LIGHTWEIGHT, LOW COST PRINTED ANTENNA ARRAYS

The advantages of stripline-fed, printed aperture antennas over conventional microstrip patch antennas with planar feed lines are studied and discussed. The design parameters for the selected aperture shapes are presented along with measured data for several arrays. A 2 2 array of rectangular slots and a 4 4 array of annular ring slots, both with stripline feed networks, have been built and tested. A lightweight 8 8 array of proximity-coupled patch elements with a corporate feed network was also built and tested. Comparison of the weights of each of the antennas that are tested is described, demonstrating that proper choice of materials and the antenna geometry aid in decreasing the weight and cost of printed antenna arrays.

or communications and remote sensing applications in the frequency range from L- to C-band, the relatively large element size, coupled with the requirement for a relatively thick substrate (for reasonable bandwidth), often leads to printed antenna arrays that are large, heavy and expensive. In this article, several antenna designs are discussed that lead to very lightweight, low cost arrays. This makes such antennas especially attractive for airborne and space borne applications. The focus of this article is primarily on the design of stripline-fed, printed aperture antennas with various aperture topologies. Arrays of both rectangular and annular ring slots with corporate feed networks were built and tested successfully at 3 GHz. These arrays were later optimized for minimum weight. The design of a lightweight, microstriplinefed, proximity-coupled patch array is also described, and the measurements of this antenna are compared to the results from the printed aperture antennas.

The microstrip-fed slot antenna was apparently studied first by Yoshimura.1 Pozar2 published a spectral-domain reciprocity analysis of a thin slot excited by an infinitely long microstrip line. Both these contributions were limited to modeling slots of rectangular shape. C. Chen, et al.3 performed an in-depth theoretical study on stripline-fed, printed aperture antennas in 1997, using a method of moments analysis to model stripline-fed, printed aperture antennas of arbitrary shape. While several aperture shapes have been discussed and simulated, very few efforts were made in actually designing and testing such antennas experimentally. This article describes the design and

BHARADVAJ PODDUTURI
Seavy Engineering Associates Pembroke, MA

DAVID M. POZAR
University of Massachusetts Amherst, MA

Reprinted with permission of MICROWAVE JOURNAL from the January 2005 issue. 2005 Horizon House Publications, Inc.

T ECHNICAL F EATURE
APERTURE STRIPLINE FEED (COPPER) FOAM (C-STOCK RH5, 0.15) GETEK LAMINATE (10 mil)

waveguide. In this article, a stripline (triplate) feed line has been used. Structure and Weight of the Antenna A total of eight layers three metal, three metallized dielectric substrates and two foam layers constitute the overall geometry of the stripline-fed, printed aperture antenna. Figure 1 shows the side view of the antenna structure. One can see that the stripline is sandwiched between two ground planes thereby eliminating any unwanted radiation from the feed lines. The radiating aperture is printed on the upper ground plane, and the lower ground plane aids in preventing any back radiation. The aperture may take different shapes depending on the antenna specifications. The specifications of the materials used in the antenna construction are as follows: 10 mil GETEK laminates, ML200D r = 3.9, tan = 0.009 at 3 GHz, 37.5 g/ft2 C-Stock RH5, foam material r=1.09, tan =0.004 at 3 GHz, 3.0 lbs/ft3 As mentioned earlier, care has been taken to make the antenna as light as possible. C-Stock RH5, a very lightweight rigid foam, has been used as the core dielectric to provide the electrical thickness required for good impedance bandwidth properties. There are other lightweight, flexible foam materials that weigh less than the C-Stock RH5, but using them will make the antenna less rigid and more prone to the effects of bending; hence, it may become difficult to maintain VSWR, impedance bandwidth and gain. The 10 mil ML200D laminate boards from GETEK have been used for the feed lines and for etching the aperture patterns. GETEK laminates possess a relatively low dissipation factor, compared to standard FR4 boards. They also have a stable dielectric constant, and provide thickness tolerance of 1.0 mil. A 10 mil GETEK board of 24" 24" in area weighs only 150 grams. Antennas Using Rectangular Apertures The top view of a rectangular printed aperture antenna at 3 GHz is shown in Figure 2. The 50 stripline feed has been extended at the end

v Fig. 1

Side view of the stripline-fed, printed aperture antenna.

WIDTH OF THE CAVITY 120 Wt 25 Ls 60 Ws 17.03

27 Lt

OFFSET

UNITS: millimeters FEED POINT

10.04 Wf

v Fig. 2

Low impedance feed line-fed rectangular printed aperture antenna.

testing of rectangular and annular ring printed aperture antennas with stripline feeds. Pozar and Kaufman4 described a proximity-coupled microstrip patch antenna capable of 13 percent bandwidth. The construction was quite simple, consisting of a microstrip feedline on a substrate, proximitycoupled to a rectangular microstrip patch on a covering superstrate. A similar idea has been used in this article, except that this proximity-coupled patch antenna has been further optimized for reduced weight. STRIPLINE-FED, PRINTED APERTURE ANTENNAS Printed aperture antennas have certain benefits relative to patch antennas, particularly at low frequencies: Low parasitic radiation from the feed lines. Depending on the aperture shape, a significant increase in impedance bandwidth. Lightweight (4 mil GETEK laminate and C-Stock RH5, a lightweight foam, are used to build the antenna). Low cost construction. The printed aperture can be fed by several techniques, including microstrip line, stripline and coplanar

into a low impedance stub. This increases the coupling between the radiating aperture and the feed line, thereby increasing the impedance bandwidth of the antenna.6 A small stub is more desirable than a larger one, because as its size gets larger and becomes comparable to the radiating dimensions of the slot, it will approach resonance, which can disturb the radiation characteristics of the slot. The high cross-polarization in the principal planes can be reduced by the introduction of a surrounding metallic cavity7 encasing the rectangular aperture. The metallic cavity aids in grounding the parallel plate modes that are generated by the stripline feed. Appropriate simulations have been performed using Ensemble v8.0 for finding suitable dimensions for the low impedance feed line-fed rectangular printed aperture antenna. The measured impedance bandwidth for 2:1 VSWR was approximately 33 percent, slightly more than what the simulations suggested (28 percent). This bandwidth is three times the impedance bandwidth of the antenna system without the stub feed (11 percent). The radiation patterns are acceptable, with 18 and 23 dB of cross-polarization in the H- and E-planes, respectively. A lightweight 2 2 array of low impedance feed line-fed rectangular printed aperture antenna has been successfully built and tested, but is not described here. Annular Ring Aperture In an annular ring aperture, the resonance is expected to occur when the average circumference C of the ring becomes comparable to g (for narrow slots). The resonance is also affected by the width of the slot Ws and the matching feed assembly. There has been an inclination towards wider slots in this article, because wider slots result in better E-plane patterns than narrow slots. The top view of the annular ring designed for 3 GHz is shown in Figure 3. The effect of the feed stub on the return loss of the antenna element is depicted in Figures 4, 5 and 6. The measured impedance bandwidth for 2:1 VSWR was approximately 21 percent, again slightly more than what the simulations have suggested (18 percent). A 4 4 array of annular ring apertures, shown in Figure 7, has been successfully de-

LENGTH OF THE CAVITY 120

7.07

T ECHNICAL F EATURE
WIDTH OF THE CAVITY 120 1.4 cm 1.6 cm 0
RETURN LOSS (dB)

1.2 cm 1.8 cm

1.0 cm

WP 30

R1 5

17 LENGTH OF THE CAVITY 120

R2 13.94 16 Lt
OFFSET (D)

R26 R1

Wt

10 20 30 40 2.0

Lp 41 25.5 STUB (D) QUARTER WAVE 24.5 TRANSFORMER

UNITS: millimeters

PHASE REFERENCE

13.2 UNITS: millimeters

Wd

FEED POINT

2.8 3.2 3.6 2.4 FREQUENCY (GHz)

4.0

v Fig. 6
10.04 Wf

Effect of the stub offset (D) on return loss.

Wf

FEED POINT 6.2

v Fig. 3

Low impedance feed line-fed annular ring printed aperture antenna.

1.6 cm RETURN LOSS (dB) 0 10 20 30 40 2.0 1.4 cm 1.5 cm 1.8 cm

v Fig. 9
0 RETURN LOSS (dB) 10 20 30

Top view of the proximity-coupled patch antenna element.

40 2.0 2.4 2.8 3.2 3.6 FREQUENCY (GHz) 4.0

v Fig. 7 The 4 4 array of annular ring printed aperture elements.

RADIATING PATCH FOAM (C-STOCK RH5) SUBSTRATE MATERIAL

2.5 3.0 3.5 FREQUENCY (GHz)

4.0

v Fig. 10

Return loss of a single proximitycoupled patch antenna element.

v Fig. 4

Effect of the stub length (Lt) on return loss.

1.7 cm 1.75 cm 1.5 cm 1.3 cm No tab (ie Wt = Wf) 0
RETURN LOSS (dB)

1.9 cm

MICROSTRIP LINE FEED

v Fig. 8

Side view of the microstrip-fed, proximity-coupled patch antenna element.

10 20 30 40 2.0

2.4 2.8 3.2 3.6 FREQUENCY (GHz)

4.0

signed and tested. This array operates at 2.99 GHz with a 9 percent impedance bandwidth, a 19.1 dB gain and weighs approximately 499 grams. Some of the observations made with the annular ring slots are as follows: A higher impedance bandwidth can be obtained with an annular ring slot, compared to a rectangular slot of equal width. For resonance to occur, the width of the slot (Ws) = the stripline width (Wf).

RETURN LOSS (dB)

v Fig. 5 Effect of the stub width (Wt) on return loss.

For resonance to occur, the stub length is > /4. Multiple resonant modes can occur; the order is TE11, TE21, TE31. TE11: sum pattern; TE21: difference pattern. TE11 mode is the mode of interest in this article. 1.3f1< f2< 1.8f1; 1.9f1< f3< 2.5f1 (where f1, f2 and f3 are resonant frequencies of the modes in increasing order). Thicker substrates and higher dielectric constants increase the number of modes. PROXIMITY-COUPLED PATCH ANTENNAS A problem with annular ring elements is that their relatively large size makes it difficult to position a corporate feed network in arrays much larger than 2 2 (for this reason, a commercial four-way off-board power divider

v Fig. 11
0 5 10 15 20 25

Feed network of an 8 8 array of proximity-coupled patch elements.

30 2.0

2.5 3.0 3.5 FREQUENCY (GHz)

4.0

v Fig. 12

Return loss of the 8 8 array of proximity-coupled patches.

has been used for feeding the 4 4 array of the annular ring printed aperture elements; this adds to the weight of the

T ECHNICAL F EATURE
CO-POLARIZATION CROSS-POLARIZATION 0 5 10 LEVEL (dB) 15 20 25 30 35 40 80 60 40 20 0 20 40 60 80 ANGLE ()
LEVEL (dB)

CO-POLARIZATION CROSS-POLARIZATION 0 5 10 15 20 25 30 35 40 45 50

80 60 40 20 0 20 40 60 80 ANGLE ()

v Fig. 16

Co-polarization and cross-polarization H-plane radiation patterns of the 8 8 array of proximity-coupled patches at 3 GHz.

v Fig. 13

Co-polarization and cross-polarization E-plane radiation patterns of the 8 8 array of proximity-coupled patches at 3 GHz.
30 25 GAIN (dB) 20 15 10 5 0 2.0 2.5 3.0 3.5 FREQUENCY (GHz) 4.0

v Fig. 14

The 8 8 array of proximity-coupled patches.

TABLE I
WEIGHT ESTIMATE FOR THE 8 8 ARRAY OF MICROSTRIP PATCH ELEMENTS AT 3 GHz Material type Weight of single 24" 24" panel (g) Number of panels Cumulative weight (g) 59 mil GETEK laminate 1156.25 1 1156.25

antenna). In an attempt to further decrease the size of the radiating element, proximity-coupled microstrip patch elements have been used. Their geometry is detailed in Figures 8 and 9. A 4 mil GETEK FR-4 laminate material (density of 15 g/ft2) is employed instead of a 10 mil board, and there are two rigid foam layers of 0.060" and 0.15" thick each. The bottom foam layer thickness cannot be reduced beyond 0.060" because this would degrade the overall bandwidth of the antenna system. Also, since there are no TEM waves that propagate, a surrounding metallic cavity is not required here. Even the require-

v Fig. 15

Measured gain of the 8 8 array of proximity-coupled patches.

ment for a large ground plane is relaxed, since the patch elements have narrower E-plane patterns than the slot elements. Return loss measure-

ments on the proximity-coupled antenna element indicated a strong resonance at 3 GHz, with a 2:1 VSWR impedance bandwidth of 6.7 percent, as shown in Figure 10.

TABLE II
CHARACTERISTICS OF VARIOUS DESCRIBED ANTENNAS Antenna Type fc (GHz) 3.01 3.05 3.00 3.01 2.99 3.00 3.00 3.00 3.04 Impedance Bandwidth (%) 33 16.7 21 11.12 9 6.67 13.7 18.3 15.7 H- & E-Plane 3 dB Beamwidths () 45 and 56 34 and 38 20 and 20.5 35.5 and 38 18.5 and 18.2 8.9 and 9.3 H- & E-Plane Cross-pol (relative to Co-pol) (dB) 18.3 22.6 28.0 22.2 20.8 17.8 6.8 24.2 20.9 22.9 29.0 30.1 18.1 23.5 15.9 34.8 18.0 25.9 Gain (dB) 9.1 11.5 9.2 13.0 19.1 9.6 13.2 18.9 25.6 Area (cm2) 12 12 30 30 12 12 30 30 44 44 10 10 15 15 44 44 60 60 Weight (g) 176.4 351.5 184.1 362.3 498.7 43.2 167.3 409.4 523.0

Single rectangular aperture 2 2 array of rectangular aperture elements Single annular ring aperture 2 2 array of annular ring apertures 4 4 array of annular ring apertures Single proximity-coupled patch 2 2 array of proximity-coupled patches 4 4 array of proximity-coupled patches 8 8 array of proximity-coupled patches

T ECHNICAL F EATURE
An 8 8 array of proximity-coupled patch elements was designed with a corporate feed network. The element spacing was maintained at 7.0 cm in both planes. The layout of the feed network is shown in Figure 11. The antenna resonates at 3.04 GHz, with an impedance bandwidth for 2:1 VSWR of 16 percent, as shown in Figure 12. The radiation field patterns are recorded in Figures 13 and 14. The antenna has 3 dB beamwidths of 8.9 and 9.3 in the H- and Eplanes, respectively. The antenna has a gain of 25.6 dB at 3 GHz (see Figure 15). The overall size of the antenna is 24" 24" and weighs approximately 523 grams. Figure 16 shows a photograph of the final antenna structure. CONCLUSION AND DISCUSSION ON WEIGHT OF THE ANTENNA The weight of the described antenna structures can now be compared to a standard microstrip patch array at 3 GHz. Consider the design of an 8 8 array of microstrip patch elements on a single dielectric substrate with a coplanar microstrip feed network at 3 GHz. The element spacing is maintained at 0.7. To achieve even moderate bandwidths, at least a 59 mil PTFE or similar laminate must be used. The weight estimate for this microstrip antenna is as stated in Table 1. Table 2 summarizes the electrical and mechanical characteristics of the described lightweight antennas. It can be clearly seen from the data that the proximity-coupled patch antenna with appropriate construction materials weighs 523 grams, which is less than half that of the standard microstrip patch antenna (1156.25 grams) at 3 GHz. s References
1. Y. Yoshimura, A Microstrip Slot Antenna, IEEE Transactions on Microwave Theory and Techniques, Vol. 20, No. 11, November 1972, pp. 760762. 2. D.M. Pozar, A Reciprocity Method of Analysis for Printed Slot and Slot-coupled Microstrip Antennas, IEEE Transactions on Antennas and Propagation, Vol. 34, No. 12, December 1986, pp. 14391446. 3. C. Chen, W.E. McKinzie and N.G. Alexopoulos, Stripline-fed Arbitrarily Shaped Printed Aperture Antennas, IEEE Transactions on Antennas and Propagation, Vol. 45, No. 7, July 1997. 4. D.M. Pozar and B. Kaufman, Increasing the Bandwidth of a Microstrip Antenna by Proximity Coupling, Electronics Letters, Vol. 23, No. 8, April 1987, pp. 368369. 5. P.S. Simon, K. McInturff, D.L. Johnson and J.A. Troychak, Moment Method Analysis of a Stripline-fed Slot Using Subdomain Basis Functions, Antenna Applications Symposium Digest, Monticello, IL, 1989, pp. 477505. 6. H.S. Shin and N. Kim, Wideband Concentric Annular Ring Slot Microstrip Antenna with a Low Impedance Feedline, CCE Department, Chungbuk National University, South Korea. 7. S.A. Long, A Mathematical Model for the Impedance of the Cavity-backed Slot Antenna, IEEE Transactions on Antennas and Propagation, Vol. AP-25, No. 6, June 1977. 8. H.Y. Yang and N.G. Alexopoulos, A Dynamic Model for Microstrip-slotline Transition and Related Structures, IEEE Transactions on Microwave Theory and Techniques, Vol. 36, No. 2, February 1988, pp. 286293. 9. J. Galejs and T.W. Thompson, Admittance of a Cavity-backed Annular Slot Antenna, IEEE Transactions on Antennas and Propagation, Vol. 10, No. 6, November 1962. 10. M. Omiya, T. Hikage, N. Ohno, K. Horiguchi and K. Itoh, Design of Cavitybacked Slot Antennas Using the Finite-difference Time-domain Technique, IEEE Transactions on Antennas and Propagation, Vol. 46, No. 12, December 1998. 11. R.C. Hansen, Anomalous Edge Effects in Finite Arrays, IEEE Transactions on Antennas and Propagation, Vol. 47, No. 3, March 1999. 12. D.M. Pozar, Personal Computer Aided Antenna Design, Antenna Design Associates Inc., Leverett, MA, 1999. Bharadvaj Podduturi received his BS degree in electronic and communication engineering from the Jawaharlal Nehru Technological University, India, in 2001, and his MS degree in electrical and computer engineering from the University of Massachusetts at Amherst in 2003. He is currently working as an RF and antenna design engineer at Seavey Engineering Associates (SEA). His work at SEA includes modeling and designing antennas below 100 GHz. His research interests include RFID tags and antennas, microstrip antennas, automotive antennas, antennas for all commercial applications, analog and digital mixed signal designing, and fiber optic communication. He can be reached via e-mail at bharadvaj@bharadvaj.com. David M. Pozar received his BS and MS degrees in electrical engineering from the University of Akron in 1975 and 1976, respectively, and his PhD degree in electrical engineering from The Ohio State University in 1980. He has been working as a professor at the University of Massachusetts at Amherst since 1980, the same university that recently awarded him its 2003 Chancellors Medal. He is the author of several books, including Microwave Engineering and Microwave and RF Design of Wireless Systems. His research interests include microstrip antennas and phased arrays, microwave engineering and electromagnetics, and transient radiation. He can be reached via e-mail at pozar@ecs.umass.edu.