3.3.

5 Design and Fabrication

We use the Ansys HFSS Simulator Software to design the UWB microstrip circular patch
antenna to get the better results and HFSS are easy to use for design and analysis of various types
of antenna’s. Our main goal is to achieve the return loss of -10db or smaller than -10db for the
ultra wideband range (3.1 – 10.6) Ghz. For designing of UWB we use FR4 epoxy as a substrate
whose relative permittivity (∈r = 4.4). "FR" stands for flame retardant. FR-4 is a common
material for printed circuit boards (PCBs). A thin layer of copper foil is typically laminated to
one or both sides of an FR-4 glass epoxy panel. These are commonly referred to as copper clad
laminates.

Radiation Box and It’s Dimensions :-

We use Vacuum for the Radiation Box. The radiation box should always have at least a quarter
wavelength in the embedding medium (usually a vacuum) between the closest radiating edge and
the closest edge of the box, at the lowest frequency.

Dimensions :-

Name Value Unit Evaluated Value

Command Rad Box
Coordinate Sys Global
Position -20,-20,-20 mm -20mm, -20mm,-20mm
X Size 40 mm 40mm
Y Size 40 mm 40mm
Z Size 40 mm 40mm
Substrate and It’s Dimensions :-

FR4 epoxy is used for substrate. FR-4 epoxy is a popular and versatile high-pressure thermoset
plastic laminate grade with good strength to weight ratios. With near zero water absorption, FR-4
is most commonly used as an electrical insulator possessing considerable mechanical strength.

Dimensions :-

Name Value Unit Evaluated Value

Command Rad Box
Coordinate Sys Global
Position -12,-12.5,0 mm -12mm, -12.5mm, 0mm
X Size 25 mm 25mm
Y Size 26 mm 26mm
Z Size 1.6 mm 1.6mm
Microstrip Circular Patch and Dimensions :-

A circular microstrip patch antenna designing is easier than other patch configuration as we only
need one design parameter i.e. radius of the patch. A schematic of circular patch antenna is
shown in below figure.

The circular patch antenna is designed on a FR4 substrate with dielectric constant εr = 4.4 and
height of the substrate is 1.6mm. Several antenna characteristics such as return loss, radiation
pattern, percentage bandwidth, directivity, antenna gain, radiation efficiency etc. are studied. The
designed circular patch antenna shows return loss value well below -10dB. The microstrip
antennas are mostly a broadside radiator. The patch is designed in such a way so that its pattern
is maximum normal to it. End-fire radiator can also be chosen by proper mode selection. The
microstrip patch antennas is one of the most useful antennas working at microwave frequencies
(f > 1 GHz). It consists of a metallic “patch” on top of the dielectric substrate and below the
dielectric material it has ground plane. The position of the feed has to be changed as before to
control the input impedance [7, 8]. The patch, microstrip transmission line (or input, output pin
of coaxial probe), and ground plane are made of high conductive material (typically copper). The
patch may be in a variety of shapes, but rectangular and circular are the most common because
ease of analysis and fabrication, attractive radiation characteristics, especially low cross
polarization.

Dimensions :-
 Name Value Unit Evaluated Value
Command Circle
Coordinate Sys Global
Position -11.5,0,1.6 mm -11.5mm,0mm,1.6mm
Axis Z
Radius 12 mm 12mm
No of Segment 0 0

we subtract half circle for better result. We take a rectangle of dimension mentioned below and
finally we subtracted this rectangle from the circle to achieve the better return loss i.e., -10dB.
And after subtracted we get the final design of circular patch as seen in the below figure.

Subtracted Rectangle dimension :-

Name Value Unit Evaluated Value

Command Rectangle
Coordinate Sys Global
Position -12,13.5,1.6 mm -12mm,-13.5mm,1.6mm
Axis Z
X Size -12 mm -12mm
Y Size -27.5 mm -27.5mm
Ground and It’s Dimension :-

Grounding will eliminate static electricity, as well as protect against energy to the mast if the
antenna comes in contact with live electrical wires. a ground plane is a flat or nearly flat
horizontal conducting surface that serves as part of an antenna, to reflect the radio waves from
the other antenna elements. The plane does not necessarily have to be connected to ground.

Dimensions :-

Name Value Unit Evaluated Value

Command Rectangle
Coordinate Sys Global
Position 1.5,12.5,0.6 mm 1.5mm,12.5mm,0.6mm
Axis Z
X Size 11.5 mm 11.5mm
Y Size 26 mm 26mm
Boundaries PerfE1 :-

Return Loss :-
A measure of the loss of power in the signal reflected by a transmission line to a load, such as an
antenna usually expressed in decibels (dB) as the logarithmic ratio of relative magnitudes of
input power and reflected power. Return loss is a power lost of returned or reflected signal by a
discontinuity of transmission line. Return loss gives the measure of how well a device is
matched. A device is said to be well matched if the return loss is high.
Simulation Results and Discussions :-
The HFSS designed model of circular microstrip patch antenna is simulated and a various
antenna characteristics are obtained. Figure shows the return loss plot of the designed circular
patch antenna. The microstrip circular patch antenna shows a resonance peak at 10.26GHz and
gives return loss value equal to -25.09dB. This shows that almost a perfect feed configuration is
achieved, i.e. patch and feed line are in perfect impedance matching state.

Conclusion :-

In this paper, we have presented the design and simulation of a Circular Microstrip patch
Antenna for the frequency range 3.1- 10.6 Ghz The simulated results of circular microstrip patch
antenna shows good directivity and gain value. Output short pulse is generated by designing the
circuit in Ansys HFSS software. This is the simplest circuit for generation of UWB pulse. We
have got low frequency pulse. To obtain UWB pulses for 3.1-10.6 GHz range. Then the output
file is exported from Ansys HFSS software . After that we have checked that the frequency range
of the output pulse is approximately between 3.1-10.6 GHz.
This paper presents the performance of a microstrip circular patch as UWB antenna. The
simulated result for the return loss shows that the bandwidth over the ultra wideband frequency
range can be achieved by suitably adjusting the antenna parameters. The simulated results has
been verified with measured results using network analyzer.
However, the results acquired show that the antenna design and structure need more refinement
in order to achieve an ultimate design that would have a more solid performance under the
defined specifications.

References :-

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