Planar monopole antenna for mobile phones on triple-frequency operation

Jieh-Sen Kuo*(1), Chih-Yu Huang(2) Jen-Yea Jan(3))

(1) Department of Electronic Engineering Kao Yuan University of Technology
Lu-Chu Hsiang, Kaohsiung 821, Taiwan
E-mail:kuojs@cc.kyu.edu.tw
(2) Department of Electronic Engineering, National Kaohsiung Normal
UniversityKaohsiung, Taiwan 802, Taiwan
E-mail:huangcy@nknucc.nknu.edu.tw
(3) Department of Electronic EngineeringNational Kaohsiung University of
Applied SciencesKaohsiung 807, Taiwan
E-mail: jyjan@cc.kuas.edu.tw

Introduction

Most of multi-frequency antennas suitable for applications in mobile

communication devices, such as mobile phones and personal digital assistant
(PDA) for cellular systems in the 900 and 1800 MHz bands and the wireless local
area network (WLAN) system in the 2450 MHz band have been available in the
publish paper [1–4]. The design reported in [1] mainly uses two shorted branch
strips triple-frequency operation has been shown. For the design in [2], a
meandered shorted patch with two shorting strips is utilized for obtaining triple-
frequency operation also. With the use of three separate shorted patches of
different sizes for achieving three separate operating frequencies as in [3]. In [4],
the planar monopole antenna is also a design for multi-frequency operation. But
those design feeding antenna component are all in the main circuit board of the
communication device. In the microwave communication era, the handheld
devices were design with varied shape so the designer should have new innovated
ideal.

In this paper, we proposed a novel design concept of planar monopole antenna

with a side-feed method, which is simple and different from that reported in [1-4].
We demonstrate that a novel side-feed to planar monopole antenna is also a
candidate for triple-frequency operation in fashion mobile communication devices.
The proposed triple-frequency planar monopole antenna feed at the side-plane
which compact the communication device space and is easy to construct at low
cost by the material of thin copper. With a small area of 6 x 31mm2 the proposed
planar monopole antenna can achieve two separate, wide, resonant modes at about
900, 1800, and 1900 MHz, covering the required bandwidths of cellular systems
in use for mobile communications worldwide: GSM (890–960 MHz); DCS
(1710–1880 MHz); and PCS (1850–1990 MHz). In addition, the planar monopole
antenna can be mounted parallel to the system main circuit board of a mobile
communication device, with a small distance (13.5 mm in this study) to the feed
ground plane. Thus, with this arrangement the proposed planar monopole antenna

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will have a new design free degree to the mobile communication device for the
design engineer. And owing to its narrow width (8 mm in this study), which is
much less than the thickness of most of the present-day mobile communication
devices, also it can be built-in or concealed within the housing of the mobile
communication device, providing an internal antenna for the device. At the end,
the side-feed design concept offers a novel flexibility for save the devices’ space
and innovated ideal. Details of the proposed antenna design results are presented.

Antenna Design

In this study, a FR4 dielectric substrate with thickness h = 1.6 mm and

permittivity ε r = 4.4 is selected. Fig. 1(a) shows the proposed planar monopole
antenna mounted perpendicularly and side-feed to the main circuit board of a
mobile communication device; details of the design dimensions of the planar
monopole are given in Fig. 1 (a) and (b). The planar monopole is rectangular in
shape and is made by thin copper of size 6 x 31 mm2 and an 8-mm width and
about 90-mm length is used as the side-feed system of a mobile communication
device, which can be perpendicularly to a mobile communication device’s ground
plane for compact the space of device. On the sidepiece, the FR4 dielectric
substrate can as the system circuit board, a ground plane of 8-mm width and 90-
mm length is printed (see the geometry shown in Fig. 1(a)), which can be treated
as the system ground plane and prove a new design flexibility. The planar
monopole can easily be fed using a 50Ω microstrip feed line. Between the planar
monopole and the microstrip feed line is a 13.5-mm connection strip with a
tapered width. The width is increased from 3.2 mm (microstrip line width of 50Ω)
to 6 mm, which helps improve the impedance matching of the proposed monopole
antenna. The connection strip and the microstrip feed line are both printed on the
FR4 dielectric substrate and, at its open end of 6-mm width, the connection strip
is soldered at a 90° angle to the proposed planar monopole. The proposed planar
monopole mainly comprises two arm strips, both connected at the soldering
section to the connection strip. The longer one generates the first resonant
frequency of the proposed antenna at about 900 MHz, and has a width of 1 mm,
except at its open end where the width is widened to be 6 mm.

In this case, the first resonant frequency of the proposed antenna shows wide
impedance bandwidth covering the operating bandwidths of the GSM cellular
systems. The shorter one has a width of 1 mm also, and controls the second
resonant frequency at about 1800 MHz for DCS, and PCS communication system.
The shorter branch strip is folded and has three uniform sections by simply
adjusting the length of its outermost section containing the open end, the second
one’s fundamental resonant frequency can be effectively varied.

Experimental Results and Discussion

Based on the design dimensions shown in Fig. 1 (a) and (b), a prototype was
obtained. Fig. 2 shows the measured return loss. Two separate, wide, resonant

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modes at about 900, 1800, and 1900 MHz are clearly seen to be excited. The
impedance bandwidth, determined by 10 dB, reaches 290 MHz (735–1025 MHz)
for the first resonant mode, which covers the GSM band. For the resonant mode at
about 1800 MHz, the impedance bandwidth is 380 MHz (1635–2025 MHz),
covering both the DCS and PCS bands. The radiation characteristics were also
studied. Fig. 3–5 plots the measured radiation patterns at the center operating
frequencies of the GSM, DCS, and PCS respectively. Measurements at other
frequencies within the three operating bands were also conducted, and the
measured results across each operating band showed similar radiation patterns as
those plotted in Fig.3–5. From the measured results, it is seen that, in the
azimuthal plane (y-z plane), the radiation pattern are more close to
omnidirectional radiation patterns. And the proposed antenna in general shows a
monopole-like radiation pattern at 925 and 1795 MHz. The peak antenna gain was
measured also. The peak antenna gain levels for operating frequencies across the
GSM, DCS, and PCS bands are seen to be about 1.2, 2.1, and 2.3 dBi,
respectively, with small gain variations across each operating band (generally less
than 0.6 dBi).

Conclusion

A novel side-feed planar monopole antenna suitable for compact the device’s
space and triple-frequency operation of a mobile phone communication device
has been proposed. A prototype of the proposed antenna has also been
successfully implemented. The constructed prototype occupies a small area of 6x
31 mm2, and the obtained bandwidths meet the bandwidth requirements of the
GSM, DCS, and PCS cellular systems.

References

[1]. F.R. Hsiao and K.L. Wong, “Compact planar inverted-F patch antenna for
triple-frequency operation,” Microwave Opt Technol Lett 33 (2002), 459–462.
[2]. W.P. Dou and Y.W.M. Chia, “Novel meandered planar inverted-F antenna for
triple-frequency operation,” Microwave Opt Technol Lett 27 (2000), 58–60.
[3]. C.T.P. Song, P.S. Hall, H. Ghafouri-Shiraz, and D. Wake, “Triple band planar
inverted F antennas for handheld devices,” Electron Lett 36 (2000), 112–114.
[4]. P. L. Teng, H.T. Chen and K.L. Wong, “Multi-frequency planar monopole
antenna for GSM/DCS/PCS/WLAN operation,” Microwave Opt Technol Lett
36 (2003), 350–352.

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 Fig. 1. Geometry and dimensions of the antenna

θ = 0 ο(+Z) θ = 0 ο(+Z)

−9 0 ο 9 0ο 9 0ο
(+X) (+Y)

x-z plane y-z plane

φ = 90 ο (+Y)

18 0ο 0ο
(+X)
Eφ
Εθ x-y plane
Fig. 2. Measured return loss Fig. 3. Measured radiation patterns
(925 MHz)

θ = 0 ο (+Z) θ = 0 ο (+Z)
θ = 0 ο (+Z) θ = 0 ο (+Z)
−9 0 ο 9 0ο 9 0ο
−9 0 ο 9 0ο 9 0ο (+X) (+Y)
(+X) (+Y)
x-z plane y-z plane
x-z plane y-z plane
φ = 90 ο(+Y) φ = 90ο(+Y)

18 0ο 0ο 0ο
(+X) 18 0ο (+X)
Eφ Eφ
Εθ x-y plane Εθ x-y plane

Fig. 4. Measured radiation patterns Fig. 5. Measured radiation patterns

(1795 MHz) (1920 MHz)

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