6th European Conference on Antennas and Propagation (EUCAP)
Active Impedance Calculation in Uniform Microstrip
Patch Antenna Arrays with Simulated Data
Mustafa Secmen
Department of Electrical and Electronics Engineering
Yasar University
Izmir, Turkey
mustafa.secmen@yasar.edu.tr
Abstract— This paper presents a simple active impedance
evaluation of the antenna elements in uniform microstrip
antenna arrays, which includes additional impedance
contributing from mutual coupling effects. The mutual coupling
between antenna elements has been investigated in many studies,
which utilize from analytical or numerical methods such as
method of moments. However, these approaches can lead to
significant increase in the mathematical complexity for the
desired results when the number of elements in the array
increases. For this purpose, a simple technique for the extraction
of active impedances of identical antenna elements in arrays is
proposed, which uses simulation data of reliable electromagnetic
simulation program. In the method, initially, the self-impedance
of an isolated element is evaluated; then, this impedance is used
initial data in the Newton-iteration approach for the calculation
of active impedances of antenna elements in corporate-feed
arrays.
Keywords- mutual coupling; active impedance; microstrip patch
antenna; antenna arrays
I. INTRODUCTION
The microstrip antennas are frequently used in many
practical antenna applications due to their advantages such as
flexibility, low size, low cost and easy manufacturing [1]. Due
to their increased popularity, efficient design of microstrip
antennas employing low side lobe level or enhancing gain is
desired, which cannot be achieved with a single microstrip
antenna element. For this purpose, multiple microstrip antenna
elements called as arrays are generally used [2]. When two or
more antenna elements are used in an array, the mutual
coupling effects should be taken into account in the design [3].
In general, mutual coupling is originated from air-dielectric
interface of the microstrip patch antenna and has several
components such as space waves, higher order waves and
surface waves [4]. The mutual coupling is crucial that it can
disturb the radiation pattern, gain and input impedance of an
array. Therefore, in order to design an antenna array having
certain constraints, the active impedance of an antenna
element in the array, which is usually different than self-
impedance of same antenna, should be calculated and used.
The active impedance of an antenna element is mainly defined
as the impedance looking into a single element of an array
when all other elements of the antenna array are excited [1].
This study is supported in part from The Scientific and Technological
Research Council of Turkey (TUBITAK) under Grant number 111E064.
978-1-4577-0919-7/12/$26.00 ©2011 IEEE
The self-impedance of an isolated microstrip antenna is
analyzed well by some methods such as transmission line,
cavity and full wave. Among them, the transmission line model
is the simplest one by providing a proper physical insight about
the microstrip antenna by using certain analytical expressions
[5-7]. In spite of its simplicity, it gives less accurate results and
has some difficulties about the modeling of mutual coupling
effects. Full wave analysis, which mainly utilizes from the
method of moments, is the most accurate but complex analysis
as they include mutual coupling effects [8]. The formulation
complexity substantially increases for the arrays with large
number of elements. However, current electromagnetic
simulators are very powerful and accurate that they can
effectively reduce the computational time for the results.
Corporate-feed networks are very versatile and ideal for
phased array structures by providing a control over phase and
amplitude of the antenna elements [9]. They generally divide
the power into n branches where n is selected as the power of
two [10]. However, if the spacing between antenna elements of
corporate-feed networks, the active impedance is highly
different than the self impedance of antenna elements and it
should be taken into consideration for a proper antenna array
design.
In this study, a calculation method for the active
impedances of antennas in a corporate-feed antenna array by
using simulation data has been demonstrated. Although the
method can be also applied to nonuniform arrays; for
simplicity, in this paper, the active impedances of elements of a
uniform microstrip patch antenna array fed is evaluated. The
method mainly depends on equating two results belonging to
impedance of one of the main branches in the corporate-feed
network, which are gathered from different ways. The first
impedance result can be obtained from the simulation results of
input impedance of overall array (looking from input side).
Therefore, just by using the measurement or simulation results
of the antenna array and utilizing from some simple
mathematical calculations, a numerical value for the impedance
can be extracted. This impedance result can also be analytically
evaluated by looking from antenna side. However, this
approach reveals a complicated function depending on the self
and mutual impedances of the antenna element. Since the self
impedance of an antenna element can be easily found using
analytical expressions or simulations (as in this paper), the only
remaining unknown in the function becomes the mutual
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impedances of antenna elements. Although the function seems According to two-port network theory, matrix Z satisfies the
to be hard to solve analytically, the mutual impedances can be following matrix equation.
obtained by using classical Newton-root approach. Once the
mutual impedances have been found, the active impedances
ªV1 º ªI º ª Z s ,1 Z m º ª I1 º
can be calculated.  «V » > Z @ « I1 » «Z Z s ,2 »¼ «¬ I 2 »¼
 
The remainder of the paper is organized as follows. ¬ 2¼ ¬ 2¼ ¬ m
Section 2 introduces the theory about the mentioned method.
Section 3 describes the formulations and analytical approach where Zs,1 and Zs,2 are self impedances of antenna element 1
for the method. Section 4 demonstrates the application of the and 2, respectively; and Zm is the mutual impedance between
method by giving the simulation results belonging to a 4 by 1 antenna elements, where there are several studies in the
corporate-feed array for a constant center-to-center separation literature about the mutual impedance between two rectangular
between antenna elements. Section 5 concludes the paper. microstrip patch antennas [12, 13]. When the input (active)
impedance of one of the antenna elements is calculated, it can
II. THEORY be found for the first patch antenna as
The normalized self-impedance of a single microstrip patch
V1 I2
antenna element fed by a transmission line is analytically given  V1 Z s ,1 I1  Z m I 2 Ÿ Z1 Z s ,1  Z m  
as [11] I1 I1

1  *e j 2 E L where active impedance Z1 both depends on mutual impedance

Rs  jX s Zs j 2E L  and the ratio I2/I1. Therefore, even if the mutual impedance is
1  *e somehow calculated, the ratio I2/I1 should be known in order to
find the active impedances. As an example, for a simple case of
where  is the input reflection coefficient seen looking toward a corporate-feed two-element array where power is equally
load, which can be obtained with simulation; L and  are the divided into two elements, the ratio I2/I1 can be considered as
length and propagation constant of feeding transmission line, one. For the microstrip antenna arrays having more than two
respectively. Therefore, single impedance Zs can be easily elements, the formulations become more complicated. For
exported from the simulation results. However, even when these cases, an antenna element can be modeled with an
there are two antenna elements in an array, the situation impedance matrix containing self-impedances plus mutual
becomes more complicated that the (active) impedances of the impedance(s) coupling from other elements. A four-element
antenna elements can not be directly found with a simple corporate fed array obeying this model is given in Fig. 1 [8].
formula such as in (1). The impedances for these two antenna
elements are modeled by an impedance matrix as shown in L1
Fig. 1 [1].
I1
ZP
I1 V1 [Zfirst]
Feeding First
line V1 P
Patch

I2

I2 V2 [Zsecond]
Zinput
Feeding Second
line V2
Patch Symmetry axis

I3
(a)
V3 [Zthird]
I1 I2
Feeding Feeding L2 R
V1 [Z] V2
line line

I4

(b) V4 [Zfourth]

Figure 1. (a) Two patch antenna elements (b) Their equivalent two-port
network.
Figure 2. Model of four-element uniform microstrip patch antenna array.

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By making a reasonable approximation of taking mutual
coupling contributions only coming from adjacent (neighbour)
antenna element(s) [3], Zfirst and Zsecond matrices can be
considered as 2 x 2 (whose entries are same with the ones
given in (2)) and 3 x 3 matrices, respectively. This is because,
first patch antenna is an edge element in the array;
consequently, only mutual coupling induces from second patch
antenna. On the other hand, second patch antenna is a middle
element in the array getting mutual coupling contributions both
from first and third patch antennas. Therefore, the active
impedance of second patch antenna (Z2) in the uniform antenna
array can be expressed as
where Z0 is the characteristic impedance of the feeding line,
Z1=V1/I1 and Z2=V2/I2 are the active impedances of first and
second antenna elements, which are given in (3) and (4) for the
first and second antennas, respectively. According to Fig. 1,
since the structure is symmetric with respect to symmetry axis
for the given four-element array, all voltages and currents are
also symmetric that I2 can be taken as equal to I3 giving I3/I2
ratio as one in (4).
The voltage at point P, VP, can be obtained by the help of
voltage and current of first patch antenna (V1 and I1), and
ABCD parameters described in the circuit model in Fig. 3.

Transmission
V I I line
V2 ZmI1  Zs,2I2  ZmI3 Ÿ 2 Z2 Zm 1  Zs,2  Zm 3 (4) Z0, , L1
I2 I2 I2

which brings the necessity of calculation of mutual impedances IP I1

between antenna elements and the current ratios I3/I2 and I1/I2; ªA Bº
VP «C D »¼
V1
consequently, the problem becomes more complicated. ¬

III. FORMULATIONS
When considering the uniform four-element array in Fig. 1, Figure 3. Circuit model to evaluate the voltage at point P.
ZP is the impedance at point P, which is endpoint of one of two
main branches of the network as described in Introduction part. By using ABCD matrix theory, the voltage at point P can be
This ZA impedance can be calculated by using two different expressed as
approaches as given by
 Vp AV1  BI1 (7)
x From the input side of the overall array: This approach
uses the input impedance of overall array (Zinput in where A=cos(L1) and B=jZosin(L1) are the parameters for a
Fig. 1). transmission line. The voltage at the same point can be also
calculated from second patch antenna just by replacing V1 and
x From the antenna elements (first and second patch
I1 with V2 and I2 in Fig. 3. Consequently, equation (7) is
antennas) side: This approach uses the active
modified as
impedances, Z1 and Z2, of first and second antenna
elements. Vp AV2  BI 2 (8)
For the first approach, if normalized Zinput is known, which
is easily obtained by electromagnetic simulators; then, the By equating the expressions (7) and (8), and also employing
normalized impedance at point P can be evaluated by applying (3) and (4), the ratio I1/I2 is analytically acquired after some
the following formula utilized from basic transmission line simple mathematical calculations as
theory [14].
I2 Zm
1 (9)
2Zinput  j tan  E L2  I1 Z s  jZ o tan  E L1 
 Z P 
1  2 jZinput tan  E L2  Then by putting (9) into (3) and (4), the active impedances of
first and second antennas can be expressed with the functions
having only unknown parameters Zs and Zm such that
Therefore, since L2 and  values are known, the numerical
value of the impedance at point P can be calculated by using
the results obtained from the simulations. Z m2
R1  jX 1 Z1 Zs  Zm  (10)
Regarding to second approach, by using the active Z s  jZ o tan  E L1 
impedances of first and second antenna elements, same
Z m2
normalized impedance at point P can be found with a similar R2  jX 2 Z2 Z s  2Z m  (11)
transmission line theory such that Z s  jZ 0 tan  E L1   Z m

1 When the expressions (10) and (11) are considered, the

ZP expression (6) can be regarded as a function of parameters Zs
§ Z0  j tan  E L1  Z1 Z0  j tan  E L1  Z 2 ·
(6)
 and Zm. Besides, by examining same expressions, it can be
¨¨ ¸¸
© Z1  jZ0 tan  E L1  Z 2  jZ0 tan  E L1  ¹
concluded that the active impedances can be easily found, once

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Zs and Zm have been obtained. The self-impedance of a specific
microstrip patch antenna can be easily found by using
electromagnetic simulation and (1). However, the calculation
of mutual impedance (especially the imaginary part) may not
be always possible with the analytical expressions. For this
purpose, in the proposed method, it is utilized from expressions
(5) and (6) in order to calculate the mutual impedance. It is
defined a function where the expression (6) is subtracted from
(5) such that
1
width of the patch antennas) in order to show significant effect
of the mutual coupling on the impedances of the antennas.
The normalized self and active impedance (both resistance
and reactance) values of first and second patch antennas
evaluated from the proposed method and simulations are given
in Fig. 4, where again due to symmetry in the structure it
should be noticed that Z1=Z4 and Z2=Z3.
2
Rs
Resistance
f  Zm  ZP 
Xs

§ Z0  j tan  E L1  Z1 Z0  j tan  E L1  Z2 ·
(12) 1.5 R1

Normalized impedance
¨¨  ¸¸ X1

© Z1  jZ0 tan  E L1  Z2  jZ0 tan  E L1  ¹ 1

R2
X2
In the given function, the first term can be considered as a
number extracted from array simulation results and (5), and 0.5
second term can be considered as a function with variables of
self impedance Zs (a number extracted from (1)) and Zm. Since
0
the numerical values of the expressions (5) and (6) must be
actually same, the function in (12) should be zero when Zm has Reactance
its correct value. Then, by solving the root of function f(Zm)=0, -0.5
the mutual impedance can be achieved. In order to solve this
equation, Zm=0 is used as initial data and Newton-iteration
approach is employed. Once Zm has been found, active -1
9 9.2 9.4 9.6 9.8 10 10.2 10.4 10.6 10.8 11
impedances can be found through (10) and (11).
frequency (GHz)
Figure 4. The normalized self and active impedances of first and second
IV. SIMULATION RESULTS elements of array.
In order to demonstrate the validity of the proposed
approach, a four-element uniform patch antenna array is When the results in Fig. 4 are examined, it can be
simulated by using CST Microwave Studio. Initially, a single understood that the mutual coupling significantly changes the
antenna, which is designed to operate around 10 GHz having impedances of both antennas as expected. The normalized
the normalized input impedance of 2 at this frequency, is resistances of the first antenna and second antenna lower about
simulated. The self-impedance of single antenna is found from 1.6 and 1.3 at 10 GHz, respectively; whereas, it is 2 for the self
reflection coefficient results and (1). Then, a uniform patch impedance. Furthermore, although the first and second antenna
antenna array containing four identical elements is simulated. elements are same in shape, their normalized active
For this simulation, the parameters are given in Table 1. impedances are highly different. This is because the number of
mutual coupling contributions from other antennas is higher for
TABLE I. PARAMETERS AND THEIR VALUES USED IN THE the second antenna as compared to first antenna.
SIMULATIONS OF FOUR IDENTICAL-ELEMENT ANTENNA ARRAY

Parameter Value V. CONCLUSIONS AND FUTURE WORKS

The width of the patch antenna
The length of the patch antenna
Relative permitivity of the
dielectric substrate (r)
Thickness of dielectric substrate
The width of the transmission
line
The length of the transmission
line (L1)
The length of the transmission
line on the main branches (L2)
Center to center separation
between antenna elements
Here, the center-to-center separation between antenna elements
is deliberately chosen as a small value (close to the value of the
13.6 mm In this study, a method evaluating the active impedances of
9.2 mm microstrip patch antenna elements in a corporate-feed array
with the simulation data has been described. The method
2.2 mainly attempts to find the mutual impedances between
antenna elements by calculating the impedance at certain point
0.78 mm
from both input and antenna element side. The impedance from
input side can be numerically calculated by using simulation
0.702 mm
results. For a corporate-feed network, it is also shown that the
18.75 mm impedance from antenna side can be expressed with an
analytical function having a parameter of mutual impedance.
28.05 mm
Since these impedances are equal, the value of mutual
impedance can be numerically calculated by using classical
20 mm
Newton-root approach. When the mutual impedance has been
calculated, the active impedances can be evaluated.
The method is demonstrated for a four identical element
array and it is shown that the active impedances are
significantly different from the self-impedances of the antenna

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elements when the separation between antennas is small.
Besides, although the elements are identical, their active
impedances are different due to different mutual coupling
contributions. To sum up, this method can be an alternative
approach to evaluate the active impedances of antenna
elements in a corporate-feed array and to design a proper
antenna array satisfying specific requirements (such as gain,
bandwidth, etc.) in the array.
As a future work, it is planned to employ the method for
different separation values and higher number of elements, and
to support the results with measurement data. Besides, the
application modifications of the method for the series-feed
arrays will be considered.

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