Low cost 3D Printed dual band antenna for mm

Wave 5G Applications
Guduguntla.Shivani1 Karthikeya G.S2 D.Rama Krishna3
Department of ECE CARE Department of ECE
Osmania University IIT, Delhi Osmania University
Hyderabad, India Delhi, India Hyderabad, India
1 2 3
shivaniguduguntla4@gmail.com Karthikeyaglr@gmail.com dasariramakrishna@yahoo.com

Shiban k.Koul4 Dornala Santhoshi5

CARE Department of ECE
IIT, Delhi Osmania University
Delhi, India Hyderabad, India
4 5
shiban_koul@hotmail.com dornalasanthoshi@gmail.com

Abstract—This paper demonstrates simple, low-cost and
high gain microstrip antenna with suitable feeding technique
and dielectric substrate for application in GHz frequency range.
We designed and analyzed a dual band 3D printed rectangular
microstrip patch antenna for 28GHz and 38GHz
communications. The design concept is to have slots etched out
from the copper patch of a microstrip patch antenna designed
for 28GHz operation to enable second frequency band i.e.
38GHz operation. The proposed antenna provides impedance
bandwidth of 6% (28.35 to 29.9) and 5.3% (36.89 to 39). The
gains in E-plane are 5.126dB and 5.011dB at 28GHz and 38GHz
respectively.
Keywords—5G, polylactic acid (PLA), dual band, three-
dimensional (3D) printing, chemical etching.
I. INTRODUCTION
The new data-sharing network that defines so many
technical applications would be almost impossible without
5G.Because it transmits data more efficiently, 5G has the
potential to be 40 times faster and suffers shorter lag time than
the current 4th standard.[1] describes how 5th generation
technology offers very high bandwidth that users have never
experienced before and also offers consumers incredible
broadband speeds at home (up to 20Gb/s). 5G users shorter
wavelengths which helps in designing antennas without
interfering with the direction of the wavelength. In this paper
we used Poly lactic acid a high-strength thermoplastic
material as substrate. PLA differs from most of the
thermoplastic polymers. It is derived from renewable
resources like corn starch or sugar cane. Ease with which
polylactic acid melts allows for some interesting applications
in 3D printing technology. Though we have other materials
such as nelco whose dielectric constant is 0.0009 we still use
PLA [11] for 3D printing because of its lower printing
temperature and high strength which allows easier to print
with.
The congestion of current frequency band (below 6 GHz)
and the narrowness of wireless bandwidth are key problems
for fifth generation wireless networks. Exploitation of the
unused microwave and millimetre wave (mm wave) spectrum
(between 6GHz to 300GHz) is an efficient way to overcome
the problem faced. 28/38 GHz are the best proposed bands for
mm wave communication. According to [2] 28GHz and
38GHz are most favourable candidates for future mm wave
5G communication. The challenge with 29GHz and 38GHz
bands deployment is high path loss and penetration losses as
reported in [3]. Researchers have proposed solutions for the
above-mentioned challenges, some them include phase arrays
[4] and potential solutions for challenges like blockage,
communication security, hardware development are discussed
in [5].
In this paper we concentrated on building a dual band
antenna. Because Dual band provides us an alternative to
avoid single interference among different devices operating in
the similar frequency range and therefore dual band antennas
are stable. In some cases of antenna design, space
management is very important in addition to cost cutting, Dual
band antennas can be fabricated with much less footprint area
compared to two different antennas at required frequencies. In
some cases, device might need to transmit/receive over any
two bands time to time but not simultaneously, then a dual
band antenna plays an important role.
Additive manufacturing (or) 3D printing is one of the hot
topics among the recent research works [6]. 3D printing
technology is widely used to produce antennas which are
lighter in weight, smaller size and having more design
freedom, gain and efficiency [7]. We have numerous materials
such as metal, polymer, ceramics, concrete and even
biocompatible materials that have been incorporated in
various 3D printing technologies [8].
Technology used for fabrication of antenna is chemical
etching (also known as photo chemical machining), using
which we can produce antennas at very minimal cost. In
chemical etching a thin layer of copper on a substrate material
is etched into the form of the designed antenna pattern.
II. DESIGN AND FABRICATION
The schematics of the proposed insert feed dual band mm
wave antenna is illustrated in Fig 1. It is designed using
polylactic acid (PLA) with dimensions 20mm*20mm with
relative dielectric constant (εγ) 2.75, loss tangent (tan δ) of
0.01, and thickness of 0.5 mm as substrate. Copper of
thickness 0.017 mm is used as conductive material. The insert
feed line is designed with width of 1.2mm according to
equation mentioned below,
𝑤 8𝑒 𝑤
= 𝑓𝑜𝑟 <2
ℎ 𝑒 −2 ℎ
𝑤 2
= 𝐵 − 1 − ln(2𝐵 − 1)
ℎ 𝜋
ε +1 0.61
+ ln(𝐵 − 1) + 0.39 −
2ε ε

XXX-X-XXXX-XXXX-X/XX/$XX.00 ©20XX IEEE

 𝑤 from the patch. After getting the desired frequencies a
𝑓𝑜𝑟 >2
ℎ parasitic element is added to improve gain of the proposed
.
antenna [10].
𝑍 ε +1 0.11
𝐴= + (ε − 1)(ε + 1) 0.23 +
60 2 ε

377𝜋
𝐵=
2𝑍 √ε

𝛽𝑙 = 𝜀 𝑘 𝑙

And the gap between patch and feed line is 0.2mm, which
leads to a characteristic impedance matching of 52Ω.
Importance of impedance matching is that, power transferred
is maximum only when impedance is matched. The insert feed
line width was chosen to accommodate the south west Stage 1 Stage 2
connector. Design of antenna can be described in two stages, Fig.2. (a) Stages of antenna design
first a microstrip patch antenna with insert feed is designed
with operating frequency of 28GHz. Length and breadth of After designing the proposed antenna, corners of PLA
patch is calculated using the equations mentioned below, substrate are chopped off such that we get same results. This
shows that antenna can be practically inserted, and PLA is the
1 𝑐 2 best choice for 3D printing [11]. Fig 2 (b) shows designed
𝑊= = antenna with chopped off substrate. Dimensions with which it
2𝑓 𝜇 𝜀 2𝑓 𝜀 +1 is chopped of is 6mm from port and length wise in range of
λ/2 (i.e. 5 mm).
Where 𝑓 is resonating frequency

𝜀 +1 𝜀 −1 12ℎ
𝜀 = + 1+
2 2 𝑊
Where 𝜀 is effective dielectric constant
L= L eff - 2 ∆𝐿
𝑐
𝐿 =
2𝑓 𝜀

𝑊
𝜀 + 0.3 + 0.264
∆𝐿 = 0.412ℎ ℎ
𝑊 Fig.2. (b) Antenna with chopped substrate
𝜀 − 0.258 + 0.8
ℎ
Most important part is to 3D print the proposed antenna,
we used chemical etching method to fabricate the antenna
20
designed. In this method we basically prepared mask of the
1 desired antenna and then a strip of copper is pasted on the
0.65
substrate. After that remaining part other than the mask
portion of copper strip is milled out to get proper antenna.
0.55
3.9 0.25
0.91 Origin software is used to plot all the graphs.
0.2

2.95
1
20 III. RESULTS AND DISSCUSIONS
The performance of the proposed antenna is analysed and
10 optimized using CST Studio Suite 2018. The simulated and
End launch measured input reflection coefficients of the proposed 3D
x
connector holes
printed dual band antenna at mm wave 5G applications are
1.2
depicted in Fig 3. It is obvious that antenna is matched at both
z
y
Feed the operating frequencies with S11 less than -10dB. It is
Fig .1. (a) Proposed planar antenna (All dimensions in mm) observed that bandwidth is 6% with centre frequency 29 GHz
and 5.3% with centre frequency 38 GHz. The slight difference
And then slots are etched out of the patch according to in simulated and measured values is because of fabrication
detailed parametric analysis [9], such that we get 38GHz as error.
another resonating frequency. First S shaped slot is etched out,
then the operating frequencies obtained are 28 GHz, 36 GHz
and 38 GHZ. In order to eliminated 36 GHz as one of
operating frequencies another square shaped slot is etched out
 Fig .4. (b) Radiation pattern at 38GHz
Fig 4(a) and 4(b) show that there are minimal side lobes
and antenna is radiating effectively. Figures 5(a) and 5(b)
shows 3D pattern of far field regions at both the operating
frequencies. They show that antenna is radiating in z-plane.

Fig .3. Simulated and measured return loss of proposed

antenna
Radiation pattern of 3D printed antenna in E-plane Fig. 5. (a) 3D pattern of far field region at 28 GHz
operating at frequencies 28 GHz and 38 GHz is depicted in
Fig 4(a) and Fig 4(b) respectively. The reasonable difference
between simulated and measured results is because of lossy
adapters used for measurements.

Fig .5. (b) 3D pattern of far field region at 38GHz.

Fig 6 shows Gain vs frequency plot, it shows that antenna
radiates with high gain at both operating frequencies, making
it applicable for 5G communication. Current distributions of
proposed antenna at both the operating frequencies are given
in Fig 7 (a) and Fig 7 (b).

Fig .4. (a) Radiation pattern at 28GHz

Fig. 6. Gain Vs Frequency plot


Fig. 7. (a) Current distribution at 28GHz
Fig. 7. (b) Current distribution at 38GHz
Fig.8 shows results of return loss Vs frequency after
chopping off the substrate, it shows that both the
characteristics before and after chopping off the substrate are
same.
Fig.8. |S1,1| Vs frequency after chopping off substrate.
IV. CONCLUSION
The feasibility of PLA conductive materials for the
fabrication of 3D printed antenna has been studied
experimentally. A dual band antenna with insert feed
structure has been fabricated using this material. The
fabricated antenna features low cost, light weight and
compact. the measured results attest to the fact that PLA can
be a good candidate for fabrication of 3D printed antennas.
The proposed antenna is a suitable candidate for future mm
Wave 5G smartphone.
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