Research and Development of Planar UWB
Antennas
Zhi Ning Chen and Xianming Qing
Institute for Infocomm Research
20 Science Park Road, #02-21/25 TeleTech Park,
Science Park II, Singapore 117674
e-mails: chenzn@i2r.a-star.edu.sg, qingxm@i2r.a-star.edu.sg
Abstract-This paper addresses the advanced
progress in research and development of planar
antennas for promising ultra-wideband (UWB)
applications within 3.1 GHz-10.6 GHz. The special
design considerations for UWB antennas are
introduced first. Secondly, newly developed omni-
directional designs, especially the antennas on
PCBs are reviewed. Thirdly, the characteristics of
a directional modified antipodal tapered slot
antenna are shown for UWB applications.
I. INTRODUCTION
Recently, UWB technology with an extremely
broad frequency range has been proposed for
imaging radar, communications, and localization
applications. In accordance, the design of
broadband antennas has become an attractive but
very difficult part of the system design. In
general, the antennas for UWB systems should
have sufficiently broad operating bandwidths for
impedance matching and high-gain radiation in
desired directions. For example, TEM horns
feature very broad well-matched bandwidths and
have been widely studied and applied. Another
typical design is the class of self-complementary
log-periodic structures, such as planar log-
periodic slot antennas, bidirectional log-periodic
antennas, log-periodic dipole arrays, two/four-
arm log spiral antennas, and conical log-spiral
antennas. However, the log-periodic antennas
suffer the frequency-dependant change in phase
center, which severely distorts the waveform of
radiated pulses [1]. Bi-conical antennas are also
the good options for broadband applications due
to their relatively stable phase centers and broad
well-matched bandwidths, such as finite bi-
conical antennas, discone antennas, single-cone
with resistive loadings are formed and optimized
for broad impedance bandwidths [2]. However, it
is not easy to apply the antennas for portable
0-7803-9433-X/05/$20.00 ©2005 IEEE.
devices due to their bulky size or directional
radiation. Alternatively, planar antennas,
monopoles and dipoles, which feature broad
bandwidth and small size, have been proposed
for UWB applications [3, 4]. Another important
issue for UWB antenna design is that the
requirements of UWB systems are different from
the conventional broadband systems. The special
considerations for the antenna design must be
taken into account.
II. SPECIAL DESIGN CONSIDERATIONS
Besides the requirements for antennas for
conventional broadband systems, such as broad
impedance bandwidth, high gain, specific
polarization, and radiation patterns, the newly
proposed UWB systems feature a much broad
operating frequency range of 3.1-10.6 GHz, or
fractional bandwidths of >50% for two sub-
bands. These extremely broad operating
bandwidths differentiate UWB systems from
conventional systems as discussed in [5]. The
unique system requirements lead to the special
design considerations for the UWB antenna
design. From previous study in [5, 6], it is
concluded that (1) a frequency-dependent
transfer function is a proper way to evaluate the
performance of a transmit/receive antenna
system; (2) for the single-band case where a
single impulse is used as the signal, the
distortion of waveforms of received signals is
mainly caused by non-linear phase response of
the system transfer function; (3) in contrast, for
the multi-band case where the operating
bandwidth is further divided into several sub-
bands of around 500MHz, the consistent
magnitude response of the transfer function is
more critical than the phase response across the
UWB band. Therefore, one can effectively
APMC2005 Proceedings
design an optimal antenna by examining its
transfer function such as group delay and
achieved bandwidth in frequency domain, or
fidelity for selected template for single-band or
flatness of signals in the sub-bands in time
domain.
III. PLANAR DESIGNS
It is well known that the infinite bi-conical
antennas radiating a dominant TEM mode,
which can be considered as an infinite uniform
transmission-line has a frequency-independent
impedance response as shown in Fig. 1a.
However, the finite bi-conical structure (Fig. 1b)
is of practical interest. In order to reduce the
weight and volume of the finite bi-conical
antenna, its planar version was proposed,
namely, a bow-tie antenna as shown in Fig. 3c.
In practice, the two poles of the antenna can be
of different shapes, and printed onto a printed
circuit board (PCB) in order to be integrated into
RF circuits or embed into the casing.
a b c d
Fig. 1 Evolution of planar antennas from
bi-conical structure
Fig. 2 Polygonal planar antennas
Fig. 2 exhibits polygonal planar monopoles,
which can be considered as the variations of a
rectangular one of a bandwidth of about 60 % for
VSWR= 2. In order to enhance the impedance
bandwidth, the shape of the radiator may be
varied having a bevel or a smooth bottom, or a
pair of bevels [7-9], the radiator may be slotted
[10, 11], and the feeding structures may be
modified by optimizing the location of a feed
point [12], shorting the radiator antenna height
[13], applying a dual-feed structure [14] as well
as electromagnetically coupling (EMC) the
radiator and feeding strip [15].
Fig. 3 demonstrates the typical elliptical or
circular planar monopoles, which can achieve
high-pass impedance response by optimizing the
major and minor axes of the ellipse as well as
feed gap because of the smooth transition
between the radiator and feeding strip.
Fig. 3 Elliptical antennas
dielectric
substrate
ground plane
under substrate
Fig. 4 Planar antennas on PCBs
The UWB antennas printed on PCBs are of more
practical interest for implementation where the
antennas can be integrated into RF circuits or
embedded into devices. Fig. 4 shows four typical
designs where the planar radiators are etched
onto the dielectric substrate of the PCBs. The
ground plane may be co-planar with the radiators
or on the other surface of the dielectric substrate.
The shape of the ground plane may be modified
to enhance the bandwidth, and the radiators can
be fed by a microstrip line or coaxial cable or a
co-planar waveguide.
 IV. OMNI-DIRECTIONAL ROLL ANTENNAS
o
E# @1.4GHz
! =0
E!
As mentioned, the planar antennas are capable of
E# @1.8GHz
providing broad impedance bandwidth covering
E!
the UWB bandwidth. However, the radiation
E#@2.2GHz
from the planar antenna becomes directional at
E!
higher operating frequencies due to its rotational 270
o
90
o
div.=20dB
asymmetrical structure. The cylindrical antennas
having symmetrical structures feature omni-
directional radiation characteristics, which are
always desired for the mobile applications. As a
result, a roll monopole constructed by twisting o
180 (0dB)
the planar radiator of a planar antenna was
proposed to enhance the radiation and impedance Fig. 6 (b) radiation patterns in horizontal planes
performance of a planar monopole across a broad
bandwidth as shown in Fig. 5 [16]. V. DIRECTIONAL ANTIPODAL ANTENNAS
z 75
rmax

!
Planar
50 For radar and communication systems, the stable
radiator
r
ro directional radiation is also important for
example for fixed base stations. Thus, one of
feed
UWB design challenges is to design an antenna
50 r =ro+"!
ro =4 mm with stable radiation performance across an
"=0.5/360o ultra-wide bandwidth. Tapered slot antennas
(TSAs) and later Vivaldi have been proposed for
y
1 this purpose [19, 20]. The antipodal Vivaldi
x antennas (AVAs), a modified version of Vivaldi
Coaxial feed mm
antennas are here exemplified for UWB
applications [21-23].
Fig. 5 Roll monopole
Fig. 7 shows an antipodal Vivaldi antenna
developed in I2R. With the broadband impedance
Fig. 6 shows the measured impedance response
transition, a conventional Vivaldi antenna is fed
and radiation patterns of the roll monopole. The
by a microstrip line. The ends of the
impedance bandwidth is 70%, for VSWR=2 i .
conventional antipodal Vivaldi antenna are
Its radiation is omni-directional with the peak
extended by adding two semicircles, which
gain of 3.2-4.6 dBi in horizontal planes across
extend the lower edge frequency and improve the
the impedance bandwidth. Further study has
impedance response. The measured impedance
revealed that the roll antenna has a broad
and gain response are shown in Fig. 8.
impedance bandwidth like a planar monopole,
Furthermore, Fig. 9 shows the waveforms of the
and omni-directional radiation like a cylindrical
radiated pulses in different directions in the E
monopole [17]. Recently, the bi-arm roll antenna
plane when the antenna was excited by a
has been applied to UWB applications [18].
monocycle with a pulse width of 35 ps.
8 measured
simulated
7
6
VSWR

5
4
3
2
1
0.5 1.0 1.5 2.0 2.5 3.0
Frequency, GHz
Fig. 7 The antipodal Vivaldi antenna
Fig. 6(a) impedance response

Gain, dBi
10
0
Measured Result
-10
-20
-30
Return Loss, dB
-40
-50
2 4 6 8
Frequency, GHz
Fig. 8 Measured impedance and gain response
Fig. 9 Measured waveforms of radiated pulses
VI. CONCLUSIONS
The antenna design is a critical issue in
promising UWB applications. Planar antennas
and their variations are widely used due to the
merits, such as broad bandwidths, stable phase
response, easy fabrication and integration with
other RF circuits, small size, light weight, and
embeddable configuration. In future, the
antennas for specific UWB applications will still
be a challenging design issue.
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