IJETR, 2012; Vol 1(2): July-2012 (009 - 013)

International Standard Serial Number: 2278 - 6082

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COMPACT BROADBAND COPLANAR CAPACITIVE COUPLED PROBE FED MICROSTRIP ANTENNA FOR WIRELESS APPLICATIONS
Dr. Ravi M. Yadahalli1*, Nandini Ammanagi2, Neelamma K Patil3
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P.E.S. Institute of Technology & Management, Shivamogga, Karnataka, India 2 V.E.S. Institute of Technology, Mumbai, India 3 K.L.Es College of Engineering & Technology, Belgaum, Karnataka, India

ABSTRACT In this paper, the design of a compact broadband capacitive feed microstrip antenna with open end meandering slots in the radiating patch is presented. The three identical narrow open end meandering slots are embedded in the radiating patch of the antenna. Effects of varying the length of meandering slots on the input characteristics of the antenna have been investigated and discussed. KEYWORDS: Microstrip Patch Antenna; Coplanar Capacitive Coupled feed; Impedance bandwidth; meandering slot.

Correspondence Author Dr. Ravi M. Yadahalli P.E.S. Institute of Technology & Management, Shivamogga, Karnataka, India Email: ravimyadahalli@yahoo.com

INTRODUCTION In modern wireless communication systems, more and more attention is paid for the development of small size, broadband antennas. Printed Microstrip antennas (MSAs) are attractive, as they are small in size, low in cost, and easy to integrate with printed circuit configuration. Many studies to increase the bandwidth of the microstrip patch antennas have been extensively investigated [1, 2]. Recently, an ultra-wideband microstrip antenna was achieved by using a capacitive coupled probe feed [3, 4]. To accommodate such antennas in wireless Available online on www.ijetr.com

communication systems, it is necessary to reduce the size of such antennas. Many techniques have been reported for reducing the size of microstrip antennas [5, 6, 7]. Meandering of the radiating patch by loading several slits in the non-radiating edge is proven to be one of the effective methods in reducing the size of the microstrip antennas [8, 9, 10]. It is found that the narrow meandering slots increase the effective electrical length of the patch, which in turn reduces the size of the antenna operated at a given frequency. In this paper, a capacitive fed compact broadband microstrip antenna with meandered slots in its radiating patch for wireless applications

International Journal of Engineering & Technology Research is presented. The proposed antenna consists of a rectangular patch which is fed by a capacitive tch probe feed. Three identical narrow open open-end slots are embedded in the antennas radiating patch. These meandered slots are aligned with an equal spacing of L/4 parallel to the rectangular patchs radiating patch. Parametric study was carried out by varying the length of meandered slots. The proposed antenna is simulated using IE3D which is Method of Moments (MOM) based Electromagnetic (EM) software [11]. 2. Antenna Design Initially a reference antenna (RA) which is a rectangular microstrip antenna was designed for 6 angular GHz using a coplanar capacitive coupled probe feed. Reference antenna uses glass epoxy substrate having r = 4.4 and h = 1.56 mm and Fig.1 shows the geometry of the reference antenna. Table 1 shows the optimized dimensions of reference d antenna. The configuration is basically a suspended microstrip antenna in which radiating patch and the feed strip are etched on the substrate of thickness h mm. A long pin SMA connector is used to connect the feed strip which is capacitively s coupled to the radiating patch. The length and width of the radiating patch is designed for center frequency of 6 GHz. The Capacitive feed strip is basically a rectangular microstrip capacitor formed from a truncated microstrip transmission line and all its open ends are represented by terminal or edge capacitances.

ISSN: 2278 - 6082

Fig.1. Geometry of Coplanar Capacitive fed microstrip antenna. (a) Top View (b) Cross-sectional View sectional Table1. Dimensions of capacitive coupled probe feed microstrip antenna Parameter Length of the radiator patch (L) Width of the radiator patch (W) Length of the feed strip (s) Width of the feed strip (t) Dimension 11.33 mm 15.21 mm 1.2 mm 3.7 mm

Separation of the feed strip from 1.7 mm the patch (d) Air gap between substrate (g) Relative dielectric constant ( ) Thickness of substrate (h) 4 mm 4.4 mm 1.56 mm

Later, the radiating patch is meandered using three identical narrow meandering slots (Ls, Ws). Fig. 2 shows coplanar capacitive coupled probe fed microstrip antenna with meandered slots in its radiator patch. The meandered slots are aligned with an equal spacing of L/4 parallel to the radiating edge. The width of the meandering slot is Ws = 1 mm.

Fig. 2. Geometry of coplanar capacitive coupled probe fed microstrip antenna with meandering slots in its radiating patch (a) Top View (b) Cross-sectional View sectional Available online on www.ijetr.com 10

International Journal of Engineering & Technology Research

ISSN: 2278 - 6082

3. PARAMETRIC STUDY To understand how dimension of the meandered slots will affect the center frequency, impedance bandwidth and size reduction of antenna, a parametric study was carried out using IE3D simulation software version 14.1. The simulated data of the proposed antenna were noted by varying the Ls from the 9.21 mm to 14.21 mm, which are tabulated in Table 2. It may be noted from the table that the reference antenna (RA) with Ls = 0 mm resonates for 6.2 GHz having a bandwidth of 2.6% (10 dB return loss) and this may confirmed from Fig.3. Also, it is also amply evident from the table that the resonant frequency of the antenna decreases gradually with the increase in the slot length from 9.21 mm to 14.21 mm. Table 2. Dimensions of capacitive coupled probe feed microstrip antenna Length of meandering slot Ls (mm) 0 9.21 10.21 11.21 12.21 13.21 14.21 Resonant Bandwidth Size frequency (MHz) Reduction fr (GHz) (%) 6.2 5.39 5.36 5.2 5.34 5.34 5.33 2600 192 202 226 258 264 267 14.55 15.07 17.60 13.39 13.39 13.42

Moreover, it also observed that the bandwidth of the antenna is 202 MHz. Later when Ls = 11.21 mm, the resonant frequency of the antenna lowers still further and resonates at frequency, which is 1.19 times the resonant frequency of the RA giving a size reduction of 17.60%. However, the bandwidth of the antenna is increased from 3.76 % to 4.23%. This can be confirmed from Fig.4, which shows the return loss characteristics of the proposed antenna. Further increase in the length of the meandered slots will not affect the center frequency anymore.

Fig.3. Return loss characteristics of a capacitive coupled microstrip antenna without meandering slots

Initially, as the slot length Ls increases from 0 to 9.21 mm, the resonant frequency of the antenna slightly lowers from 6.2 GHz to 5.39 GHz giving a size reduction of 14.55 % when compared to RA. The bandwidth at this slot length is found to be decreased from 90.32% to 3.56%. Again, as the slot length increases from 9.21 mm to 10.21 mm, the resonant frequency of the antenna decreases to 5.36 GHz giving a size reduction of 15.07%. Available online on www.ijetr.com

Fig.4. Return loss characteristics of a capacitive coupled microstrip antenna with meandering slots The radiation pattern at the resonant frequency 6.2 GHz of reference antenna has been taken for the both H-plane and E-plane which are platted in

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International Journal of Engineering & Technology Research Fig.5. The co-polarised radiation pattern at the resonant frequency of the proposed antenna has been taken i.e., for 5.2 GHz which is as shown in Fig.6.

ISSN: 2278 - 6082

4. Conclusion In this paper, the design of a compact capacitive fed microstrip antenna suspended above the ground plane is presented. The meandered slots were etched in the radiating patch of the microstrip patch antenna to achieve size reduction. Simulation results show that the proposed antenna with meandered slots in its radiating patch resonates at 5.2 GHz providing a size reduction of 17.60% with a bandwidth of 226 MHz. REFERENCES [1] S N Mulgi, R M vani, B S Makal, P V Hunagung and S F Farida, Enhancement of bandwidth of rectangular microstrip antenna by feeding and gapcoupling techniques, Progress in Electromagnetic Research Symposium 2000. pp.623, 2000. [2] Kumar G and Ray K P (2003), Broadband Microstrip Antennas, Artech House, Norwood , MA

Fig.5. Radiation pattern of the reference antenna

[3] Design Studies of Ultra-WidebandMicrostrip Antennas with a Small Capacitive Feed, Veeresh G. Kasabegoudar, Dibyant S. Upadhyay, and K. J. Vinoy; International Journal of Antennas and Propagation, Volume 2007, pp.1-8. [4] A Coplanar Capacitively Coupled Probe Fed Microstrip Antenna for Wireless Applications Veeresh G. Kasabegoudar and K. J. Vinoy, The 2009 International Symposium on Antennas and Propagation (ISAP 2009) October 20-23, 2009, Bangkok, Thailand. [5] Fujimutho K, Henderson A, Hirasawa K and James J R (1987) , Small Antennas, Research Studies Press, London, UK [6] Kan H K and Waterhouse R B (1999), Size Reduction Technique for shorted patches, Electron. Lett., Vol. 35, pp.948-949 [7] Wong K L (2000), Compact and Broadband Microstrip Antennas, John Wiley & Sons. 12

Fig.6. Radiation pattern of the proposed antenna Available online on www.ijetr.com

International Journal of Engineering & Technology Research

ISSN: 2278 - 6082

[8] S. Dey and R Mitra, Compact microstrip patch antenna, Microwave Opt Technol Lett 13 (1996), 1214. [9] Kuo J S and Wong K L. A Compact microstrip antenna with meandered slots in the ground plane, Microw. Opt. Technol. Lett., 2001, 29, pp. 95-97.

[10] Prabhakar H V, U K Kummuri, R. M. Yadahalli and V Munnappa, Effect of various meandering slots in rectangular microstrip antenna ground plane for compact broadband operation, Electronics Letters, 2007, 43, pp. [11] IE3D release 14.1, Zeland Software Inc, 2011.

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