Increasing the Gain of a Semicircular Slot UWB Antenna

Using an FSS Reflector

Y. Ranga1, K. P. Esselle2, L. Matekovits3 and S. G. Hay1

Abstract −In this paper we demonstrate the gain enhancement radiated power (EIRP) at the transmitter end, one
of a semicircular slot antenna using a multilayer frequency- way to enhance system performance is to increase
selective surface (FSS). A theoretical analysis of the FSS with a
UWB semicircular slot antenna is presented. The multilayer antenna gain at the receiver end. Moreover, using a
FSS provides an appropriate reflection phase to act as a directional transmitting antenna helps to reduce
reflector and is able to enhance the gain of the slot antenna. emissions in undesired directions. This could be
Simulations show a linear phase response from 3.5 GHz to 12 desirable where a narrower field of view can be
GHz that is sufficient for ultra wideband operation. A
significant improvement of 3 to 4 dB gain over the whole tolerated like in GPR and line-of-sight (LOS)
frequency range is demonstrated. The composite antenna has a communication systems.
theoretical gain of 8 dBi and a very small maximum gain
variation of ±1.5 dB over the 3.5 to 10 GHz frequency range.
Its compact configuration provides flexibility for mounting the
reflector close to the slot antenna and makes it more suitable
for modern UWB devices.

1 INTRODUCTION

In 2002, the Federal Communications Commission

(FCC) [1] allocated a license-free spectrum for UWB
systems from 3.1 GHz to 10.6 GHz. This offers an
enormous bandwidth of 7.5 GHz at a centre
frequency of 6.85 GHz. Actually research in UWB
technology started much earlier in the early 50s and
gained momentum in the 60s. In the past, ground-
penetrating radar (GPR) was the main application of
this technology, initially targeted for land-mine (a)
detection in the military sector [2], [3]. Later, UWB
technology was also found useful in may civilian
applications such as the detection of trapped people
[4] or non-destructive evaluation of concrete,
pavements, and walls [3], [4]. Some UWB products
are already commercially available, e.g. a wall
scanner for the analysis of building material [5].
Since 2002, UWB research has also played a
significant role in communications. The
performances of several UWB systems have been
evaluated for various communications [6] and
multimedia-terminal scenarios [7]. These studies (b)
highlight the limitations incurred due to antenna Figure 1 (a) SSA over the dual-layer FSS reflector.
imperfections in various systems. The overall The unit cell geometry is shown in the inset. Unit cell
performance of the UWB system should be of the FSS first layer: x=y=15, b=12, g=0.9, t=1.6;
considered when designing UWB antennas. For most Unit cell of the FSS second layer that has dual band
of these systems, the improvement of the link-budget, behavior has all dimensions same as in layer 1 except
even by a few dB, is of huge practical importance, d=1.0 mm; Gray areas have metal coating. (b) CPW
because of the constraints imposed by regulators, e.g. fed semicircular slot antenna [10]. Many scenarios in
FCC, on the transmitted power. Since regulatory UWB short range communications are indeed LOS or
limits are defined in terms of the effective isotropic quasi-LOS. Most directional antennas are larger than
1
CSIRO, ICT Centre, PO Box 76, NSW 1710, Australia, e-mail: yogeshwar.ranga@csiro.au and stuart.hay@csiro.au , tel.: +61 2 93724320.
2
Department of Electronic Engineering, Macquarie University, NSW 2109, e-mail: karu.esselle@mq.edu.au.
3
Politecnico di Torino, Dipartimento di Elettronica e Telecomunicazioni, C.so Duca degli Abruzzi, 24, Torino 10129 Italy, Email:
ladislau.matekovits@polito.it

978-1-4673-0405-4/12/$31.00 ©2012 IEEE

478
omni-directional antennas, whereas several UWB individual and combined layers, and the reflection
systems require small, easily integrating, simple and phase of the dual-layer FSS reflector.
low-cost antennas.
A reflector operating over the entire UWB frequency
band may provide a suitable solution to enhance the
gain of printed UWB antennas. Designing such a
reflector for a bandwidth of 110% is a challenging
task indeed. In narrow-band systems, metallic
reflectors are placed at a distance of Ȝ/4; the
electrical length of the forward and backward paths
compensates the out-of-phase reflection from the
metallic plate, and the entire energy is radiated in the
direction opposite to the screen thanks to the
constructive interference between the two rays. Due
to wide bandwidth and size constraints this solution
is not feasible in UWB systems. In recent years, the
development of periodic structures has helped to
solve some of the crucial antenna problems. With the
possibility of creating a perfect magnetic conductor (a)
(PMC) and its in-phase reflection, efficient radiation
has been obtained from antennas placed close to an
electromagnetic band-gap (EBG) ground plane [8]. A
unified approach to design a UWB antenna reflector
has been recently presented by these authors in [9].
This paper makes use of the FSS reflector concept
and tests this idea on ultra wideband slot antennas. In
particular, here, a semicircular slot antenna (SSA)
[10] is taken as the reference antenna and the gain
enhancement of the SSA over the overall UWB
frequency range is demonstrated.

2 ANTENNA AND DUAL-LAYER FSS

DESIGN
We choose one of our previous designs [10] of a
compact CPW-fed SSA with a simple CPW-to-CPW
transition as the reference antenna. A detailed
investigation on improving gain of SSA while
maintaining impedance bandwidth is carried out in
our current research. In this antenna, better matching
to the resonant modes of the semicircular slot is
obtained by integrating step and taper transitions to
the CPW feed line. The impedance bandwidth of the
designed antenna, defined by the 10 dB return loss,
extends from 3.0 GHz to 11.6 GHz (i.e. a percentage
bandwidth of 118%). Fig. 1 shows the design of
CPW-fed SSA and the geometry of FSS reflector unit
cell. The FSS unit cells play a critical role in the
design of the reflector. The first layer of the FSS
combines cross dipole and square loop elements and
the second layer consist of similar unit cell with an
additional slit in the square loop. Simultaneous
optimization of both layers yielded a stop band from
3.5 to 11.5 GHz. More interestingly the reflection
phase is almost linear across the whole band. A
complete parametric study of this FSS is available in
[9]. Fig. 2 shows the transmission coefficients of
(b)
Figure 2 (a) Comparison of transmission through
Layer 1, Layer 2 and combined dual-layer FSS (Layer
1 and 2) (b) Predicted reflection phase and
transmission coefficient of the dual-layer FSS.
The predicted results were obtained using waveguide
simulation technique in CST Microwave Studio.
The layer-1 reflects higher frequencies while layer-2
resonates at lower frequencies in addition to a stop
band produced by layer-1. The combined effects of
layer-1 and layer-2 yield an ultra-wide stop band and
also fulfill the linear phase requirement explained in
[11]. Once the transmission magnitude and reflection
phase of the FSS were optimized, an array of unit
cells combined together with the SSA was
considered. The placement of the antenna over the
reflector is critical. Fig. 3 shows the optimization of
the height of the antenna over the reflector screen.
The gap between the reflector and the antenna has
been varied from 0 mm to 16mm. Following the
parametric study, the optimum height of 10 mm has
been chosen, which yields a comfortable response in
the entire FCC UWB bandwidth and even beyond.

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 (a)
Figure 3 Optimization of the antenna position over the
FSS

3 RESULTS AND DISCUSSION

With the use of a dual-layer FSS reflector the gain

increases over the entire frequency band. The
performance enhancement due to the FSS-based
reflector is evaluated with the UWB semicircular slot
antenna shown in Fig. 1. The predicted input
reflection coefficient and gain are shown in Fig. 4 (a)
and Fig. 4 (b), respectively. The reflector does not
affect the antenna return loss significantly. More
importantly, the antenna with the reflector maintains
a good impedance match (return loss > 9 dB) over the
entire FCC UWB band from 3.1 to 10.6 GHz. The
gain enhancement due to the reflector is noticed in (b)
Fig. 4(b) across the entire band. The minimum gain Figure 4 (a) Theoretical input reflection coefficient of
enhancement is about 2.5 dB, at the lower end of the the SSA with and without the reflector; (b) Theoretical
UWB band, and the maximum gain enhancement is gain of the SSA with and without the reflector.
about 4 dB at 4.2 GHz. The maximum gain is 9.5 dBi
at 4.2 GHz. The gain variation is ± 1.5 dB from 3 Acknowledgments
GHz to 10 GHz. Antenna radiation patterns with and
without the reflector screen are plotted in Fig. 5. Fig. This work was a part of Y. Ranga’s PhD studies
5 (a) shows the radiation pattern of the CPW-fed SSA carried out at Macquarie University, supported by
at 3 GHz. The antenna has typical radiation patterns of iMQRES and ARC. Research of L. Matekovits was
a slot antenna with bidirectional radiation and beams supported by Marie Curie International Outgoing
are towards the ±900 directions. With the addition of Fellowship within the 7th European Community
the reflector the patterns become uni-directional, Figs. Framework Programme. Authors thank Dr Andrew
5 (b), (c), and (d) show the radiation patterns of the Weily from CSIRO, for useful discussions during the
SSA with the reflector at 3 GHz, 6 GHz and 10 GHz, course of this work.
respectively. At lower frequencies the beam is strongly
directional but with the increase of frequency the beam
starts splitting. This can be easily noted in Fig. 5(d).
This beam splitting is not due to the reflector but an
inherent property of this slot antenna at higher
frequencies. One can use an antenna with a more
stable radiation, with this reflector, to get a more
directive beam at higher frequencies.

480
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