CHAPTER 1

INTRODUCTION

1.1 INTRODUCTION

In the past two decades there have been a tremendous growth in wireless communication tech-
nology that transformed our lives. In fact, the development in wireless technology provided
new services to users and become a part of our day to day life. For wireless communication
system ‘antennas’ are the backbone without which the technology would have not reached

to this stage. As per IEEE Standard, antennas can be defined as “a means for radiating and
receiving radio waves” [2]. Therefore, the growing tendency of wireless devices significantly
demands light weight, low profile and miniaturized antenna without compromising its perfor-
mance.

This chapter, firstly discusses the UWB technology and its regulatory environment, fol-

lowed by fundamental of planar monopole antenna and multiple antennas. In this chapter the
description of incentive behind the research work is also presented.

1.2 UWB TECHNOLOGY

In year 2002, the Federal Communication Commission allocated the unlicensed 3.1-10.6 GHz
band for commercial applications of ultra-wideband (UWB) technology [3]. Ultra-wideband
technology formerly known as ‘pulse radio’ is one of the most promising wireless technologies
that have the capability to revolutionize the prevalent communication systems. UWB technol-

ogy transmits data over a wide spectrum of frequencies using -41.3dBm/MHz power density
and extremely short duration (an order of Pico-seconds) pulses. Since this technology offers a
very high-speed therefore it is an alternative to existing wireless technologies such as WLAN,

HiperLAN. Therefore, UWB technology has attracted much attention of the researcher and
has turn out to be the main centre of research in industrial and academic sector.

The channel capacity or the maximum achievable data rate can be relate with the band-

width and the signal-to-noise ratio by using Shannon-Nyquist criterion [4]. Therefore, Chan-
nel capacity or data rate refers to amount of data that can be transmitted bits per second over
a transmission channel and expressed as:

C = B log2 (1 + SNR) (1.1)

where C denotes the maximum transmission data rate, B stands for the channel bandwidth
and SNR referred as signal to noise ratio. The equation illustrates that transmission data
rate is linearly proportional to bandwidth. This relationship suggests that data rate can be
enhanced rapidly by increasing the bandwidth than SNR. Another important term for UWB
transmitter is EIRP (effective isotropic radiated power) [5] and it is defined as the product of

its gain and input power. According to the FCC regulations EIRP emission level is limited
to -41.3dBm/MHz throughout the entire UWB band. For legal operation UWB systems must
Power Spectral Density

GPS PCS Bluetooth WLAN 802.11a

WLAN 802.11b
Microwave Ovens
Cordless Phones

-40 dBm/MHz

Noise Floor UWB Spectrum

1.6 1.9 2.4 3.1 5.0 10.6

Frequency [GHz]

Figure 1.1: UWB versus Other Radio Communication Systems [1]

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work within the specified spectral mask in order to comply FCC standards and regulations.

In comparison to narrowband systems the spectrum of UWB system is larger in terms of

magnitude and emitted power. The band allocated by FCC constitute an absolute bandwidth
of 7.5 GHz which is about 110% fractional bandwidth. The UWB signals occupies larger
bandwidth where the energy of radio frequency spreads over the entire band. The maximum
power available to the antenna will be 0.556 mW when overall band allocated by FCC is fully

employed. In comparison to other radio communication systems the UWB transmission has
very low power and high sensitivity. Thus, UWB system have high data rates for indoor and
short-range communications and low data rates for mid-range communications.

Ultra-wideband technology has many benefits such as high data rate (> 100 Mb/s), low
power consumption, low cost, excellent immunity to multipath interference. UWB signal
offers a carrier-free transmission because it uses whole frequency as carrier frequency, this

eliminates the requirement of additional radio frequency (RF) mixers. Therefore, the entire
UWB system can be incorporated with a single CMOS which consequently results in low cost,
low complexity, low power and small size. In multi-path surroundings the transmitted signal
arrives at the receiver via different paths and signal gets distorted. UWB uses short duration

pulses for transmission that provides a resolution to distorted pulses at the receiver. Therefore,
UWB communications has the capability to resolve numerous paths and provides multipath
diversity. Because of aforesaid advantages, UWB technology has enormous indoor applica-
tions transmitting at 100 Mbps to several Gbps within a distance of 20 meters as Wireless

Personal Area Network (WPANs) and wireless Universal Serial Bus (USB) connectivity for
personal computers (PCs) and PC peripherals, another major application is Wireless Sensor
Network (WSN) useful in medical and tracking applications.

1.3 PLANAR MONOPOLE ANTENNA

In UWB communication systems, one of the foremost issue is design of a simple, compact,
and multifunctional antenna integrated with the portable devices. This antenna can reduce the

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complexity of the receiver and transmitter section of the system. In this section the basic of the

planar monopole antenna that can be used for UWB applications will be explained. When half
i.e one arm of the dipole is substituted by an infinite ground plane monopole antenna came into
picture as shown in Fig.1.2. Basically, it is defined as a thin wire of length L mounted above
the infinite ground plane. When the monopole antenna is placed above a metallic ground plane

it act as a dipole due to reflections, since the ground plane acts as electric mirror.
The fields of the monopole antenna above the ground plane and the dipole antenna will be
similar. The monopole antenna have zero radiation below the ground plane. The monopole
antennas are suitable to match 50 ohms and are unbalanced. Hence, it is convenient to be

connected to feed at one side and grounded to outer shield.

Ground
L

Figure 1.2: Monopole Antenna

Modern and future communication system demands antenna for multiband and broad-
band operations with low cost and desired performance. The planar monopole antennas were
formed by replacing the wire element of conventional monopole antenna by planar element.
They have enormous advantages, such as planar structure, low fabrication cost, small volume,

light weight and easy integration due to which they are significantly suitable for various wire-
less applications. Different planar configurations such as circular, elliptical, rectangular and

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triangular as shown in Fig.1.3 have been studied, these configurations in comparison to con-

ventional monopole increases the surface area which in turn has direct impact on bandwidth.

(a) Square (b) Triangular (c) Elliptical

(d) Rectangular (e) Circular (f) Pentagon

Figure 1.3: Various Planar Configuration

Planar monopole antennas are modified form of microstrip antenna but conventional mi-

crostrip antenna has narrowband width due to its resonant nature while planar monopoles
have broadband width. But, if there are two or more resonant parts available with each one
operating at its own resonance, the overlapping of these multiple resonances may lead to
multiband or broadband performance. Thus, the microstrip antenna is needed to be modified
to support the multi-resonance. However, the bandwidth of microstrip antenna can also be

increased by using thicker substrate with low dielectric constant but this approach is limited.
Moreover, many other techniques such as the use of an asymmetrical feeding [6], beveling
plate [7], a double feeding arrangement [8] or by adjusting the gaping between the radiator
and ground plane are also available in the literature to enhance the performance of microstrip

planar monopole antenna in terms of operating frequency, impedance bandwidth and radiation
pattern. The planar monopoles has enormous advantages, such as low profile, easy integration

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into planar circuits and low manufacturing cost. Therefore, planar monopole antennas have

been extensively employed in wireless communication system

1.4 MULTIPLE ANTENNAS

New generation of wireless communication system requires high speed data rate with low er-

ror rate and increase channel capacity and conventional wireless systems are unable to meet
this requirement due to multipath fading and co-channel interference. When the signal at the
receiver is received via multiple path then the signal get faded or distorted. This is called
multipath fading. Another term is co-channel interference and it is defined as the interference

caused by different signals using same frequency. Hence, to improve quality and channel ca-
pacity multiple antennas have to be employed. The basic concept to increase channel capacity
is to equip multiple antennas either in the transmitter/receiver or both of them. Therefore,
there was an emergent interest towards the development of codes and techniques for multiple
antennas.

In year 1987, Winters [9] proposed diversity antenna technique for radio communication

in which he used M transmitting and M receiving antennas to study the fundamental limits on
the data rate of multiple antenna system in a Rayleigh fading environment. Foschini [10] in
1996 layered space-time architecture using multiple antennas. The main focus was to employ
an equal number of antenna array elements at both the transmitter and receiver to increase

the channel capacity. Further, Tarokhe et al. [11] and Alamouti [12] proposed space-time
codes for transmission using multiple transmit antennas to obtain transmit diversity without
the requirement of any feedback from the receiver to the transmitter.

Multiple-Input-Multiple-output (MIMO) is one of the smart antenna technologies for mod-

ern wireless communication system. It has evidenced to be one of the finest techniques for
the enhancement in channel capacity without the requirement of additional bandwidth and

power. The employment of multiple antennas on both the transmitter and receiver leads to
Multiple-Input Multiple-Output (MIMO) systems. They can be characterised into various

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 SISO MISO
X1
S11 Y1
X1 Y1
S11 X2 S12

SIMO MIMO
S11
S11 Y1 X1 Y1
X1 S21

S21 Y2 S12 Y2
X2
S22

Figure 1.4: Multiple Antennas Configuration

form as shown in figure 1.4. Basically, MIMO is a combination of all the multiple antenna
techniques such as SISO, SIMO and MISO. SISO (Single-input Single-output) is a conven-
tional system where the transmitter and receiver have single antenna. SIMO (Single-input

Multiple-output) this configuration has single transmitting antenna and multiple receiving an-
tennas. MISO (Multiple-input Single-output) has multiple transmitting antennas and single
receiving antenna.

1.5 MOTIVATION FOR THE PRESENT RESEARCH

Over the past few years, the advancements in UWB technology has greatly enhanced the
interest in designing high performance UWB antenna with high level of miniaturization and

high frequency of operation. Therefore, there is a huge demand for devices having compact
structure and low cost. This has induced the need for small size antennas that has to be
compatible with portable wireless devices. The diversity techniques are employed to cater the
growing demand of wireless communication systems with increased data rate.

Diversity systems transmit the same amount of power using multiple antennas at transmit-

ter and receiver thereby increases the channel capacity without the need of additional band-
width or power. Size of the antenna is one of the critical issues in the design of diversity

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antenna as the space for antenna integration is limited in portable devices such as PCs and

mobile devices. For an efficient diversity antenna system mutual coupling between the indi-
vidual antennas that are placed in close proximity to each other should be as low as possible
throughout the entire operating band. These design issues and required features for achiev-
ing miniaturization with enhanced bandwidth kindles the interest and serves as a motivation

to the researchers. This thesis work promotes the study and design of UWB antennas in or-
der to meet some of these challenging demands. Therefore, the objective of this thesis is to
investigate the ultra-wideband performance of the monopole and diversity antennas in detail.

1.6 CHALLENGES IN ANTENNA DESIGN

The modern wireless technology has experienced many significant developments in recent
years. However, there are still challenges in making this technology live up to its full potential
out of which antennas design is one of the major challenge. In antenna design, the major chal-

lenge is to design an antenna that covers the whole band approved by FCC in one slot with
consistent performance throughout the band. Recent trend in wireless technology demands
miniaturized UWB antenna so as to be compatible with portable devices. As devices in the
near future are going to be more compact and the space for antenna integration is also reduc-

ing, the antennas must be positioned within the available space. But reduction in the size of
antenna will affects its radiation characteristics. Another challenge in UWB antenna design
is electromagnetic interference due to the coexistence of narrowband systems such as WLAN
and C-band with UWB systems. The narrowband antennas are highly efficient as they are
used for long range application whereas the UWB antennas are not that efficient since they are

used for short range applications. Therefore, impact of interference of UWB spectrum with
that narrowband is an important issue and has to be eliminated.

Further, the development of UWB-MIMO antenna systems adds more challenges in an-

tenna design. The designs of UWB-MIMO antenna system are confronted with the same
design constraints as that of single antenna with additional challenges of isolation, correlation

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and diversity gain. Mutual coupling between antennas in space limited device is of major

concern where antennas are placed in close proximity to each other. As it not only affects the
antenna efficiency but also influences the correlation. Another difficult task that exists during
the design of a UWB-MIMO antenna system is the concurrent enhancement of isolation and
impedance bandwidth.

1.7 RESEARCH PROBLEM STATEMENT

With the motivation mentioned in section 1.5, we take up the problem for the doctoral research,
which is stated as follows: To design and develop

1. UWB Monopole Antenna

2. UWB-MIMO/Diversity Antenna

with enhanced bandwidth for UWB applications.

1.8 THESIS ORGANISATION

The work accomplished in this thesis is organised in following eight chapters:

Chapter 1: This chapter provides the introduction of the thesis. In this, a brief descrip-
tion of UWB technology, the stimulus behind the research work and thesis organization is
presented.
Chapter 2: This chapter discusses the state-of art on the present work. In this, literature
review on UWB monopole antennas and UWB multiple element antennas for wideband ap-

plications is presented and summarized.

Chapter 3: In this chapter, a microstrip-line-fed rhombus-shaped slot antenna is presented.
In comparison to the previously reported antennas the designed antenna has a compact size
and simple structure. The geometrical parameters that effect the antenna performances were

comprehensively studied and the time domain analysis of the designed antenna for different
orientations is also performed. The ultra wideband characteristic of the designed antenna

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is evaluated in terms return loss, gain, efficiency and radiation patterns; validated by both

simulations and measurements.

Chapter 4: In this chapter, a beak-shaped monopole antenna for enhanced bandwidth is

investigated. The operating principle of the designed antenna is studied based on the analysis
of the antenna performance and characteristics. This chapter deals with the design of beak-

shaped radiator with slotted ground plane for UWB, bluetooth, GPS and GSM applications.

Chapter 5: In this chapter, the miniaturized UWB antenna for oil pipeline imaging is
presented. The frequency domain and time domain performances of the designed antenna
are evaluated, antenna operates well over ultra-wide band and easily comply with FCC. The
designed antenna can be easily fit into a pipeline without obstructing the flow of the liquids.

The antenna is also able to provide seamless operation in crude oil.

Chapter 6: In this chapter, the frequency domain performance and the diversity character-
istics of eye-shaped MIMO/diversity antenna is presented. The MIMO antenna has a compact
structure and provides good performance throughout the UWB band. Several studies such as
installation of MIMO antenna on PCB with a standard size, with USB connector and device

housing are investigated. The above design is further modified to achieve single band notch
characteristic by using an L-shaped stub in the ground plane.

Chapter 7: In this chapter, the tapered-fed UWB MIMO/diversity antenna for portable
devices is presented. The designed antenna has a compact size and performs well, validated

by simulations and experimental investigation. The MIMO/diversity antenna is also studied

in terms of isolation between the ports, radiation pattern, efficiency, realized gain, ECC, MEG
and TARC. In this design, dual band notched characteristics are achieved by incorporating two
inverted L-slits in the radiator without deteriorating UWB characteristics of the above antenna.

Chapter 8: In this chapter, the overall research work carried out in this thesis is summarized

and the scope for future research is also suggested and sketched. Outcome of the present
research work ( i.e published papers) embodied in this thesis is also listed.

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1.9 SUMMARY

In this chapter, a brief introduction was presented on UWB technology followed by planar
monopole antenna and multiple antennas. This chapter also outlines the motivation and the
challenges behind the present research. In essence, this chapter provides the complete sketch

of the thesis in an inclusive manner. After acquainted with fundamentals of UWB monopole
antennas and multiple antennas, a brief historical review will be carried out in the next chapter.

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