Multi-band microstrip-fed slot antenna 400 200

reference
loaded with split-ring resonator Loff = 0 mm 100
300 Loff = 4 mm

Re(Z11), W

Im(Z11), W
D. Sarkar, K. Saurav and K.V. Srivastava 200
0

–100
A microstrip-fed compact multi-band slot antenna using a single split-ring reference
100 Loff = 0 mm
–200
resonator (SRR) is proposed. The SRR acting as a loading element intro- Loff = 4 mm
duces multiple lower-order resonances in the antenna, which can be con- 0 –300
trolled by varying the SRR’s dimensions as well as its position with 1.0 1.5 2.0 2.5 3.0 1.0 1.5 2.0 2.5 3.0
frequency, GHz frequency, GHz
respect to the arm of the slot, without altering the geometry of the radiat- a b
ing slot. The concept is validated by a full-wave simulation study and by
0
measurement on a fabricated prototype. The proposed antenna has satis-
factory gain and monopolar radiation patterns in all the operating bands.
–10

Introduction: Since the practical realisation of negative index metama-

|S11|, dB
–20
terials in the early 21st century, metamaterial-inspired concepts have
been widely applied in the design of resonant microwave antennas –30 reference
Loff = 0 mm
[1]. Among the different methodologies, loading of planar dipole or Loff = 4 mm
monopole antennas with CRLH-TL unit cells have been proposed by –40
1.0 1.5 2.0 2.5 3.0
various researchers [2, 3]. Sub-wavelength resonators like split-ring frequency, GHz
c
resonators (SRRs) and their complementary counterparts (CSRRs)
have also been utilised in the design of miniaturised and multi-band
Fig. 3 Input impedance and S11 characteristics for proposed antenna (Fig. 1)
antennas [4, 5]. Recently, coplanar waveguide and microstrip-fed and intermediate designs to show effects of SRR loading
planar slot antennas (SAs) have attracted attention [6, 7]. As a comp- a Real part of input impedance
lementary configuration of [5], where CSRRs are loaded on a planar b Imaginary part of input impedance
dipole, resonator-loaded planar SAs can be considered [8, 9] to c Simulated S11 (dB)
achieve multi-band behaviour. However, the use of multiple resonators
to excite as many antenna resonances complicates the antenna design Jsurf[A_per_m]
and reduces the antenna radiation efficiency. 1.0000 × 102
9.0000 × 101
8.0000 × 101
7.0000 × 101
ground b 6.0000 × 101
5.0000 × 101
4.0000 × 101
Ws 3.0000 × 101
2.0000 × 101
SRR g
slot-loop 1.0000 × 101
0.0000 × 100
1.65 GHz 1.93 GHz 2.20 GHz
Ls Loff d a
Fig. 4 Distribution of electric surface current vector on SRR at three operat-
gs
ing frequencies of proposed antenna (Fig. 1)
WF
c
LF microstrip
feed zoomed view of
split-ring resonator
Y
coaxial top surface
line metallisation
Z X bottom surface
metallisation

Fig. 1 Schematic diagram of proposed SRR-loaded SA

Jsurf[A_per_m] 0

1.0000×102 a b
–5
9.0000×101
8.0000×101 0
–10
7.0000×101
|S11|, dB

6.0000×101 –15 –5
5.0000×101
4.0000×101 –20 –10
3.0000×101
2.0000×101 Y –25
|S11|, dB

1.0000×101
–15
0.0000×100 –30
Z X 1.0 1.5 2.0 2.5 3.0
frequency, GHz –20

–25
Fig. 2 Current distribution on ground plane and variation of S11 with fre-
quency for reference SA –30 simulation
measured
–35
In this Letter, a planar rectangular loop SA is loaded with a single 1.0 1.5 2.0 2.5 3.0
SRR to achieve both miniaturisation and multi-band performance. The frequency, GHz
dimensions of the SRR are chosen to generate a lower-order antenna res- c
onance in addition to the original slot resonance. Furthermore, the
position of the SRR is offset in order to introduce an additional inter- Fig. 5 Fabricated prototype of proposed antenna and comparison between
mediate band to produce a triple-band behaviour. The FEM-based simulated and measured return-loss characteristics
ANSYS high-frequency structure simulator is used for full-wave simu- a Top view
b Bottom view
lation of the structures. Unlike in [8, 9], the dimensions and position of c Simulated and measured C11 (dB) against frequency
only a single SRR as the loading element are varied to obtain the desired Final design parameters of proposed antenna (Fig. 1): LS = WS = 25, WF = 1.5, LF =
multi-band characteristics. 21, gS = g = d = 0.5, a = 11, b = 10, c = 0.3 and Loff = 4 (all units are millimetres)

ELECTRONICS LETTERS 9th October 2014 Vol. 50 No. 21 pp. 1498–1500

Antenna design methodology: Fig. 1 shows the topology of the pro-
posed SRR-loaded SA. The main radiator of the proposed antenna is
a rectangular loop of length LS and width WS, etched out from a metal
ground plane. It is excited by a 50 Ω microstripline of length LF.
Low-cost FR4-epoxy (εr = 4.4 and tan δ = 0.02) is used as the substrate
(thickness 0.8 mm). The values of LS and WS are chosen such that the
reference SA (without SRR loading) operates at 2.05 GHz with a band-
width of 19.7% (Fig. 2). It is observed that at the operating frequency,
the electric surface current vector has high concentration in the
ground plane near the Y-directed arms of the slot (Fig. 2). In the pro-
posed antenna, the reference SA is loaded with one SRR along one
Y-directed arm of the slot (Fig. 1). It is found from the unit-cell analysis
of the SRR (k along X, E along Y and H along Z ) that the negative per-
meability region lies in the frequency range of 1.54–1.76 GHz. The SRR
is coupled with the SA by an axial magnetic field generated in the near-
field region of the slot.
dB (gain total)
2. 0000×100
–1. 0000×100
–4. 0000×100
–7. 0000×100
proposed antenna. The resonance of the reference SA is shifted to
2.20 GHz (bandwidth 12.73%) due to the SRR loading (Fig. 3).
Fig. 4 shows the electric surface current vectors on the SRR. It is
observed that at the miniaturised band of about 1.65 GHz the SRR res-
onates at its fundamental mode. However, a higher-order mode is
excited in the SRR at the intermediate band of the antenna
(1.93 GHz), where maximum current distribution occurs about the
inner ring of the SRR. At the operating band about 2.20 GHz, very
little current distribution about the SRR is observed.
Results and discussion: Fig. 5 shows the fabricated prototype of the
proposed antenna. The S11 (dB) of the proposed antenna measured
with an Agilent N5222 vector network analyser is in good agreement
with the simulated results. Fig. 6 confirms that the proposed antenna
exhibits a monopolar radiation pattern at all the three operating bands.
However, the intermediate band at 1.93 GHz has radiation null around
ϕ = 65°, whereas at the other two bands null is exactly along the
Y-axis (ϕ = 90°). The simulated peak gains of the proposed antenna at
three operating frequencies (1.65, 1.93 and 2.20 GHz) are 1.08, 1.82
and 2.93 dBi, respectively (Fig. 6). The two-dimensional (2D) radiation

–1. 0000×101
patterns of the fabricated antenna prototype are measured along the three
–1. 3000×101
–1. 6000×101
principal planes (XY, YZ and ZX) in the anechoic chamber (Fig. 7). The
–1. 9000×101
–2. 2000×101
simulated and measured radiation patterns along the principal planes
–2. 5000×101 match considerably well.
gain (1.65 GHz) gain (1.93 GHz) gain (2.20 GHz)
peak = 2.93 dBi)
peak = 1.08 dBi) peak = 1.82 dBi)
Conclusion: In this Letter, a multi-band SA is designed using only a
single SRR as the loading element. The fundamental and higher-order
Fig. 6 Simulated 3D gain patterns at three operating frequencies (1.65, 1.93
resonances of the SRR contribute to the introduction of lower-order res-
and 2.20 GHz) for proposed antenna (Fig. 1)
onant bands in the proposed antenna. The proposed antenna with lower
resonant modes occupies the same volume (40 × 50 × 0.8 mm3) as that
0 0 0
0 330 30 0 330 30 0 330 30 of the unloaded SA, leading to miniaturisation as well. The proposed
–10
300 60
–10
300 60
–10
300 60
antenna exhibits a monopolar radiation pattern and good gain at all
–20 –20 –20 the operating bands. The simulated results are verified by the fabrication
–30 270 90 –30 270 90 –30 270 90 of an antenna prototype and by subsequent measurement. The proposed
–20 –20 –20 concept multi-band SA can be used for UMTS, Bluetooth and lower
240 120 240 120 240 120
–10 –10 –10 wireless local area network-band applications.
0 210 150 0 210 150 0 210 150
180 180 180
XY-plane, 1.65 GHz XY-plane, 1.93 GHz XY-plane, 2.20 GHz
© The Institution of Engineering and Technology 2014
0 330
0
30 0 330
0
30 0 330
0
30 21 July 2014
–10 –10 –10 doi: 10.1049/el.2014.2625
300 60 300 60 300 60
–20 –20 –20 One or more of the Figures in this Letter are available in colour online.
–30 270 90 –30 270 90 –30 270 90 D. Sarkar, K. Saurav and K.V. Srivastava (Electrical Engineering
–20 –20 –20 Department, IIT Kanpur, Kanpur, India)
240 120 –10 240 120 240 120
–10 –10
E-mail: debdeep1989@gmail.com
0 210 150 0 210 150 0 210 150
180 180 180
YZ-plane, 1.65 GHz YZ-plane, 1.93 GHz YZ-plane, 2.20 GHz
References
0 0 0
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ELECTRONICS LETTERS 9th October 2014 Vol. 50 No. 21 pp. 1498–1500

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