A Printed Inverted-F Antenna

for Circular Polarization -Part 2-

Takafumi Fujimoto1, Keigo Shimizu1, and Natsuki Onoue2
1
GRADUATE SCHOOL OF ENGINEERING, NAGASAKI UNIVERSITY,
1-14 Bunkyo Nagasaki, Japan
takafumi@nagasaki-u.ac.jp
2
DEPARTMENT OF ENGINEERING, NAGASAKI UNIVERSITY,
1-14 Bunkyo Nagasaki, Japan

Abstract— Authors have proposed a printed inverted-F
antenna (PIFA) for circular polarization. In this paper, an
approach to improve the bandwidth is investigated. It is shown
that the bandwidth can be widened by designing the rectangular
element loaded at the feeding line as short as possible. The
redesigned PIFA in this paper has approximately twice (210MHz)
the bandwidth of the 3dB-axial ratio with a 10dB-return loss than
that of the circularly polarized PIFA previously. The antenna area
is 0.068OOc2 (Oc : the wavelength at the center frequency). The
antenna is small in size.
The antenna is fed by a coplanar feed line. The relative dielectric
constant, the thickness and the loss tangent of the dielectric
substrate are Hr =3.6, h=1.6mm and tanG= 0.022, respectively.
The size of the dielectric substrate is ܹ௔ ൈ‫ܮ‬௔ . To guarantee that
the whole SMA receptacle is placed on the bottom side of the
dielectric substrate, the feed point is set to ܹ௖ =3mm. The ground
planes on the front surface are connected to the outer conductor
of the SMA receptacle by two conductor pins at ܹ௖ =3mm and
‫ܮ‬௖ =5.5mm .

Keywords—printed inverted-F antenna (PIFA), circular

rectangular
polarization, bandwidth, ISM band
element
I. INTRODUCTION La

So far, some printed compact antennas for circular Lb

polarization have been proposed [1][2]. The antennas proposed S aL S aR h
in [1] and [2] are based on the printed monopole antenna and We
the printed slot antenna, respectively. Their bandwidths of the Le
10dB-return loss with a 3dB-axial ratio are relatively wide dielectric Ps
Ls
(greater than 10%). However, the antenna areas are from 0.1 Wd Hr Wf Hr
ga Ws Ws
OF2 to 0.2OF2 . Their sizes are not so small. Wa Lffs ga
As one of the printed antennas, printed inverted-F antenna feeding line
(PIFA) is very popular [3]. Authors have proposed a small PIFA W g
L
Wc WgR
for circular polarization for the ISM band [4]. The antenna area
is approximately 0.069OF2 (less than 0.1OF2). In the PIFA Lc Lc
designed in [4], the bandwidth of the 10dB-return loss with a L
coxial feed
3dB-axial ratio is 2.40GHz-2.50GHz (4.1%). The bandwidth L g LRg
satisfies the specification of the ISM band. In order to keep the ground plane
communication as high quality as possible, however, it is Fig. 1 A proposed PIFA for circular polarization
desirable for the bandwidth to be as wide as possible. In this
paper, an approach for enhancement of the bandwidth is
proposed. For the simulations in this paper, the simulation III. RESULTS AND DISCUSSION
software package FEKO, which is based on the method of From [4], the following things have been clarified. The
moment, is used. rectangular element’s length LS hardly influences the bandwidth
of 10dB-return loss in the lower frequency band (around
II. ANENNA DESIGN 2.5GHz). Moreover, the length LS doesn’t influence the
Figure 1 shows a proposed PIFA. A rectangular element is frequency at the maximum return loss. To the contrary, the
loaded at the feeding line of the conventional PIFA [3] bandwidth of the 3dB-axial ratio becomes narrower and the
perpendicularly. The location of the rectangular element is at the frequency at the minimum axial ratio becomes lower as the
distance ܲ௦ from the front radiation element. The length and length LS increases. Therefore, as the length LS increases, the
frequency band at the 3dB-axial ratio can be overlapped with
width of the rectangular element are ‫ܮ‬௦ and ܹ௦ , respectively.
that at the 10dB-return loss. However, the bandwidth of the

978-1-5386-0465-6/17/$31.00 ©2017 IEEE ISAP2017, Phuket, Thailand

10dB-return loss with a 3dB-axial ratio decreases. From these
results, it is found that the bandwidth can be enhanced by
designing the antenna with the rectangular element as short as
possible. Therefore, the frequency at the minimum axial ratio
must be made as close as possible to the frequency at the
maximum return loss before loading the rectangular element.
Figures 2(a) and (b) show the return loss and the axial ratio
for change of the width ‫ܮ‬ோ௚ of the right side of the ground plan
in the conventional PIFA. It can be confirmed that as the width
‫ܮ‬ோ௚ increases, the frequency at the minimum axial ratio shifts to
the frequency at the maximum return loss ɿ
In consideration of the results of the parametric studies
mentioned above, the PIFA with the rectangular element is
redesigned. Figure 3 shows the return loss and the axial ratio of
the redesigned PIFA. The simulated results of the PIFA
designed in [4] are also shown for comparison. The bandwidth
of the 10dB-return loss of the redesigned PIFA in this paper is
narrower than that in the PIFA designed in [4]. However, the
bandwidth of the 10dB-retun loss with a 3dB-axial ratio
becomes twice (210MHz, 8.5%) that of the PIFA in [4]. The
antenna area is 0.068Oc2 (0.18Oc times 0.37Oc). The antenna size
is kept small.
0 return loss [dB]
5
-5
return loss [dB]
IV. CONCLUSION
An approach for enhancement of the bandwidth of the PIFA
for circular polarization has been discussed. In the proposed
PIFA for circular polarization, a rectangular element is loaded
at the feeding line perpendicularly. The bandwidth is enhanced
by designing the rectangular element as short as possible. In the
redesigned PIFA, the bandwidth of the 10dB-return loss with a
3dB-axial ratio is 210MHz (8.5%) and the antenna area is
0.068Oc2.
REFERENCES
[1] S. Ahdi Rezaeieh, A. Abbosh and M. A. Antoniades, “Compact CPW-fed
planar monopole antenna with wide circular polarization bandwidth,”
IEEE Antennas and Wireless Propagation. vol. 12, pp. 1295-1298, 2013.
[2] J.-Y. Sze and Y.-H. Ou, “Compact CPW-fed square aperture CP antenna
for GPS and Inmarsat application,” Microw. Opt. Technol. Lett., 49, 2, pp.
427-430, Feb. 2007.
[3] K.-L. Wong, “Planar antennas for wireless communications,” K. Chang,
Chapter 3, pp.72-126, John Willey & Sons, New Jersey, 2003.
[4] T. Fujimoto and T. Yoshida, “A printed inverted-F anenna for circular
polarization,” Proceedings of IEEE Antennas & Propagation Society
International Symposium, pp. 2171-2172, July 2016.
00
-5
5
-10
10

10
-10 -15
15
R
15 :L 14.25mm
-15 g
-20
20
R
:L g 16.25mm : Reference [4]
20
-20 25
-25
: LRg 18.25mm
25 : this paper
-25 : LRg 20.25mm 30
-30
30
-30 2 2.2 2.4 2.6 2.8 3 3.2 3.4
2 2.5 3 3.5 4 frequency [GHz]
frequency [GHz] (a) Return loss
(a) Return loss 6.0
6.0
5.0
5.0
axial ratio [dB]
axial ratio [dB]

4.0
4.0
3.0
3.0
2.0 2.0
: Reference [4]
1.0 1.0
: this paper
0.0 0.0
2 2.5 3 3.5 4 2 2.2 2.4 2.6 2.8 3 3.2 3.4
frequency [GHz] frequency [GHz]
(b) Axial ratio (b) axial ratio
Fig.2 Simulated results for change of Fig.3 Simulated results of the redesigned PIFA
the width of the right side of the ground plane ሺܹ௔ ൌ ʹʹǡ ‫ܮ‬௔ ൌ Ͷͷǡ ‫ܮ‬௅௚ ൌ ͳ͹Ǥʹͷǡ ‫ܮ‬ோ௚ ൌ ʹͲǤʹͷǡ ܹ௚௅ ൌ ܹ௚ோ ൌ ͳͳǤͷ,
(ܹ௔ ൌ ʹ͸ǡ ‫ܮ‬௔ ൌ ͶͲǡ ‫ܮ‬௅௚ ൌ ͳ͸Ǥʹͷǡ ܹ௚௅ ൌ ܹ௚ோ ൌ ͳͳǤͷ, ݂௦ ൌ ͷǤͷǡ ݃௔ ൌ ͳǤͲǡ ௔௅ ൌ ௔ோ ൌ ʹǤͲǡ ‫ܮ‬௦ ൌ ͳͳǤͷǡ ܹ௦ ൌ ͵ǤͲǡ ܲ௦ ൌ ʹǤͷ
݂௦ ൌ ͷǤͷǡ ݃௔ ൌ ͳǤͲǡ ௔௅ ൌ ௔ோ ൌ Ͳ unit:mm) unit:mm)

978-1-5386-0465-6/17/$31.00 ©2017 IEEE ISAP2017, Phuket, Thailand