Assignment # 1

Feed Patch Antenna

(Microwave Engineering)

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FEED PATCH ANTENNA Antenna:

An antenna is an element used for radiating or receiving electromagnetic wave. Although antennas may seem to be available in numerous different shapes and sizes, they all operate according to the same basic principles of electromagnetic. As a general principle, a guided wave traveling along a transmission line which opens out will radiate as a free-space wave, also known as an electromagnetic wave. When an antenna is receiving, the antenna transforms free-space propagating waves by inducing a guided electromagnetic wave within the antenna. The guided electromagnetic wave is then fed into an integrated circuit. The integrated circuit then deciphers the signal being transmitted. When an antenna is transmitting, the antenna receives the guided electromagnetic wave for transmission from a feed line and induces an electric field surrounding the antenna to form a free-space propagating electromagnetic wave. The features of antenna can be known by the parameters of operation frequency, radiation patterns, reflected loss, and antenna gain, etc. An antenna may be that component of a personal communication device, a radio, a television, or a radar system that directs incoming and outgoing radio waves between free space and a transmission line. Antennas are usually metal and have a wide variety of configurations, from the whip or mast like devices employed for radio and television broadcasting to the large parabolic reflectors used to receive satellite signals and the radio waves generated by distant astronomical objects.

Feed Patch Antenna:

The microstrip/feed Patch technique is a planar technique used to produce lines conveying signals and antennas coupling such lines and radiated waves. It uses conductive strips and/or patches formed on the top surface of a thin dielectric substrate separating them from a conductive layer on the bottom surface of the substrate and constituting a ground for the line or antenna. A patch is typically wider than a strip and its shape and dimensions are important features of the antenna. Patch antennas are simple to fabricate and easy to modify and customize. They are the original microstrip antenna as described by Howell, which are a length of microstrip transmission line of approximately one-half wavelength. The radiation mechanism arises from discontinuities at each truncated edge of the microstrip transmission line. The radiation at the edges causes the antenna to be slightly larger than its physical dimension electrically. In order to obtain a resonant condition at the antenna driving point, a shorter than a one-half wavelength section of microstrip transmission line is used.

Basic Form:
The following drawing shows a patch antenna in its basic form: a flat plate over a ground plane (usually a PC board). The center conductor of a coax serves as the feed probe to couple electromagnetic energy in and/or out of the patch. The electric field distribution of a rectangular patch excited in its fundamental mode is also indicated.

The electric field is zero at the center of the patch, maximum (positive) at one side, and minimum (negative) on the opposite side. It should be mentioned that the minimum and maximum continuously change side according to the instantaneous phase of the applied signal. The electric field does not stop abruptly at the patch's periphery as in a cavity; rather, the fields extend the outer periphery to some degree. These field extensions are known as fringing fields and cause the patch to radiate.

Advantage of Feed Patch Antenna:

Feed patch antenna provides great advantage over traditional Antennas because it offers low profile, i.e. it; is lightweight (due to the absence of heavy metal) has easy manufacturability is thin is inexpensive is easy to integrate with other electronic Equipments is flat/planar has low manufacturing cost using printed circuit technology

Microstrip antennas require less space, are simpler and less expensive to manufacture, and are more compatible than reflector antennas with printed-circuit technology.

Applications of Feed Patch Antenna:

These antennas provide a wide variety of applications; Microstrip patch antennas are used widely in antenna arrays. For example, reflector or dish antennas are commonly used in residential environments for receiving broadcast services, such as the transmission of television channel signals, from geostationary, or equatorial, satellites. Microstrip array antennas, i.e., microstrip antennas having an array of microstrips, may be used with applications requiring high directivity. These antennas are used in many types of portable electronic devices, such as cellular phones GPS receivers palm electronic devices pagers laptop computers telematics units in vehicles Wideband circularly feed patch antennas are used for wireless LAN applications. Broadband Stacked patch antennas are well suited for Bluetooth applications.