CHAPTER 8

CONCLUSIONS AND FUTURE WORK

8.1 Summary of Research

This thesis deals with exploration of Electromagnetic Band Gap (EBG) configurations, their
properties, bandwidth enhancement due to conquest of surface waves and reduction of mutual
coupling among antenna elements. Antennas proposed in this thesis utilises mushroom-type
and uniplanar Electromagnetic Band Gap (EBG) structures to accomplish band-notched
designs. The technique of attaining notches using EBGs is antenna design independent and
can be functional to most of antennas. Size reduction of EBG structures is reported if
conventional mushroom type EBG is substituted by proposed inductance improved reformed
mushroom type EBG structure. The slotted ground plane and decoupling strips are used to
reduce the electromagnetic coupling between the antenna elements in dual/triple notched
MIMO systems.
In Chapter 1 the introduction and literature review of EBGs that are relevant to this thesis is
carried out. This chapter starts with the historical background of microstrip antennas then
advantages, disadvantages and applications of microstrip antennas are discussed. Introduction
to microstrip slot antenna and microstrip travelling wave antenna is also given. Then different
feeding methods used in the microstrip patch antenna with advantages and disadvantages of
each are discussed. There are two approaches to analyze the patch antenna. First approach
deals with comparable magnetic current distribution round the patch antenna edges and
second approach deals with electric current distribution on the conducting patch and ground
similar to traditional dipole antennas are discussed. Introduction to metamaterials with
classifications like ENG, DNG, DPS and MNG are discussed. Then introduction to EBGs
starts with their systematic evolutions through DGS, PBG and FSS etc. FDTD methods for
analysis of periodic structures analysis are discussed. Different band gap methods used in this
thesis like dispersion diagram method, reflection phase method with basics are discussed.
Then the Literature review of EBGs with wire and slot antennas, patch antennas, EBGs
applications in real life and EBG structures with high gain antennas is carried out. After this
some popular notched UWB antennas with single double and triple notches are introduced.

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In Chapter 2 the mushroom EBG structures with its properties and applications with patch
antennas are discussed. This chapter starts with disadvantages of conventional electric
conductors, alternatively it can also be said that the ground plane can be considered to be an
ideal conductor, which is useful as a reflector but it causes phase reversal of the reflected
wave due to its negative reflection coefficient. In addition ideal conductor also supports
propagation of TM surface waves which has detrimental effects on antenna performance. The
reflection phase versus frequency of an EBG surfacee is found to be varied continuously from
+180° to -180°. It is not merely 180° for a perfect electric conductor surface or 0° for a perfect
magnetic conductor surface. Over the radiation bandwidth the reflection coefficient decreases
among +90° and -90° and the image current are further in phase reasonably than out of phase.
Thus EBGs based ground plane becomes an efficient replacement for conventional electric
conductors. Magnetic conductor need to fulfil the boundary conditions: 12 tan must be zero at
12 tan must essentially be zero at the high impedance surface.
the conventional surface and 
Similarly for parallel polarisation artificial magnetic conductor have positive reflection
coefficient. Practically near the resonant frequency there is a stop band for surface waves (in
the section where the promulgation factor for the TM wave is great but TE waves still cannot
proliferate). However to completely describe the mushroom structure and to approve its
CRLH (combined right/left handed) a dispersion diagram is employed. A simple patch
antenna with thick dielectric thickness at 10 GHz is designed. Then this antenna is placed
above EBG shaped stacked patches to obtain improvement in bandwidth. Mutual coupling
reduction is also reported in both E-Plane and H-plane if EBGs are used with if the substrate.
A 2 × 2 microstrip patch antenna array was considered bearing in mind mutual coupling
among individual antenna elements in both E-plane and H-plane. The patch antenna is
planned inside the band gap of EBG structures so as to defeat the spreading surface waves and
enhancement in return loss is achieved. The antenna is considered to function inside the band
gap of EBG substrate at 5.2 GHz (IEEE 802.11a) so as to diminish surface waves.

Chapter 3 deals with planar circular monopoles that have been found a respectable illustration
for UWB claims owing to their advantages such as comfort of manufacture, satisfactory
radiation configuration and enormous impedance bandwidth. Nevertheless, some narrowband
classifications also function in this frequency like WiMAX band and WLAN band and cause
intervention in UWB range. To overcome possible intervention with such classifications it is
necessary to plan UWB antenna with band notch features. Various methods have been

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proposed for band notch designs like cutting slots in patch/ground plane, placing parasitic
components near patch, by means of tuning stub, embedding resonant cells in microstrip feed
line and putting filter structures in the ground planes or in antenna feed. The difficulties with
these approaches are project precise method and reduced notch width supervisory.
Additionally, radiation characteristics and time domain performance of antenna is affected by
means of perturbations in radiator. The proposed approach used in this chapter makes use of
bandgap property of EBG structures by placing these structures near microstrip feed line. In
this chapter property of EBG structures are employed in substrate design and with the
assistance of dispersion diagram, its band-gap is achieved. The notch generation using EBG
structures is antenna sovereign approach and can be practical to most of antennas without
effecting antenna performance substantially.

In Chapter 4 three antenna designs are proposed that rejects transmitting frequencies of
Extended C-band, INSAT/Super-Extended C-band and 7.25-7.75 GHz used for X-band
satellite downlink signal. Notch frequencies can be changed just by changing the connecting
lines and gaps of EBG cells. In general most EBGs design relies on the use of conventional
mushroom shaped designs which uses extensive metallic connections i.e. vias and needs thick
dielectric material. Though there are direct formulas available for mushroom EBGs design
however the presence of via places severe constraints on the fabrication process and limits
their applicability for antenna applications. Uniplanar EBG has no perpendicular vias and is
appropriate for thin substrate material which makes the production easier. Furthermore, these
are not as much of sensitive to polarization and incident angle. Many different compact
shapes of uniplanar EBG have evolved in recent years like spiral and meandered line shapes.
The variations in band-gap with variations in unit cell dimensions are also shown. Some new
EBG geometries with high permittivity substrates for unit cell size reduction are also
proposed recently. However, the tolerance in manufacturing and cost of materials are big
issues in High-k substrates. Conventional UC-EBG can also be modified to achieve more
compactness by increasing the value of L and C. Inductance enhanced uniplanar EBG are also
developed by using meandering concept to increase the electric length. Spiral shaped
capacitor meaner line EBG with improvement in inductance and capacitance over UC-EBG in
same dimensions are also reported in literature. Some multiband uniplanar EBG structures are
proposed recently like a dual band split ring slotted EBG. A triple band EBG has been
developed using uniplanar EBG structures. However; most of the above mentioned structures

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are not integrated with practical applications like antenna design. In this chapter a successful
attempt has been made to achieve the band notch antenna designs using uniplanar EBGs.
Chapter 5 discusses that realizing compact EBG structures is today significant obligation for
claims in electromagnetic and antenna community. This chapter commences by planning a
simple circular UWB monopole antenna with mushroom EBG structures to obtain notch in
WiMAX band. Then consequence of deliberately inductance improvement with reformed
EBG structures is revealed and step wise notched frequency is adjusted from WLAN to
WiMAX band. The consequence of addition of extra inductance is reflected in equivalent
circuit and corresponding equation in terms of L2. Case 1 EBG cell must be used for locating
notch in WLAN band (5-6 GHz) and case 6 EBG cell is employed to achieve notch in
WiMAX band. Antenna 1 practices squared EBG cell with edge dimension equal to 9.25 mm
and antenna 2 uses squared EBG with edge size 6.1 mm to obtain notch in the same band.
Thus by means of the suggested method 34% lessening in size of EBG patch can be acquired.
Although in chapter 3 the size reduction of EBG structures is shown using I-slot type EBG
and ELV-EBG (Edge located via type via) structures to replace the conventional EBG but no
significant size reduction is achieved.
A dual band notched UWB antenna with Defected Ground Compact Electromagnetic Band
Gap structures (DG-CEBG) is also discussed. The proposed antenna rejects worldwide
interoperability for microwave access WiMAX band and wireless local area network WLAN
band using mushroom DG-CEBG structures. Thus using DG-CEBG for WiMAX and WLAN
band EBG structures size reduction of 45.9% and 50.0% respectively is achieved. Hence this
chapter deals with EBG size reduction and the purpose of notch alteration from WLAN to
WiMAX is also achieved.

Chapter 6 uses EBG unit cells that are placed in the neighbourhood of microstrip feed to
obtain the desired notch. A triple notched antenna is proposed with three EBG cells. EBG 1,
EBG 2 and EBG 3 are used to obtain notches in WiMAX, WLAN and X-Band downlink
satellite communication band. Although notch bands around WiMAX, WLAN and the X-
band frequencies are obtained by etching out two elliptic single complementary split-ring
resonators (ESCSRRs) of different dimensions from the radiating patch of the antenna and
split-ring resonators near the feed line–patch junction of the antenna. The band-notched
characteristics are also obtained by introducing the quarter-wavelength band-rejected
elements in the planar UWB antenna. To build a multi-band antenna, numerous narrow strips

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acting as resonance conduits can be combined with the DSP (Diamond Shaped Patch)
antenna. By commissioning a hook-shaped defected ground structure (DGS) in each side of
the ground plane, embedding an Ω-shaped slot on the radiating patch as well as adding a
semi-octagon-shaped resonant ring on the back side of the antenna, triple notched frequency
bands can be achieved. Antenna that uses three open-ended quarter-wavelength slots can also
be used to create triple band-notched characteristics. A straight, open-ended quarter-
wavelength slot is etched in the radiating patch and three semi-circular half-wavelength slots
are cut in the radiating patch is also used to generate triple notched antenna. The difficulties
with these approaches are design specific method and poor notch width monitoring.
Additionally, radiation configuration of antenna and time domain behavior of antenna gets
exaggerated if changes are made in radiator. When there exists three interference bands in the
UWB operating range then UWB with three notches is required and this chapter proposes a
triple notch antenna without affecting the antenna geometry.

Chapter 7 deals with Multiple-input–multiple-output (MIMO)/Diversity antennas based

communication systems that have multiple antennas that are used at transmitter and receiver
terminals to improve the data rate in multipath signal propagation. The signal strength can be
improved by sending data bits with multiple antennas at the transmitter and data bits are
reassembled at the receiver. UWB MIMO system performance is also studied. However,
when MIMO systems are used for compact portable devices the high electromagnetic
coupling among antennas effects system performance considerably. Various techniques have
been used to reduce mutual coupling between antenna elements, such as novel antenna
designs, using defects in ground plane and use of EBG structures etc. However some of these
designs are not able to operate over the entire band released by FCC. Several UWB MIMO
antennas with band-notched characteristics have been investigated by different researchers.
Most of these designs created the notches by modifying the radiators. Some problems with
these methods are design specific approach and poor notch frequency controlling.
Furthermore, radiation pattern of antenna and time domain behavior of antenna gets affected
using perturbations in radiating elements. Some researchers studied MIMO antennas with
notched characteristics without modifying the radiator but suppress interference from the
WLAN systems only. In this chapter the step wise geometry of proposed antenna is derived
from conventional UWB circular monopole antenna. Stepped monopoles are employed to
achieve impedance matching by increasing the electrical length and also to reduce mutual

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coupling. The slotted ground plane and decoupling strips are used to reduce the
electromagnetic coupling between the elements. Stepped UWB monopole antennas are
employed with mushroom EBG structures to achieve notches in WiMAX and WLAN band.
Notch generation with EBG structures is antenna shape independent methodology and may be
applied to most of other antennas also without compromising antenna performance. In this
chapter a dual notched UWB MIMO/Diversity antenna with reduced wideband
electromagnetic coupling among individual antenna elements is discussed. The proposed
antenna rejects worldwide interoperability for microwave access WiMAX band and wireless
local area network WLAN band using mushroom EBG structures. Thereafter, a triple notched
UWB MIMO/Diversity antenna with reduced wideband electromagnetic coupling among
individual antenna elements is discussed. This antenna rejects worldwide interoperability for
microwave access WiMAX band and wireless local area network WLAN band (5-6 GHz)
using mushroom EBG structures. In addition, the interference from X-Band downlink satellite
communication band (7.1-7.9 GHz) is forbidden by means of uniplanar plus shaped EBG
structure. Lastly, factors of EBG structures are altered and their special effects on notched
frequencies with a formula centered approach are debated.

8.2 Conclusions
The research in this thesis covers basic properties, applications, advantages, disadvantages
and different feeding techniques of microstrip patch antennas. The various methods of
analysis used in microstrip antennas are also explored. Literature review of EBGs and its
applications with practical antenna designs are carried out. Different properties of electric and
magnetic conductors are stated. Band stop property of EBG structures is verified
mathematically. It is also shown mathematically that when a plain wave perpendicular or
parallel polarized if incident on the EBG structures the reflected wave is in phase.Suface wave
minimisation in patch antennas when surrounded by mushroom EBG structures is also shown.
EBG shaped stacked patches below the patch antenna are also used so as to improve the
impedance bandwidth. A 2× 2 microstrip patch antenna array was considered bearing in mind
mutual coupling among individual antenna elements in both E-plane and H-plane. It is also
surrounded with EBG structures and corresponding improvement in antenna radiation pattern
was reported.
Then UWB antenna that rejects narrowband interfering frequencies is designed. A single
notch antenna that rejects WiMAX band and other that reject WLAN band is reported. A dual

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notch antenna that rejects both the WiMAX and WLAN band is also proposed. The effect of
variations of EBG structures constraints on the notch frequency is shown. Then uniplanar
EBGs are used to achieve the band notch designs because these structures have fabrication
advantages over mushroom EBG structures. A spiral shaped modified mushroom EBG
structure is used to make the structure compact and also the stepwise transition in notch from
WLAN to WiMAX is shown. Defected Ground Compact Electromagnetic Band Gap
structures (DG-CEBG) are proposed which are compact as compared to conventional
mushroom EBG structures. A triple notch band antenna that rejects three interfering
frequencies i.e. WiMAX, WLAN and X-band satellite downlink communication is proposed.
These notches are generated using a combination of mushroom and uniplanar EBG structures.
Lastly, MIMO/Diversity dual and triple band notched UWB antennas using EBG structures
are proposed. Wideband reduction in mutual coupling throughout the UWB range using
decoupling strips and slots in the ground plane was also reported.

8.3 Limitations of Work

The uniplanar EBG structures have been used in the thesis which have advantages over
mushroom EBG structures like ease of fabrication etc. but it is difficult to estimate the band
gap of these structures. For most of these structures there are no direct formulas available
similar to those of mushroom EBG structures.

8.4 Future Work Suggestions

This thesis has investigated some of interesting properties and applications of EBG structures
when integrated with EBG structures but there is still a scope for lot of research and
development in this area. The EBGs can also be used as a superstrate in efficient antenna
designs which may help further enhancing the antenna gain by retaining notches etc. EBG
structures can also be employed as a ground plane with UWB monopole antennas so as to
have a positive reflection thereby minimizing back lobes in radiation pattern and improving
the front to back ratio. The property of achieving band notch designs using EBG structures
can also be applied to wearable antennas and conformal antenna designs. In fact all the work
done here in this thesis can be replicated for conformal antennas. The various EBG
parameters and then the corresponding band gap are optimized manually which can be done
with the help of Softwares like Advance Design System.

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