Microstrip Antenna for 5G Broadband

Communications: Overview of Design Issues

David Alvarez Outerelo, Ana Vazquez Alejos, Manuel Garcia Sanchez, Maria Vera Isasa
Department of Teoria de la Señal y Comunicaciones
University of Vigo
Vigo, Pontevedra, Spain
{dalvarez, analejos, manuel.garciasanchez, mirentxu}@uvigo.es

Abstract—In this contribution we present two practical
implementation cases of single patch antennas at 28GHz and
60GHz. We describe the design challenge of conciliating the
antenna performance specifications and fabrication restrictions.
Over this basic element of an array antenna we discuss the
influence of three different categories of design issues.
I. INTRODUCTION
The emerging 5G technology is demanding antennas with
features previously unseen on a user terminal, such as the
beamforming capability of the radiation pattern to perform
spatial scanning [1,2]. This requirement raises numerous design
challenges to achieve a reasonable trade-off between
technological design issues and commercial criteria - low cost,
small size, radiation efficiency, antenna gain, broadband
performance, and so on – mainly at millimetric wave bands [1-
6].
Among other options, microstrip antennas with coplanar
placement of radiation elements and feeding network seem a
good choice to achieve a functional element with a proper
balance of performance and manufacturing complexity for 5G
applications. Microstrip antennas printed on Duroid substrate
have been demonstrated good performance when compared to
traditional designs in LTCC technology [2-5].
This paper discusses on the problems related to the design
of a basic microstrip structure: a patch antenna. Even when this
antenna geometry shows less restrictive fabrication needs of
resolution and accuracy with respect to other microstrip
structures, fabrication restrictions can significantly influence
this antenna features, such as resonant frequency and radiation
efficiency.
In Section II we briefly discuss on three categories of
design issues. In Section III we show two practical
implementation cases of a single patch antenna built at 28GHz
(LMDS band) and 60GHz that describe a way of conciliating
fabrication restrictions and design challenges. Finally,
conclusions close this paper.
II. DESIGN ISSUES
For ease of analysis, we have categorized the design issues
in three main groups:
1) Innacurate value of relative dielectric permittivity εr:
even commercial substrates used for antenna fabrication do
not indicate values of the εr beyond 10GHz. This issue
becomes a critical question when designing at millimeter wave
frequencies, given that the value of εr partly determines the
geometrical dimensions of the basic patch.
2) Connector - feed line soldering: it is commonly
accepted that a soldering introduces noise. Even when not
fully analytically modeled, the use of transition stages –
soldering points and vias – made of a different metal,
represents a not negligeable design issue to be included in the
theoretical design.
3) Fabrication mechanical innacuracies and errors: in a
design it should be considered the minimal dimensions that the
fabrication process can achieve as well as the effect on the
final result due to the innacuracies and errors shown up in the
aimed dimensions.
III. PRACTICAL DESIGN CASES
In Fig. 1 we show a rectangular patch designed at a center
frequency of 28GHz. The geometry parameters of this antenna
are (in mm): L1=3.46, L2=7.88, L3=1.60, L4=1, L5=0.49,
W1=4.22, W2=1.19, WS1=1.05, Ls1=0.65, s1=0.375, s2=0.07. The
dimensions L1 and W1 determine the center frequency [7,8],
and for a regular rectangular patch the edge impedance is
144Ω. However, a feed line with such impedance implied
physical dimensions out of range of our fabrication capabilities,
mainly a milling machine with 150μm of resolution.
Due to this circumstance, we firstly designed a feed line of
50Ω and the feeding was not done on the patch edge but in an
interior point by using a rectangular notch. The pieces of the
feed line with dimensions L3 and L4 constitute a cascade quarter
wavelength impedance adapter. The notch dimensions
condition the fine tuning of the impedance matching.
A prototype of the built antenna is shown in Fig. 2 (left). In
Fig. 3 we show a comparison between the theoretical scattering
parameter s11(f) of the antenna designed with ideal port feeding
and considering a 1.8mm connector later used for
measurements. We observe that having excluded the presence
of the connector and even the soldering point used to attach the
feeding line and the connector, sharply modified the antenna
performance in terms of s11(f).

978-1-4799-7815-1/15/$31.00 ©2015 IEEE 2443 AP-S 2015

 In Fig. 2 (right) we show a second patch built at a center
frequency of 60GHz that follows the same geometry described
in Fig. 1. The geometry parameters of this second antenna are
(in mm): L1=1.49, L2=9.97, L3=0.77, L4=0.7, L5=0.49, W1=1.9,
W2=1.41, WS1=0.88, Ls1=0.33, s1=0.34, s2=0.02.
For this frequency, each issue design becomes even more
critical. We found that the soldering point must be carefully
modelled in the theoretical design given that it represents a
non-negligible transition between two different materials that
strongly effects the antenna performance, as seen in terms of
s11(f) in Fig. 4.
In Fig. 4 we show a comparison of the theoretical and the
measured s11(f). We observe a resonant frequency shift that can
be explained by different causes: a deviation of the substrate
dielectric permittivity value, inaccuracy in the connector
Fig. 1. Geometry of the patch antennas. modelling, and problems with soldering the connector pin to
the feeding line.
The dielectric permittivity εr was measured using a DAK
setup and theoretical value was also determined by
optimization in CST. Finally a value of 2.43 was used for the
design of the 28GHz and 60GHz patches.
IV. CONCLUSIONS
Design of antennas for 5G communications brings new
challenges to designers. The reduced dimensions imposed by
the large frequencies can lead to non-implementable
Fig. 2. Photo of the prototypes fabricated at 28 and 60GHz. prototypes. This constraint can be faced by fitting the antenna
model dimensions to the resolution and accuracy of the
5 fabrication capabilities. We present two design cases of a patch
0
antenna adapted to our assembly restrictions that also consider
both the connector and soldering presence.
-5

-10 ACKNOWLEDGEMENT
|S (f)| dB

-15 Research funded by AtlantTIC Research Center (TACTICA

11

-20
project) and European Regional Development Funds (ERFD).
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W ith connector REFERENCES
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|S (f)| dB

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