Performance Comparison of Microstrip Antenna Feeding Techniques

N.Kanniyappan, Mr.M.Arulaalan PG student, Dept of ECE, Anand Institute of Higher Technology. Assistant Professor, Dept of ECE, Anand Institute of Higher Technology. Kalasalingam nagar, Kazhipattur, Chennai-603103. kanniyappannallan@gmail.com arulaalan@gmail.com ABSTRACT This paper presents comparison of microstrip antenna feeding techniques performance. The Microstrip feeding techniques are microstrip line feed, inset fed, coaxial feed, aperture coupled feed and proximity coupled feed. We are chosen microstrip line feed and co-axial feed due to the advantage that it can be easily fabricated and simplicity in modelling as well as impedance matching. Microstrip line feed and co-axial feed antennas are applied for WLAN applications. The simulation of microstrip antenna is carried out using ADS2009. The return loss, beamwidth and gain for microstrip line feed -12.5dB, 110o and 6dB respectively. The return loss, beamwidth and gain for co-axial fed patch antenna are -29dB, 150o and 4dB respectively. Both the antennas were fabricated using FR4 substrate, dielectric constant 4.6 and thickness 1.6mm. The co-axial feed antenna resonated at 2.4GHz and Microstrip line fed antenna resonated at 2.404GHz.

Keywords
Feeding Techniques, Microstrip Patch Antenna, Rectangular Patch, WLAN.

INTRODUCTION In the last few years the wireless local area network (WLAN) has been used in a variety of applications for which new and more restrictive requirements in the design of the receiving antenna have been introduced. In particular, for high precision WLAN applications, WLAN-based spacecraft attitude determination, a receiving antenna with superior rejection to multipath signals is required. Multipath arises when the WLAN transmitted signal takes different paths to the receiving antenna and, being the signals from these paths added with different phases this results in a significant amplitude and phase distortion. A Wireless LAN is ideal for certain work environments and can boost work efficiency levels in most cases. Here's what you'll require to go wireless. Cabling is the least expensive building block of your network, yet it is highly significant for performance and reliability. Bad cabling can result in frequent network breakdowns. Sometimes there's a situation where laying wires or physically connecting network nodes is impractical. Here are three instances when an organization would require a wireless LAN. A marketing person needs anytime, anywhere communications capability in order to access e-mail and Internetbased applications, from any room in the office. A corporate executive needs network access for his notebook as he moves from his desk to the conference room to the boss's cabin. Desktops need to be instantly connected to the LAN. In all three cases, network connectivity can be established instantly using WLAN technology. WLAN, a complement to wired LAN, uses radio frequencies to transmit and receive data over the air. WLAN is represented by the 802.11 standard that forms an efficient data communications system. There are different types of antennas used in Wireless LAN systems which include Omni directional, Yagi UDA, Parabolic or dish and Patch antennas. Of all these, taking the cost and size of the antenna into consideration Microstrip Patch antennas serve the best purpose. In this project, we have deigned microstrip patch antenna for 2.4GHz. since most of the papers concentrated on designing the WLAN antenna for dual frequency here we have focused on design of microstrip patch antenna for Wireless LAN users and made a comparison using different feeding techniques and fabricated two microstrip patch antenna using two different feeding and tested the results.

MICROSTRIP PATCH ANTENNA Microstrip Patch antenna consists of a radiating patch on one side of a dielectric substrate which has a ground plane on the other side as shown in fig 1. The patch is generally made of conducting material such as copper or gold and can take any possible shape. The radiating patch and the feed lines are usually photo etched on the dielectric substrate [11].

Fig.1. Microstrip patch antenna In order to simplify analysis and performance prediction, the patch is generally square, rectangular, circular, triangular, and elliptical or some other common shapes. For a rectangular patch, the length L of the patch is usually 0.33330 < L < 0.50, where 0 is the free-space wavelength. The patch is selected to be very thin such that t<< 0 (where t is the patch thickness). The height h of the dielectric substrate is usually 0.0030 h 0.050. The dielectric constant of the substrate (r) is typically in the range 2.2 r 12. Microstrip patch antenna radiate primarily because of the fringing fields between the patch edge and the ground plane. For good antenna performance, a thick dielectric substrate having a low dielectric constant is desirable since this provides better efficiency, larger bandwidth and better radiation. However, such a configuration leads to a larger antenna size. In order to design a compact Microstrip patch antenna, higher dielectric constants must be used which are less efficient and result in narrower bandwidth. Hence a compromise must be reached between antenna dimensions and antenna performance.

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FEEDING TECHNIQUES
Microstrip patch antennas can be fed by a variety of methods. These methods can be classified into two categories contacting and non-contacting. On the contacting method, the RF power is fed directly to the radiating patch using a connecting element such as a microstrip line. In the non contacting scheme, electromagnetic field coupling is done to transfer power between the microstrip line and the radiating patch. The four most popular feed techniques used are the microstrip line, coaxial probe (both contacting schemes), aperture coupling and proximity coupling (both non contacting schemes).

fabricate due to multiple layers, which also increases the antenna thickness. This feeding scheme also provides narrow bandwidth.

D. Proximity Coupled feed

This type of feeding technique is also called as the electromagnetic coupling scheme, two dielectric substrates are used such that the feed line is between the two substrates and the radiating patch is on top of the upper substrate. The main advantage of this feed technique is that it eliminates spurious feed radiation and provides very high bandwidth (as high as 13%), due to overall increase in the thickness of the microstrip patch antenna. This scheme also provides choices between two different dielectric media. One for patch and another for the feed line to optimize the individual performances. Matching can be achieved by controlling the length of the feed line and the width-to-line ratio of the patch. The major disadvantage of this feed scheme is that it is difficult to fabricate because of the two dielectric layers which need proper alignment. Also, there is an increase in the overall thickness of the antenna.

A. Microstrip Line feed

In this type of feeding technique, a conducting strip connected directly to the edge of the microstrip patch. The conducting strip is smaller in width as compared to the path and this kind of feed arrangement has the advantage that the feed can be on the same substrate to provide a planar structure. The purpose of the inset cut in the patch is to match the impedance of the reed line to the path without the need for any additional matching element. This is achieved by properly controlling the inset position. Hence this is an easy feeding scheme, since it provides ease of fabrication and simplicity in modeling as well as impedance matching. However as the thickness of the dielectric substrate being used, increases, surface waves and spurious feed radiation also increases, which hampers the bandwidth of the antenna. The feed radiation also leads to undesired cross polarized radiation.

DESIGN PROCEDURE
Substrate choice for a rectangular microstrip patch antenna is FR4, thickness of the substrate 1.6mm, dielectric constant value is r =4.6,operating frequency 2.4 GHz, Input impedance 50, polarization of microsrip patch antenna linear/circular polarization and tan =0.019. The width is critical in terms of power efficiency, antenna impedance and bandwidth. It is largely dependent on the operating frequency and the substrate dielectric constant. The patch width ( W) has a minor effect on the resonant frequency (fr), and it is calculated using the following formula is given by [3]

B. coaxial feed
The Coaxial feed or probe feed is a very common technique used for feeding Microstrip patch antennas. The inner conductor of the coaxial connector extends through the dielectric and is soldered to the radiating patch, while the outer conductor is connected to the ground plane [11].The main advantage of this type of feeding scheme is that the feed can be placed at any desired location inside the patch in order to match with its input impedance. This feed method is easy to fabricate and has low spurious radiation. However, its major disadvantage is that it provides narrow bandwidth and is difficult to model slice a hole has to be drilled in the substrate and the connector protrudes outside the ground plane, thus not making it completely planar for thick substrates (h>0.02 0). Also, for thicker substrates, the increased probe length makes the input impedance more inductive, leading to matching problems. It is seen above that for a thick dielectric substrate, which provides broad bandwidth, the microstrip line feed and the coaxial feed suffer from numerous disadvantages. The non-contacting feed techniques which have been discussed below, solve these problems.

where c is the speed of light in free space and r is the relative permittivity of the fabric material under test. The microstrip patch lies between air and the dielectric material, and thus, the EM wave sees an effective permittivity (reff ) is given by [3]

The patch length (L) determines the resonant frequency and is a critical parameter in design because of the inherent narrow bandwidth of the patch. The design value for L is given by [3]

C. Aperture Coupled Feed

In this type of feed technique, the radiating patch and the microstrip feed line are separated by the ground plane. Coupling between the patch and the feed line is made through a slot or an aperture in the ground plane. The coupling aperture is usually centered under the patch, leading to lower cross-polarization due to symmetry of the configuration. The amount of coupling from the feed line to the patch is determined by the shape, size and location of the aperture. Since the ground plane separates the patch and the feed line, spurious radiation is minimized. Generally, high dielectric material is used for the bottom substrate and a thick. Low dielectric constant material is used for the top substrate to optimize radiation from the patch. The major disadvantage of this feed technique is that it is difficult to where reff is the effective permittivity of the material under test. The additional line length on L both ends of the patch. length, due to the effect of fringing fields, is given by [3]

The effective patch length Le is written as [3] Base

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d on above equations width and length was calculated. Width of 37.35mm, effective dielectric constant of 4.2629, Incremental length of 0.7340, effective length 30.27mm and length of Microstrip patch is 28.8mm.

SIMULATED RESULTS
Simulation was performed using Advanced Design System tool. FR4 based substrate with a size of 37 mm x28 mm and W and L applied for different feeding techniques.

A. microstrip patch antenna layout

Fig.2 to Fig.5 shows ADS layout of inset fed, line fed, coaxial, proximity feeding techniques. Simulated results were shown in Table.1. Fig.5 Proximity coupled Microstrip patch antenna

B. Return Loss
Fig.6 shows that simulated return loss of Inset fed Microstrip patch antenna. Operating frequency 2.409 GHz and return loss 16.037dB.Fig.7 shows Microstrip fed line return loss of 12.574dB and operating at 2.404GHz.Fig.8 and Fig.9 shows return loss graph of coaxial, proximity coupled patch antennas. Its return loss -29.129dB,-5.17dB and operating frequency 2.4GHz, 22.417 GHz respectively. Coaxial fed gave have lower return loss and exact operating frequencies 2.4GHz.
m1 freq= 2.409GHz dB(inset_mom_a..S(1,1))=-16.037 Min S11
0 -5 M a g . [d B ] -10 -15 -20 2.0 2.2 2.4 2.6 2.8 3.0 Frequency

Fig.2 Inset fed Microstrip patch antenna

m1

Fig.6 Inset fed Microstrip patch antenna

m1 freq=2.404GHz dB(fed3_mom_a..S(1,1))=-12.574 Min S11
0 -2 -4 Mag. [dB ] -6 -8 -10 -12 -14 2.0 2.2 2.4 2.6 2.8 3.0 Frequency

m1

Fig.3 Microstrip line fed patch antenna

Fig.7 Microstrip line fed patch antenna

m1 freq= 2.400GHz dB(coaxial1_mom_a..S(1,1))=-29.129 Min S11

0

Mag. [dB]

-10

-20

m1
-30 2.0 2.2 2.4 2.6 2.8 3.0 Frequency

Fig.4 Coaxial feed Microstrip patch antenna

Fig.8 Coaxial fed Microstrip patch antenna

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m1 freq= 2.417GHz dB(proxy1_mom..S(1,1))=-5.170 S11

0 -1 Mag. [dB] -2 -3 -4

m1
-5 -6 2.0 2.2 2.4 2.6 2.8 3.0 Frequency

Fig.12 Coaxial fed Microstrip patch antenna Fig.9 Proximity coupled Microstrip patch antenna

C. Radiation pattern
Fig.10 shows that radiation pattern of Inset fed Microstrip patch antenna. Fig.11 shows Microstrip fed line radiation pattern. Fig.12 and Fig.13 shows radiation pattern of coaxial, proximity coupled patch antennas. Radiated power values are shown in Table.1.

Fig.13 Proximity coupled Microstrip patch antenna

TABLE I PERFORMANCE COMPARISON OF FEEDING TECHNIQUES specifications Inset Fed Microstri pfed Coaxial feed Proxi mity Coupl ed Feed 2.417 6.729 13 6.712 2 130 -5.170 43 0.005 9567 2.679 11

Fig.10 Inset fed Microstrip patch antenna Frequency (GHz) Gain (dB) Directivity (dB) Beam width in (Degree) Return loss (dB) Efficiency (%) Radiated power (Watts) Effective angle(Watts/St eradian) 2.409 3.50542 6.35787 100 -16.037 52 0.00840 638 2.90685 2.404 6.15435 6.23995 110 -12.574 60 0.0538518 2.98686 2.400 4.03081 6.4184 150 -29.129 80.0 0.005441 2.86662

Fig.11 Microstrip line fed patch antenna

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CONCLUSIONS
The simulated result shows that performance of Microstrip antenna feeding techniques. Realized antennas with compact size, relatively good radiation characteristics have a wide beam width and low return loss. Based on simulated results in Table.1, coaxial fed and Microstrip line fed having good performance. Both the microstrip line feed, coaxial feed was chosen and fabricate for WLAN applications.

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