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ICEMS-BIOMED-2022 IOP Publishing
IOP Conf. Series: Materials Science and Engineering 1254 (2022) 012017 doi:10.1088/1757-899X/1254/1/012017

Influence of the Geometrical Parameters of a Planar Yagi-

Uda Antenna on its Performances

C Constantinescu, C Păcurar, C Munteanu, A Giurgiuman, S Andreica and M

Gliga
Faculty of Electrical Engineering, Department of Electrotechnics and Measurements,
Technical University of Cluj-Napoca, George Baritiu Street no. 26, Cluj-Napoca, Romania

E-mail: Claudia.Constantinescu@ethm.utcluj.ro

Abstract. The paper follows the construction of a planar Yagi Uda antenna and the influence
of the geometrical parameters on its characteristic parameters. According to the studies
conducted on classical Yagi Uda antennas, modifying their geometrical parameters can lead to
the improvement of the antenna function. Thus, the authors will consider modifying the
number of directors, the distance between the fed dipole and the first director, the distance
between the directors and the length of the directors in an attempt to determine their influence
on the antenna’s characteristic parameters. All the results are compared and the similitude
between planar and classical antenna is highlighted. Some of the most important antenna
parameters were analyzed namely S parameters, gain, directivity, frequency bandwidth and
radiation pattern.

1. Introduction
Antennas can be defined as a system of conductor materials, that makes it possible for the signals to
propagate from the emitter to the receptor on the shortest way. Usually, antennas are constructed from
conductor materials such as copper or aluminum, their efficiency depending on the antenna
parameters. The classical Yagi Uda antenna was invented in Japan and the first published results can
be found in 1928. This type of antenna has high conductivity, are good as receivers their
manufacturing costs are low and their gain and directivity have good values. Their constructive
elements are reflector, dipole and directors as can be seen in Figure 1 a). Their advantages are the fact
that they are robust and resistant due to their construction, they are easy to mount on poles and can be
used for receiving low intensity signals [1-4].

a) b)
Figure 1. Classical Yagi Uda antenna (a) and planar Yagi Uda antenna(b)[5].

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ICEMS-BIOMED-2022 IOP Publishing
IOP Conf. Series: Materials Science and Engineering 1254 (2022) 012017 doi:10.1088/1757-899X/1254/1/012017

Their disadvantages on the other hand made the researchers to consider another construction
method for this type of antenna, namely the fact that their gain is small and in order to increase it the
dimensions of the antenna must be increased and for lower values of the frequency this becomes
practically impossible.
The first Yagi Uda planar antenna was proposed by Qian in 1998.In the following years, the
researchers proposed numerous configurations using different feeding types and different shapes of the
antenna’s constitutive elements and concluded that each design has its own advantages and
disadvantages due to the fact that even though an antenna has one of its specific parameters improved,
another one can be negatively affected, thus an optimum can be reached only considering a single
application at a time [5-9].
As all the planar antennas, the planar Yagi Uda antenna has as advantage its small dimension and
mass, low manufacturing costs, and its ease of fabrication. They are used in wireless communication,
radar systems, portable systems for direction detection, RFID (Radio Frequency Identification) readers
[6-8].
The planar Yagi Uda antenna is easily placed in small devices, but one must consider its effect
through radiation on the other elements of the systems, thus an electromagnetic study of the devices
must take place [4,10-16].

2. Construction of the antenna implemented in the simulation program

The analyzed planar structure was modeled with the help of the numerical modeling program HFSS
from ANSYS as it can be observed in Figure2.The antenna consists of a flexible dielectric, polyimide,
with a relative permittivity of 3.5[17].On the upper side of this dielectric the dipole and directors are
constructed, while on the other side there is the reflector. The initial dimensions in mm of all the
elements can be seen in Figure 3.

Figure 2. Planar Yagi Uda antenna with 5 director microstrip lines structure.

Figure 3. Dimensions of the conductor elements of the planar Yagi Uda antenna with 5 director
microstrip lines.

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ICEMS-BIOMED-2022 IOP Publishing
IOP Conf. Series: Materials Science and Engineering 1254 (2022) 012017 doi:10.1088/1757-899X/1254/1/012017

The antenna was analyzed in the frequency range between 1 and 5 GHz. The influence of different
constructive parameters like the distance between the feeding element and the first director, the
distance between the directors, the length of the directors and the number of directors is determined,
and some conclusions are drawn, all compared in the same time with the influence of these parameters
on a classical Yagi Uda antenna.
The specific parameters of the antenna followed in this study are the radiation pattern, gain and
directivity, and S parameters [16,18-20].
It has to be specified that the term S parameters is referring to the parameter S11 which is
determined with the help of the numerical modelling program Ansys HFSS for the studied structures.

3. Influence of the antenna construction on the specific parameters

Starting from the original structure, the geometrical characteristics of the directors were modified in
order to determine their influence on the antenna functionality using Ansys HFSS.

3.1. Influence of the distance between the feeding element and the first director
The distance between the feeding dipole and the first director was increased from 3.5 mm to 9.5 mm,
being varied below and above the value of the distance considered for the initial structure. Considering
the maximum gain and directivity, it can be stated that the maximum value is obtained for a distance
of 9.5 mm between the feeding element and the first dipole. It can be stated that the maximum
directivity and gain increase with the increase of the distance. In Figure 4 are represented the four
analyzed structure with the distances of 3.5 mm, 5.5 mm, 7.5 mm and 9.5 mm between directors and
feed.

(a) (b) (c) (d)

Figure 4. The four considered structures for the study: (a) 3.5 mm, (b) 5.5 mm, (c) 7.5 mm,(d) 9.5 mm.

In Table 1 the maximum directivity and gain value for the considered structures are presented.
Table 1. Influence of the distance between the feeding element and directors on gain and directivity.
Distance between the feeding Maximum directivity value Maximum gain value
element and first director [mm]
3.5 4.0853 4.0659
5.5 4.2013 4.1817
7.5 4.2763 4.2675
9.5 4.3519 4.3459
Considering the S parameters, each of the structures has its own operational bandwidth. The S
parameters representation can be observed in Figure 5, while in Table 2 the bandwidth for each
structure is determined as a percentage. It can be stated that the structure with the smallest distance
between the feeding element and the first director has the widest bandwidth. The bandwidth decreases
with the increase of the distance up to one point and after that there is a possibility of a slight increase
again. The resonant central frequency is maintained at the same value of approximately 2.6 GHz.

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ICEMS-BIOMED-2022 IOP Publishing
IOP Conf. Series: Materials Science and Engineering 1254 (2022) 012017 doi:10.1088/1757-899X/1254/1/012017

(a)

(b)

(c)

(d)
Figure 5. S parameters representation for the 4 structures: (a) 3.5 mm, (b) 5.5 mm, (c) 7.5 mm, (d) 9.5 mm.

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ICEMS-BIOMED-2022 IOP Publishing
IOP Conf. Series: Materials Science and Engineering 1254 (2022) 012017 doi:10.1088/1757-899X/1254/1/012017

The bandwidth for each of the four studied structures is calculated as a percentage and can be seen
in Table 2.
Table 2. Influence of the distance between the feeding element and the first director on the bandwidth.
Distance between the feeding Bandwidth [%]
element and first director [mm]
3.5 17.51
5.5 15.88
7.5 11.645
9.5 12.92

The radiation pattern of such an antenna remains the same throughout the study due to the elements
role, namely to conduct the field along the directors and prevent it to go in the direction of the
reflector, the same as for a classical Yagi Uda antenna. Small differences appear considering the
maximum value of the radiation, but they are practically unnoticeable. The highest values are obtained
for the distance between directors and feeding of 9.5 mm (Figure 6).

Figure 6. Radiation pattern for the antenna with distance between feeding and directors of 9.5 mm.

3.2. Influence of the number of directors

In this study, the number of directors was varied, thus resulting the structures from Figure 7, with 3, 4
and 5 directors. The maximum gain and directivity of these structures were obtained, and the results
are shown in Table 4. As it was expected and following the same pattern as the one of a classical Yagi
Uda antenna, the maximum values were obtained for the highest number of directors.

(a) (b) (c)

Figure 7. The three considered structures for the study: (a) 3 directors, (b) 4 directors, (c) 5 directors.

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ICEMS-BIOMED-2022 IOP Publishing
IOP Conf. Series: Materials Science and Engineering 1254 (2022) 012017 doi:10.1088/1757-899X/1254/1/012017

In oder to compare the directivity and gain maximum values for the three structures, their obtained
values are presented in Table 3.
Table 3. Influence of the number of directors on the gain and directivity.
Number of directors Maximum directivity value Maximum gain value
3 3.8981 3.8944
4 4.0751 4.0658
5 4.2013 4.1817

As in the previous cases, the scattering parameters were obtained and the bandwidth of each of the
considered structures was determined. Thus, from Figure 8 it can be concluded that the largest
bandwidth is obtained for the antenna with 5 directors, and, as it can be seen from Table 4, the
bandwidth has almost tripled as a percentage in comparison to the one obtained for the 3-director
structure. The central frequency is maintained at the same value of 2.6 GHz.

(a) (b)

(c)
Figure 8. Scattering parameters for the structure with: (a) 3 directors, (b) 4 directors, (c) 5 directors.

The bandwidths of operation for the three different antenna structures are presented in Table 4.

Table 4. Bandwidth obtained for the 3 analyzed structures with different director number.
Number of directors Bandwidth [%]
3 6.18
4 11.24
5 15.88

As it was expected, the maximum value of the radiation increases with the increase of the number
of directors, as it can be seen in Figure 9.

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ICEMS-BIOMED-2022 IOP Publishing
IOP Conf. Series: Materials Science and Engineering 1254 (2022) 012017 doi:10.1088/1757-899X/1254/1/012017

(a) (b) (c)

Figure 9. Radiation pattern obtained for the structures with:(a) 3 directors, (b) 4 directors, (c) 5
directors.

3.3. Influence of the distance between the directors

The distance between the directors has a great impact on the characteristic parameters of the antennas.
Thus, we wanted to determine for this specific application the impact of modifying this distance
between the directors and considered 3 distances, namely 2.5 mm, 3.5 mm and 4.5 mm.

(a) (b) (c)

Figure 10. Structures with different distances between directors: (a) 2.5 mm, (b) 3.5 mm, (c) 4.5 mm.

After determining the maximum gain and directivity, it was observed that the directivity and fain
increase with the increase of the distance between directors, thus from this point of view a larger value
of the distance is what we want.
Table 5. Influence of the distance between the directors on the gain and directivity.
Number of directors Maximum directivity value Maximum gain value
2.5 4.0287 4.0241
3.5 4.2013 4.1817
4.5 4.3005 4.3167

(a) (b)

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ICEMS-BIOMED-2022 IOP Publishing
IOP Conf. Series: Materials Science and Engineering 1254 (2022) 012017 doi:10.1088/1757-899X/1254/1/012017

(c)
Figure 11. Scattering parameters for the structure with distance between directors: (a) 2.5 mm, (b) 3.5 mm,
(c) 4.5 mm.

After determining and analyzing the S parameters for the different director distance, it was
observed that the first structure, the one with the distance of 2.5 mm does not function in the analyzed
frequency range. The second structure has the wider operational bandwidth, but the third structure’s
bandwidth is large also. It also can be stated that the bandwidth does not vary linearly with the
distance between directors. The central frequency is found at the same value of approximately 2.6
GHz.
Table 6. Bandwidth obtained for the 3 analyzed structures with different distance between directors.
Distance between directors Bandwidth [%]
2.5 -
3.5 15.8
4.5 14.87

Analyzing the radiation pattern for the three structures, it can be stated that the allure is not affected
by the distance of the conductors and the maximum value is increased a bit with the increase of the
distance between directors (Figure 12).

(a) (b) (c)

Figure 12. Radiation pattern obtained for the distance between the directors: (a) 2.5 mm, (b) 3.5 mm,
(c) 4.5 mm.

3.4. Influence of the length of the directors

It was considered the initial structure as the beginning point of this study. The director lengths of this
structure were decreased with 5 mm (Figure 12(a)) and also increased with 10 mm (Figure 12(c)).
After using HFSS for modelling and analyzing these structures, the results show an increase of the
directivity and gain with the increase of the director lengths. Even though the increase of the lengths is
beneficial, one must keep in mind when designing such an antenna that the dimension of a director is

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ICEMS-BIOMED-2022 IOP Publishing
IOP Conf. Series: Materials Science and Engineering 1254 (2022) 012017 doi:10.1088/1757-899X/1254/1/012017

always smaller than the one of the feeding elements and also the dimension of the dielectric is an
impediment.

(a) (b) (c)

Figure 13. Structures with different distances director lengths: (a) initial - 5 mm, (b) initial, (c)
initial + 10 mm.
Table 7. Influence of the director lengths on the gain and directivity.
Length of directors Maximum directivity value Maximum gain value
-5 mm from the initial structure length 4.0543 4.0318
Length from the initial structure 4.2013 4.1817
+10 mm to the initial structure length 4.8706 4.8313

Even though the increase of the director length was benefic to the directivity, when considering the
bandwidth, the lowest value of 7.18 % according to Table 8 is obtained for the structure with the
highest length value. The highest bandwidth value is obtained for the initial structure. The radiation
maximum value is also obtained for the structure with the longest directors, and in this case, there is a
visible shrinking of the back lobe, thus the antenna has lower losses [21].
Table 8. Bandwidth obtained for the 3 analyzed structures with different director lengths.
Length of directors Bandwidth [%]
-5 mm from the initial structure length 11.06
Length from the initial structure 15.88
+10 mm to the initial structure length 7.18
Analyzing the radiation pattern, it can be stated that the increase of the director length leads to a
reduction of the secondary posterior lobe, fact which improves its functionality, also slightly
increasing the radiation value.

(a) (b) (c)

Figure 14. Radiation pattern obtained for the structures with different director lengths: (a) initial - 5 mm,
(b) initial, (c) initial + 10 mm.

4. Conclusions
After the four studies conducted on the planar Yagi Uda structures some conclusions were drawn. It
was observed that the maximum directivity and gain increase once new director elements are added to

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ICEMS-BIOMED-2022 IOP Publishing
IOP Conf. Series: Materials Science and Engineering 1254 (2022) 012017 doi:10.1088/1757-899X/1254/1/012017

the structure. The operating bandwidth and the radiation pattern are also the highest for the structure
with the highest number of directors.
Modifying the distance between the 5 directors it was determined that the gain and directivity
maximum value is obtained for the highest distance between directors considered. The directivity
linearly increases with the distance between directors as it was expected and in accordance with the
classical Yagi Uda operation. The bandwidth unfortunately decreases with the increase of the distance
between directors, thus an optimum for every application should be determined.
When considering the length of the directors, the directivity is increased with the increase of the
director length, while the bandwidth does not linearly depend on this parameter modification. The
radiation is better when the length of the directors is higher, resulting in a reduced secondary lobe,
thus reduced losses.
The main conclusion is that the theory regarding the conventional Yagi Uda antenna can be applied
to the planar Yagi Uda antenna. The specific parameters of these antennas can be easily modified
through geometrical modifications.

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IOP Conf. Series: Materials Science and Engineering 1254 (2022) 012017 doi:10.1088/1757-899X/1254/1/012017

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