destructive technique.

It also requires a physical contact with

the detected material, which is not always possible. On the other A COMPACT CIRCULAR-RING ANTENNA
hand, this MIBS system is much simpler, smaller, and cheaper FOR ULTRA-WIDEBAND APPLICATIONS
than any LIBS system, because it utilizes low-cost microwave L. Liu,1 S. W. Cheung,1 R. Azim,2 and M. T. Islam2
components and could be realized as a portable tool. Yet, the 1
Department of Electrical and Electronic Engineering, University of
microwave-drill-based MIBS technique is not considered as a Hong Kong, Hong Kong; Corresponding author: [email protected]
2
substitute for the LIBS technology but more likely as a low-cost Institute of Space Science (ANGKASA), Universiti Kebangsaan
Malaysia, 43600 UKM Bangi, Malaysia
extension for specific field applications.
The MIBS analyses and identification, demonstrated here by
a simple algorithm, could be performed as well by various com- Received 29 December 2010
mercial programs with larger databases and more sophisticated
algorithms available for LIBS systems. Such a program (e.g., ABSTRACT: A simple circular-ring planar-monopole antenna, with a
AvaLIBS-Specline-A or similar) could be incorporated in the compact size of 26
28 mm2, fed by an offset-microstrip line, is proposed.
The antenna is composed of a circular-ring radiator and a ground plane
MIBS system to include additional elements.
with a small rectangular slot cut along the upper edge for ultra-wideband
Besides technical improvements (like extension toward IR and
(UWB) operation. Studies of the antenna are carried out using computer
UV spectral ranges, increasing the sampling rate, and improving simulation. Prototype of the antenna is used for verification of the
optical resolution and sensitivity), the localized microwave-based simulation results. Results show that the antenna has an impedance
AES could be incorporated with additional spectroscopic methods bandwidth of more than 132% (from 3.7 to more than 18 GHz) for the
such as atomic absorption spectroscopy and atomic florescence standing wave ratio of less than 2 (voltage standing wave ratio, VSWR 
spectroscopy in order to verify the identification of the elements 2), a stable omnidirectional radiation pattern and an average peak gain of
in the detected bulk material. Similar microwave excitation con- 3.97 dBi across the UWB, making the antenna a good candidate for use in
cepts might be considered also for the detection of larger mole- UWB communications. V C 2011 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Microwave Opt

cules and even chemical or biological agents. Technol Lett 53:2283–2288, 2011; View this article online at
wileyonlinelibrary.com. DOI 10.1002/mop.26295

REFERENCES Key words: ultra-wideband; circular-ring antenna; planar antenna

1. E.H. Evans, J.B. Dawson, A. Fisher, S.J. Hill, W.J. Price, C.M.M.
Smith, K.L. Sutton, and J.F. Tyson, Atomic spectrometry update.
1. INTRODUCTION
Advances in atomic emission, absorption, and fluorescence spec-
trometry, and related techniques, J Anal At Spectrom 16 (2001), With the increasing demands for high data rate transmission,
672–711. broadband and multiband antennas play a vital role in the wire-
2. L.J. Radziemski, From LASER to LIBS, the path of technology de- less communication world. Ultra-wideband (UWB) technology,
velopment, Spectrochim Acta, Part B 57 (2002), 1109–1113. with the advantages of low complexity, low cost, low spectral
3. R. Noll, V. Sturm, U. Aydin, D. Eilers, C. Gehlen, M. Hohne, A. power density, high precision ranging, very low interferences,
Lamott, J. Makowe, and J. Vrenegor, Laser-induced breakdown and extremely high data rates, has attracted much attention for
spectroscopy—from research to industry new frontiers for process high-speed wireless communication. Since the Federal Communi-
control, Spectrochim Acta, Part B 63 (2008), 1159–1166.
cations Commission released unlicensed band from 3.1 to 10.6
4. J. Kiel, B. Rockwell, R. Sutter, J. Williams, D. Hardin, and P.
Morales, Laser and microwave induced breakdown spectroscopy:
GHz for radio communication in 2002 [1], antennas with ultra-
Basis for a new detection technique for chemical and biological wide bandwidth have been widely investigated by both industry
agents, Pulsed Power Plasma Sci 1 (2001), 220–223. and academia. The design of efficient and small size antennas for
5. K. Iinuma, H. Suto, S. Uchida, and K. Takayama, Active photome- wideband applications is still a major challenge. Many different
try of atmospheric compositions by microwave breakdown plasma designs of UWB antennas have been studied [2–14]. Some used
spectroscopy, J. Geophys Res 107 (2002), 1395–1403. the monopole configuration such as square, annual ring, triangle,
6. T. Okamoto and Y. Okamoto, Characteristics of helium micro- elliptical, pentagon, and hexagonal antennas [2–10] and others
wave-induced atmospheric pressure plasma for fine particle analy- used the dipole configuration like bow-tie antennas [11–14].
sis, J Plasma Fusion Res Series 8 (2009) 1330–1334. Most of these antennas either had relatively large sizes or did not
7. B. Kearton and Y. Mattley, Laser-induced breakdown spectroscopy
have a real wide bandwidth. In this article, we propose a micro-
sparking new applications, Nature Photonics 2 (2008) 537–540.
8. E. Jerby, V. Dikhtyar, O. Aktushev, and U. Grosglick, The micro-
strip-fed planar-monopole antenna for UWB operation with a
wave drill, Science 298 (2002) 587–589. compact size only 26
28 mm2, significantly less than those
9. I. Hirsch, Private Communication. antennas reported in [2, 6–8, 10, 11]. Numerous methods have
10. E. Jerby, O. Aktushev and V. Dikhtyar, Theoretical analysis of the been reported to increase the bandwidth of UWB antennas,
microwave-drill near-field localized heating effect, J Appl Phys 97 including increase of substrate thickness, use of a substrate with
(2005), 034909. low dielectric constant, utilization of various feeding technique,
11. R. Herskowits, P. Livshits, S. Stepanov, O. Aktushev, S. Ruschin, and the use of slot antenna geometry [15, 16]. In general, the
and E. Jerby, Silicon heating by a microwave-drill applicator with bandwidth and the size of an antenna are conflicting, i.e.,
optical thermometry, Semicond Sci Technol 22 (2007), 863–869. improving one normally results in degradation of the other.
12. V. Dikhtyar and E. Jerby, Fireball ejection from a molten hot spot
Recently, techniques such as inserting additional stub to the one
to air by localized microwaves, Phys Rev Lett 96 (2006), 045002.
13. E. Jerby, A. Golts, Y. Shamir, S. Wonde, J.B.A. Mitchell, J.L.
side of the circular patch [17], adding finite metal plane [3], add-
LeGarrec, T. Narayanan, M. Sztucki, D. Ashkenazi, and Z. Barkay, ing slot to one side of the radiating element [18] and adding
Nanoparticle plasma ejected directly from solid copper by localized steps to the lower edge of the patch [19] have been reported to
microwaves, Appl Phys Lett 95 (2009), 191501. increase the impedance bandwidth of circularly and elliptically
14. National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST). Available planar monopole antennas. In our design, the proposed planar
at: http://www.nist.gov. antenna consists of a circular-ring radiator and ground plane with
a small rectangular slot cut along the upper edge to increase the
V
C 2011 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. operating bandwidth. Measured results show that the proposed

DOI 10.1002/mop MICROWAVE AND OPTICAL TECHNOLOGY LETTERS / Vol. 53, No. 10, October 2011 2283
Figure 1 Geometry of proposed antenna: (a) top view; (b) side view.
[Color figure can be viewed in the online issue, which is available at Figure 3 Simulated VSWR with different values of R. [Color figure can
wileyonlinelibrary.com] be viewed in the online issue, which is available at wileyonlinelibrary.com]

antenna can achieve a bandwidth from 3.7 GHz to more than 18 has been used for studies of the antenna and Figure 2 shows the
GHz, larger than the UWB, a relatively stable omnidirectional simulated voltage standing wave ratios (VSWRs) of the pro-
radiation pattern across the UWB and a good average peak gain. posed antenna with and without the small slot on the upper edge
of the ground plane and with W ¼ 26 mm, L ¼ 28 mm, LG ¼
2. ANTENNA DESIGN 7.5 mm, R ¼ 8 mm, r ¼ 3 mm, wf ¼ 3 mm, df ¼ 8 mm, and g
Figure 1 shows our proposed UWB antenna which consists of a ¼ 0 mm. It can be seen that, with the slot, the operating band-
circular-ring radiator on one side and a ground plane on the width for VSWR < 2 is from 3.4 GHz to over 20 GHz. How-
other side of the substrate. The circular-ring radiator has an ever, without the slot, the bandwidth is reduced to 6.812.1
outer radius R, inner radius r, and a microstrip-feed line printed GHz, a 70% reduction in bandwidth. Usually, the impedance
on the same side of the substrate. The microstrip-feed line is bandwidth can be increased by using a larger ground plane size,
slightly offset in the horizontal direction from the middle of the but these results show that the small slot on the upper edge of
ground plane. The distance between the left edge of the feed the ground plane can increase the operating bandwidth without
line and the left edge of the ground plane is df. The microstrip requiring increasing the size of the ground plane.
feed line has a length of 7.5 mm to achieve a characteristics im- The outer radius R of the radiator can also be used to increase
pedance of 50 X. An SMA connector is connected to the port of the operating bandwidth. Figure 3 shows that the simulated
the microstrip feed line. The antenna has an overall area of W
VSWR with different values of R and W ¼ 26 mm, L ¼ 28 mm,
L, and the ground plane has an area of W
LG mm. LG ¼ 7.5 mm, r ¼ 3 mm, wf ¼ 3 mm, df ¼ 8 mm, and g ¼ 0
To match the input impedance to the circular-ring radiator mm. It can be seen that the outer radius not only affects the upper
and so to have a wide bandwidth, a small rectangular slot, with frequency but also the bandwidth. With a radius of 8 mm, the
a dimension 4
1 mm2, is cut along the upper edge of the operating bandwidth for VSWR < 2 is from 3.4 to over 20 GHz.
ground plane. The antenna is printed on a low-cost FR4 sub- The ground plane also serves as an impedance matching circuit
strate with thickness of 1.6 mm, relative permittivity of 4.6, and for the antenna. The gap g between the ground plane and the cir-
loss tangent of 0.02 for studies. The EM simulation tool CST cular-ring radiator can be used to tune the input impedance of the

Figure 2 Simulated VSWR with and without slot. [Color figure can be Figure 4 Simulated VSWR with different values of g. [Color figure can
viewed in the online issue, which is available at wileyonlinelibrary.com] be viewed in the online issue, which is available at wileyonlinelibrary.com]

2284 MICROWAVE AND OPTICAL TECHNOLOGY LETTERS / Vol. 53, No. 10, October 2011 DOI 10.1002/mop
Figure 5 Photograph of prototyped antenna. [Color figure can be
viewed in the online issue, which is available at wileyonlinelibrary.com]

antenna and hence to increase the operating bandwidth. Figure 4

shows the simulated VSWR with g ¼ 0, 0.5, and 1 mm, W ¼ 26 Figure 7 Simulated and measured gain. [Color figure can be viewed
mm, L ¼ 28 mm, LG ¼ 7.5 mm, R ¼ 8 mm, r ¼ 3 mm, and wf in the online issue, which is available at wileyonlinelibrary.com]
¼ 3 mm. With g ¼ 0 mm, the antenna has the widest operating
bandwidth for VSWR < 2 from 3.4 to over 20 GHz. simulated and measured results are in good agreements from the
frequency band from around 4 to 18 GHz. Figure 7 shows that
3. RESULTS AND DISCUSSION the antenna has an average peak gain of 3.97 dBi. The maxi-
The proposed antenna has been analyzed and optimized in terms mum realized peak gain is 7.2 dBi at 18 GHz where the radia-
of return loss and operating bandwidth using the EM simulation tion is more directional as can be seen later. Figure 8 shows that
tool CST. The final design of the antenna has the structural param- the antenna has a radiation efficiency of about 80% across the
eters of W ¼ 26 mm, L ¼ 28 mm, LG ¼ 7.5 mm, R ¼ 8 mm, r bandwidth from 4 to 18 GHz.
¼ 3 mm, wf ¼ 3 mm, and g ¼ 0 mm. For verification of simula- The surface current distributions on the antenna at 3.7, 7.0,
tion results, the antenna has been fabricated on a FR4 substrate, as 11, and 18 GHz are shown in Figure 9, and the measured radia-
shown in Figure 5, with the same parameters used in computer tion patterns at these frequencies in elevation (i.e., in the xz and
simulation and then measured using the Satimo’s antenna measure- yz-planes) and azimuth (i.e., in the xy-plane) are shown in Fig-
ment equipment, StarLab. Figure 6 shows the simulated and meas- ure 10. At the low frequency of 3.7 GHz, Figure 9(a) shows the
ured VSWRs of the antenna. The measured bandwidth for VSWR current is evenly distributed on the radiator, thus the radiation
 2 ranges from 3.7 GHz to more than 18 GHz. The simulated pattern in the xy-plane as shown in Figure 10(a) is omnidirec-
and measured results are in good agreement. Despite the small tional. At a higher frequency of 7 GHz, the current shown in
size, the proposed antenna can achieve a much wider bandwidth Figure 9(b) is still roughly evenly distributed on the radiator,
than the wideband antennas proposed in [2–7, 10–13]. and so the radiation pattern is still approximately omnidirec-
Figure 7 shows simulated and measured peak gains and Fig- tional. At these frequencies, both the elevation- and azimuth-
ure 8 shows simulated and measured radiation efficiency of the plane radiation patterns are roughly the same as that of a
antenna in the frequency range of 2–18 GHz (which is the maxi- monopole antenna. At a higher frequency of 11 GHz, Figure
mum frequency that the Satimo’s equipment can do). Again, the

Figure 6 Measured and simulated VSWR. [Color figure can be Figure 8 Simulated and measured efficiency. [Color figure can be
viewed in the online issue, which is available at wileyonlinelibrary.com] viewed in the online issue, which is available at wileyonlinelibrary.com]

DOI 10.1002/mop MICROWAVE AND OPTICAL TECHNOLOGY LETTERS / Vol. 53, No. 10, October 2011 2285
Figure 9 Surface current distribution at (a) 3.7 GHz (top and bottom surfaces), (b) 7 GHz (top and bottom surfaces), (c) 11 GHz (top and bottom
surfaces), and (d) 18 GHz (top and bottom surfaces). [Color figure can be viewed in the online issue, which is available at wileyonlinelibrary.com]

9(c) shows that higher order current modes start developing, and slightly directional. At the even higher frequency of 18 GHz,
current density is less evenly distributed on the radiator. As a higher order current modes are excited, and the current density is
result, the radiation patterns as shown in Figure 10(c) become no longer evenly distributed on the radiator. The radiation patterns,

2286 MICROWAVE AND OPTICAL TECHNOLOGY LETTERS / Vol. 53, No. 10, October 2011 DOI 10.1002/mop
Figure 10 Measured radiation patterns at different frequencies [——Copolarization, -------Cross polarization]. (a) 3.7 GHz: xz-plane, yz-plane, xy-
plane. (b) 7 GHz: xz-plane; yz-plane; xy-plane. (c) 11 GHz: xz-plane, yz-plane, xy-plane. (d) 18 GHz: xz-plane, yz-plane, xy-plane. [Color figure can be
viewed in the online issue, which is available at wileyonlinelibrary.com]

DOI 10.1002/mop MICROWAVE AND OPTICAL TECHNOLOGY LETTERS / Vol. 53, No. 10, October 2011 2287
as can be seen in Figure 10(d), become directional with some 17. K.P. Ray and Y. Ranga, Ultrawideband printed elliptical monopole
nulls. The results in Figure 10 show that the radiation patterns are antennas, IEEE Trans Antennas Propag 55 (2007), 1189–1192.
remarkably stable throughout the UWB. It also can be seen that in 18. K. Kim and S. Park, Analysis of the small band-rejected antenna
the xy-plane, the cross-polarization field is slightly directional and with the parasitic strip for UWB, IEEE Trans Antennas Propag 54
(2006), 1688–1692.
the copolarization filed is omnidirectional.
19. J. Choi, K. Chung, and Y. Roh, Parametric analysis of a band-
rejected antenna for UWB applications, Microwave Opt Technol
4. CONCLUSIONS Lett 47 (2005), 287–290.
The design of a compact circular-ring antenna with a size of 26

28 mm2 has been presented. An offset-micristrip feed line V
C 2011 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.

and a small slot cut along the upper edge of the ground plane
have been used to increase the impedance bandwidth. The
design of the proposed antenna is simple and is very easy to be A NOVEL HEART-SHAPED MONOPOLE
integrated with microwave circuitry for low manufacturing cost. ANTENNA FOR UWB AND RFID
Measurements have shown that the antenna can achieve a wide APPLICATIONS
bandwidth (VSWR  2) of more than 132% (from 3.7 GHz to
Tang Yang and Xiao-Jian Tian
more than 18 GHz), a stable omnidirectional radiation pattern College of Electronic Science and Engineering, Jilin University,
and an average gain of 3.97 dBi. Changchun, China; Corresponding author:
[email protected]
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Commission’s rules regarding ultra-wideband transmission system
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2288 MICROWAVE AND OPTICAL TECHNOLOGY LETTERS / Vol. 53, No. 10, October 2011 DOI 10.1002/mop