Application Note | CST AG 2014

Designing a Phased
Array Antenna Using
Antenna Magus and
CST STUDIO SUITE
Antenna synthesis lets engineers investigate many potential designs and produce antennas that fit the
specifications quickly. For effects that cannot be accounted for analytically such as edge effects and mutual
coupling, full-wave 3D simulation can complement synthesis tools and allow designs to be checked and fine
tuned. This article explores the synthesis of an antenna array, using a phased array satellite communications
antenna as an example.

The traditional approach to antenna array design is as follows: Specification Value

first, the engineer searches textbooks and journals for antenna
types and array layouts which fulfill the basic requirements Operating frequency 1518 MHZ – 1675 MHZ
and, using equations and design curves, produces a viable blue-
print. However, this would only be an approximation of the final
Polarization RHCP
antenna – array performance is influenced by edge effects, cou-
pling between elements and interactions with the feed and plat-
Electronically steerable point
form, among other things. For this reason, the engineer would
beam with nominal gain of
then build prototypes which can be tested in the lab and, by trial
12 dBic and a maximum of
and error, produce a final design that fits the specifications. Beam properties
17 dBic across a majority (85%) of
the spherical coordinate system,
This can be a slow, expensive process, especially if multiple pro- with SSL of approx. 13 dB.
totyping stages are needed. Using antenna synthesis and elec-
tromagnetic simulation, the design flow can be accelerated, the Steer angle 360° azimuth, 180° elevation.
range of designs investigated can be broadened, and the number
of prototypes needed can be reduced.
Radome size 1000 mm x 300 mm x 50 mm

To demonstrate this workflow, this article will show how a planar

Standard A-ring 781 ground plane,
phased array was designed using Antenna Magus, an antenna Ground plane measurement
2.4 m x 1.6 m section of a 3 m
synthesis tool, and CST MICROWAVE STUDIO® (CST MWS) , a full- system
radius cylinder
wave 3D electromagnetic simulation program.

Feed type Single or dual coupled feed

The antenna in question is for satellite communications on com-
mercial aircraft, and operates in the L-band (1518 – 1675 MHz). The
main beam of the array is electronically steered between 0 – 360° System impedance 50 Ω
azimuth and 0 – 180° elevation to maintain connection with the
satellite as the aircraft moves. Table 1: Summary of given design specifications
 Application Note | CST AG Designing a Phased Array Antenna Using Antenna Magus and CST MICROWAVE STUDIO
Selecting the array element
The operating bandwidth of an array is mainly determined by the
impedance bandwidth of the individual array elements. The pro-
cess of selecting what type of element would be best suited to the
given requirements, such as bandwidth, impedance, feed network
and substrate, is accelerated using Antenna Magus.
Antenna Magus includes a large database of over 250 antenna
types. These include detailed information and synthesis algo-
rithms drawn from measurements and published antenna de-
signs. The antennas can be searched by keywords so that the most
appropriate types of antenna for a problem can be easily identified
and selected.
In this case, the elements should be planar and have a bandwidth
of 10%. Therefore, we search in Antenna Magus for “planar” and
“moderate bandwidth” (between 10% and 70% bandwidth). This
produces 27 results, of which the circular EM coupled patch is a
good fit in terms of bandwidth.
However, this antenna type is not circularly polarized. Adding
“circular polarization” to the list of search terms produces few
elements that are directly suitable for using in an array. Instead,
to produce a suitable element, we can combine antenna types.
A search for “circular polarization” and “planar” shows that using
a dual feed with patch antenna produces the desired polarization.
Combining these results in a dual fed EM coupled circularly polar-
ized circular patch shown in Figure 1. The models exported from
Antenna Magus can be used to easily generate the new structure
in CST MWS . The new structure simulated in CST has an imped-
ance bandwidth of 13.4 % below, an |S11| of -10 dB and maximum
gain of 7 dBi at the centre frequency.
To investigate how well this element works as part of an array, the
model is exported to CST MWS and simulated using the transient
solver (T-solver). The periodic boundary condition allows an infinite
array to be simulated in order to calculate the effect of mutual cou-
pling between individual array elements.
Figure 2 shows S-parameter characteristics of the single can-
didate element as well as the same element in an infinite array
+ =
a Circular EM coupled patch – wider bandwidth b Dual fed patch – circular polarisation
Figure 1: Combining two Antenna Magus elements to form the new Dual fed EM coupled circularly polarized circular patch (Transparency is used to show feed lines and substrates).
(all elements excited equally and in phase). Both S11 and S21 are
changed dramatically in an infinite array environment, due to
strong mutual coupling between the elements. The effect of the
mutual coupling will worsen when applying a feed network us-
ing different excitations to steer the main beam. This would cause
more of the radiated energy to leak into adjacent elements as the
squint angle increases [1], making accurate and efficient electronic
steering impossible.
S1,1 [magnitude in dB]
0
-5
-10
-15
-20
-25
Infinite array Single element
-30
1.2 1.3 1.4 1.5 1.6
Frequency / GHz
1.7 1.8 1.9 2
Figure 2: S-parameter results comparing the performance of a single element (blue)
to an infinite array (red).
A shielding cavity was then added to the antenna element using the
modeling tools in CST MWS. By placing the element inside a cavity,
the effect of mutual coupling is reduced. However, this also results
in a reduction in performance bandwidth. S-parameter results in
Figure 3 show a decrease in impedance bandwidth. This would mean
that the antenna would no longer meet the given requirements.
Information about wide-band planar antennas in the Antenna
Magus database indicates that stacked patch antennas are able
to achieve wider bandwidth than single patch elements. This in-
creased bandwidth is realized by including an additional patch
element and substrate with a slightly lower resonant frequency
above the existing structure. Loose coupling between the bottom
and top patches results in wider impedance bandwidth[2]. Using
this principle, a new array element - a dual fed EM coupled circular-
ly polarized circular stacked patch, can be designed by combining 3
antenna topologies from Antenna Magus, as illustrated in Figure 4.
2
 Application Note | CST AG Designing a Phased Array Antenna Using Antenna Magus and CST MICROWAVE STUDIO

optimization in CST MWS, the element was quickly tuned to ensure

it fits the design requirements.

S1,1 [magnitude in dB]

0

-5

-10

-15

-20

-25

With shielding Without shielding

-30
1.2 1.3 1.4 1.5 1.6 1.7 1.8 1.9 2
Frequency / GHz

S-Parameters [magnitude in dB]

S1,1 [magnitude in dB] 0

-5 -5

-10
-10

-15

-20 -15

-25
-20

-30

-35 -25

-40 With shielding Without shielding S1,1 (single element) S1,1 (infinite array) S2,1 (single element) S2,1 (infinite array)
-30
1.2 1.3 1.4 1.5 1.6 1.7 1.8 1.9 2
-45
Title
1.2 1.3 1.4 1.5 1.6 1.7 1.8 1.9 2
Frequency / GHz

Figure 5: S-parameter results of the Dual fed EM coupled circularly polarized circular
Figure 3: Addition of a shielding cavity around individual array elements reduces stacked patch. (a) S11 including (red) and excluding (blue) the square shielding cav-
impedance bandwidth (marked with arrows). ity. (b) S11 and S21 including the shielding cavity, in isolation (dashed traces) and in an
infinite array (solid traces).

The second candidate antenna was then exported to CST MWS to
be designed and optimized. Some adjustments to the feed were
made to improve the real and imaginary impedances. This was
done by increasing the feed line width to reduce the reactive com-
ponent of the input impedance from 10 Ω to the desired 0 Ω, while
increasing the resistive component from 40 Ω to 50 Ω. The T-solver
was again used to simulate the structure. By combining the design
guidelines provided in Antenna Magus with the sensitivity-based
Figure 5(a) shows the S11-parameter simulation of the second candi-
date antenna with and without the shielding cavity. When compar-
ing the bandwidth performance of the first and second candidate
elements (excluding the cavity shielding) we see that the second
candidate element has a bandwidth of 20%, 6.5% more than that
of the first candidate. By adding the shielding cavity, the band-
width is reduced to 14.2%. The effect of mutual coupling is again in-
vestigated using CST MWS . S-parameter results in Figure 5(b) show

+ + =

Dual microstrip-edge-fed circularly polar- Circular stacked pin-fed patch EM-coupled Circular Patch

ised rectangular patch

Figure 4: 3 topologies in Antenna Magus combined to design a new Dual fed EM coupled circularly polarized circular stacked patch.

3
 Application Note | CST AG Designing a Phased Array Antenna Using Antenna Magus and CST MICROWAVE STUDIO
that due to mutual coupling, the impedance bandwidth decreased
further to 11%. This means that the array still meets the 10% band-
width specification.
The final circularly polarized array element model was exported
from CST MWS back into Antenna Magus. The CST model can be
added to a template in the Antenna Magus datastore and then
used in much the same way that the native antenna models can.
Designing the array layout
Once we have a suitable element, the array synthesis tool in
Antenna Magus can be used to design and synthesise the full array
which complies with the physical design specifications. Under the
“Layout Information” tab, we set up the requirements of the array:
36-element array, consisting of 4 rows of 9 elements; Villeneuve
taper with an SLL of 14 dBi and an element spacing of half a wave-
length. The farfield pattern can be imported into Antenna Magus
by using the “Save As Source” option under Farfield Properties
Figure 6: Array synthesis results from Antenna Magus showing: Distribution matrix, imported array element and synthesised patterns for scan angles of θ = 30° and ϕ = 10° (left)
and θ = 50° and ϕ = 70° (right).
in CST MWS to produce a .ffs file which can be used by Antenna
Magus. Using this information, Antenna Magus calculates the
distribution matrix for the exciting the elements to produce the
desired radiation pattern. Beam steering is accounted for by ad-
justing the desired main lobe direction – Antenna Magus then
produces new distribution matrices for simulating these arbitrary
beam directions in CST MWS .
Figure 6 shows the synthesised array layout with phase distribu-
tion and two synthesised array patterns, for a scan angle of θ = 30°
and ϕ = 10° (left) and for a scan angle of θ = 50° and ϕ = 70° (right).
The distribution matrix is exported from Antenna Magus, and
imported into CST MWS using the array wizard feature to create
the final 36-element array. This matrix contains the individual ex-
citations for each element to produce the squint angles defined
in Antenna Magus. A separate matrix is produced for each squint
angle. Using these, we can carry out simulations of the final array
using the T-solver.
4
 Application Note | CST AG Designing a Phased Array Antenna Using Antenna Magus and CST MICROWAVE STUDIO
The results of these simulations are shown in Figure 7. The dif-
ference between the Antenna Magus and CST simulated pattern
results arises from the fact that Antenna Magus does not compen-
sate for corner and edge elements or mutual coupling between
elements. It assumes the same radiation pattern for all elements.
As expected, the difference is more noticeable as the squint an-
gle increases, because here the edge and corner elements have a
greater effect on the radiated pattern.
ϴ: 30°
Φ: 10°
ϴ: 50°
Φ: 70°
Figure 7: Layout and radiation pattern of 36 element L-band array designs for squinted
patterns of (a) θ = 30° and ϕ = 10° and (b) θ = 50° and ϕ = 70°, simulated in CST MWS.
Finally, the installed performance of the design can be investigat-
ed. By adding the antenna array model to a standard ARINC 781
ground plane, or even a full aircraft model, the effect of the plane
body can be taken into account to ensure that the antenna still
behaves as expected when in situ. Several approaches exist for cal-
culating installed performance: the asymptotic solver uses a ray-
tracing method to quickly calculate scattering effects , the integral
equation solver uses surface meshing to model electrically large
objects efficiently, and the general time domain solver performs a
full-wave simulation.
Figure 8: (a) An aircraft model with the antenna model and radome installed
(highlighted). (b) A farfield for the array including the effect of the fuselage.
5
 Application Note | CST AG Designing a Phased Array Antenna Using Antenna Magus and CST MICROWAVE STUDIO

Conclusion

This article illustrates the advantage of using Antenna Magus to

assist with fast first order array synthesis and closing the loop,
using a full wave simulation tool like CST MICROWAVE STUDIO .
An L-band planar array was designed for use in mobile satellite
communication, using Antenna Magus to select a promising topol-
ogy, and CST MWS to optimize and verify the design. Bandwidth
was improved by using a stacked patch element, and unwanted
mutual coupling was reduced by adding shielding cavities to each
element.
The final design met the given specifications. Further investigation
can be done to realise the physical feed network and to further
reduce mutual coupling and element port coupling. For example,
this array design uses the same element for centre, side and corner
elements. Using specially designed elements along the edges can
further improve the array’s performance at higher squint angles.
Robert Kellerman
Magus (Pty) Ltd
Stellenbosch,
South Africa
www.antennamagus.com
Magus (Pty) Ltd develops Antenna Magus, a software tool aimed
at simplifying the antenna design process. The database of an-
tennas and antenna arrays may be explored to find the most
suitable design options. These may then be designed to meet
specific system criteria, and subsequently exported as fully-par-
ametric, ready-to-run CST MICROWAVE STUDIO® models that
seamlessly integrate into the broader system design workflow.
Antenna Magus can be used in a wide variety of industries, in-
cluding, but not limited to, telecommunications, mobile devices,
aerospace, satellite, automotive, radio astronomy and defence.
Antenna Magus is available through CST sales channels.
www.antennamagus.com

[1] 
C.A. Balanis, Modern Antenna Handbook, John Wiley & Sons, New York City,

pp. 135 – 137, 20 September 2011. CST – Computer Simulation Technology AG

[2]
Rod B. Waterhouse, Design of Probe-Fed Stacked Patches, Bad Nauheimer Str. 19, 64289 Darmstadt, Germany
IEEE Transactions on Antennas and Propagation, vol. 47, no. 12, December 1999. Phone: +49 6151 7303 0, info@cst.com
For more information, please visit: www.cst.com

Trademarks
CST, CST STUDIO SUITE, CST MICROWAVE STUDIO, CST EM STUDIO, CST PARTICLE STUDIO, CST CABLE STUDIO, CST PCB STUDIO, CST MPHYSICS STUDIO, CST

MICROSTRIPES, CST DESIGN STUDIO, CST BOARDCHECK, PERFECT BOUNDARY APPROXIMATION (PBA), and the CST logo are trademarks or registered trademarks

of CST in North America, the European Union, and other countries. Other brands and their products are trademarks or registered trademarks of their respective

holders and should be noted as such. © CST 2014