2012 IEEE Students Conference on Electrical, Electronics and Computer Science

Analysis of Circular Patch Antenna as an

Electromagnetic Interference Sensor
Amit Kumar Srivastava

Saswati Ghosh

Binay Kumar Sarkar

Department of E&ECE
Indian Institute of Technology,
Kharagpur-721302, India
Email: a.k.srvstv.20@gmail.com

Kalpana Chawla Space Technology Cell

Indian Institute of Technology,
Kharagpur-721302, India
Email: saswatikgp@gmail.com

Department of E&ECE
Indian Institute of Technology,
Kharagpur-721302, India
Email: bks@ece.iitkgp.ernet.in

AbstractThis paper presents the analysis of circular patch

antenna as an electromagnetic interference sensor in microwave
frequency range. The paper describes the performance of
circular patch antenna as EMI sensor in terms of antenna
factor and radiation characteristics. The designed patch
antenna is simulated using commercial software Computer
Simulation Technology Microwave Studio. The designed patch
antenna is fabricated and characteristics are measured.
Simulated and experimental results are presented and
discussed. Same trend is obtained in the antenna factor of the
circular patch antenna calculated from experiment and
simulation.
Keywords- antenna factor; circular patch antenna; EMI;
sensor.

I.

INTRODUCTION

Electromagnetic Interference (EMI) is highly nonGaussian random processes, whose effects on system can be
rigorous, particularly on most conventional systems, which
are designed for better performance against noise, therefore
the measurement and prediction of electromagnetic
interference is a major concern of any adequate system
design. All electronic devices must conform to the standard
of electromagnetic emission. The testing of electromagnetic
compatibility (EMC) of all electronic devices is necessary.
The electromagnetic interference increases with the increase
in frequency. At microwave frequency range, each metallic
component of system scatters radiating emission and
interferes with the system process, so the system become
hazardous. EMI sensors can play an important role for
conforming system design.
Wire antennas, monopole antenna structures, dipole
antennas, rectangular waveguides are commonly used as
EMI sensors [1-6]. These structures have a problem to
conform any desired shape. Microstrip patch antennas are
widely used as transmitting antennas due to its advantages:
light weight, small size, inexpensive to fabricate and easy
integrability into arrays. The performance of circular patch
antenna has been studied extensively in the literature [7].
Microstrip rectangular patch antenna is studied as an EMI
sensor [8], however, circular patch antenna is not used
anywhere as an EMI Sensor. The motive of this work is to

978-1-4673-1515-9/12/$31.00 2012 IEEE

propose circular patch antenna as an EMI sensor. The use of

circular patch antennas as EMI sensors may be a useful
alternative to the heavy rectangular waveguide structures and
wire antennas.
The characteristics of patch antennas as EMI sensors are
described by the term antenna factor. Antenna factor is
related to the effective antenna length (diameter), mismatch
and transmission losses [9]. It is defined as the ratio of the
incident electric field on the surface of sensor to the
developed voltage across load connected to the antenna
terminals when it is matched with 50 load [10]. It is
essential to define antenna factor for any antenna, which is
used to measure the strength of incident electric field E at
a particular point in a radiation environment. It converts the
developed voltage V across load at antenna terminals to
the incident electric field strength E.
This paper describes the initial research on the
performance of circular patch antenna as an EMI sensor in
terms of antenna factor. Commercial software CST
Microwave Studio is used to simulate the structure. Also, the
prototype antenna is fabricated and its characteristics are
measured. The results show the same trend between the
simulated and fabricated circular patch antenna.
The paper is organized as follows: In section-II, antenna
factor and equivalent representation of EMI sensor is
presented. In section-III, Input impedance of sensor is
described. Antenna configuration is presented in section-IV.
Simulation and experimental results are presented in sectionV. In section-VI, discussions of the results are done. SectionVII gives the concluding remarks and section-VIII gives the
acknowledgement.
II.

ANTENNA FACTOR

To use antennas for EMI/EMC purpose, a most common

way to characterize the reception properties of an antenna is
to define the motion of antenna factor with frequency. It is
defined as the quantity, which relates the strength of incident
electric field in which the antenna is immersed to the output
voltage across the load connected to the antenna terminals.
Generally the load is taken 50.

Mathematically, Antenna Factor (AF) is expressed as

| AF |
Where,

| Einc |
.
| Vr |

(1)

| Einc | is the strength of incident electric field,

and | Vr | is the received voltage across 50 load connected

to the antenna terminals.
If the antenna factor for an antenna is known, antenna can
be used in a radiation environment to measure the strength of
field. Rearranging the terms of (1)

| Einc || AF |  | Vr | .

(2)

Therefore the strength of incident field can be calculated

easily by multiplying antenna factor with the received
voltage.
Antenna factor is obtained for an antenna considering the
plane wave incidence. When the plane wave is incident on
the antenna, due to the total field (Incident field and scattered
field), a voltage across load connected to the antenna
terminals is received (Fig. 1).
An EMI sensor is a type of receiving antennawhen
subjected to a radiation environment can be expressed as a
combination of an equivalent generator (Vpl), internal
impedance (Zin) and received voltage (Vr) (Fig. 2).This
received voltage can be measured by using a spectrum
analyzer.
III.

Fig. 3a.Circular Patch Antenna: Design (Dimensions are in mm)

INPUT IMPEDANCE

The EMI sensor is a type of receiving antenna. Its few

characteristics like input impedance, radiation pattern can be
obtained by using it as a transmitting antenna. Input
impedance is effectively responsible for proper matching of
sensor with the output transmission line. Input impedance is
real for resonating frequency but it shows complex behaviour
for other frequencies. The optimum position of feed is
obtained where input impedance is properly matched with
the output impedance of the equipment or devices connected
at the antenna terminals.
IV.

Fig. 2. Equivalent Representation of EMI Sensor

Fig. 3b.Circular Patch Antenna: Top view

ANTENNA CONFIGURATION

The design of circular patch antenna is shown in Fig. 3.

Here, dimensions are in mm. The experimental setup of
measurement of radiated field due to horn antenna using
circular patch antenna is presented in Fig. 4. Here, the
substrate FR4 having electric permittivity, r=4.3 with the
height, h= 1.588mm is used. The dimensions of patch
antenna are calculated for resonant frequency f=3GHz using
formula provided in the literature [11]. Co-axial feed is used
for connecting it to the spectrum analyzer.

Fig. 3c. Circular Patch Antenna: Side view

Fig. 4. Experimental setup of radiated field measurement

Fig. 1. Representation of EMI Sensor with plane wave incidence

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V.

SIMULATION AND EXPERIMENTAL RESULTS

The designed structure of circular patch antenna is

simulated in commercial software Computer Simulation
Technology (CST) Microwave Studio (based on FIT) [12].
In simulation, a plane wave having electric field strength
of 1V/m is incident on patch antenna and lumped element of
50 is connected at feed terminals. The voltage developed
across lumped element is measured. The antenna factor is
evaluated using the following equation

| AF( dB ) || Einc( dBV / m ) |  | Vr( dBV ) | .

The input impedance of sensor at its terminals, presented

in Fig. 6, is obtained using simulation .
The motion of antenna factor with frequency is presented
in Fig. 7. The figure includes the evaluated antenna factor
from both simulation and experiment.
TABLE I.

Cable Loss
(dB)

2.45
2.50
2.55
2.60
2.65
2.70
2.75
2.80
2.85
2.90
2.95
3.00

0.8
0.8
0.8
0.7
0.7
0.7
0.8
0.8
0.8
0.9
0.9
0.9

TABLE II.

Power
Received
by Horn
Pr
(dBm)
-12.45
-12.57
-12.66
-12.17
-12.32
-11.98
-12.12
-12.62
-11.93
-11.78
-11.84
-12.11

2.45
2.50
2.55
2.60
2.65
2.70
2.75
2.80
2.85
2.90
2.95
3.00

(4)

The strength of incident field at the surface of sensor at a

distance (R) from transmitting antenna for plane wave
incidence is calculated using following relation

Power
Transmitted by
Horn, Pt (dBm)
9.2
9.2
9.2
9.3
9.3
9.3
9.2
9.2
9.2
9.1
9.1
9.1

CALCULATION OF GAIN AND STRENGTH OF FIELD

Frequency
(GHz)

 4 R   Pr  2
G 


.
    Pt 

Frequency
(GHz)

(3)

Experimentally, two identical S-band (2-4GHz) horn

antennas are used to calculate the incident field on the
surface of sensor. One horn antenna is used as transmitting
antenna and the other as receiving antenna. The distance
between the transmitting antenna and the receiving antenna
is kept 1.85m. The experiment is carried out over the
frequency range 2.45GHz to 3.00GHz. The cables used are
taken identical. The losses due to cables are taken into
account. Cable loss is determined using Agilent
technologies, N1996A CSA Spectrum analyzer (100kHz3GHz).
Agilent N9310A RF Signal generator (9kHz-3GHz) is
used to excite the transmitting antenna. CSA Spectrum
analyzer is used to measure the received power at the
receiving antenna. The transmitted power is kept Pt =10dBm.
To measure the received power, the two antennas are aligned
each other. Gain of horn antenna is calculated using
following relation

CALIBRATION OF CABLE LOSS

Path Loss

 4 R 
10 log

  
(dB)
15.0009
14.9132
14.8272
14.7429
14.6601
14.5790
14.4993
14.4210
14.3442
14.2686
14.1944
14.1214

Gain
G
(dBi)
3.7759
3.6282
3.4972
3.6579
3.5001
3.5890
3.4393
3.1110
3.3792
3.3786
3.2744
2.6164

Strength
of field at
sensor
Einc
(dBV/m)
-1.8930
-1.9669
-2.0324
-1.9520
-2.0309
-1.9865
-2.0613
-2.2254
-2.0914
-2.0916
-2.1438
-2.4728

Einc

2
60 PG
t 


TABLE III.

V/m.

The developed voltage across the sensor terminals (Vr) is

calculated from the received power at the surface of sensor,
Pm using following relation

Frequency
(GHz)

Vr  50 Pm  2 V.

EXPERIMENTAL MEASUREMENT OF ANTENNA FACTOR

(5)

(6)

Now, the antenna factor is calculated using the relation

(3).
The data of cable loss, transmitted power at horn antenna
are presented in Table I. The data for gain, path loss and
strength of incident field at the surface of sensor is presented
in Table II. The data for the measurement of Antenna Factor
is presented in Table III.
The return loss of the circular patch antenna is measured
using Agilent Technologies E5071C Network Analyzer
(100kHz - 4.5GHz). The simulated and experimental return
loss is presented in Fig. 5.

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2.45
2.50
2.55
2.60
2.65
2.70
2.75
2.80
2.85
2.90
2.95
3.00

Strength of
field at
sensor
Einc
(dBV/m)
-1.8930
-1.9669
-2.0324
-1.9520
-2.0309
-1.9865
-2.0613
-2.2254
-2.0914
-2.0916
-2.1438
-2.4728

Developed
voltage
across
antenna
terminals
Vr
(dBV)
-43.6305
-42.4005
-40.3205
-39.2605
-37.6805
-36.0105
-35.5305
-33.6305
-30.7905
-28.8905
-25.3205
-22.1005

Antenna
Factor
(dB/m)

41.7375
40.4337
38.2882
37.3085
35.6496
34.0240
33.4692
31.4051
28.6991
26.7989
23.1767
19.6277

The plot of antenna factor calculated experimentally

shows the same behavior of sensor in the frequency range of
interest as that of simulated. This circular patch antenna can
be used to measure the strength of field at microwave
frequency range. This type of EMI sensors may be very good
alternative to the heavy EMI sensors. The only major
disadvantage of this type of sensor is its narrow band
characteristics.
VII.

Fig. 5. Circular Patch Antenna: Experimental and Simulated Return loss,

S11 (dB)

CONCLUSION

Microstrip circular patch antenna is presented with a very

interesting and significant application as electromagnetic
interference sensor. The characteristics of EMI sensor is
presented in terms of antenna factor to measure the strength
of radiation field. This work on the circular patch antenna as
an EMI sensor encourages the application of patch antennas
as EMI sensors. The study may be extended for the
consideration of mutual coupling between the source and the
sensor.
VIII.

ACKNOWLEDGMENT

The authors gratefully acknowledge the financial support

provided by ISRO-Indian Institute of Technology Cell,
Kharagpur and also acknowledge the lab facilities provided
by Indian Institute of Technology, Kharagpur
Fig. 6. Input Impedance of sensor

REFERENCES
[1]

Fig. 7. Antenna Factor of sensor: Simulated and experimental

VI.

DISCUSSION

The received power at horn antenna is almost same for the

required frequency range. It is verified when the gain has
been calculated as in Table II. The experimental and
simulated return loss of circular patch antenna as an EMI
sensor shows well agreement. The input impedance of sensor
shows good behavior. It is real for the resonating frequency.
The difference is noticed in the antenna factor calculated
experimentally and from simulation. The possible reasons for
this deviation in the antenna factor may be due to the
mismatch of cables. Since the reflections produced by other
bodies are tried to minimize, it is not totally removed, hence
introduced errors. The errors may also occur due to the
improper calibration of transmitting antenna and receiving
antenna. Hence alignment and orientation of antennas
introduced the error.

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