2005 IEEE International Symposium on Microwave, Antenna, Propagation and EMC Technologies for Wireless Communications Proceedings
High Performance Planar Antenna Array for Broadband WLAN Applications
Yin Yingzeng, Zhao Na, Zheng Huili, and Guo Yumei
(National Laboratory of Antennas and Microwave Technology,
Xidian Univ., Xi'an 710071, P. R. China, E-mail:yyzenggmail.xidian.edu.cn)
Abstract-Theoretical and experimental results
of a new wide-band planar antenna are
presented for wireless local access networks
(WVLAN) including bluetooth. This antenna can
achieve a wide bandwidth, high gain, low
sidelobe radiation levels, low cross polarization
levels, and low backward radiation levels. To
demonstrate the design procedure, a novel type
of microstrip printed dipole antenna prototype is
designed and implemented. To analyze its
performance, theorical analysis and
measurements are carried out and good
performances are achieved. Experimental results
indicate that the proposed antenna achieves a
bandwidth of 13.3% with VSWR less than 1.5, a
gain of 23.5 dB, a maximum sidelobe radiation
level of -20 dB, and a front-to-back ratio of -25
d,B which are very sufficient for broadband
wireless applications.
KEYWORDS: Printed Antenna, WLAN,
Base station antennas, Printed dipoles.
I. INTRODUCTION
Modem communication system s greatly
stimulate the need for compact RF/microwave
products. This demand has stirred significant
renewed interest im antenna design particularly
at the ISM bands. Due to its many advantages
such as low profile, light weight, low cost,
conformability, planar structure, ease of
fabrication, and integration with RF devices, the
pritedciruitantnnahasbee wielyappied
in mobile communi1cations systems and various
radar systems [h16]. For applications in wireless
--
tThis work is supported by thie National Science
Foundation (No: 60471043).
0-7803-9128-4/05,/$20.O0 ©) 2005 IEEE.
communications, such as WLAN and personal
communications systems (PCS), printed circuit
antennas constitute a very attractive research
domain. Particularly for future applications in
mobile cellular networks, printed circuit
antennas are well suited to assure good
compactness and low cost in this area. For
applications in which more gain, low side lobe
radiation levels, and space diversity are
necessary, they can be used as a radiating
element in the development of miniature
antenma arrays. For high-rate data transmission
in wireless systems, a printed circuit dipole and
array with large bandwidth, and high gain, and
low side lobe radiation levels are very important.
This article presents a new printed dipole
antenna element and its arrays in order to obtain
an optimized antenna design that offers wide
bandwidth, high gain and low sidelobe
radiation levels.
In this paper, a printed dipole antenna and array
are presented, simulated, and analyzed,
featuring with low side radiation levels, high
gain wide-band operation, constructional
simplicity, and very low manufacturing cost.
cOur aim, fromb these investigations, is to reach a
criteria - low side radiation level, bandwidth,
gai, and front-to-back ratio - during the
antenna design process. Backed by conductor
planes, the antenma has been developed for
various applications in GSM, CDMA, WLAN,
and Bluetooth. These configurationls provide
enuhprom ceitrsofbdwt,
gain, side lobe radiation level, or front-to-back
~~~~~~~~ratio.
220
 II. ANALYSIS AND DESIGN
The main objective is to design a broadband
printed dipole antenna for a wireless system,
particularly in the ISM band (5.25 5.875 GHz).
-
The geometric configuration of the proposed
antenna is shown in Figure 1. In this design, a
dielectric substrate layer and one foam layer are
stacked together. On the first dielectric layer,
the printed dipoles and feed network is etched
on double sides. The arms are printed on both
sides of a thin microwave laminate with a
relative pennittivity 6 rand substrate thickness
hl. The printed dipole is center fed by a short
twin-line of broadside parallel strips, as
illustrated in Figure 1. The parallel printed strip
lines are WF wide, and they form a balanced
feeding line for the flat radiator. For this reason,
a thin dielectric substrate is employed to support
the dipoles and transmission lines. Utilization of
the foam layer provides the possibility to realize
an antenna with a thick substrate and a very low
dielectric constant (typically, s r=1.04 ). Then,
the conductor plane, parallel to the dielectric
sheet, supports the antennas and radome.
z
Dielectric layer
Form layer
Ground plane
(a) Layer structure
hl
W Dielectric layer
(b) Element
Fig. 1 Proposed Antenna structure
To understand the choice of the parameter
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selection, leading to the wide bandwidth in the
design process, the antenna element should be
selected properly. Since there are important
interactions between these different parameters
involved in the design process, the Ansoft HFSS
8.0 software package [7] is used here as a CAD
simulated tool to determine the layout of the
proposed antenna.
As a design example, an antenna printed on a
dielectric substrate of height 0.5mm and relative
permittivity 6 r=2.2 is adopted to have an
operation frequency at around 5.6 GHz by
choosing L=37.5mm, W=14mm, Wl=8mm,
d=8mm, and WF =0.35mm. The fed line is
realized in the form of a parallel strip line of
width 0.35nmm, with the resulting calculated
input impedance of this broad-band antenna
shown in Fig. 2. The characteristic impedance
of the fed line also affects the overall
performance of the antenna, including input
impedance that equals to the characteristic
itnpedance of the simulated port, that is
ZO=250 Q The impedance of the broadside
parallel-strips line of width WF =0.35 mm is
approximately 125 Q, based on the theory
presented in [8]. Corresponding VSWR data are
shown plotted in Fig. 2.
s52 sA 55 5z 6
Fre9eq(GlH
Fig. 2 Simulated VSWR vs. frequency
characteristics
The antenna bandwidth extends from 5000-6000 I 2
2
MHz or 19% within 1.5:1 VSWR Thus the sinA 1-sin Osin>
antenna can clearly support the IEEE 802.11a kdak sin cos(o+ 45°)
WLAN bands at 5.25-5.35 GHz and k o
5.725-5.875 GHz
(U,, = kdy sin9sin
k
±450)
To obtain a high gain, the array is fed with equal d1 and d are the distances between
power divider. To reduce the side lobe level and y
the weight, the array is made diamond shape elements in x andy, respectively.
and features a unique distribution of the
electromagnetic field over the aperture. To To obtain a high gain, the array is fed with equal
achieve directional radiation and reduce the power divider. To reduce the side lobe level and
back radiation, a metallic ground plane is the weight, the array is made diamond shape
utilized. The distance between backed ground and features a unique distribution of the
and the substrate is 8mm, and approximate a electromagnetic field over the aperture. To
quarter wavelengths at the centre frequency of achieve directional radiation and reduce the
operational bandwidths. back radiation, a metallic ground plane is
utilized. The distance between backed ground
and
a the substrate is 8mm, and approximate a
For the N x N array as shown in figure 3,
y quarter wavelengths at the centre frequency of
with considering the ground plane as an infinite, operational bandwidths. The distances between
the directional function can be obtained as the printed dipoles are selected as 0.65X in x and
follow: y directions. The whole feed network is then
arranged in an 8 x8 elements array
ysi Y' configuration, connected by a double strip line
feeding network, implemented on a double layer
0 X
a ,a, 01 o substrate. The amplitude and phase are
X11 § # * x controlled to form a desired beam. The antenna
S¢ 0 ¢ § W W array is fed from a conventional 50Q coaxial
g ,f *, 4 * a line through a microstrip to parallel strip-line
iv a s !y
-4tapered transition that gradually changes its
profile from a microstrip line to a parallel strip
line. The balun is intended to be utilized as a
wideband impedance match from the antenna
array, which operates not only a balanced to
Fig. 3 Proposed Antenna array unbalanced transformation circuit, but also an
impedance match due to the different
N N' characteristic impedances of the antennas and
sin('yf, ) sin( yfy the coaxial cable. Accurate dimensions of the
f(6,') 2 * 2 printed dipole strip and the microstrip balun
NX, sin(-2Vx ) N sin(-Vf,,) structure are determined by numerical
simulation, using HFSS. Figure Ic shows that
a sin(kd2sin A) a f (8, ~ the profile of the 8 x 8 elements array
where f, (9,qp) sin A
=
configuration. The measured input SWR and

222
antenna pattems agree well with the simulation
results, as shown in Figur 4. Experimental
results indicate that the proposed antenna
achieves a bandwidth of 13.3% within 1.5:1
VSWR, a gain of 23.5 dB, a maximum sidelobe
radiation level of -20 dB, and a flont-to-back
ratio of -28 dB, which are very sufficient for
broadband wireless applications.
SUR #P&F-1.944 U
,....,............-. design of Broadside-Coupled Striplines-Fed
_. . . .
.____ ________ .____
Frequency
(a) Input VSWR vs. frequency
o [3]. G.Y. Chen and J.S. Sun, A printed dipole
5i'0"-'//',
- [5]. B. Edward and D. Rees, "A broad-band
.4' 5.,
(b) H-plane pattem(f5.8GHz)
Fig. 4 Measured performance of
printed dipole aTay
V. CONCLUSION
In this at;icle, a broadband printed dipole
antenna and array has been designed, fabricated,
and tested at the ISM band. Design and
implementation considerations were given for a
printed dipole antenna prototype and its arrays.
To reduce the radiation back lobe of the antenna
pattern, the antenna array gives a good
bandwidth of 13.3% at a center frequency of 5.6
GHz, with a 23.5dB gain, a 19dB maximum
sidelobe radiation level, and a 30dB
front-to-back ratio. Measurements of the return
loss and the radiation pattem were presented
and discussed. The comparison between
experimental and numerical results has shown
I."* WDl9
good agreement.
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