IEEE ANTENNAS AND WIRELESS PROPAGATION LETTERS, VOL.
13, 2014
Design of a Dual-Band, Electrically Small, Parasitic
Array Antenna
Jay Yu, Yen Le, Student Member, IEEE, and Sungkyun Lim, Member, IEEE
Abstract—A new design of an electrically small parasitic array
antenna to obtain dual bands is suggested. The antenna comprises
a driver and two directors, where all elements are bent in rectan-
gular shapes to reduce the antenna size. Two resonances nearby
each other are achieved by twisting vertical segments into helical
shapes, starting from the ground of both directors. The overall
volume of the antenna is mm mm
mm ( ), and the electrical size, , is 0.8. The max-
imum realized gains in the director direction are greater than
8.4 dBi at both resonant frequencies.
Index Terms—Dual-band antennas, electrically small antennas,
parasitic antennas.
I. INTRODUCTION
T HE SIGNIFICANCE of electrically small antennas has
been increasing as a result of greater demand for porta-
bility in wireless communications systems. Parasitic array an-
tennas, on the other hand, have been used in many wireless ap-
plications because of their simplicity in conjunction with their
customizable high gain (the gain can be adjusted by using dif-
ferent numbers of directors) [1]. To date, considerable work has
been devoted to the development of electrically small, parasitic
array antennas. An electrically small, parasitic array antenna,
reported in [2], is composed of two elements, a driver and a
director. Similar to a traditional Yagi–Uda antenna, the length
of the director is slightly shorter than that of the driver. Both
antenna elements, however, are wound into rectangular spiral
shapes for antenna height reduction. The electrical size of
( is the wavenumber, and is the antenna height) of the ele-
ments is 0.6. The spacing between the driver and the director is
reduced to by constructing the driver with multiple fold-
ings. Yaghjian et al. also suggested an electrically small, par-
asitic array antenna [3]. The antenna consists of two equally
sized, top-loaded elements, where one can be used as a parasitic
element by tuning the lumped-component installed on the an-
tenna elements. The separation between two elements is , cept for those of the driver, are optimized using the GA. The pa-
and the height of the antenna is reduced to by utilizing
a top-loaded structure.
Manuscript received May 02, 2014; revised June 22, 2014; accepted July 15,
2014. Date of publication July 18, 2014; date of current version August 06,
2014.
J. Yu is with SPAWAR Systems Center Pacific, Pearl City, HI 96782 USA
(e-mail:jay.yu1@navy.mil).
Y. Le and S. Lim are with the Department of Electrical Engineering,
Georgia Southern University, Statesboro, GA 30460 USA (e-mail:
yl00130@georgiasouthern.edu; sklim@georgiasouthern.edu).
Color versions of one or more of the figures in this letter are available online
at http://ieeexplore.ieee.org.
Digital Object Identifier 10.1109/LAWP.2014.2341041
1536-1225 © 2014 IEEE. Personal use is permitted, but republication/redistribution requires IEEE permission.
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1453
Using dual- or multiband antennas is another way to enhance
the portability of wireless communications applications. For
some wireless equipment, more than one antenna is employed
in multiple applications, which requires each antenna to operate
in a different frequency band [4]. By replacing these antennas
with a dual- or multiband antenna, the size of the device can
be reduced. In [5], parasitic array antennas are designed for
this multiband capability. The lengths of directors are different
from each other, and they are twisted into helical shapes to
achieve multiple resonances. As a result, only one director
operates at each frequency band, and multiband capability can
be generated if more than one helical-shaped director is used.
In this letter, an electrically small, dual-band parasitic array
antenna is designed by combining the concept of rectangular-
shaped antenna elements from [2] for size reduction with the
idea of helical-shaped directors from [5] for dual-band perfor-
mance. From the ground plane, different lengths and radii of
two directors are twisted upward in a counterclockwise direc-
tion by sharing a common center. Twisting those directors helps
to eliminate the radiation interference produced between them;
therefore, dual bands can be generated. Since the main radiation
is developed mostly in the lower portion of the antenna (near the
ground plane), only the vertical components of two directors are
twisted. Then, at the end of the twisted directors, two elements
are bent a few times to minimize the antenna size. The dimen-
sions of the antenna design are optimized for maximum realized
gains at 1.65 and 1.75 GHz using the genetic algorithm (GA) [6].
The prototype of the optimized design is then fabricated, and the
measured results are compared to the simulated ones.
II. ANTENNA DESIGN
Fig. 1 shows the configuration of the proposed dual-band, elec-
trically small, parasitic array antenna. The antenna consists of a
folded driver and two directors. The dimensions in the figure, ex-
rameters of the driver components ( , , , and in Fig. 1) are ex-
cluded in the optimization to reduce the number of variables. In-
stead, those driver components are manually tuned (without the
presence of the directors) to a resonant frequency of 1.65 GHz.
Other parameters in the director components ( and )
and the spacing between the driver and two directors ( ) are used
as variables. In addition, the radii and starting positions (loca-
tions of the two directors connecting the ground plane) of two
helical-shaped directors are included in the GA optimization.
The cost function is
(1)
1454
Fig. 1. Configuration of the electrically small, parasitic array antenna:
(a) slanted view; (b) top view.
where and are the realized gains (both in dBi values)
in the director’s direction at the frequency of 1.65 and 1.75 GHz,
respectively. The Goal in (1) is fixed at 10 dBi, which is the
achievable realized gain of the monopole form of a typical,
full-sized, two-element (a driver and director) parasitic array an-
tenna, as discussed in [7]. It is expected that the achievable real-
ized gain of the electrically small version would be around 1 dB
lower than that of the full-sized version due to lower directivity
in the electrically small version [2].
The driver is constructed using straight wires that are bent
twice to achieve the size reduction. The stretched length of the
tuned driver is 46.6 mm ( ), shown in Fig. 1. The wave-
length, , is calculated using the resonant frequency of the driver
(1.65 GHz). As demonstrated in [2] and [7], moreover, the mul-
tiple foldings are employed on the driver to reduce the spacing
between the driver and directors. The optimized spacing be-
tween the middle arm of the driver and the center of two twisted
directors is 16.4 mm ( ), as depicted in Fig. 1(b).
Next, the two directors are designed with helical shapes, in
which they are wound in a counterclockwise direction (starting
from the ground plane) with different radii. The helical radius
in Director 1 is 2.2 mm ( ), and that in Director 2 is
3.0 mm ( ). Then, similar to the driver, both directors are
bent into rectangular shapes to minimize the antenna size. If
the two directors are stretched into straight wires, the lengths
are 48.3 mm ( ) for Director 1 and 52.3 mm ( ) band is 20.7 dB. The measured minimum
for Director 2. The GA creates longer lengths in the directors
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IEEE ANTENNAS AND WIRELESS PROPAGATION LETTERS, VOL. 13, 2014
Fig. 2. Prototype of the proposed antenna.
Fig. 3. Simulated and measured of the proposed antenna.
than in the driver because of the current cancellations in the
horizontal portion of the helical-shaped directors. Since the two
directors have different lengths, they generate two distinct op-
erating frequencies. These two operating frequencies can be
shifted by changing the length of directors. Director 1 controls
the lower operating frequency, whereas Director 2 corresponds
to the upper operating frequency. Furthermore, the different
pitch angle of the helical-shaped directors helps to eliminate the
radiation interference that otherwise occurs from one director
to the other. As a result, dual-band capability is achieved from
the two helical-shaped directors, and the antenna performs as
a two-element parasitic array at each resonant frequency. The
overall volume of the antenna design is mm
mm mm , and a of 0.8 is
achieved.
III. SIMULATED AND MEASURED RESULTS
For simulation, infinite ground plane was implemented.
The prototype of the antenna was constructed on a
cm cm ground plane using
copper wire with a radius of 0.5 mm. The prototype of the
proposed antenna used for the measurement is shown in Fig. 2.
Fig. 3 shows the comparison of the simulated and measured
. The minimum value of the simulated for the lower
frequency band is 29.7 dB, and that for the upper frequency
at 1.65 GHz is
21.9 dB, and that at 1.75 GHz is 14.9 dB. The simulated
YU et al.: DUAL-BAND, ELECTRICALLY SMALL, PARASITIC ARRAY ANTENNA
Fig. 4. Simulated and measured realized gain patterns of the proposed antenna:
(a) azimuth pattern at the frequency of 1.65 GHz; (b) azimuth pattern at the
frequency of 1.75 GHz.
10-dB bandwidths are 1.2% for the lower frequency band and
0.2% for the upper frequency band, whereas the measurement
shows bandwidths of 1.8% and 0.5%, respectively. The agree-
ment between the simulation and measurement is good except
that the measured bandwidths are broader than simulated ones,
which is likely due to soldering junction in fabrication process.
The simulated radiation efficiency of the antenna at 1.65 GHz
is 98.3%, and that at 1.75 GHz is 98.1%. The radiation effi-
ciency is also measured using the Wheeler cap method [8].
The measured radiation efficiency at 1.65 GHz is found to be
86.0%, and that at 1.75 GHz is 79.9%. The measured radiation
efficiencies indicate that the solder, which has less conductivity
than that of the copper wire, lowered radiation efficiency as
well as increased the bandwidths of the antenna.
Next, the realized gain of the proposed antenna is inves-
tigated. The simulated realized gain patterns in the azimuth
plane are compared to the measured results in Fig. 4. The
simulated maximum realized gain at 1.65 GHz is 8.54 dBi, and
the front-to-back ratio is 9.68 dB. At 1.75 GHz, the maximum
realized gain obtained is 8.87 dBi with a front-to-back ratio
of 13.9 dB. The maximum simulated directivity and gain are
8.62 and 8.55 dB at 1.65 GHz, and those at 1.75 GHz are 8.99
and 8.91 dB, respectively. In the fabricated antenna, maximum
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1455
Fig. 5. Current magnitude distribution of the antenna: (a) at the frequency of
1.65 GHz; (b) at the frequency of 1.75 GHz.
TABLE I
CURRENT PHASE DIFFERENCES BETWEEN THE DRIVER AND DIRECTORS
realized gains of 8.43 and 8.59 dBi are measured at 1.65 and
1.75 GHz, and the front-to-back ratios are 6.63 and 9.67 dB,
respectively. Simulated cross polarization is also studied. The
maximum cross polarization is 19.1 dB at 1.65 GHz, and that
at 1.75 GHz is 17.1 dB. Compared to copolarization, cross
polarization is negligible. In both simulated and measured re-
sults, the maximum realized gains are observed in the direction
of the director. The overall measurements agree fairly well
with the simulations, although slightly lower realized gains are
measured.
The simulated current magnitude distributions at 1.65 and
1.75 GHz are presented in Fig. 5, and current phase differences
between the driver and two directors are shown in Table I. First,
the maximum current magnitude is observed at the operating
director (Fig. 5). For instance, Director 1 has the maximum cur-
rent magnitude at 1.65 GHz, which makes Director 1 a main
radiator of the antenna at this frequency. On the other hand,
Director 2 negligibly interacts with Director 1 because of rel-
atively week currents compared to Director 1 and orthogonal
pitch angle with Director 1 in the twisted helical shapes. Second,
current phase difference between the driver and the operating
director is nearly anti-phase (180 ). For example, at 1.65 GHz,
the phase difference between the driver and Director 1 is 166.3 ,
whereas that between the driver and Director 2 is 5.4 . As a re-
sult, only Director 1 stays in operating mode, which is similar
to operation of a conventional two-element Yagi–Uda antenna
1456 IEEE ANTENNAS AND WIRELESS PROPAGATION LETTERS, VOL. 13, 2014

Finally, parameter studies of the antenna have been per-

formed to verify the operating frequency range. First, when the
helical radius of director 1 is varied from 1.9 mm ( ) to
2.6 mm ( ) while Director 2 is fixed at 3.0 mm ( ),
the tunable range of the lower band is 1.62–1.67 GHz, as de-
picted in Fig. 6(a). In this range, the lower band is maintained
with an below 10 dB. Similarly, the range of the upper
frequency band is found to be 1.71–1.76 GHz if the helical
radius of Director 2 is modified from 2.9 mm ( ) to
3.4 mm ( ) while Director 1 is fixed at 2.2 mm ( ).
These results verify that Director 1 corresponds to the lower
band, whereas Director 2 controls the upper band. Second,
the end tip of each director ( and from Fig. 1) was altered,
and the result is shown in Fig. 6(b). As it shows, the range of
operating frequency is 1.63–1.67 GHz when changes from
6.7 mm ( ) to 9.7 mm ( ). Moreover, changing
from 4.3 mm ( ) to 5.8 mm ( ) results in shifting
the upper frequency from 1.73 to 1.76 GHz. Finally, a param-
eter study on element spacing between driver and directors (
in Fig. 1) was conducted. Unlike in the previous two cases,
the tunable range of both the lower and upper frequency is
almost negligible, as shown in Fig. 6(c). This study shows that
altering the helical radius results in the most tunable frequency
range because, as discussed in [9], a large tunable range can
be achieved by tuning the section where the strongest current
flows. In this case, the helical-shaped director is where the
strongest current flows (Fig. 5).

IV. CONCLUSION
An electrically small, parasitic array antenna was de-
signed for dual-band operation by implementing twisted,
helical-shaped directors. Both the driver and directors were
bent into rectangular shapes to minimize the overall size of
the antenna, and the dimensions were optimized for maximum
realized gain in the director direction. The total volume of
the antenna is mm mm
mm . At both frequency bands, realized gains
of greater than 8.4 dBi and front-to-back ratios of more than
6.6 dB were measured.

Fig. 6. Parameter studies by varying the antenna components: (a) varying the
helical radius; (b) varying the length of end tip of antenna; (c) varying the ele-
ment spacing.
with a driver and director. Interestingly, although the stretched
length of Director 1 is shorter than that of Director 2 as men-
tioned in Section II, Director 1 covers the lower frequency band
and Director 2 does the upper frequency band. The reason is
mainly because Director 2 has more current cancellation gen-
erated by longer horizontal portion due to larger helical radius
and lower height than Director 1.
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RS3002, 2008.
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[6] Y. Rahmat-Samii and E. Michielssen, Electromagnetic Optimization
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