4562 IEEE TRANSACTIONS ON ANTENNAS AND PROPAGATION, VOL. 63, NO.
10, OCTOBER 2015
[25] Kyoto Kagaku Co., “Multipurpose Chest Phantom
N1“LUNGMAN”Catalogue” [Online]. Available: https://www.kyoto
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[27] S. A. Rezaeieh, K. S. Bialkowski, and A. M. Abbosh, “Three-dimensional
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no. 10, pp. 1753–1756, Jan. 2014.
Wideband High Gain Antenna Realized From Simple
Unloaded Single Patch
Debatosh Guha, Chandreyee Sarkar, Sumitra Dey,
and Chandrakanta Kumar
Abstract—A wideband antenna has been conceived and realized from
a single metallic patch with air as the substrate. The patch has been
strategically folded to achieve dual resonances resulting in S11 ≤ 10 dB
over a wide matching bandwidth. Basic design concept has been dis-
cussed and experimentally verified. As much as 26% bandwidth covering
almost the full X-band with about 9.6 dBi peak gain has been experi-
mentally demonstrated from a 20.3 mm × 13 mm patch folded to realize
13 mm × 13 mm footprint.
Index Terms—High gain antenna, microstrip antenna, wideband
antenna.
I. I NTRODUCTION
A conventional single element microstrip patch, etched on a PTFE
substrate, is capable of providing a bandwidth of 2%–3%, while that
using air substrate can be increased up to 9%–10% [1]. Broadband
or dual-band operation is conventionally achieved by adding parasitic
elements or by introducing slots, perturbations, probe-compensation,
or employing optimizing techniques [2]; however, those in many cases
impose some degree of design complications, such as multilayered
enlarged volume with critical alignments [3]–[5] and relative deploy-
ment of floating feed-patch combination [6], [7]. Compared to those,
e.g., [3]–[7], we intend to realize simpler, easy to make, and low-height
antenna with considerably high bandwidth-to-volume ratio. Shorted
walled patch employing air substrate was introduced in [8] to reduce
the antenna size. A multielement version was examined as a wide-
band antenna with more than 10% bandwidth (S11 < −10 dB) and
Manuscript received February 25, 2015; revised June 07, 2015; accepted July
09, 2015. Date of publication July 16, 2015; date of current version October
02, 2015. This work was supported by the Centre of Advanced Study in Radio
Physics and Electronics, University of Calcutta, India.
D. Guha, C. Sarkar, and S. Dey are with the Institute of Radio Physics and
Electronics, University of Calcutta, Kolkata 700009, India (e-mail: dguha@
ieee.org; chandreyee10@rediffmail.com; dey.sumitra76@gmail.com).
C. Kumar is with the Department of Space, Communication Systems Group,
ISRO Satellite Centre, Government of India, Bangalore 560017, India (e-mail:
kumarchk@ieee.org).
Color versions of one or more of the figures in this communication are
available online at http://ieeexplore.ieee.org.
Digital Object Identifier 10.1109/TAP.2015.2456942
0018-926X © 2015 IEEE. Personal use is permitted, but republication/redistribution requires IEEE permission.
See http://www.ieee.org/publications_standards/publications/rights/index.html for more information.
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a maximum of 4.9 dBi gain [9]. Considerable increment in match-
ing bandwidth was achieved in [10] using aperture feed in a shorted
walled rectangular patch indicating 26% operating band with 2.4–
4.9 dBi gain. In some contemporary works of the same group, similar
air-substrate geometry was examined as dual-band antennas [11]–[14].
In the present investigation, this shorted walled patch has been com-
bined with a conventional microstrip and re-explored with a twofold
objective: 1) to obtain closely spaced dual resonances causing wide
operating bandwidth and 2) to achieve high gain. Here, a simple rect-
angular strip, floating above a metal ground plane, has been conceived
in folded configuration. The design principle has been explained with
supportive results indicating its simplicity and low cost features. A
homemade prototype has been experimentally investigated and some
representative results have been provided indicating 5.7–9.6 dBi gain
over 26% achievable bandwidth.
II. D ESIGN C ONCEPT AND A NTENNA G EOMETRY
We have addressed the scope of widening impedance bandwidth
by realizing two radiating elements crafted from a single metal strip.
Direct feeding of both radiators using a single feed, which is not a very
common approach in stacked design, has been employed here. The
basic scheme is shown in Fig. 1, where Fig. 1(a) represents a probe-
fed square patch with length L and resonating at frequency f0 . A half
section of the same patch, shorted at one end, should ideally resonate
at the same frequency f0 and this has been adopted in our design as the
secondary radiating element as shown in Fig. 1(b). Unlike [3]–[5], this
design deliberately introduces air as the dielectric, which reduces man-
ufacturing cost and also as demonstrated in [1], enhances the fringing
area. Larger fringing area indeed increases the electrical aperture of
the radiating patch and produces higher gain.
This new geometry looks like a folded patch and is very easy to
shape from a single strip. In this design, we have followed h2 ≈
h1 /2, with h1 ≈ 0.05λ0 . The choice of the latter one is based on
our knowledge and industry experience of having moderately thick
air substrate for wide impedance bandwidth [15]. This estimation,
based on further optimization using [16], has been turned out to be
the design value. But the spacing h2 between “C” and “A” is critical
and happens to be h2 ≤ h1 to sustain vertically polarized electric fields
underneath “C.”
For wideband operation, we conjectured two offset resonances to
be obtained—one by “A” bearing height h1 and the other by “C”
bearing height h2 . An additional current path would inductively load
“A” resulting in a resonance around f0 + Δf0 , Δf0 being a small
shift in frequency. But in the upper unit “C,” h2 < h1 and it causes
a shift toward the left of f0 , i.e., f0 − Δf0 . Its optimum value is
found to be h2 ≈ 0.5h1 . This concept has been explored in here to
realize an antenna operating over X-band. Primary patch, marked as
“A” in Fig. 2, has been designed as per the guideline in [12] to oper-
ate around f0 ≈ 9.5 GHz. The upper patch, marked as “C,” is exactly
half of “A” in length and they are shorted by a connecting wall “B”
(= h2 = 0.8 mm). Here, all the units “A,” “B,” and “C” are of equal
width as depicted in Fig. 2. A 2-mm thick brass plate measuring
50 mm × 50 mm has been used as the ground plane. An SMA probe
with 1.25-mm diameter and length = h1 + t is used to feed the lower
patch at the optimally matched location ρ = 5 mm.
III. A NTENNA C HARACTERISTICS
The antenna characteristics have been initially examined using
simulated results [16]. Fig. 3 shows simulated S11 of the proposed
IEEE TRANSACTIONS ON ANTENNAS AND PROPAGATION, VOL. 63, NO. 10, OCTOBER 2015
Fig. 1. Schematic diagrams: (a) L × L square patch on air substrate and
(b) proposed folded patch with L × L footprint.
Fig. 2. Folded patch geometry: (a) isometric view and (b) cross-sectional view.
Fig. 3. Simulated S11 versus frequency of a folded patch compared with
that due to a conventional square patch. Parameters: L = 13, W = 13, t =
0.03, h1 = 1.5, h2 = 0.8, e(= 2t + h2 ) = 0.86, and d = 50 (all dimensions
in mm).
geometry indicating 23% matching bandwidth. The dotted curve
shows a resonance occurring near 9.53 GHz when a conventional
patch, such as “A” alone, is used. It is important to note that the folded
configuration “A + B + C” results in a considerable change indicat-
ing two resonances: one in lower side of 9.53 GHz and the other
one being in the higher side. This indeed follows our conjecture as
discussed earlier.
Simulated impedance curves in Fig. 4 help one to surmise that
the nature of resonance caused by “A” alone is closely repeated in
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4563
Fig. 4. Input resistance and reactance versus frequency. Parameters as in Fig. 3.
Fig. 5. Simulated portrays of electric fields of folded patch surfaces. (a) First
resonance at 9.1 GHz. (b) Second resonance at 10.5 GHz. Strong field: red
(deep black in gray scale); weak field: blue (faded black in gray scale).
the higher resonance of the folded patch. This observation is fur-
ther confirmed by studying the modal fields in the folded patch as
shown in Fig. 5. Near the first resonance, the upper patch “C” shows
expected distribution concentrating the field near its open edge, where
“A” serves as its ground plane [Fig. 5(a)]. For the higher resonance,
patch “A” takes the lead showing the expected field distribution at the
open edges, while that in the upper patch appears insignificant.
IV. P ROTOTYPE AND M EASURED R ESULTS
A homemade prototype, as shown in Fig. 6(a), has been used to
validate the design experimentally. It has been shaped from a 0.15-mm
thin copper strip using laboratory scissor and as such we had to accept
some degree of tolerance. Agilent’s N9926A FieldFox Vector Network
Analyzer has been used to measure the input S11 , depicted in Fig. 6(b).
Very close agreement with the simulated values is revealed. Measured
S11 near the second resonance is found to deviate from the predicted
values, which may be attributed to nonuniform h1 values of handmade
prototype [Fig. 6(a)].
The radiation characteristics, measured in an automated anechoic
chamber, are furnished in Figs. 7 and 8. Simulated data are also incor-
porated for comparison. The measurements have been executed near
S11 minima occurring at 8.8 and 10.5 GHz. Fig. 7 shows the same
obtained at 10.5 GHz caused by lower patch “A.” Very close agreement
between measurements and simulation is revealed. Some degree of
asymmetry in E-plane is observed, which is caused by the asymmetric
loading of “A” by “B + C.” But as expected, perfect pattern symmetry
is obtained in H-plane, for both copolarized (CoP) and cross-polarized
(XP) fields. H-plane XP radiation is considerably high and is unavoid-
able in such perturbed patch geometry. Measured E-plane XP level is
sufficiently low, although the simulated value is lower than −30 dB
and as such not visible here. Measured peak gain at 10.5 GHz is found
to be 8.6 dBi.
The upper element “C” also radiates in broadside, but with a null
in E-plane around 40◦ . Its measured and simulated patterns are shown
in Fig. 8. Although its bore sight gain is about 6 dBi, the prominent
null can be explained using a schematic diagram shown in Fig. 9. An
4564
Fig. 6. Realized prototype and measured results. (a) Homemade prototype
showing a folded patch fed by a vertical coaxial probe. (b) S11 versus
frequency. Parameters: h2 = 1.0 mm and rest as in Fig. 3.
Fig. 7. Measured and simulated radiation patterns at 10.5 GHz. (a) E-plane
(xz-plane). (b) H-plane (yz-plane).
instantaneous view of fringing fields (FFs) and associated surface cur-
rent are shown in Fig. 9. Here, “FF” represents fringing field. FF1-FF2
pair represents fringing-fields under patch “A.” Resulting surface cur-
rent in the composite configuration “A + B + C” has been indicated
by dotted line. At that instance, FF3 stands for the FFs under “C.” Now
any one can surmise that FF1 would counter play against FF3 result-
ing in a null over around 45◦ , which exactly corroborates the results
in Fig. 8(a). It can also be inferred that FF3 becomes insignificant at
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IEEE TRANSACTIONS ON ANTENNAS AND PROPAGATION, VOL. 63, NO. 10, OCTOBER 2015
Fig. 8. Measured and simulated radiation patterns at 8.8 GHz. (a) E-plane (xz-
plane). (b) H-plane (yz-plane).
Fig. 9. Instantaneous FF and surface current at resonance in the proposed
geometry.
10.5 GHz (where patch “A” predominates) leaving the pattern abso-
lutely smooth. In Fig. 8(b), the H-plane patterns appear symmetric,
but with high XP radiations. This is an obvious phenomenon for “C”
having insufficient ground plane and asymmetric geometry. Here, high
gain (5.7–9.6 dBi) over 26% matching bandwidth is realized at the cost
of high XP values. Asymmetry in pattern with high cross polarization
may be a concern if it is used as a feed to a reflector antenna or for
a point-to-point communication. However, for mobile systems, these
may not be too serious. Radiation null is a feature of this geometry as
explained in Fig. 9 and could be minimized by accurate finishing of
the prototype.
Variation of peak gain using both measured and simulated values
over the matching bandwidth, as depicted in Fig. 10, appears quite
interesting. It attains the maximum value of about 7.6–9.6 dBi around
the band edges and minimum of 5.7 dBi around 9.1 GHz, i.e., between
two specific resonances. As a result, it is sensitive in terms of sharing
the resonant fields between the two resonators affecting the electrical
aperture and hence the antenna gain.
Finally, we are now in a position to compare our proposed antenna
with its earlier variants reported in [9] and [10]. Table I provides a
comprehensive view. Configuration#1 [9] is compact in size but with
small operating bandwidth. Configurations #2 [10] and #3 [present]
are comparable in terms of size and impedance bandwidth. But the
present design is much superior in terms of gain values. Over 2–4 dB
IEEE TRANSACTIONS ON ANTENNAS AND PROPAGATION, VOL. 63, NO. 10, OCTOBER 2015
Fig. 10. Peak gain versus frequency of the prototype. Parameters as in Fig. 6.
TABLE I
P ROPOSED D ESIGN C OMPARED W ITH E ARLIER S TUDIES
BASED ON M EASURED R ESULTS
Fig. 11. S11 characteristics with LC as the parameter of the proposed geome-
try. Other parameters as in Fig. 3.
improvement is observed compared to [9] and [10]. Moreover, the
present antenna is easier to fabricate and immune from any backward
radiation or leakage through the aperture.
V. C HOOSING THE L ENGTH OF “C” AND W IDTH OF “B”
Antenna characteristics for varying LC values have been examined
in Figs. 11 and 12. A small change in LC above or below 0.5LA (i.e.,
LC = 0.6LA or 0.4LA ) results in a drastic change from dual reso-
nances to single resonance, as revealed from Fig. 11. Further increase
or decrease in LC (= 0.8LA or 0.2LA ) firmly establishes the same
and corroborates the case when single resonator “A” is considered.
It is equally important to note that these single resonances occurring
for LC = 0.8LA , 0.6LA , 0.4LA , and 0.2LA show similar radiation
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4565
Fig. 12. H-plane radiation patterns based on simulated values for varying LC .
Parameters as in Fig. 3.
patterns as in Fig. 7, which is caused by “A” for LC = 0.5LA configu-
ration. Their H-plane characteristics bearing both CoP and XP patterns
are shown as representative results in Fig. 12. Thus, LC = 0.5LA
turns out to be the primary design requirement for this wideband
design.
It would also be relevant to note that the width of “B” essentially
needs to be equal to that of “C” or “A” to achieve dual-band resonances.
Narrower wall fails in establishing TM10 mode underneath “C.”
VI. C ONCLUSION
The proposed concept, which is demonstrated here in X-band, has
also been examined in lower frequencies indicating similar dual res-
onances over wide-matching bandwidth. However, this configuration
is exclusively suitable for a lower patch with square shape. The only
concern is its H-plane XP level. Minimization of XP fields using
defected or shaped ground plane may be addressed in the future with a
view to improve its radiation properties. This simple low-cost antenna
should find potential applications both in microwave and wireless
domains.
ACKNOWLEDGMENT
The authors would like to thank the reviewers and the Associate
Editor for their useful comments in improving this communication.
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[10] W. H. Hsu and K. L. Wong, “Broadband aperture-coupled shorted patch
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[13] K. L. Wong, “Compact microstrip antennas,” in Compact and Broadband
Microstrip Antennas. Hoboken, NJ, USA: Wiley, 2002, pp. 22–44.
[14] K. L. Wong, “Compact broadband microstrip antennas,” in Compact
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0018-926X © 2015 IEEE. Personal use is permitted, but republication/redistribution requires IEEE permission.
See http://www.ieee.org/publications_standards/publications/rights/index.html for more information.
Authorized licensed use limited to: Heritage Institute of Technology. Downloaded on April 14,2023 at 07:38:06 UTC from IEEE Xplore. Restrictions apply.
A Compact Single Radiator CRLH-Inspired Circularly
Polarized Leaky-Wave Antenna Based on
Substrate-Integrated Waveguide
Hanseung Lee, Jun H. Choi, Chung-Tse Michael Wu, and Tatsuo Itoh
Abstract—A circularly polarized (CP) CRLH-inspired leaky-wave
antenna (LWA) based on substrate-integrated waveguide (SIW) and
microstrip delay line is presented. The unit-cell of the proposed periodic
antenna consists of two conventional CRLH SIW cells and two quarter-
wavelength microstrip lines. The interdigital slots on the CRLH SIW are
rotated at +45◦ and −45◦ with respect to the wave propagation direc-
tion and separated by 90◦ to create circular polarization. Utilizing the
microstrip line instead of the SIW delay section, the total size of the five
unit-cell antenna is reduced by 24.4% in comparison to the previous sin-
gle radiator CP LWA. Furthermore, microstrip lines provide improved
matching for broadside radiation as well as better CP purity. The unit-
cell characteristics are investigated in detail through dispersion and Bloch
impedance analysis. In addition, space harmonic analysis is carried out to
explain the radiation mechanism of the proposed antenna. The proposed
CRLH-inspired SIW CP antenna operates from 4.2 to 4.85 GHz and fre-
quency scans from −25◦ to 26◦ along the elevation angle. Axial ratio is
maintained below 3 dB throughout the operating frequency. The measured
results show good agreement with the simulated results.
Index Terms—Circular polarization, composite right/left handed
(CRLH), leaky-wave antenna (LWA), substrate-integrated waveguide
(SIW).
I. I NTRODUCTION
Leaky-wave antennas (LWAs) have attracted researchers for many
years because of their unique frequency beam scanning capability
and broad operational bandwidth [1]–[7]. Recent birth of metamate-
rial transmission line (TL) concept has even further accelerated the
study of LWAs [8]–[12]. Composite right/left handed (CRLH) TL is a
type of metamaterial TL that can be systematically designed to have
both positive and negative phase velocities that allows the antennas
to steer the beam not only toward endfired direction but also toward
backfired directions. Moreover, a CRLH TL even supports broadside
radiation under the balanced condition. With above-mentioned advan-
tages, microstrip line-based single radiator circularly polarized (CP)
CRLH LWAs have been proposed [13]–[15]. The inherent quadrature
phase relation of a series and a shunt radiation component for a CP
radiation is analyzed in [15]. Such CP LWAs are particularly aimed
for wireless application under dynamic motion, requiring high signal
throughput. For example, satellites use CP antennas since it is difficult
to align the antennas polarization in advance [16]. Likewise, devices
receiving information from the satellites such as GPS are also equipped
with CP antennas [17]. Nowadays, personal mobile devices such as
WiFi modems and RFID systems have also started to use CP signal to
enhance the wireless performance [18]. In general, for wireless devices
Manuscript received June 19, 2014; revised June 11, 2015; accepted June 15,
2015. Date of publication July 15, 2015; date of current version October 02,
2015.
The authors are with the Department of Electrical Engineering, University
of California at Los Angeles, Los Angeles, CA 90095 USA, and with
the Department of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science, Syracuse
University, Syracuse, NY 13244 USA, and also with the Department of
Electrical Engineering and Computer Science, Wayne State University,
Detroit, MI 48202 USA (e-mail: hlee0411@ucla.edu; jhcho100@syr.edu;
ctmwu@wayne.edu; itoh@seas.ucla.edu).
Color versions of one or more of the figures in this communication are
available online at http://ieeexplore.ieee.org.
Digital Object Identifier 10.1109/TAP.2015.2456935