
versa.
The effect of slot thickness T and slot location DN on the
bandstop antenna performance is presented in Figs. 9 and 10,
respectively. It can be seen that the slot thickness has no
noticeable effect on neither resonant frequency nor the
rejection bandwidth. The slot location mostly affects the
rejection bandwidth. By increasing the slot location from the
substrate edge, the rejection bandwidth increases as well. Fig. 12. Simulated antenna gains of the UWB antenna and the bandstop
antenna.
C. Results
The simulated and measured voltage standing wave ratio resonator element in the radiating patch, a frequency band
(VSWR) of the bandstop antenna is illustrated in Fig. 11. notch will be created which enables avoiding the interference
Compared with the reference antenna (without slot), only the with the existing WLAN systems.
performance in the band-notched range from 5 GHz to 6 GHz
is noticeably different.
ACKNOWLEDGMENT
The antenna gains in the entire operating frequency band This research is supported by King Saud University - National
for both bandstop antenna and the reference antenna (without Plan for Sciences and Technology (NPST) through Research
slots) are presented in Fig. 12. It can be noticed that the UWB Grant 09ELE858-02 and by KACST – Technology Innovation
antenna gain is almost stable over the whole frequency band.
Center in Radio Frequency and Photonics for the e-Society
The gain is between 2 dB and 4 dB for the UWB antenna. As
(RFTONICS).
expected, a sharp gain decrease is shown for the bandstop
antenna between 5 GHz and 6 GHz.
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