Design of Rectangular Patch Antenna Array

Using Different Feeding Technique

Mst Hasneara Khatun, Reefat Inum, Nazia Tasnim
Department of Electrical and Electronic Engineering
Rajshahi University of Engineering and Technology
Rajshahi 6204, Bangladesh

Abstract - In wireless communication system, Patch antenna tangent δ = 0.02 and thickness h = 1.6 mm. FR-4 is used as the
applicable for the development of low cost, minimal weight and substrate material because of the low cost and easy to
low profile antennas that are capable of maintaining high fabricate. The patch antenna parameters are calculated from
performance. This paper presents a comparison between the following standard antenna design equation [3] at
rectangular patch antenna arrays using two different feeding
reference resonant frequency:
techniques : microstrip line feeding and coaxial probe feeding at
2.4 GHz operating frequency. A 2x2 linear array is designed for
both line feeding and coaxial probe feeding. Finally, we analyzed 1) Width of the Patch (W ):
the 2x3 linear antenna array to increase directivity, gain, c
efficiency and better radiation patterns. The substrate used is W  (1)
FR4 with dielectric constant of 4.3 and thickness about 1.6mm. 2 (ε r  1)/2
The antenna array is designed and simulated by CST microwave 2) Effective Length (L):
studio.
c
L eff  (2)
2f ε reff
Keywords - Patch antenna array, microstrip line feeding, coaxial
cable feeding, return loss, gain. Where
1

εr  1 εr 1  h  2
I. INTRODUCTION ε reff   1  12
2 2  w 

Microstrip patch antennas are used in many practical
applications such as high performance aircraft, spacecraft,
satellite ,Wi-Fi[1], Bluetooth [2] and many other applications
where size ,weight, cost, ease of installation, aerodynamic Due to fringing effects the effective length of the patch
profile are the main consideration. To meet these antenna appears to be greater than its actual length.
requirements microstrip patch antennas have been extensively Actual length
researched for its low profile, inexpensive, and easy to L  L eff  2  L (3)
fabricate. Many techniques have been analyzed for achieving Where
wide bandwidth [4] and greater performance. W
In this paper, microstrip line feeding and coaxial probe ( ε reff  0.3)(  0.264)
feeding techniques are used for designing rectangular patch ΔL h
 0.412
antenna array at 2.4 GHz operating frequency. By changing h W
feeding techniques and number of array element the results (ε reff  0.258)(  0.8)
h
will be compared. Antenna array is used to increase gain,
directivity, and perform various functions [5] which would be 3) Inset Feed Depth:
difficult with any one single element. The elements can be fed
by a single line or by multiple lines in a feed network 0.822  L
H  (4)
arrangement. 2
4) Notch Gap:
 12
c 4.65  10
g  (5)
II. DESIGN OF SINGLE PATCH f(inGhz)
2 ε reff
The single patch antenna has been designed to
operate at resonant frequency of 2.4 GHz with input
impedance of 50Ω using FR4 substrate with ɛr = 4.3, lose

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 2nd International Conference on Electrical & Electronic Engineering (ICEEE), 27-29 December 2017, RUET, Rajshahi, Bangladesh

5) Minimum Ground plane dimension:

Lg =6h + L (6)
Wg = 6h+W (7)

With the help of these above formulae [3] all the parameters
that are required to design an antenna are obtained. The
dimensions of the single patch are calculated and shown
below:

TABLE I
ANTENNA DIMENSION PARAMETERS

Dimensions
Parameters (mm)
width of the patch (W) 38.3934
Fig. 2. 2x2 Linear array
length of the patch (L) 29.7786

inset feed point (H) 7.49

B. 2x3 Linear Array:
For better performance of antenna , rectangular 2x3 linear
width of the feed line( Wf) 3.0389 array is designed for the spacing of 25mm and the width of
gap of the feed line ( g) 0.20558 transmission line is 2mm as 2x2 linear array. The feedpoint is
minimum length of ground (Lg) 39.3786 optimized by trial and error method.

minimum width of ground (Wg) 47.993

With these dimensions of single patch, an antenna is designed

shown in Fig.1:

Fig. 3. 2x3 Linear array

III. SIMULATED RESULT

A. Return Loss and VSWR:

Fig. 1. Single patch antenna The Return loss and VSWR graph at the frequency range
2- 4GHz is shown below for 2x2 and 2x3 array antennas for
both line feeding and coaxial probe feeding technique:
II. ARRAY DESIGN

A.2x2 Linear Array:

To make comparison, the same substrate as in single
element (ɛr= 4.3and thickness h=1.6 mm), is used in the 2x2
array. To design an array the spacing between the element is
optimized as 65mm. We need a feed network which will
connect all the four elements [2]. In order to have a matched
impedance network, we need to start from the input
impedance of the patch. The single element is fed by a 50Ω.
So the starting point of the feed line will be 50 Ω.

Fig. 4. Return loss of microstrip line feed array

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 2nd International Conference on Electrical & Electronic Engineering (ICEEE), 27-29 December 2017, RUET, Rajshahi, Bangladesh

B. Gain and Directivity:

Gain describes the efficiency and directional capabilities
of the antenna [1]. The gain of the antenna is closely related to
the directivity, it is a measure that takes into account the
efficiency of the antenna as well as directional capabilities.

Three dimensional radiation pattern of rectangular

microstrip patch antenna with Line feeding for both 4 element
and 6 element array at 2.4 GHz are shown in Fig.8 and Fig.9
Frequency /GHz respectively :

Fig. 5. VSWR of microstrip line feed array

From the above two graph it is seen that better reutrn loss
is obtained from single element antenna and VSWR is
obtained from 4 element array.
In coaxial cable feeding techniqe the value of return loss and
also VSWR has improved than line feeding technique as
shown in Fig. below:

Fig. 8. Gain plot of 2x2 Linear array

Fig. 6. Return loss of coaxial probe feed array

Fig. 9. Gain plot of 2x3 Linear array

From the above figure it is observed that gain has also

improved from 10.1dB to 12dB for 6 element array.

Three dimensional radiation pattern of rectangular

patch antenna at 2.4 GHz resonant frequency with coaxial
cable feeding for both 4 element and 6 element array are
shown in Fig.10 and Fig.11 respectively :

Fig. 7. VSWR of coaxial probe feed array

There is an improvement in Return Loss to -38.43 dB

for coaxial cable feeding .Hence coaxial cable can be used for
better performance of patch antenna array with more number
of element.
Fig. 10. Gain plot of 2x2 Linear array

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 2nd International Conference on Electrical & Electronic Engineering (ICEEE), 27-29 December 2017, RUET, Rajshahi, Bangladesh

V. CONCLUSION
The 2x2 and 2x3 rectangular patch antenna array have
been designed using two different feeding techniques having
same patch dimension and simulated using CST Microwave
Studio software. The Gain, Directivity, VSWR, efficiency
and Return loss of two different feeding techniques have been
calculated. We see that selection of the feeding technique for a
microstrip patch antenna is an important factor because it
affects the gain, return loss, VSWR and other performance
characteristics. From Table.II it has been shown that the
Fig. 11. Gain Plot of 2x3 Linear array coaxial cable feed 2x3 array has better return loss -27.15dB
and VSWR 1.014 than line feed. Efficiency is also appreciable
An improved gain and directivity is obtained from coaxial in linear array. Microstrip line feed and coaxial probe feed
probe feeding technique , aproximately same as line feeding. both has better Gain 12dB and 11.9dB respectively and both
directivity is 12.2dB which is better than [6] and [8] as shown
The table below gives a clear comparison of all designed in table.III. By analyzing the results we inferred that return
parameters: loss, gain, directivity and efficiency increases as the array
elements increases.
TABLE II The performance parameters are analyzed for the optimized
SIMULATED RESULTS dimensions and proposed antenna can be the coaxial probe
Single antenna 2x2 array 2x3 array
Parameters
feeding 2x3 linear array.
Line Coaxial Line Coaxial Line Coaxial
feed feed feed feed feed feed
Return -18. -32.64 -10.91 -38.43 -16.0 -27.15 REFERENCES
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