KUNDU ET AL.

| 1417

Microwave and Millimeter Wave Technology, ICMMT; 2008: efficiency of 85%. The antenna bandwidth and group
1131–1133.
delay responses were measured in close proximity of soil
[12] Ayissi Manga A, Gillard R, Loison R, Le Roy-Naneix I, Renard
test bed for varying test bed thicknesses. Relative band-
C. A switching mechanism to reduce scan blindness in phased
arrays. In: 11th European Conference on Antennas and Propaga-
width of more than 114% with non-varying group delay
tion EuCAP; 2017: 3815–3819. response ensure the ability of proposed antenna to work
[13] Hansen RC. Microwave Scanning Antennas, Vol.1, Apertures., for ground coupling ground penetrating radar applications.
New York: Academic Press; 1964.
KEYWORDS

co-planar waveguide, frequency selective surface, gain enhancement,

How to cite this article: Ayissi Manga A, Gillard R, ground penetrating radar, ultra wide-band antenna
Loison R, Le Roy-Naneix I, Renard C. Slot-loaded
patches with a switching mechanism to extend the
scanning range of a phased array subject to scan blind-
ness. Microw Opt Technol Lett. 2018;60:1410–1417. 1 | INTRODUCTION
https://doi.org/10.1002/mop.31177
Ground penetrating radar (GPR) has been conventionally
Received: 31 October 2017
used to scan the sub-surface objects using electromagnetic
wave propagation. GPR must be operated below 960 MHz
DOI: 10.1002/mop.31171
or in frequency band 3.1–10.6 GHz to detect the image of
buried objects.1 Ultra-wideband (UWB) antenna that can
Gain enhancement of a printed provide wide bandwidth with high radiation efficiency
(70%), non-varying gain (variation 2 dBi), and linear
leaf shaped UWB antenna using phase response are suitable to use in GPR. Usually horn,2
dual FSS layers and Vivaldi,3 and bowtie4 antenna were used for GPR applica-
tions but bulky sizes of horn and Vivaldi antenna and low
experimental study for ground gain, higher dispersion of bowtie antenna are real constraint.
GPR devices can be used in air-coupling mode5–7 and
coupling GPR applications ground coupling mode.7,8 Wide antenna bandwidth is crucial
to achieve as it can increase the GPR lateral resolution.9 Also
Surajit Kundu1 | Ayan Chatterjee2 | high gain and maximum radiation in the broad-side direction
is another requirement that can improve GPR depth resolu-
Sanjay Kumar Jana1 | tion and suppress the high soil absorption effect which is a
Susanta Kumar Parui2 severe limitation at higher operational frequency. Metallic
reflectors can enhance the antenna gain but the gap between
1
Department of ECE, National Institute of Technology Sikkim, Ravangla, antenna and reflector remains same in such design. Periodic
South Sikkim, India structures such as partially reflective surfaces (PRS) and fre-
2
Department of ECE, Indian Institute of Engineering Science and quency selective surfaces (FSS) are good solutions instead of
Technology, Shibpur, Howrah, India solid metallic reflectors10–12 to enhance antenna gain.
Correspondence A printed leaf-shaped antenna added with dual FSS
Surajit Kundu, Department of Electronics and Communication Engineering, layers under it that can enhance gain by 2–4.5 dBi is pro-
NIT Sikkim, Ravangla, South Sikkim, India. posed in this article. The antenna added with FSS layers is
Email: surajit.kundu@nitsikkim.ac.in
also experimentally studied for ground coupling GPR
applications.
Abstract
A printed leaf shaped compact (40 mm 3 30 mm 3
2 | DESIGN OF ANTENNA AND FSS
0.8 mm) UWB antenna added with dual frequency selec-
LAYERS
tive surfaces (FSS) of dimension 44 mm 3 44 mm 3
1.6 mm is proposed. The FSS layers having 4 3 4 array in
As shown in Figure 1, a leaf-shaped antenna of dimension
each can provide maximum gain of 8.7 dBi and gain
40 mm 3 30 mm 3 0.8 mm as proposed by Kundu and
enhancement by 2–4.5 dBi in the antenna bandwidth of 3–
Jana13 is considered. Compared to conventional circular disk
14.64 GHz. The proposed design also ensures maximum
monopole antenna, effective length of the leaf-shaped
radiation in the broadside direction with average radiation
antenna radiating element was increased by adding three
1418 | KUNDU ET AL.

FIGURE 1 Schematic of (A) antenna, (B) unit cell of top FSS layer, and (C) unit cell of bottom FSS layer [Color figure can be viewed at wileyonline-
library.com]

circular disks of diameter 16, 14, and 4.5 mm respectively. A
CPW fed bended ground plane was considered that can avoid
spurious radiation from sharp edges and improve antenna
bandwidth profile.
The proposed reflective FSS consists of top and bottom
layers that are separated by 4 mm air gaps, can be placed
below the antenna. Each of the FSS layers has a dimension
of 44 mm 3 44 mm 3 1.6 mm and is formed by 4 3 4 array
of unit cells. Top layer’s unit cells were designed by square
radiator embedded with dual square split ring shaped slots
which can enhance the surface current path length. The incre-
ment in path length basically extends the effective wave-
length and decreases the resonating frequency. Jerusalem
cross shaped element10 and a square loop were used in bot-
tom layer’s unit cell geometry as shown in Figure 1. Optimal
dimension of the unit cells are given in Table 1. Wide fre-
quency band with resonance at the middle was aimed to
obtain from the bottom layer and resonating frequency at the
lower and upper part of the operational band was targeted to
obtain by efficient design of slots at the unit cells of top
layer. Optimal structure of the proposed antenna and FSS
layers were fabricated on FR4 substrate that has permittivity
of 4.4 and loss tangent of 0.02. The fabricated prototypes are
shown in Figure 2. The transmission and reflection coeffi-
cients in dB and reflection phase in degree over the
T A BL E 1 Optimal dimensions of FSS top and bottom layers
All values are in mm
Parameter Value Parameter Value Parameter
T1 10.6 P 6 c 8.6
T2 10 Q 0.4 d 1
M 8.6 B1 10.8 e 1.1
N 1 a 2.8 s 0.6
O 5 b 4
frequency band are plotted in Figure 3. It can be seen from
the plot that the FSS can be used as a reflector over the fre-
quency range of 3–15 GHz. The consistency and linearity in
the reflection phase response with linearly falling reflection
phase helps to improve the radiation in the broadside direc-
tion which suggests antenna gain augmentation in the opera-
tional bandwidth.
3 | RESULTS
A parametric study on VSWR and gain response was consid-
ered using CST Microwave Studio simulator14 to obtain the
optimal distance between the antenna and FSS layers. It can
be seen from Figures 4 and 5 that better antenna bandwidth
is possible to achieve by increasing the distance between
antenna and FSS whereas the maximum gain value is
reduced with this increment. Therefore, an optimal distance
of 20 mm is chosen to get a wide bandwidth of more than
137% and simulated gain variation between 4.5 and 8.5 dBi.
Foam absorber that has nearly same dielectric constant com-
pared to air is used to maintain the 20 mm distance between
the antenna and FSS layers.
The antenna bandwidth (VSWR  2) with and without
FSS as per simulation and experimental measurement are
shown in Figure 6. The antenna operational band is from 2.8
to 14.4 GHz without FSS and the same is from 3 to
14.64 GHz with FSS. Clearly, the bandwidth remains almost
same after addition of FSS. Little variation between the
Value
simulated and measured results can be seen due to use of
foam and cable losses at the time of experimental
measurement.
The simulated surface current distribution of antenna and
FSS layers at 3.5, 5.5, and 6.4 GHz are shown in Figure 7.
Symmetric current concentrated on antenna along y-axis.
Higher current density can be seen along the peripherals of
antenna radiator. Large current concentration at top FSS
KUNDU ET AL.
| 1419

FIGURE 2 Fabricated prototypes of (A) FSS top layer, (B) FSS bottom layer, (C) antenna with FSS [Color figure can be viewed at wileyonlineli-
brary.com]

layer can be seen compared to bottom layer. Unit cells at

middle position are more excited at the bottom FSS layer.
Also it can be seen that unit cells are excited differently for
varying frequencies.

F I G U R E 4 Parametric study for VSWR by varying distance

between antenna and FSS [Color figure can be viewed at wileyonlineli-
brary.com]

F I G U R E 3 (A) Transmission and reflection coefficients and (B)

reflection phase of the proposed FSS [Color figure can be viewed at F I G U R E 5 Parametric study for gain by varying distance between
wileyonlinelibrary.com] antenna and FSS [Color figure can be viewed at wileyonlinelibrary.com]
1420 | KUNDU ET AL.

Simulated and measured normalized co-pol power pat-

terns at 3.5, 5.5, and 6.4 GHz in XZ-plane (u 5 08) and YZ-
plane (u 5 908) are plotted in Figure 8. Pattern of antenna
with FSS resembles monopole like pattern with maximum
radiation in the broadside direction that essentially fulfill the
requirement of GPR antenna. Minor variation can be seen
between simulated and measured plots mainly due to cable
loss and reflected waves from surrounding.
The simulated and measured gain for the proposed
design (antenna with FSS) is plotted in Figure 5. The meas-
ured gain for the proposed antenna varies between 2 and 4.5
dBi in the operational band of 2.8–14.4 GHz whereas the
measured gain for antenna added FSS layers varies between
5.5 and 8.5 dBi. A maximum gain enhancement of almost
4.5 dBi at 6 GHz is possible to achieve. The overall gain
enhancement is between 2 and 4.5 dBi in the operational
F I G U R E 6 Simulated and measured VSWR comparison between
band due to the addition of FSS layers.
antenna without FSS and antenna with FSS [Color figure can be viewed at
As shown in Figure 9, the proposed antenna provides sat-
wileyonlinelibrary.com]
isfactory efficiency of nearly 85% on an average as per the

F I G U R E 7 Simulated surface current on antenna and FSS top and bottom layers at (A) 3.5, (B) 5.5, and (C) 6.4 GHz [Color figure can be viewed at
wileyonlinelibrary.com]
KUNDU ET AL.
| 1421

F I G U R E 9 Simulated and measured radiation efficiency comparison

for antenna with FSS and without FSS [Color figure can be viewed at
wileyonlinelibrary.com]

F I G U R E 1 0 Ground coupling GPR test set-up (A) schematic of test

bed, antenna with FSS layers, soil, and metal sheet, (B) set-up of experi-
mental measurement [Color figure can be viewed at wileyonlinelibrary.
com]

FIGURE 8 XZ-plane (u 5 0 degree) and YZ-plane (u 5 90 degree)

simulated and measured normalized co-pol power pattern of antenna with
FSS at (A) 3.5 GHz, (B) 5.5 GHz, (C) 6.4 GHz [Color figure can be
viewed at wileyonlinelibrary.com]

measurement even after addition of FSS layers. The meas-

ured efficiency reduced by 3% on an average in the band of
operation after adding the FSS layers. The measurement is
carried following the wheelers cap method as stated by
Muramoto et al.15 A variation of almost 2%–10% can be F I G U R E 1 1 Comparison of VSWR response of antenna with FSS
seen between the simulated and measured results that is justi- in normal mode and ground coupling GPR test mode [Color figure can be
fied because of the assumption of wheeler cap method. viewed at wileyonlinelibrary.com]
1422 | KUNDU
FIGURE 12 Group delay responses in normal mode and GPR test
mode for proposed antenna with FSS layers [Color figure can be viewed at
wileyonlinelibrary.com]
Ground coupling GPR test set-up is shown in Figure 10.
A test bed of dimension 30 cm 3 26 cm with varying thick-
ness of 1 inch and 2 inch was considered. The test bed was
filled by dry sandy soil at upper layer and wet sandy soil at
lower layer by taking equal dimension for both the layers. A
thin copper slit was kept at the bottom of soil as shown in
Figure 10A. Two prototypes of the proposed design, ie
antenna with dual FSS layers were placed in close proximity
of the upper dry sandy soil. The distance between both the
prototypes was taken as 15 cm that was much more than
their minimum required far field distance.
Antenna bandwidth and group delay measurement was
taken for varying soil thickness in the ground coupling mode
to identify the suitability of proposed design for GPR appli-
cations. It can be seen from Figure 11 that the bandwidth
(VSWR  2) becomes not less than 8.23 GHz (3.05–
11.28 GHz), covering the GPR operational band of 3.1–
10.6 GHz in the ground coupling GPR test mode for both
the thicknesses. Also good matching can be observed for test
bed thickness variations. Group delay measurement was
taken from S21 by connecting two design prototypes in two
different port of Rohde and Schwarz ZVL 13 Vector Net-
work Analyzer. As shown in Figure 12, group delay varia-
tion of not more than 1 nS in the operational band for GPR
test mode and normal mode ensure linear phase response and
minimal dispersion which is an essential requirement for
impulse radar applications.
4 | CONCLUSION
Gain augmentation by maximum 4.5 dBi of a new leaf-
shaped compact printed antenna using dual FSS layers is
proposed. The antenna bandwidth, gain, and efficiency are
ET AL.
almost non-varying after addition of FSS. The proposed
antenna with FSS design provides a band from 3 to
14.64 GHz with gain variation of 5.5–8.5 dBi and average
radiation efficiency of 85%. Also maximum broadside radia-
tion is another advantage of FSS addition. The proposed
design bandwidth and group delay are tested in close prox-
imity of sandy soil. Wide bandwidth of 3.05–11.28 GHz
with consistent group delay response confirms its capability
to work for ground coupling GPR applications.
O RC ID
Surajit Kundu http://orcid.org/0000-0003-3575-717X
RE FER EN CE S
[1] Federal Communications Commission, Washington, D.C. 20554.
First Report and Order. Available at: https://transition.fcc.gov/
Bureaus/Engineering_Technology/Orders/2002/fcc02048.pdf
[2] Shao J, Fang G, Fan J, Ji Y, Yin H. TEM horn antenna loaded
with absorbing material for GPR applications. IEEE Antennas
Wireless Propag Lett. 2014;13:523–527.
[3] Yang Y, Wang Y, Fathy AE. Design of compact vivaldi antenna
arrays for UWB see through wall applications. Prog Electro-
magn Res. 2008;82:401–418.
[4] Mehdipour A, Karim MA, Reza FD, Sebak AR. Modified slot
bow-tie antenna for UWB applications. Microwave Opt Technol
Lett. 2008;50(2):429–432.
[5] Fu L, Liu S, Liu L, Lei L. Development of an airborne ground
penetrating radar system: antenna design, laboratory experiment,
and numerical simulation. IEEE J Sel Top Appl Earth Observ
Remote Sens. 2014;7(3):761–766.
[6] Ahmed A, Zhang Y, Burns D, Huston D, Xia T. Design of
UWB antenna for air-coupled impulse ground-penetrating radar.
IEEE Geosci Remote Sens Lett. 2016;13(1):92–96.
[7] Li M, Birken R, Sun NX, Wang ML. Compact slot antenna with
low dispersion for ground penetrating radar application. IEEE
Antennas Wireless Propag Lett. 2016;15:638–641.
[8] Kundu S, Jana SK. A compact umbrella shaped UWB antenna
for ground-coupling GPR applications. Microwave Opt Technol
Lett. 60:146–151.
[9] Jol HM, ed. Ground Penetrating Radar Theory and Applica-
tions. Elsevier Science; 2008.
[10] Chen HY, Tao Y. Performance improvement of a U-slot patch
antenna using a dual-band frequency selective surface with
modified Jerusalem cross elements. IEEE Trans Antennas
Propag. 2011;59(9):3482–3486.
[11] Chatterjee A, Parui SK. Performance enhancement of a dual-
band monopole antenna by using a frequency selective surface-
based corner reflector. IEEE Trans Antennas Propag. 2016;64
(6):2165–2171.
[12] Chatterjee A, Parui SK. Frequency-dependent directive radiation
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quency selective surface. IEEE Trans Antennas Propag. 2017;65
(5):2233–2239.
KIM ET AL.
[13] Kundu S, Jana SK. A new compact leaf shaped CPW fed UWB
antenna. In: Proceedings of IEEE iAIM 2017; Nov. 24–26,
2017; Bangalore (India).
[14] CST Microwave Studio 2016. Computer Simulation Technology
(CST), Germany; 2016. Available at: https://www.cst.com/Prod-
ucts/CSTMWS.
[15] Muramoto M, Ishii N, Itoh K. Radiation efficiency measurement
of a small antenna using the wheeler method. Electron Commun
Jpn Part I. 1996;79(6):93–100.
How to cite this article: Kundu S, Chatterjee A, Jana
SK, Parui SK. Gain enhancement of a printed leaf
shaped UWB antenna using dual FSS layers and exper-
imental study for ground coupling GPR applications.
Microw Opt Technol Lett. 2018;60:1417–1423. https://
doi.org/10.1002/mop.31171
Received: 7 November 2017
DOI: 10.1002/mop.31170
A 55-W high efficiency
unbalanced three-stage Doherty
power amplifiers for various
output power back-offs
Ji-Yeon Kim | Yunho Kang |
Jong-Heon Kim
Department of Wireless Communications Engineering, Kwangwoon
University, 447-1 Wolgye-Dong, Nowon-Ku, Seoul 139-701, Korea
Correspondence
Jong-Heon Kim, Department of Wireless Communications Engineering,
Kwangwoon University, 447-1 Wolgye-Dong, Nowon-Ku,
Seoul 139-701, Korea.
Email: jhkim@kw.ac.kr
Abstract
High efficiency unbalanced three-stage Doherty power
amplifiers (DPA) for input signals with various peak to
average power ratios (PAPR) are presented. The amplifier
uses three GaN devices of equal size. The output power
back-off (OPBO) at the efficiency peak of the amplifier
can be extended and reduced according to the input signals
with various PAPR. This is achieved by adjusting the
impedances of the k/4 impedance transformers at the indi-
vidual amplifier output stages in the three-stage DPA
without the use of additional circuitries and by changing
the impedance matching circuit at the input stages of the
| 1423
amplifiers. The current of the individual amplifiers in the
three-stage DPA is calculated according to the PAPR of
the input signals. The impedances of the k/4 impedance
transformers are determined by the current ratio for the
main, first peaking, and second peaking amplifiers and are
implemented by microstrip lines. 55 W unbalanced three-
stage DPAs for extended and reduced OPBO are designed
and fabricated to be operated at the frequency of 1810
MHz.
KEYWORDS
GaN HEMT, unbalanced Doherty power amplifier, high efficiency, three-
stage, output power back-off control
1 | INTRODUCTION
The continuous growth of data usage in wireless communica-
tions has led to wideband multi-carrier signals for power
amplifiers in base stations. The multi-carrier signals have a
high peak to average power ratio (PAPR) and require high effi-
ciency power amplifiers at output power back-off (OPBO).
The Doherty power amplifier (DPA) is commonly used
to maximize the amplifier efficiency at OPBO and has been
successfully applied to base stations in wireless communica-
tion applications.
The major drawback of the two-stage DPA is the
decreasing efficiency between the maximum output power
and the OPOB. However, the conventional three-stage DPA
utilizes two peaking amplifiers that work sequentially with
the input voltage, and obtains two peak efficiencies at two
different OPBOs.1
As the first peaking amplifier reaches its saturation con-
dition, the input signal of the three-stage DPA continuously
enters the second peaking amplifier and the main amplifier.
This causes overdriving of the main amplifier, resulting in
damage to the internal devices.
While the first peaking and second peaking amplifiers
utilize the same devices, they are supplied with different vol-
tages. As the second peaking amplifier is deeply biased in
supply voltage compared to the first peaking amplifier, the
gain and output power of the second peaking amplifier is
decreased, which changes the OPBO of the three-stage DPA.
A three-stage DPA that utilizes different drive amplifiers
at inputs of individual amplifier stages and a three-stage
DPA using different input signals for each amplifier stage
are proposed.2 This study requires additional signal process-
ing circuits and fine control technique. To avoid these addi-
tional techniques, a three-stage DPA using transistors of
equal sizes for the main and peaking amplifiers was intro-
duced.3,4 The relative level of current at each amplifier stage