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Acknowledgement

I would like to thank my supervisor, Professor Ian Hunter and my assistant Dr. Alaa
Abunjaileh for his kind support, patient guiding and supporting me to make this work
possible. I also want to thank Mr. Farhan Shafique who contributed and guided me in
various ways of this project. Finally, I would like to thank the faculty of Electronic and
Electrical Engineering, University of Leeds, who gave me a chance to study and making
the experience of graduate school enriching and fulfilling.

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Abstract

Microstrip patch antennas are versatile in nature and very easy to implement and use as
compared to other types of antennas. The aim of this project is to design a Microstrip
Phased Array Antenna using circular patches. A low dielectric substrate, RT-Durroid5880
is used for designing the patch. Two circular patches are used in a linear fashion producing
main beam in broadside direction. For two patch array feeder, Wilkinson power type
divider is used with two microstrip transmission lines of 200Ω and a quarter wavelength
transmission line of 50Ω. A coaxial probe feed is used at the end of quarter wavelength
microstrip transmission line. All the elements are matched giving overall system
impedance of 50Ω. The circular patch is designed using standard equations and is
implemented in Advance Designed System (ADS) Momentum. Finally, the simulations
developed from ADS Momentum are based on the proposed design and is described in this
thesis.

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Table of Contents

No. Chapter Name Page No

1– Introduction 7
1.1 – Motivation and Background: 7
1.2 – Approach: 8
1.3 – Thesis Objective: 9
1.4 – Organization of Thesis: 9

2– Literature Review 10
2.1 – Antenna Basic Terms 10
2.1.1 – Radiation Pattern: 10
2.1.2 – Directivity: 11
2.1.3 – Gain: 11
2.1.4 – Beamwidth: 11
2.1.5 – Return Loss: 12
2.1.6 – Input Impedance: 12
2.1.7 – Polarization: 13
2.1.8 – S-parameters: 13
2.2 – Antenna Arrays 14
2.2.1 – Broadside Array: 15
2.2.2 – Endfire Array: 15
2.3 – Mutual Coupling in Antenna Array: 16
2.4 – Basics about Microstrip Patches: 17
2.5 – Impedance Matching: 21
2.6 – Advantages and Disadvantages: 22
2.7 – Feed Models 23
2.6.1 – Microstrip Line Feed: 23

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No. Chapter Name Page No

2.6.2 – Proximity-Coupled Feed (PCF): 24

2.6.3 – Coaxial Probe Feed: 25
2.6.4 – Aperture-Coupled Feed: 26
2.8– Array Beamforming Feed Network: 27

3– Design and Analysis 29

3.1 – Introduction: 29
3.2 – Antenna Configuration 30
3.2.1 – Resonant Frequency: 30
3.2.2 – Radius of the Patch 31
3.2.3 – Feed Point: 31
3.3 – Proposed Design: 32

4– Conclusion and Recommendation 40

4.1 – Summary 40
4.2 – Conclusion 40
4.3 – Future Work 41

Appendix 42

References 45

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Table of Figures

No: Page No
1. Radiation Pattern of a Dipole antenna -------------------- 10
2. Antenna Half Power Beamwidth -------------------- 12
3. Mutual Coupling -------------------- 17
4. View of Microstrip Patches -------------------- 17
5. Rectangular Microstrip Patch Antenna -------------------- 18
6. Fringing Filed Effect -------------------- 18
7. Current and Voltage Distribution -------------------- 21
in Impedance Matching
8. Microstrip Line Feed -------------------- 23
9. Proximity-Coupled Feed -------------------- 24
10. Coaxial Probe Feed -------------------- 25
11. Aperture Coupled Feed -------------------- 26
12. Series and Corporate Feed -------------------- 27
13. Circular patch Antenna -------------------- 29
14. Layout of Single Circular Patch on Software -------------------- 32
15. Radiation Pattern of Single Circular Patch -------------------- 33
16. Simulation Result for Single Patch -------------------- 34
17. Gain, Directivity and Power Graph -------------------- 35
for Single Patch
18. Designed Layout for Microstrip Phased -------------------- 36
Array Antenna
19. 3D Visualization Diagram for MSPAA -------------------- 37
20. Radiation pattern of MSPAA -------------------- 37
21. Simulation Results fir Input Return Loss -------------------- 38
And Impedance Matching
22. Gain, Directivity and Power Graph -------------------- 39
for MSPAA

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List of Table

Table No: Page No

1 21

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Chapter 1
Introduction

1.1 – Motivation and Background:

We can define antenna as “it is the interface in between free space and guided medium
which receives and transmits electromagnetic waves. Antennas like reflectors, aperture,
and wire etc, microstrip patch antennas are one of the mostly used antennas which are very
conformal, easy to fabricate, low cost and less complex. Most of the wireless
communication now is based on microstrip patch antenna arrays. These advantages make
them suitable for communication like, vehicle based satellite communication, GPS, radar
system, missile systems etc. Most of the radar and missile systems are based on microstrip
patch antennas. There can be a tradeoff in between the advantages and disadvantages of
using microstrip patches such as narrow beamwidth low gain and excitation of the surface
waves. A lot of research has been made in order to overcome these disadvantages by using
a thick substrate for enhancing the performance. In today’s world, most of the applications
are varying with time (Ehmouda, Briqech, Amer, 2009). Due to the variation of
applications, new developments are being made by the scientists to overcome the future
problems.

Phase array antennas are now used in every field due to the fact that the beam can steered
electrically rather than mechanically. Due to this huge advantage, it is mainly used in the
defense sector like in aeroplanes, missiles, radar systems, satellites etc. Mechanically, it is
difficult to move the antenna as it is also a very cost effective process and requires a proper
positioning system (Ehmouda, Briqech, Amer, 2009). For such reasons, this technique is
introduced and the antennas are so called Phase Array Antennas. The beam can be steered
by using phase shifters which will steer the beam according to the difference in the phases
of the signal producing by the elements of an antenna and it will produce a moving pattern
of the beam in different directions. Some developments have been made in 1950’s on
microwave circuit components such as phase shifters and variable amplifiers (Ehmouda,

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Briqech, Amer, 2009). The feeding network is an important part for Phased Array
Antennas. There are different feeding techniques for array feeding such as Series Feed,
Corporate Feed and Hybrid. Wilkinson power divider rule is used in order to pass current
to the patch for excitation purpose.

1.2 – Approach:

This thesis comprises of making of Microstrip Phased Array Antenna which will produce a
main beam in broadside direction with a specified beamwidth. It consists of circular
patches attached with some transmission lines excited using a coaxial probe feed. Three
microstrip transmission lines are used and coaxial probe feed is used at the end of the
Quarter wavelength transmission line. Two circular patches are designed in this project to
observe the performance of the antenna. The results are analyzed using Advanced Design
System (ADS) Momentum. It is an electromagnetic solver and a 2.5D simulation tool
which runs on ADS layout. It can build passive circuit and layouts which on simulation can
show S-Parameter results. It is a very useful tool which can support solving Method of
Moments, Green’s function for different integral equations, sets up a mesh or cells pattern
on the designed model and solves each cell in relation with other cells in the x and y
direction. It can do coupling extremely well. It also gives the visualization effects of far
field patterns.

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1.3 – Thesis Objective:

 Designing Microstrip Phased Array Antenna with circular patch in linear fashion
using RT-Duroid 5880 as a Substrate with operating frequency of 10GHz.
 Main beam in broadside direction i.e.  =900 with specific beamwidth.
 Using two circular patches with substrate dielectric constant (r) = 2.2, thickness =
17.4μm, height (h) = 0.787mm, radius (a) = 5.49mm and loss tangent = 0.0009.
 Using two transmission lines each of 200Ω impedance and a Quarter wavelength
transmission line of 50Ω impedance having wavelength of λ/4.
 Using Coaxial Probe Feed for excitation of the patch.
 Analyzing the simulation results in ADS Momentum.

1.4 – Organization of Thesis:

Organization of this thesis is as follows:

Chapter 2 is based on the literature review of this project. It contains all the basic
information about the characteristics of antenna and its array. It also presents a deep
overview of microstrip patch antennas and its usage in different varieties.
Chapter 3 contains the proposed design of this project and its simulations. The proposed
design developed in ADS Momentum is shown in snapshots taken from software. The
simulations produced by the software are also shown in this chapter.
Chapter 4 gives a summary and conclusion of all the project design and the results obtained
from it. While Chapter 5 consist of the future work and some recommendations which can
be made in proceeding this project in future.

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Chapter 2
Literature Review

2.1 – Antenna Basic Terms:

Antenna radiates and receives electromagnetic waves which are converted into current after
reception. Some of the basic characteristics mainly related with antenna are given below:

2.1.1 – Radiation Pattern:

Radiation pattern of an antenna is a graphical depiction of the field produced by an antenna

while transmitting or receiving electromagnetic waves. It shows the 3D pattern of the field
produced. The radiation pattern can be presented in two forms:

1). Azimuth Pattern

2). Elevation Pattern

The top view of the energy radiated by an antenna is known as Azimuth Pattern while the
graphical side view is called as Elevation. The combination of these two terms is known as
3D radiation pattern of an antenna. We can define the radiation pattern as “the variation in
the field intensities as a function of angle or position”.
The basic radiation pattern of a dipole antenna is shown below:

Figure 1: Radiation Pattern of a Dipole Antenna

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2.1.2 – Directivity:

“Power radiated by the actual antenna to the power radiated by the isotropic radiator is
known as directivity”. It is given as:
D (,) = 4.P (,) / Pt
Here, “Pt” is the transmitted power and “P (,)” is the radiated power by the actual
antenna.

2.1.3 – Gain:

This is the fundamental characteristic of an antenna and is defined as “ it is the

measurement of concentration of input power in a specific direction”. It is mainly
concerned with the input and output power of an antenna. Gain of an antenna is given as:

G (,) = 4.P (,) / Pin

The ratio of the Gain and Directivity refers to as “radiation efficiency”.
 = G / D = Pt / Pin

2.1.4 – Beamwidth:

Antenna beamwidth is the angular separation of the main beam half power points on either
side where the transmitted power is half of the maximum transmitted power (Visser, 2005).
Usually, Beamwidth or half power beamwidth is measured as 3dB width of an antenna.

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Figure 2: Antenna Half Power Beamwidth

2.1.5 – Return Loss:

The characterization of input and output of a signal can be shown in more convenient way
in the form of return loss or when a load is mismatched (Dafalla, 2004). It means that all
the source power is not delivered to the load. This loss of power is known as”return loss”
and can be represented as:

RL = -20log│Г│ (dB)
Where
│Г│ = V0 / Vin = ZL-Z0 / ZL + Z0
│Г│ = Reflection Coefficient
V0- = reflected voltage
V0+ = incident voltage
ZL and Z0 are the load and characteristic impedances.

2.1.6 – Input Impedance:

The impedance shown by the antenna at its input terminals is known as input impedance. It
can be represented as:
Zin = (Rin + jXin)

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Rin is the real part and Xin is the imaginary part. The real part shows the input resistance of
an antenna which is mainly concerned with the power dissipation while the imaginary part
shows that how much of the power is stored in the near filed of antenna.

2.1.7 – Polarization:

Polarization is the orientation of the electromagnetic fields far from the source (Kolias,
2000). The term “Polarization” is very important in antennas because it helps in providing
the maximum performance from the antenna. There are different types of polarization such
as Linear which includes Vertical, Horizontal and Circular includes Circular right hand,
Circular left hand, Elliptical right hand and Elliptical Left Hand. The important thing in
achieving the maximum polarization is the matching of the transmitter and receptor
antennas (Kolias, 2000).

2.1.8 – S-parameters:

S-Parameters are very important in microwave designing because it can works on a very
high frequencies. It can mainly describe the behavior of linear electrical devices. Most of
the electrical properties like gain, return loss, power, VSWR etc can be find out by using s-
parameters.
S-parameters can be observed by sending a signal through an input port producing some
response on an output port. The term impedance is of great importance while calculating S-
parameters because the system should be matched properly (50Ω impedance) otherwise it
will result in reflection which can give rise to standing waves and the system will not
produce the desired output. Due to such conditions, it is necessary to match all the system.
As S-parameter is an N-port network where we can observe the response of N-port network
to voltage signal at each port. In S-parameters, S11 and S22 represents input and output
reflection coefficients while S21 is the forward transmission coefficient (gain) and S12 is the
reverse transmission coefficient (isolation).

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2.2 – Antenna Arrays

Antenna has achieved a salient position in the world of wireless communication. As we

know that antenna transmits or receive electromagnetic waves and it consist of number of
elements. Usually, a single element antenna is not enough to provide technical needs
because its performance is limited. For that reason, we constitute a set o discrete elements
which makes an array and that can give a solution for the transmission and reception of
electromagnetic waves.

Antenna array are of vast importance and are widely used now a days for different
purposes like military purpose, missiles and satellite communication etc. There are
different forms of antenna array such as, linear, circular, planar etc. The radiation of
antenna is mostly concerned with the far field region due to which the field expression is
the combination of two parts, one represents the distance “r” of the receiver location while
the other deals with the spherical coordinates  and . The radiation pattern of antenna
array can be found by:

Array pattern = Array element pattern * Array Factor (AF)

Array Factor is the overall radiation pattern of the elements in an array while the element
pattern is radiation pattern of individual element (Visser, 2005). The array factor can also
be defined as “the function of total number of elements, their spacing and the phase
difference between each element.” (Makarov, 2002).

Mathematically, array factor can be written as:


AF = sin N/2 )/sin (/2)
The normalized array factor for which the maximum value for any value of N is unity is:


(AF)n = 1/N * sin N/2 )/sin(/2)

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There are two categories of antenna array design:

1). Broadside Array
2). Endfire Array

2.2.1 – Broadside Array:

In Broadside array antenna, the positions of the radiators are along a straight line producing
a beam perpendicular to that line (Visser, 2005). In broadside array, the main beam
produces will be at 90
( = 90) and the phase angle is zero (=0).


(AF)n = 1/N * sin Nkd/2*cos )/sin(kd/2*cos)
Where =0 and = kdcos +.

2.2.2 – Endfire Array:

A linear array whose direction of maximum radiation is along the axis of the array. It may
be either unidirectional or bidirectional. The elements of the array are parallel and in the
same plane. The main beam will be either at =0 or 180.

= kdcos + 
For =0 or 180,
 = -kd or +kd

Which gives = kd (cos +1)


(AF)n = 1/N * sin Nkd/2*(cos +1 )/sin (kd/2*(cos +1)

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2.3 – Mutual Coupling in Antenna Array

When two or more antennas are located near to each other, they produce some of the
radiation effects on each other. This phenomenon is related to the characteristics of the
radiating elements of an antenna. The amount depends on the (Balanis, 2005):
1). Radiation Characteristics of each.
2). Actual separation between elements.
3). Relative orientation of each.

The closer the radiating elements, the greater will be the mutual coupling between the
elements. Thus, energy is transferred between different elements known as mutual coupling
( Mir riyaz Ali, 2005) or in other words electromagnetic coupling between the array
elements causes Mutual coupling (Chen, Iwata, 2005).
Let us take an example of transmitting mode coupling as shown in the figure 3. Assume
that two antennas A and B are positioned relative to each other. The antenna A has source
attached giving energy or current to the antenna radiation takes place in the space. Antenna
B is receiving the electromagnetic waves and getting excited while rescattering some of the
energy back towards A. Antenna A receives again the energy and so on. The same process
will go on if B is excited and A is a parasitic element.
According to Allen and Diamond (L. Allen and L. Diamond, 1966), the total contribution
that an element makes in an array while producing a far field pattern does not depend on its
own excitation from its generator but upon the total parasitic excitation due to which
coupling mechanism is introduced from the excitation of other generators.
The mutual coupling phenomenon is reciprocal in nature. If we use one antenna as
transmitter and another as receptor or one as receptor another as transmitter, both will give
the same effect.
One flaw of mutual coupling in phased array antenna designing is that it can affect the
radiation pattern of the array. So for designing phased array antenna, special consideration
should be given to the mutual coupling mechanism.

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B to A

A to B
Antenna A Antenna B

Fig 3: Mutual Coupling Mechanism

2.4 – Basics about Microstrip Patch

The first proposal given about microstrip antennas was from G.A Deschamps in 1953. In
1970, Howell and Munson defined a transmission model for micro strip antennas. This was
a successful step towards patch antennas.
Microstrip antenna patch elements are the most common form of printed antennas. As these
antennas are quite cheap, inexpensive, light weight and gives good results. Due to these
advantages, it is the mostly used antennas now days in the world (Das, chodhury,
Chatterjee, 1983). The microstrip patch can have different shapes like circular disk, ring,
rectangle, square etc. Some of the shapes are given in the figure below.

Figure 4: A view of microstrip patch with Different Shapes

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We will discuss the rectangular patch as an introduction to the microstrip phenomenon and
various characteristics of the patch. The basic form of the rectangular patch is shown below
in the figure.

Figure 5: Rectangular Microstrip Patch Antenna

The patch of microstrip antenna is usually made up of any conducting material. The patch
is mainly the radiating material. The patch is parallel to the ground plane. In between the
patch and the ground plane, there is a substrate in between the patch and the ground plane
with a dielectric constant whose value depends on the substrate used. The inner study of the
patch antenna is shown below.

Figure 6: Fringing Field Effects in Microstrip patch antenna

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The feed line is acting as a coupler coupling the electromagnetic energy into the patch. The
electric field distribution of the rectangular patch is also shown in figure. Some of the
electric fields are moving inside he substrate while some are extended outwards due to the
fringing field and due to the fringing field between the edge of the patch and the ground
plane, the patch radiates. The electric field is positive at one side of the patch and negative
on the other side while zero at the centre (Orban, Moernaut, 2005). There is also a
difference in between the actual and the physical size of the rectangular patch because
some of the electrical fields are in outward direction (fringing field). So the effective
physical size of the patch is bigger as compared to the actual size. This is dependent on the
thickness of the PC board and the dielectric substrate used in it.
The resonant length can be found as:

L  0.490d = 0.49o/r

Here, L = resonant length

d = wavelength in PC board
o = wavelength in free space
r = Dielectric constant
The effective dielectric constant can be found out by the formula:

Ereff = (r+1 / 2) + (r-1 / 2)*[1+12 h/W]*exp –1/2

In order to make an antenna efficient and give good performance, thick dielectric substrate
with low dielectric constant is suitable. It will give larger bandwidth efficiency and good
radiation. To give a very good working performance by the patch antenna with thick
substrate, a large size antenna has to be designed which is not possible. In order to get rid
of this problem, low dielectric substrate with high dielectric constant can be chosen. This
will give a narrow bandwidth but a trade off has to be made.
A table of equations for designing a microstrip rectangular patch antenna is given on the
next page. (Rahim, Kamal, Asrokin, Aziz, 2007).

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Table: 1

Parameter Design Equation Legend

1. Patch Width (W) W = 1 / 2f (oo)*( 2/r+1) reff = effective

dielectric constant
h=substrate height
W=patch width
r= relative dielectric
Constant
o=permeability in free
space

2. Effective Dielectric Constant reff = (r+1/2) + [(r-1/2)[1+12h/W]^-0.5]

3. Patch length L = 0.412h *(reff +0.3) (W/h+0.264)

Extension (L) (reff-0.258) (W/h+0.8)

4. Patch length (L) L= (1/ 2f reff o o ) - 2L

5. Effective Patch Le = L + 2L

Length (Le)

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2.5 – Impedance Matching

The current at the middle of the patch is maximum while minimum at the edges (left and
right). Similarly voltage distribution is minimal at the middle and maximal at the edges.
The electric filed is zero at the middle while maximum at the left and right side if the patch.

Figure 7: voltage (U), Current (I) and Impedance (Z) distribution along the patch
resonant length

From the figure, it is clear that impedance of the system is nearly equals to zero at the
middle of the patch and maximum (about 200) at the edge. For perfect working of the
patch, we have to make the system impedance about 50 by feeding a point somewhere on
the patch so as it gives 50 impedance. For imperfect matching, the current will be
reflected and standing waves will be produced which in result will give no excitation and
the patch will not propagate.

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2.6 – Advantages and Disadvantages

Microstrip Patch antennas are widely used in today’s era. It is used in satellite
communication, military purposes, GPS, mobile, missile systems etc as due to its compact
shape and light weight, les complexity and easy to implement. Some of its advantages and
disadvantages in the book by Waterhouse (2003) are as follows are given below.

(a). Advantages:

 Ease of manufacturing
 It has a very low fabrication cost.
 Microstrip patch antennas are efficient radiators.
 It has a support for both linear and circular polarization.
 Easy in integration with microwave integration circuits.

(b). Disadvantages:

 Low impedance bandwidth.

 Low gain.
 Extra radiation occurs from its feeds and junctions.
 Excitation of surface waves.
 Size of micro strip antenna comes in both advantages and disadvantages but
there are some applications where the size of microstrip antenna is too large
to be used.

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2.7 – Feed Models

There are different feed models for excitation of microstrip patches such as, Microstrip
Line Feed, Aperture-Coupled Feed, Proximity-Coupled Feed and Coaxial Probe Feed. All
feed models can be used according to the required specification of antenna design.

2.6.1 – Microstrip Line Feed:

Microstrip line fed patch antenna is a simple feed line system for patch excitation with
certain length and width. The feed line is connected to the matching stub of corresponding
length and width. The structure is shown in figure below.

Figure 8: Microstrip Line Feed

The microstrip line fed is connected to the patch in a planar way. Due to its planar
structure, it brings an ease to design. An inset cut in the patch can give a complete
matching environment and it helps in giving a matching system without using an extra
matching devices. There are some other devices for matching purpose like matching stub
etc. However, it is very critical to match an antenna impedance with the impedance of
connector usually 50 (Rahim, Kamal, Asrokin, Aziz, 2007). By using the line feed

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technique, there can be spurious feed radiation, low surface wave efficiency and radiation
from feed network.

2.6.2 – Proximity-Coupled Feed (PCF):

Proximity-Coupled Feed is sometimes called as electromagnetic coupling scheme. The

proximity coupled fed microstrip patch antenna consists of two layers on top of each other.
There is no ground plane in such antenna. The microstrip feed line is in between the two
substrates and the radiation patch is at the top of the substrate as shown in figure. Feed
network is used for supplying power to the antenna which is coupled in between the feed
line and the patch and is transferred electromagnetically (Rahim, Kamal, Asrokin, Aziz,
2007). The coupling mechanism is capacitive in nature which leads to give a high
bandwidth (Godara, 2002). In contrast to the direct contact methods, which are
predominantly inductive, the proximity-coupled patch’s coupling mechanism is capacitive
in nature (Rahim, Kamal, Asrokin, Aziz, 2007). There can be difference in the coupling
mechanism which affects the impedance bandwidth due to which the bandwidth of PCF-
MPA is greater than the direct feed Patches. The main advantage of using PCF-MPA is that
it helps in eliminating the spurious radiation from the patch giving rise in increase in BW
due to overall thickness of the antenna. One of the disadvantages is that there is a need of
perfect alignment due to which there is a complexity in the fabrication and design of such
antennas (Waterhouse R.B, et al. 2003).

Figure 9: Proximity-Coupled Feed-MPA

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2.6.3 – Coaxial Probe Feed:

Coaxial feed is the simplest feed for Microstrip Patches and is one of the popular feeding
techniques. As shown in figure below, the patch is fed by means of coaxial line which is
perpendicular to the ground plane. The inner conductor is extended further upwards to the
substrate to connect it with the patch. The energy is given to the patch by means of the
coaxial feed line. The required input impedance is set by choosing the correct position for
the feeding point. The main advantage of using such technique is that the probe can be
fixed at any place on the patch for matching impedance (Waterhouse R.B, et al. 2003).

Patch
Substrate

Ground

Coaxial Connector

Figure 10: Coaxial-Probe Feed

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2.6.4 – Aperture-Coupled Feed

In aperture coupled feed antenna, the radiating patch is etched at the top of the substrate
and the microstrip feed line is etched on the bottom of the substrate (Pozar, 1996). The
author further says, coupling is done by using a slot or aperture in the ground plane.
Thickness and dielectric constants for the electrical performance of the antenna can be
chosen independently (Pozar, 1996). It was believed that aperture coupled microstrip
antenna produces circular polarization but later on, rectangular slot was used which
improved the coupling mechanism (Pozar, 1985). Spurious radiations can be reduced by
using ground plane which separates the patch and the aperture. In such designs, low
dielectric substrates are used in the upper substrate while high dielectric substrate is used
for lower substrate. It also gives a narrow bandwidth. The main disadvantage of such
designs is that there required multiple layer which make the antenna design more complex.

Figure 11: Aperture-Coupled Feed

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2.8 – Array Beamforming Feed Network

Microstrip antenna arrays are versatile in nature due to which they are most popular in
today’s modern era. Array Feeding Network is used in order to develop a beam in the
desired direction. We can also in crease the directivity of the array which a single element
can not (Balanis, 2005). Feed network is often used to regulate the amplitude and phase
feed requirements of the radiating elements (patches) to control the beam scanning
properties (Mir riyaz Ali, 2005).
There are two types of array feeding networks, Series Feed and Corporate Feed Network.
Among all the feeding techniques, corporate feed is mostly used in scanning phased, multi-
beam or shaped-beam arrays.

(a): Series feed (b): Corporate feed

Figure 12: Series Feed Network and Corporate Feed Network

Corporate feed is more controllable over the feed of each element (Phase and Amplitude)
(Mir riyaz Ali, 2005). Microstrip patch array in series feed network is fed by a single
transmission line while corporate feed network is fed by multiple transmission line
(Misran, Islam, Ng, 2008). The techniques of using corporate feed network is that it is
used as function of 2n (2, 4, 6, 8 etc) (Balanis, 2005). While designing an array, the feed
point and distance between each patch is kept constant in order to provide equal phase

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patch excitation. Series feed network is easy to fabricate and implement as compared to
corporate feed network. The disadvantage by using series feed is that it gives phase delay
due to which it is not preferred for the phase scanning arrays (Misran, Islam, Ng, 2008).
These phase shifts are frequency dependent phase shifts due to which beam scanning is
dependent on the frequency (Misran, Islam, Ng, 2008). Corporate feed network provides
flexibility towards phase control over the performance of each array element. It is suitable
for phase scanning as it is less affected by the frequency scan (Misran, Islam, Ng, 2008).
The most common form in using corporate feed network is Wilkinson Power divider rule.

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Chapter 3
Design and Analysis

3.1 – Introduction

The most popular patch using now a days is circular or disk patch. It can be used not only a
single element but also in array of [65] or [71]. Circular disks are considered to be smaller
than rectangular patch. The circular patch can be used in variety of ways in order to
produce impedance values, radiation patterns and certain frequencies of operation.
The antenna consist of circular disk of any radius “a” ( required radius) and “ro” which is
the distance of the feed point form the radius of the patch shown in figure.1(a) and 1(b).
Modes for the circular patch can be find out by treating the patch along with the ground
plane and the substrate in between the two. In rectangular patch, modes can be changed by
changing the length and width of the patch, but in circular patch, there is only one degree
of freedom to control (radius of the patch). For circular patch, the modes are “TMz” where
“z” is perpendicular to the patch. Figure (b) shows the cross sectional area of circular
patch. The main issue which has to be kept in mind is the feeding point of the patch. The
impedance of the feeding point (input impedance) must be equal to the impedance of the
patch. Here in my proposed design, the overall system impedance is 50Ω. First, a circular
patch with a single coaxial probe feed has been designed and the different parameter has
been analyzed. In the second and final section, two circular patches connected with
transmission lines has been designed and observed.

(a) (b)
Figure.13: Circular Patch Antenna

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3.2 – Antenna Configuration

Some parameters for designing a circular patch have been founded out by using some
formulas. The detail of which is given below.
3.2.1 – Resonant Frequency:

The resonant frequency for circular patch can be analyzed by using cavity model. The
cavity model consist of electric conductors above and below representing the patch at
above and ground plane below while a perfect magnetic conductor having cylindrical shape
around the circular periphery of the patch.
The resonant frequency for TMzmn0 mode can be represented as:

(fr)mno = 1 (mn) / a ------------------- (B)

2()1/2

Here, mn is the zero of the derivative of Bessel Function Jm(). It is helpful in determining
the order of the resonant frequencies. Some of the values for “mn” is shown below.

11 = 1.8412
21 = 3.0542
01 = 3.8318
31 = 4.2012

We can write equation (B) as;

(fr)mno = mn c / 2ae(r)1/2

(fr)mno = 1.8412 c / 2ae(r)1/2

“ae” is the effective radius of the patch and “c” is the velocity of light in free space.

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3.2.2 – Radius of the Patch:

The effective radius of the patch is considered in order to account for the fringing fields
outside the edges of the patch. The fringing field makes the patch electrically larger. In
order for correction factor, the actual radius “a” is replaced by effective radius “ae.

The effective radius is given as:

ae = a1+ 2h [ ln (a ) + 1.7726]1/2

ar 2h

Here, “h” is the thickness and “r “is the dielectric constant. The actual radius “a” is given
as:

a = F / 1+ 2h [ln (F) + 1.7726]1/2

Fr 2h

Where “F” is:

F = 8.791*109
fr (r )1/2

3.2.3 – Feed Point:

While designing a circular patch, finding a feed point for the excitation of circular patch is
an important issue. As the impedance of the circular patch at the edge of the patch is about
200-300 and is zero at the centre. We have to connect a coaxial probe feed at such a point
so as to give a complete 50 matching impedance. So the overall system impedance should
be 50. The antenna system impedance properly matched with transmission line can be
accomplished by properly choosing the feeding point. According to Karmakar

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(Karmakar, 2002), for TM110, the feed point (which is actually a coaxial probe feed) on
circular patch having an input impedance of 50 is given as:
 = a/3 = 5.49/3 = 1.83
Where “” is the feed point on circular patch and “a” is the radius of the patch.

3.3 – Proposed Design

The proposed diagram produced in ADS (Advanced Design System) using a circular patch
is shown in figure below. First, a single circular patch was simulated and observed in order
to check the performance and to get the required output simulation. The design for a single
circular patch is given in the figure below.

Figure 14: Single Circular Patch designed in ADS Momentum with radius a=5.49mm
and feeding point of 1.89mm from the radius of the circular patch:

In this section, only a single patch with coaxial feed is designed in order to check the basic
performance of it. The above figure illustrates a single circular patch designed using RT-

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DURROID 5880 as a substrate with thickness of 17.4m, dielectric constant (r) of 2.2 and
a substrate height of 0.787mm. The dielectric constant (r) mainly affects the bandwidth
and impedance of the patch. The tangential loss is 0.0009. The radius is calculated using
the formulas discussed before and is about 5.49mm and the feed point measurement is
about 1.83mm. The feed point distance shows the distance from the radius to the feed point
which gives a 50 matching network. The patch is supposed to resonate at 10GHz giving a
broadside beam with specific beamwidth. As only one port is used, we will observe only
S11 parameter. The radiation pattern with some simulation for the above designed single
circular patch is shown in the figure taken from ADS.

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Figure 15: Radiation pattern for the proposed single circular patch antenna

The radiation pattern is achieved by using Advanced Design System 2008 (ADS) shows
that the main beam of the radiating patch is towards broadside i.e.  = 90o or 270o or =0.
The beamwidth for the given radiation pattern was calculated to be approximately -600.
Below graph shows that the patch is resonating clearly at 10GHz as it is bending towards
10GHz. The input return loss for the patch is -16.86db.

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Figure 16: Simulation showing S-parameters of antenna at 10GHz.

The impedance for the system is not exactly matched as it is above 50Ω. The requirement
for the system to work is 50Ω impedance which means that the frequency marker should be
exactly on the horizontal line on smith chart and results the value to be 1. The gain of the
patch is almost 10dB and directivity is 13dB.

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Figure 17: Simulation for Power, Gain and directivity performance

The below diagram shows the final design of microstrip phased array antenna having two
circular patches with centre to centre distance of 12mm between them.

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Figure 18: Basic layout of Microstrip Phased Array Antenna with two
circular patches

The circular patches are about 5.49mm in radius. The circular Patches are attached with the
200Ω microstrip transmission line. The edge of the circular patch has an impedance of
about 200Ω -300Ω. It decreases when we move towards the centre of the circle and gets
zero at the centre of the circular patch. In order make the antenna radiated, 200Ω
transmission line should be properly matched with the edges of the circular patch. The
width of each transmission line is 0.06095mm with length of 11.712mm and is calculated
from software so called LineCal which is ADS based software. The two microstrip
transmission lines are parallel to each other are combined on a point having a combined
impedance of 100Ω. A Quarter wave transmission line having width of 2.419mm, length of
5.428mm with 50Ω impedance is attached with two transmission lines. Quarter wavelength
transformers are of great importance in impedance matching networks. These transformers
are used in order to match the real valued impedance to another real values impedance of

the input. The coaxial probe feed is attached with the end of the Quarter wave transmission
line having impedance of 50Ω.

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The electrical length for the two transmission lines in degrees is 1800 and 900 for quarter
wavelength transmission line. The 3D visualization layout for the designed antenna is
shown below.

Figure 19: 3D visualization for the Microstrip Phased Array Antenna

The radiation pattern along broadside direction is shown below.

Figure 20: Radiation Pattern of Microstrip Phased Array Antenna

The radiation pattern obtained is approximately 43º and the main lobe is not very
sharpened and is giving an oval shape. This is because the numbers of elements used are

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only two. The directivity can be increased by increasing number of elements due to which
sharp beam can be achieved.
Below is the simulation of the designed antenna resulting the S-Parameter of the system
that is resonating at 10.08GHz giving input return loss of -17.735dB as the graph bends
downwards. It means that the greater the graph bending downwards the less will be the
input return loss and more will be the radiation from antenna with low losses. According to
Smith Chart, as the system is not perfectly matched but still it’s closed to the matching
criteria which means that there will be low return loss.

Figure 21: Simulation results showing input return loss and impedance matching

The directivity and gain achieved is almost 20dB. The gain for the single element was
about 10 dB. The value of power resulted from the simulation is about -40dB as shown in
the graph which is reduced as compared to the power generated by the single patch.

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(a)

(b)

Figure 22: Graphical View of (a). Gain, Directivity and (b) Power in dB

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Chapter 4
Conclusions and Recommendations

4.1 – Summary

The project thesis represents the background and working of Microstrip Phased Array
Antenna designed in ADS Momentum. The background part comprises of the all the basics
about the antenna parameters, microstrip patch elements and its working. The main project
part consists of working of designed antenna and is based on two circular patches having a
substrate RT-DURROID 5880 with dielectric constant of 2.2, thickness of 17.8μm and
substrate height of 0.787mm. The two circular patches are designed in a linear uniform
manner producing a field radiation pattern in broadside direction i.e.  =90º or 270º. The
excitation is given to the patches using coaxial probe feed. The microstrip transmission
lines used are of different impedances. A complete matching network of 50Ω impedance is
designed and simulated. The satisfactory results have been achieved from simulation.

4.2 – Conclusion:

The simulation results shows that as compared of using a single patch, array of patches are
much useful in designing antenna because it can give more accurate results as compared to
a single patch. In this project, the comparison in using a single patch and two patches is
much obvious. The greater the array, greater will be the directivity and we can achieve a
larger range of beam. The gain and directivity by using two patches is greater than what a
single patch produced. The antenna is operating at 10 GHz. The matching network is
clearly shown on smith chart which not exactly 50Ω but we have achieved near to the
required value. As there is only one port used, only S11 parameter is shown on the graph.
The return loss for the designed antenna is about -17.735dB which is satisfactory. The gain
and directivity achieved is about 20dB. The power generated by the antenna is -40dB
which is good in performance.

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4.3 – Future Work

As the antenna field is very vast, lots of changes can be made while designing different
types of antennas. According to my project which is based on Microstrip Phased Array
Antenna giving the main beam in broadside direction, some of the future recommendations
are as follows:
 Using an array of six or more patches which will produce a scanning beam in
broadside directions.
 Using Phase shifter for scanning purpose which will produce the beam in broadside
direction with a specified beamwidth.
 The beam will be steered electrically by using phase shifters with in a fix range of
angles.
 The proposed design will be tested uniformly and non-uniformly and results will
be compared.
 Other array feeding techniques can be used to check the performance in different
ways.
 More ports will be used to observe other parameter’s performance.
 Instead of ADS, HFSS software will be used as it gives a complete and deep
knowledge about the all the characteristics of antenna designing.

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APPENDIX

Basic Array Factor Implemented In Matlab

**********************************************************
Matlab Code for Pattern Multiplication of Antenna Array
**********************************************************

clear all;

element numbers
N = 6;
-----------------
% element spacing
-----------------
d = 0.6;

------------------------------------------------
% theta zero direction
% 90 degree for broadside, 0 degree for endfire.
------------------------------------------------
theta_zero=90;

An=1;
j=sqrt(-1);
f = zeros(1,360);

for theta = 1:1:360

-------------------------
% change degree to radian
-------------------------

deg2rad(theta) = (theta*pi)/180;

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if theta == 180 || theta == 360

g(theta) = 0; % g = 0 if theta = 180 or 360

else

---------------------------------
Element pattern of dipole antenna
---------------------------------
g(theta) = abs((cos(pi*cos(deg2rad(theta))/2))/sin(deg2rad(theta)));

end

------------------------
Array factor calculation
------------------------
for n=0:N-1

f(theta) = f(theta)+ An*exp(j*n*2*pi*d*(cos(deg2rad(theta))-

cos(theta_zero*pi/180))) ;
end

f(theta) = abs(f(theta));

----------------------
Pattern multiplication
----------------------

F(theta) = abs(g(theta)*f(theta));

end

figure(1)
polar(deg2rad,g)

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title('Element Pattern');

figure(2)
polar(deg2rad,f)

title('Array Factor');

figure(3)
polar(deg2rad,F)
title('Total Pattern');

3.9.1). Results

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Fig (23): Pattern Multiplication of Six Elements Antenna Array

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 Visser H. J (2005) “Array and Phased Array Antenna Basics” Published by John
wiley & Sons, Ltd.

 N.J. Kolias et. al "Antennas" Copyright 2000 CRC Press L.L.C.

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 Chen. Shugang, Iwata. R (1998) “Mutual coupling effects in microstrip patch

phased array antenna” Antennas and Propagation Society International Symposium,
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 Ali M. R (2005) “Design of Microstrip Linear Phased Array Antenna Using

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IEEE Transactions on Antennas And Propagation, Vol. AP-31, NO. 1

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 Orban. D, Moernaut G.J.K (2005) “The basics of Patch Antennas” Orban

Microwawe products [online; www.orbanmicrowave.com]

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 Misran N, islam M.T, Ng K. J (2008) “A feed Network for a Novel E-H Shaped
Microstrip Patch antenna Array” Journal of Applied Sciences.

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Microstrip Patch Antenna at 1GHz”, RF and Microwave Conference, 2004.

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