13th European Conference on Antennas and Propagation (EuCAP 2019)
Low-Cost, Circularly Polarized, and Wideband U-
Slot Microstrip Patch Antenna with Parasitic
Elements for WiGig and WPAN Applications
Mourad S. Ibrahim
College of Engineering, Prince Sultan University, Riyadh, KSA, mrizk@psu.edu.sa
On leave: College of Engineering, Modern Sciences and Arts University, 6th October, Egypt
Abstract— In this paper, a wideband circularly polarized
well-matched square microstrip patch antenna with a λ/4
feeding network suitable for fifth generation applications at 60
GHz (v-band) is developed. In order to increase the antenna
bandwidth a U-slot with two parasitic elements at 60 GHz is
designed and simulated. A single layer element with more than
7.2 dBi gain at the frequency of 60 GHz is achieved. The
proposed antenna has a wide bandwidth extend approximately
from 53.3 GHz to 60.8 GHz of more than 87 % efficiency and
VSWR less than 2. The proposed antenna exhibits a circular
polarization with Axial Ratio (AR) ≤ 3 dB in frequency band
from 56 GHz to 57.2 GHz (1.2 GHz). The analysis and
optimization processes throughout this paper are carried out
using High Frequency Surface Structure (HFSS) simulator and
verified with Computer Simulation Technology (CST)
simulator. Good agreement between the results by the two
simulators is obtained.
Index Terms—fifth generation, microstrip antenna,
millimeter wave, 60GHz, WiGig, WPAN.
I. INTRODUCTION
Millimeter wave (mm-wave) antenna at unlicensed
frequency band of around 60 GHz (57-66 GHz), has attracted
applications like wireless gigabit alliance (WiGig) and
wireless personal area network (WPAN) to provide a high
data rate for short-range communications within 10 m [1].
The battery life is a main concern, the 60 GHz band can be
utilized to trade off bandwidth efficiency for low power
consumption while keeping high data rate [2]. The main
requirements for antennas used in mm-wave systems are
concerned gain, operating bandwidth, technological
reliability, and manufacturing cost [3]. Printed antennas are
promising candidates for millimeter-wave applications,
where the antenna is low-cost, and low-profile. The main
drawback of microstrip antennas is the narrow bandwidth
[4]. In order to achieve wide bandwidth antennas, several
antennas were designed in multilayer structures using the
low-temperature co-fired ceramic (LTCC) technology [5-7].
Due to the complex fabrication process of this technology, it
leads to a high manufacturing cost with increased antenna
volume [3]. The other methods to enhance the microstrip
antenna bandwidth are parasitic elements [8], and U-Slot [9,
10]. The circular polarization (CP) antennas have lots of
advantages over the linearly polarized antennas [11], CP
antennas are very effective in combating the multi-path
fading, suppress inter-symbol interference (ISI), and they are
robust to polarization mismatch [11, 12]. The received signal
strength is constant regardless of the CP antennas
orientations which make it attractive for mobile
communications.
In this paper, the design of a wideband millimeter-wave
circularly polarized antenna is introduced. The simulation of
the designed antennas was carried out using HFSS
commercial software [13] which based on the Finite
Element Method (FEM) numerical method and verified with
CST simulator [14] which based on Finite Integration
Technique (FIT). The wide impedance bandwidth is
achieved by using the U-slot with the two parasitic
elements. The proposed antenna element exhibits a circular
polarization through the using two opposite square corners
truncation. The proposed antenna is mounted on Netlec
NH9338 (εr = 3.38) substrate with substrate thickness t = 0.2
mm and loss tangent tan δ = 0.0025.
This paper is organized into four sections. Section I
covers the introduction and literature review. Antenna
structure and design is introduced in section II. Simulations
and results of a circularly polarized wideband antenna are
presented in section III. Finally the conclusion is given in
section IV.
II. ANTENNA DESIGN CONCEPT
First, a single element square patch antenna with λ/4
matching network is being designed to resonate at 60 GHz.
The patch mounted on substrate with dielectric constant (ε r )
of 3.38 and height (h) of 0.2 mm and the patch length (L)
dimension is calculated from the following equation[4]:
L=
1 2
(1)
2 f r μ oε o εr +1
The dimensions of a single element antenna are
optimized to resonate at 60 GHz. Fig.1 shows the antenna
structure and dimensions with L = 1.28 mm, ground plane
dimensions are 3.7 mm by 5.23 mm with the same
 13th European Conference on Antennas and Propagation (EuCAP 2019)

dimensions as the substrate material. The 50Ω feed length U-slot dimensions (Lu, aand Wu) with t = 0.1 mm is
Lf = 0.775 mm, and width Wf = 0.443 mm while the λ/4 illustrated in Fig.3. Fig.4 shows the S-paramter using HFSS
section have length L98Ω = 1.2 mm and width W98Ω = 0.1 mm and CST simulators for the optimized dimensions illustrated
to match the 50Ω feed line with the patch antenna. in Table I. Small difference between the two simulated
Wg results have been observed which is mainly due to the
different mesh sizes between the two simulations. The
simulated bandwidths are 53.32 – 60.82 GHz (7.5 GHz),
and 53.5 – 60.6 GHz (7.1 GHz) using FEM and FIT
respectively. The AR illustrated in Fig. 5 with circular
polarization in frequency bands of 56.1 – 57.2 GHz (1.1
L Wp GHz) and 55.64 – 56.74 (1.1 GHz) using FEM and FIT
respectively.
Wu
gap
Lg
Lu
Lp The radiation patterns in φ = 0 and φ = 90o planes
using FEM and FIT at 60 GHz are shown in Fig. 6. Good
t
agreement between results is obtained. The maximum
c realized gain is illustrated in Fig.7 (left y-axis) with
L98Ω
W98Ω maximum values of 7.2 dB at 59.5 GHz and 7.63 dB at 58
GHz with less than 1.3 dB and 0.43 dB gain variation along
the bandwidth using FEM and FIT respectively. The total
Lf
efficiency using FIT along the entire antenna bandwidth is
more than 78 % with maximum value of 92.6 % at 57 GHz
Wf as shown in Fig. 7 (right y-axis). The radiation efficiency is
more than 87 % along the antenna bandwidth using FEM
and FIT.
Fig. 1. Single element patch antenna with λ/4 feeding network.

III. SIMULATIONS AND RESULTS

A parametric study has been conducted in order to
enhance the MSA bandwidth by changing the U-Slot
dimensions (Lu, Wu, and t) as well as the parasitic elements
dimension dimensions and position (Lp, Wp, and gap). The
square truncation area (c2) is optimized to obtain a circular
polarization. The optimized dimensions of the proposed
antenna with U-slot, parasitic elements, and truncation area
in order to achieve a wide bandwidth with circular
polarization are illustrated in Table I.

TABLE I. OPTIMIZED DIMENSIONS OF THE PROPOSED ANTENNA IN Fig. 2. S-parameter of the proposed circulary polarized antenna with
MM changing Lp, Wp .
Parameter Value Parameter Value
L 1.28 c 0.2
Lg 5.23 Wg 3.7
L98Ω 1.2 W98Ω 0.1
Lf 0.775 Wf 0.443
Lu 0.5 Wu 0.3
t 0.1 gap 0.4
Lp 1.3 Wp 0.5

Fig. 2 shows the effect of changing parastic elements

dimension (Lp, and Wp) with gap = 0.4 mm and other
Fig. 3. S-parameter of the proposed circulary polarized antenna with
parameters as indicated in Table I. The effect of chaging the changing Lu, and Wu.
 13th European Conference on Antennas and Propagation (EuCAP 2019)

The surface current distributions of the proposed antenna

at different frequencies (53 GHz, 55 GHz, and 60 GHz) are
illustrated in Fig. 8.

Fig. 4. S-parameter of the proposed circulary polarized antenna.

Fig. 7. Maximum relaized gain and efficiencies versus the frequency

using HFSS and CST

(a) 53 GHz

Fig. 5. Axial ratio virsus frequency using HFSS and CST.

(b) 55 GHz

(c) 60 GHz
Fig. 6. Total gain of the proposed antenna at
φ = 0o and φ = 90o planes.
Fig. 8. The surface current distributions of the proposed antenna at
(a) 53 GHz, (b) 55 GHz, and (c) 60 GHz .
 13th European Conference on Antennas and Propagation (EuCAP 2019)

It’s clear that the two parasitic elements act as two [12] J. Wang, Z. Lv, and X. Li, "Analysis of MIMO Diversity
Improvement Using Circular Polarized Antenna," International
radiators as well as the presence of U-Slot makes the current
Journal of Antennas and Propagation, vol. 2014, p. 9, 2014.
redistribution. It is obvious that the maximum current [13] High Frequency Surface Structure (HFSS) (15 ed.). Available:
distribution is concentrated around the patch and the two http://www.ansys.com
parasitic elements. [14] (2015). CST MICROWAVE STUDIO. Available:
https://www.cst.com/products/cstmws

IV. CONCLUSION
Highly efficient, low cost circularly polarized microstrip
antenna with wide bandwidth suitable for fifth generation
applications like WPAN and WiGig is provided. The
proposed antenna with more than 7.1 GHz bandwidth
(around 13%) with λ/4 matching network is designed and
simulated. The proposed antenna is printed on a single layer
which yields a low manufacturing cost. The proposed
antenna exhibits a circular polarization within 1.1 GHz
(around 1.94 %) and a maximum gain of 7.2 dBi and 7.63
dBi at 60 GHz using FEM and FIT respectively. The total
antenna efficiency is more than 78% along the entire antenna
bandwidth. The gain-frequency variation is less than 1.3 dB
over the antenna bandwidth which gives a stable antenna
performance and makes the antenna as a good candidate for
the 5G applications.

ACKNOWLEDGMENT
The author gratefully acknowledges the support of Prince
Sultan University.

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