Ultra Wideband Dielectric Resonator Antenna with Band Rejection

Mahmoud Niroo Jazi and Tayeb A. Denidni

Universit de Qubec, INRS, Place Bonaventure, 800, de la Gauchetire Quest,
Bureau 6900, Montreal (Quebec), H5A 1K6
njazi@emt.inrs.ca & denidni@emt.inrs.ca

Introduction

In spite of its long-standing interest in military areas since the decade of 1960, ultra wideband
(UWB) communication systems have received an extensive attention in commercial applications
when the unlicensed UWB communications have been allowed by U. S. Federal Communication
Commission (FCC) [1]. Moreover, due to the offered wealth of advantages, such as delivering
high resolution reliable data, increasing system capacity and capability of reducing the power
consumption, UWB systems have widely been exploited in the wireless short-range high-
throughput communications operating over the frequency range of 3.1GHz-10.7GHz. In the
allocated band for UWB systems, the frequency band of 5.15-5.825GHz is limited by IEEE
802.11a for wireless local area networks (WLANs). In order to prevent the interference between
UWB communications and WLAN systems, a rejection band is necessary to filter out the
undesired WLAN signals. Accordingly, an ultra wideband antenna with a band-notch
characteristic can be an alternative choice to the use of a distinct stop-band filter in the system.
UWB monopoles or slot radiators are some typical planar configurations, which are recently
introduced for this purpose [2-4]. In these antennas, by manipulating the current distribution using
a slot or applying a parasitic element, a deep notch band can be created around the frequency
bandwidth of the interference signals.

On the other hand, the remarkable broad and ultra wideband features offered by dielectric
resonator antennas (DRAs) introduce them as potential candidates for UWB systems [5-8]. Niroo
Jazi et al. in [9] demonstrated that by shaping the dielectric materials and also applying a step-feed
matching method, different modes of the same family can be effectively excited inside the
dielectric resonator (DR). Therefore, using a hybrid configuration and these techniques, an ultra
wide bandwidth structure has been proposed by the authors in [10]. The measured results
performed for this contribution show an acceptable performance for the frequency range of 1.9-
11GHz.

In this paper, primary results of a new alternative prototype based on dielectric resonator (DR)
materials is proposed to develop an UWB monopole-like radiation-pattern antenna with a band
stop in the range of 5.15-5.825GHz. In the proposed configuration, the hybrid-composite structure
is composed of a hallow cylindrical DR placed on a microstrip ring patch that is entirely excited
by a monopole antenna. The DR and the monopole antenna are considered as a hybrid-composite
configuration providing multi-resonant performance while the microstrip ring is mainly served to
create a notch band filter at the desired frequency bandwidth. Simulation results performed by
CST Microwave Studio [11] for the proposed configuration show a promising performance over
an ultra-wide frequency bandwidth. In the following sections, the design procedure of the
proposed antenna is described, and then obtained results are also presented and discussed.

Hybrid-composite DRA Design

Fig. 1 shows the proposed hybrid-composite DRA configuration. The microtrip ring is etched on
a circular substrate with a dielectric constant of 3 and the thickness of 1.52mm. This
element is mainly used to produce a band stop feature over a particular frequency bandwidth
dictated by the outer dimension of the ring. The DR is constructed by a cylindrical dielectric
material with 10. A hybrid configuration using a monopole antenna is applied to excite the
DR. In order to effectively couple the monopole with the family modes inside the DR, a

978-1-4244-4968-2/10/$25.00 2010 IEEE

step matching method is used in the feeding point of the monopole antenna. In addition, the
composite material created by the grounded substrate, the DR and the small air gap around the
monopole considerably influence the matching performance, leading to UWB operation. The
monopole length is designed to operate around 2GHz while the DR dimensions are calculated
using the guidelines provided in [12]. Then a comprehensive parametric study is performed for
different dimensions to achieve the desired performance. Final dimensions of the antenna are
summarized in Table 1.

Simulation results and discussion

The parametric study performed for different dimensions of the proposed antenna showed that
all dimensions impact the antenna characteristics including the desired matching and radiation
performances. However, here for brevity, the main parameters are introduced and their effects are
discussed. For a fixed monopole dimensions, the inner radius of patch affects the antenna
matching over all the frequency bandwidth. On the other hand, almost alters the position of
the notch bandwidth and it also changes the matching performance after the notch band. The outer
radius and the height of the DR are other main parameters that significantly influence the modes
excited inside the DR and hence change the overall antenna performances. Fig. 2 shows the
simulated return loss of the antenna for the dimensions summarized in Table 1. As it can be
noticed, a band notch feature is achieved around the interested frequency bandwidth. Moreover,
the structure provides a good matching response over an ultra-wide bandwidth ranging from 1.9
GHz to 9.5 GHz. The realized peak gain shown in Fig. 3 also confirms the gain reduction over the
rejection bandwidth. As it can be noticed from this figure, the achieved gain for this antenna is
similar to a monopole antenna. The simulated E- and H-plane radiation patterns of the antenna
depicted in Figs. 4 and 5 demonstrate a good performance over the achieved bandwidth. However,
it seems that, because of exciting higher order modes, the radiation pattern is a little deteriorated at
higher parts of the frequency bandwidth. As it is obvious from the curves, due to the higher mode
excitation, the cross polarization level is also increased at higher frequencies.

Conclusion

In this paper, a new UWB monopole-like radiation DRA has been proposed. The obtained
results show the potential of the hybrid-composite structure for UWB communications in which a
rejection band is requested. The primary results demonstrate UWB operation ranging from 1.9-9.5
GHz for return loss less than -10dB. The radiation pattern over this bandwidth is omnidirectional
with a deep reduction in the realized power across the rejection bandwidth. Moreover, as another
advantage, the maximum height of this antenna is less than 40mm which make it a good candidate
for the ceiling/roof mount applications in which low profile flat mount monopole-like radiation is
demanded. The work is ongoing to improve the upper edge of the frequency bandwidth in order to
cover all the FCC frequency bandwidth of communications. The final results along with
measurement achievements will be presented in the conference.

References:

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Tab. 1 Final dimensions of the antenna proposed in Fig.1

parameter r1 r2 Lm Rm Rf Lf hd R p1
mm 3 10 35.3 3 1 1.5 16.5 6
parameter Rp2 h1 Rd 1 Rd 2 R - - -
mm 20 1.52 5 16 120 - - -

Fig.1 Proposed antenna configuration.

Fig. 2 Simulated return loss and realized gain for the proposed antenna.
 a- H-plane at 3GHz a- E-plane at 3GHz

b- H-plane at 6GHz b- E-plane at 6GHz

c- H-plane at 9GHz c- E-plane at 9GHz

Fig. 3 Simulated H-plane radiation pattern Fig. 4 Simulated E-plane radiation pattern
at three different frequencies. at three different frequencies.