IEEE TRANSACTIONS ON ANTENNAS AND PROPAGATION, VOL. AP-30, NO.

4, JULY 1982 65 1

Integral Equation Formulation of Microstrip Antennas

M. c. BAILEY, SENIOR MEMBER, IEEE, AND M. D. DESHPANDE, MEMBER,IEEE

Absrrac-Theproblem of amicrostripantennacoveredbya Plane Wave

dielectric is formulated in terms ofcoupledintegro-differential
equations with the current distributionon the microstrip patchas an
unknown variable. Galerkin’s method is used tosolveforthe un-
knownpatchcurrent.Usingthepresentformulationtheresonant Reqion I1
A
frequency and bandwidth of a rectangnlar microstrip antenna are -2 (z>d 1
determined and compared with experimental results.

INTRODUCTION

I N RECENT yearsthere
microstrip antennas. Although
has been increasing interest in
many mathematical models
to analyze the microstrip antenna have been proposed and
employed successfully [ I ] -[ 81, there is aneed for further
analytical investigations to eliminate some of the disadvantages
of earlier models and t o understand the radiation mechanism
of the microstrip antenna better.
The problemis analyzed by first deriving the dyadic Green’s
function which satisfies the boundary conditions for a unit
current located inthe plane of the microstrippatch.
weighting the Green’s function with the electric current
density and integrating over the patch, the radiatedelectro-
magnetic (EM) field is calculated atanypoint
By

inside the
f
d
’ Dielectric Slab

dielectric. An integro-differential equation for the unknown
current density is obtained byforcing thetotal tangential
electric field on the surface of this patch to zero. Using the
proper basis andtesting functions for the unknown current
distribution, the integro-differential equation is reduced to a
matrix equation which may be solved for the patch current.
The current distribution on the patch is then used to deter-
mine the propertiesof microstrip antennas.
Some features of the present method are 1) it does not re-
quire high precision in the numerical computation of the
matrix elements, 2) convergence of the solution depends upon
the choice of basis andtesting functions andhencemay be
improved by proper choice of these functions and by the in-
clusion of the edge singularity in thecurrentdistribution,
3) it can be extended to any shape of microstrip patch pro-
vided one is able to gettheproper basis functions which
satisfy t h e edge conditions and are Fouriertransformable,
and 4) it is suitable for more involved problems of coupled
microstrip antennas.
THEORY
General
The geometry for the analytical model is illustrated in Fig.
1. Usually the microstrip antenna is excited either by a micro-
strip feed or a coaxial feed. However, in order to determine
theresonant frequencyand bandwidth, it maybe assumed
Manuscript received May 27, 198l;revised October 2, 1981.
hi. C. Bailey is with NASA-Langley Research Center, Hampton, V A
23665.
M. D. Deshpande is with The George Washington University/Joint
Institute for the Advancement of Flight Sciences, Langley Research
Center, Hampton, VA 23665.
0018-926X/82/0700-0651500.75 0 1982 IEEE
Ground Plane
Fig. 1. Geometry of microstripantenna.
that the patch is excitedbya linearly polarizedplane wave
as shown in Fig. 1. This model gives results which are valid for
most of the practical microstrip antennas as long as the excit-
ing mechanism does not appreciably alter the natural current
distribution of the patch. For determining the input imped-
ance, however, the feed structure has to be incorporated sep-
arately in theformulationand hence will be reported else-
where.
The problem can beanalyzed by first deriving adyadic
Green’s function for an elementary current source located at
,the plane z = zr and satisfying the boundary conditions for the
groundeddielectric slab. Assuming eiw* tim! variation, the
electromagnetic fields due to a current source J, located in the
z = zr plane may be obtained from the magnetic vector po-
tentid 2 as
I.1
where k = ko& is the wavenumber in the dielectric, 1.1 and
f = € 0 4 are the permeability and permittivity of the dielectric
medium, and o is the radian frequency. The vector potential
x(x, y , z ) satisfies the wave equation
in the dielectric region, and
0 2 P ( x , y,2 ) + k , 2 ’ P ( X , y , 2) = 0
i ..l -

652 IEEE TRANSACTIONS ON ANTENNAS A N D PROPAGATION, VQL. AP-30,NO. 4, 'JULY 1982

-
in the free space region. If $'"(x, y , zjx', y ' , z') is the dyadic G2(k,, k,, z, z')

1
Green's function for regions I and 11, then the solutions of
- 1) sin (k1z')
=[
(E,
(3) and (4) may be written in the form:
[ kI cos ( k I d ) + ikII sin ( k ~ d ) ]
P y x , y ,z ) =
patch

t?"(x,
Y', Z')

y , z / x ' , y ' , z')

dx'
dy'. (5)
COS (kIz)

[ E&II cos (kId) + jkI sin ( k ~ d ) ] 1

Substituting ( 5 ) into (3) and (4)gives

V 2 G r ( x , y , z / x ' , y ' , z ' ) + k2Gf(X,Y,Z/Xf,Y',Z')

= -ip%(x - x ' ) s ~- y ' ) ~ ( z - z ' ) (6)

In the above expressions the primed and unprimed variables
for the dielectric region, and are the coordinates of the source andfield points, respectively.
I;, i ,and are the unit vectors along the x, y , and z axis.
v
2G=I1 ( x , y , z / x ~ , y ' , z ' ) + k o ~ G = I ' ( x , y , Z / x ' , Y ' , Z ' )0= (7) The integrand in (10) may be recognized as a superposition
of transverse electric (TE) and transverse magnetic (TM) to
for the free spaceregion. z plane waves due to an elementary current source embedded in
It is easy to obtain the solutions of (6) and (7) in the ( k x , a grounded dielectric sheet. The expression in (10) has singu-
k,,) domain, where k , and k , are the Fourier transform vari- larities which arethe roots of the transcendental equations:
ables. Both sides of (6) and (7) are Fourier transformed with +
TE: k1 cos (kId) jkII sin ( k I d ) = 0
respect to x and y and then the resultingdifferential equations
are solved for C?/"(k,, k,, z / x ' , y' , z'). The unknown con- +
TM:E,kII cos (kId) ikI sin (kId) = 0.
stantsappearing in the solu_tion can bedeterminedbysub-
jecting the transverse fields E , and H,, to the boundary condi- These pole locations correspond to the eigenvalues for the cut-
tions: off conditions of TE and TM surfac? wave modes.
The patch current distribution Js, which allows one to pre-
dict the propertiesof microstrip antennas, must be determined.
E:(kx, k,, 0 ) = 0 (8:
The determination of the patch current is accomplishedby
imposing the restraint of zero tangential electric field on the
E,'(k,, k,, d ) = E:1 (kx, k,, d ) surface of theperfectlyconductingpatchto arrive atthe
coupled integro-differential equations with current density as
Z:(k,, k,, d ) = ztl(kx, d).k,, (9 ) an unknown quantity. The loss due to the finite conductivity
of the metalic patch may be accounted for by modifying the
The dyadic Green's functionjs then obtained by taking the integrodifferential equations at this point.However, for
inverse Fourier transform of 8 " ( k X , k , , z / x y' ,' , z'). For the simplicity, we continuewiththeassumption of a perfect
region inside the dielectric slab, the dyadic Green's function conductor.
The total tangential electric field at the plane z = z' con-
sists of the scattered field due to the patch current and the
field due totheincidentplane wave. Thescattered electric
field at z = z' can be obtained from( 2 ) . For theassumed plane
wave at normal incidence, the electric field at the patch loca-
tion with the patch removed is E: =Ex';, where

By setting the total tangential electric field over the patch

equal to zero, we arrive at the following coupled integro-dif-
ferential equations:
BAILEY AND DESHPANDE: INTEGRAL EQUATION FORMULATION OF MICROSTRIP ANTENNAS
where
The integral equations (14a) and ( 14b) can be used for a
microstrip patch of any arbitrary shape. However for geom-
etries other than rectangular, circular, annular ring, triangular,
etc. it is difficult to arrive at a proper expansion function for
the current distribution on the patch which satisfies the edge
conditions and is Fourier transformable. It may be concluded
that application of (1 4) may be limited by complexity of the
patch shape.
Application to Rectanguhr Microstrip Antenna
Consider a microstrip antenna in the form of a rectangular
patch withE- and H-plane dimensionsW, and W,,,respectively.
In order to solve the electric field integral equation (14), the
currentdistribution j , can be expressed in terms of over-
lapping triangles (piecewise linear expansion) in the direction
of current and flat pulse expansion orthogonal to the current
[ 91, [ 101 as shown in Fig. 2. Substituting the Fourier trans-
form of the current distribution into (14) andusing the Galer-
kin's method, one arrives at the matrix equation:
,,
where Z x X m n J m f n, Z' x y m n 3 m",.-.etc. are the self and mutual
impedances between the (m',n')th and (m,n)th current basis
functions, and j,mn and jYmn are the complex amplitudes of
the currentpulses.
It is appropriate at this time to make a few comments on
the present method and the one described in [ 71. Equation
(15) is identical to [7, eq. ( 3 ) and (4)] when Ex! = E,' = 0.
In the present method we first solve (15) with E' f: 0 for the
patch current, and then from a knowledge of the patch cur-
rent,theresonantfrequency and bandwidth of the micro-
stripantenna are determined. Theseproperties can also be
determined by finding the roots of the characteristic equation
obtained by forcing the determinant of the impedance matrix
in ( 1 5) to zero as is done in [ 71 ;however, the presentformula-
tion allows one to consider the excitation of the patch (ie.,
E' is the field incident on the patch from a known source,
which in the presentexample is a plane wave).
The unknown complex current coefficients j,"" and
j y m n normalized to E,' are determined by inverting them?trix
equation (15). The impedancecoefficients Z,,mn?m n , --.
etc. are numerically evaluated by transforming to polar coordi-
653
'f
Fig. 2.
+
Rectangularpatch
w x
subdomains
with pulse
4
'X
and x-directed cur-
rent distribution.
nates ( k , = kofl cos or, k , = kofl sin or). This coordinate trans-
formation reduces one of the infinite integrals to a finite in-
tegration. For a given or, the infinite integration on fl converges
as 1/02.
The values of M and N must be selected such that thesolu-
tion of (15) converges to the correct answer. It is shown [ 9 ]
that for normal incidence, the solution of ( 15) converges when
M = N = 7. In the present calculation we, therefore, select
M = N = 11. I t was found that furtherincrease in M or N does
not change js(x, y ) significantly.
For x-polarized plane wave excitation, the amplitudeof the
y-directed current was found to be very small compared with
the amplitude of the x-directed current (typically 25-30 dB);
therefore, J , may be neglected. It is advantageous to study the
current distribution J,(x, y ) on the patch, which may allow
one to express the current in terms of more appropriate basis
functions. The current distribution obtained after solving (1 5)
is plotted in Fig. 3 as a function of x at y = 0 and also as a
function of y at x = 0 (Le., along the center lines of the
patch). A function f,, cos (nx/W,) is also plotted in Fig. 3.
I t is clear from Fig. 3 that J,(x, y ) is almost sinusoidal in the
direction of thecurrentanduniform(exceptatthe edges)
along thedirectionorthogonaltothecurrent. Hence, com-
putationally, it is moreadvantageous to express J,(x, y ) in
the following form:
A refinement in the patch current distribution can be real-
ized by multiplication of ( 16) by [ 1 4- le/dl- ( 2y/WY)*]
which represents the proper edge singularity [ 111 ; however,
the assumption of a uniform distribution orthogonal to the
direction of current appears to give sufficiently accurate re-
sults for resonant frequency and bandwidth as shown in the
following section.
With the current distribution given in (16), the number of
unknowns to be evaluated is reduced from (M(N +
1) i-
654 IEEE TRANSACTIONS ON ANTENNAS AND PROPAGATION, VOL. AP-30, NO. 4,JULY 1982

-0.5 0 0.5

-.
0.46 0.48 0.50 0.52
‘NXPE

Fig. 4. Complex current coefficient versus dimension of square patch

(W, = Wy,d = Z’ = O.O2h,, er = 2.5).

Fig. 3. Patch current distribution for a square patch (W, = W y = RESULTS AND DISCUSSION
0.485h,, d = z‘ = 0.02h,, er = 2.5).
It i s informative to plot the real and imaginary parts of j,
N(M f 1)) to 1. Therefore (15) becomes as a function of the E-plane dimension, as is done in Fig. 4.
The plot has the characteristic resonant behavior of a tuned
(17) circuit which can be used topredicttheresonantwidthor
E,’ = zxxjx
frequency (the frequency for which the imaginary part of the
where current density at the patch center is zero) of a rectangular
microstripantenna. The frequency for which the imaginary
part of j , is zero is determined for a rectangular patch as a
function of the H-plane dimension and plotted in Fig. 5 along
with available theoretical and experimental results 141. It
shouldbe noted that the theoretical prediction of resonant
’
2n cos (2 koPW,
n2 - (kopw, cos a)2
cos a)
1 frequency using the cavity model [ 41 requires a semi-empirical
correction to matchthe results to the measured. However
the present method of analysis, without any correction, pre-
dicts the resonant frequencywithin the tolerance limitsof the
dielectric constant (ey = 2.62 2 0.02).
( 18) For additional verification theresonantfrequency calcu-
kted by the present methodwas compared with that reported
BAILEY AND DESHPANDE: INTEGRAL EQUATION FORMULATION OF MICROSTRIP ANTENNAS 655

1 5 5 0 - . n m 1 8 . . 1 " ' 1 ' "

-
- - - Theory Ipresent method I
Theory (Lo, et. al. )
0 Exwrimental ILo, e t al. )
-
-
a-
m
t
c
1510 -
m
c
P
1500- -- -0

1490 -
1480 " ' ' " ' ~ " " " '
0 5 10 15 20
fcm) - Wy
Fig. 5. Resonantfrequency of rectangularpatchversus H-plane di-
mension (W, = 5.95 cm,d = z' = 0.159 cm, e r = 2.62 f 0.02).

-
Theory Exp.
e
01 I I I I
0 0.p 0.04 0.06 0.08 1
*be
Fig. 6 . Percent bandwidth of square microstrip antenna versus dielec-
tric thickness (W, = W,,,er = 2.5),

in [ 71 for a rectangular patch with W, = 1.0 cm, W,,= 1.5 the measured bandwidthfor a probe excited square patch.
cm, d = z' = 0.158 cm and e, = 2.35. In [ 71 the calculated The insertion loss due to the feed connection and the copper
resonant frequency was 8.586 GHz and the measured resonant loss in the experimental modelmay cause an apparent increase
frequencywith amicrostripline connected directly to the in the measured bandwidth.
patch was 8.75 GHz. The resonant frequency for a plane wave
excited patch, as predicted by the present method, is 8.726 CONCLUSION
GHz, which is closer to themeasured value. The dyadic Green's function is derived for a current source
The bandwidth of microstrip antennas may be defined as embedded ina grounded dielectric slab. The dyadic Green's
the band of frequencies over which the inputvoltage standing- function is then used to derive an electric field integral equa-
wave ratio (VSWR) in the feedline is less than a specified tion with the patch current as an unknown for a microstrip
value. Since the input inpedance of amicrostrip antenna is patch of arbitrary shape. As an example, the integral equation
proportional to thepatch current, thenature of theinput formulation is solved by using Galerkin's method for a rectan-
impedance variation with frequency will be the same as that gular patch. A simplified current distribution with the present
of the patch current. If the antenna ismatched at the resonant analysis method is shown to be useful in predicting the re-
frequency,the reflectioncoefficient v e m s frequency (Le-, sonantfrequency and bandwidth of rectangularmicrostrip
bandwidth) canbe determined from the complex amplitude antennas.
of the patch current. Fig. 6 shows the calculated bandwidth The analysis method is applicable tootherpatch shapes
variation with the thickness of the dielectric slab along with such as circular, triangular, elliptical, etc.. Also it is straight-
~ ..
~.

.65 6 IEEE TRANSACTIONS ON ANTENNAS AND PROPAGATION, VOL. AP-30, NO. 4, JULY 1982

forward to extend the m e t h o d to more complexproblems K. Araki and T. Itoh, “Hankel transform domain analysis of open
such as couplingbetween array elements and microstrip circular microstrip radating structures,” IEEE Trans.Antennas
antennas with stratified substrates and covers. Propagat., vol. AP-29, no. 1, pp. 84-89, Jan. 1981.
A. W. Glisson, “On the development of numerical techniques for
REFERENCES treating arbitrarily shaped surfaces,” Ph.D. dissertation, Univ.
Mississippi, June 1978.
K. R . Carver and J. W. Mink, “Microstrip antenna technology,” A. 3’.Glisson and D. R. Wilton, “Simple and efficient numerical
IEEETrans.AntennasPropagat., vol. AP-29, no. 1 , pp. 2-24, methods for problems of electromagnetic radiation and scattering
Jan. 1981. for surfaces,” IEEE Trans. Anrennas Propagat., vol. AP-28, no.
R. E. Munson, “Conformal microstrip antennas and microstrip 5 , pp. 593-603, Sept. 1980.
phasedarrays,” IEEETrans.AntennasPropagat., vol. AP-22. J. H. Richmond, “On the edge mode in the theory of TM scattering
no. 1, pp. 74-77, Jan. 1974. by astrip or stripgrating,” IEEE Trans.AntennasPropagar..
A. G. Derneryd,“Linear microstrip array antennas,“ Chalmer vol. AP-28, no. 6, pp. 883-887, Nov. 1980.
Univ. Technology, Goteborge, Sweden, Tech. Rep. TR 7505, Oct.
1975.
Y, T. Lo eatl . . “Theory and experiment on microstrip
antennas,‘‘ IEEE Trans. Antennas Propagat., vol. AP-27, no. 2,
pp. 137-145, Mar. 1979.
P. K. Agrawal and M. C. Bailey, “An analysis technique for M. D. Deshpande (S’74-M’77), for a photograph and biography please
microstripantennas,” IEEE Trans.AntennasPropagat., vol. see page 650 of this issue.
AP-25, pp. 756-758, Nov. 1977.
J. H. Newrnan and P. Tulyathan, “Analysis of rnicrostrip antennas
using moment method,” IEEE Trans.AntennasPropagat.. vol.
AP-29, no. 1, pp. 47-53, Jan. 1981.
T. Itoh and W. Menzel, “A full wave analysis method for open
microstripstructures,” IEEE Trans.AntennasPropagat., vol. M. C. Bailey (S’69-M’71SM’81), for a photograph and biography
AP-29, no. 1, pp. 63-68, Jan. 1981. please see page 650 of this issue.