Symposium on Progress in Information & Communication

Technology 2010

A novel dual-frequency triangular microstrip patch antenna with one slot

S. Ehsan Hosseini1,2, A. R. Attari1

1
Electrical Engineering Department, Ferdowsi University of Mashhad
Communications ands.ehsan.hosseini@gmail.com,
Computer Research Center,attari50@um.ac.ir
2
Ferdowsi University of Mashhad

ABSTRACT geometry of the equilateral triangular microstrip patch

A novel dual frequency triangular microstrip patch antenna
is proposed and studied. In the proposed antenna, one slot is
used in the patch for changing the current distribution in
order to excite the TM20 mode. Also, the surface current
distribution on the patch is investigated to obtain a physical
insight of the radiation pattern at two resonant frequencies.
This antenna is simulated for different slot lengths and for
two values of r (r=2.08 and r=3.5). Results show that the
dual frequency property of our scheme is valid for certain
values of ls and r.
Index Terms microstrip antenna; dual frequency;
triangular patch;
1. INTRODUCTION
antenna with one slot. The antenna consists of one single
layer. The triangular patch is supposed equilateral with a
side length of L. The thickness of the substrate between the
patch and the ground plane is h with relative permittivity of
r. The patch slot has length ls and width 1 mm that is placed
symmetrically with respect to the x axis. This antenna is fed
using a 50 coaxial probe. Dimensions of the ground plane
are 7575 mm. In simulation, we assumed an infinite ground
plane. In our proposed antenna, two different substrates
were used and the results were compared. The distance
between the probe feed and the slot is the same as the
distance between the slot and the side of patch, 8 mm. The
dimensions of the proposed antenna are L=50 mm, ls=36
mm. The Neltec NY9208(tm) dielectric (r=2.08, loss
tangent=0.0006) is used as the substrate for this antenna.

Microstrip patch antennas have been widely used in many

applications such as aircraft, missiles, mobile satellite
communications, global positioning system (GPS), etc.
because they have advantages of having a low profile and
being light weight, compact, and conformable to mounting
structures [1]. Dual frequency antennas are used where two
frequencies are required simultaneously. To avoid the use of
two separate antennas for two different frequencies, a dual
frequency microstrip antenna is proposed. Several dual band
operations of a triangular microstrip patch antenna were
reported [2]-[7]. In this paper, a novel dual frequency (a)
equilateral triangular microstrip patch with a probe feed and
one slot is presented. Also the effect of slot is investigated
on two different dielectrics. The proposed antenna structure
was simulated and optimized using Ansoft High Frequency
Structure Simulator (HFSS) using the finite element analysis
method [8]. The proposed antenna design is to make two
first modes TM10 and TM20 of the triangular patch [9].
Details of the proposed antenna design and the results of its
performance analysis will be discussed in the following
sections.
(b)
2. ANTENNA DESIGN Figure 1. Geometry of the proposed equilateral triangular
Microstrip patch antenna with one slot
Fig. 1 shows the top view and 3-D view of the proposed a) Top view b) 3-D view

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3. RESULTS AND DISCUSSION

Analysis of the equilateral-triangular microstrip patch

antenna is carried out. The return losses of the microstrip
antenna for five different values of antenna slot length are
illustrated in Fig. 2. As we can see, the proposed antenna has
a dual frequency property. The two resonant frequencies of
this antenna have the same polarization planes and broadside
radiation patterns as shown in Fig. 3. The two resonant
frequencies are located at 2.1 GHz and 3.5 GHz. At these
frequencies, good impedance matching is observed for ls=36
mm, so we did our investigations for this slot length. At the
first and second resonant frequencies, the impedance
bandwidths (10 dB return loss) are 2.9% and 3.4%,
respectively. Also the antenna gain is about 6 dB for both
mentioned frequencies as shown in Fig. 3. The same analysis
is shown in Fig. 4 for r=3.5. In this case, the TM30 is
excited at 3.5 GHz, in addition to the TM10 and TM20 modes. (b)
By increasing the dielectric constant from r=2.08 to r=3.5,
the values of the resonant frequencies and antenna gain are Figure 3. Simulated E-plane (x-z plane) and H-plane (y-z plane) radiation
decreased. patterns for the proposed antenna with dielectric constant of r=2.08, L=50
mm, ls=36 mm, h=6 mm.
a) 2.1 GHz b) 3.5 GHz

Figure 2. Simulated Return losses of the proposed antenna in Fig. 1

with the variation of the slot length
(dielectric constant r=2.08, L=50 mm, ls=30 mm to 38 mm with step of Figure 4. Simulated Return losses of the proposed antenna in Fig.1
2 mm, h=6 mm) with the variation of the slot length (dielectric constant r=3.5, L=50 mm,
ls=30 mm to 38 mm with step of 2 mm, h=6 mm)

4. CURRENT DISTRIBUTION

HFSS can prepare and show the current distribution in each

frequency on the patch. The current distribution is important
for the physical insight of the radiation pattern. The current
distribution on the triangular patch with one slot is shown in
Fig. 5 for two resonant frequencies of the antenna. The
current distribution on the patch flows almost exclusively
around the patch slot. This current distribution on the patch
eliminates the slight dip that is usually observed in the
broadside direction for the TM20 mode [9]. By increasing the
slot length in the patch, the current distribution path is
lengthened for the TM10 and TM20 mode. For this reason, the
values of the resonant frequencies of the antenna are
(a) decreased. More reduction in the frequency of the second

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Technology 2010
mode is observed because its current distribution path length
is a little longer than that of the first mode but the difference
is small. For this antenna, by varying the slot length from 30
mm to 38 mm, the first and second resonant frequencies
have been changed 200 MHz and 300 MHz, respectively.
(a)
(b)
Figure 5. Simulated surface current distribution for the proposed
antenna shown in Fig.1
a) 2.1 GHz b) 3.5 GHz
5. CONCLUSION
In this paper, a dual frequency equilateral-triangular patch
microstrip antenna has been presented. The proposed
antenna is simulated and the results show the dual frequency
property with good impedance matching. Both frequencies
have the same polarization planes and broadside radiation
patterns. It is also illustrated that the resonant frequencies
79
are decreased with increasing the slot length or increasing
the dielectric permittivity.
ACKNOWLEDGMENT
The authors would like to thank Iran Telecommunication
Research Center (ITRC) for the financial support of this
project.
6. REFERENCES
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