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Compact Planar Ultra-wideband Antennas

with Continuously Tunable, Independent
Band-Notched Filters
Ming-Chun Tang, Senior Member, IEEE, Hao Wang, Tianwei Deng, Student Member, IEEE, and
Richard W. Ziolkowski, Fellow, IEEE

 systems. Concurrently, a rapidly increasing number of licensed

Abstract — A compact planar ultra-wideband (UWB) antenna narrow-band wireless devices are sharing their operating
with continuously tunable, independent band-notches for frequency bands with the existing allocated UWB spectrum:
cognitive radio applications is presented. The antenna is 3.110.6 GHz. These include C-band satellite communication
fabricated using a copper cladded substrate. A radiating patch (3.7–4.2 GHz), WiMAX band (3.3–3.6 GHz), HIPERLAN/2
with an inverted rectangular T-slot is etched on the top side of the
band (5.15–5.35 GHz, 5.470–5.725 GHz) and WLAN band
substrate. A straight rectangular strip with a complete gap is
embedded into the T-slot. By placing a single varactor diode (5.15–5.35 GHz, 5.725–5.825 GHz) systems. The overlaps of
across this gap, a frequency-agile band-notch function below 5 these bands with the UWB spectrum cause severe in-band
GHz is realized. On the bottom side of substrate, a U-shaped interference and negatively impact the performance of UWB
parasitic element having an interdigitated-structure is placed systems [2]. Consequently, one of the most popular solutions to
beneath the radiating patch. The second narrow band-notch is this overlapping band problem is to introduce a variety of fixed
created by inserting a second varactor diode into the gap on one single-, dual-, and multi-band notched filters into the UWB
leg of the parasitic element. It has a frequency agile performance antennas to minimize this interference [3-6]. While effective,
above 5 GHz. The presence of the interdigitated structure this fixed band-notch solution has an inherent drawback, i.e.,
suppresses higher-order resonant modes and enhances the
the associated rejection-bands are permanent and cannot be
tunability of the notched bandwidth. Because these antenna
structures naturally block DC, a very small number of lumped dynamically adjusted when there is no interference encountered
elements are required. The experimental results, which are in in one or more bands. Reconfigurable and frequency agile
good agreement with their simulated values, demonstrate that technologies pave an effective road for conquering this
both band-notches can be independently controlled and the entire limitation [7].
frequency-agile fractional bandwidth is as high as 74.5 %, Various examples of UWB antennas with reconfigurable and
demonstrating a very wide notched frequency-agile coverage. frequency agile band-notch characteristics have been reported
over the last decade [8-34]. In general, these UWB antennas
Index Terms—Band-notch filters, frequency agile, frequency could be classified into the following two categories according
tunable, planar antennas, UWB antennas to their tuning characteristics. On the one hand, the
requirements of on-demand rejection over one (or more) fixed
I. INTRODUCTION narrow frequency band(s) simply requires one (or more)

U ltra-wideband (UWB) technology has been widely

applied in wireless sensor networks, biomedical and
healthcare wireless systems, and some other in-house devices
band-notch region(s) to be switched between its (their) ON and
OFF states. This strategy has been accomplished successfully
by integrating ON/OFF switch-type active elements, such as
in radar detecting, locating, and communications [1]. These p-i-n diodes [8-15], micro-electromechanical system (MEMS)
applications benefit from the unique features of low-power switches [16-17], shorting circuits [18], stepper motors [19],
spectral density and consumption associated with UWB and optically controlled microwave switches (OCMSs) [20-21],
into these UWB antennas. On the other hand, embedding
Manuscript received on Oct. 12, 2015; revised on Mar. 09, 2016, Accepted continuously tunable voltage or current elements, for instance,
on May 07, 2016. varactors [22-33], into similar UWB antennas empowers one’s
This work was supported in part by the National Natural Science Foundation
of China contract numbers 61471072, 61571069 and 91438104, and in part by
ability to continuously tune their band-notch frequency
the Fundamental Research Funds for the Central Universities contract number windows.
106112015CDJZR165510. While both of these techniques provide the additional degree
M. -C. Tang and H. Wang are with the College of Communication of freedom to dynamically tune the band-notch regions, they
Engineering, Chongqing University, Chongqing, 400044, China (E-mail:
[email protected]); each have drawbacks that potentially restrict their applications
T. Deng is with the Department of Electrical & Computer Engineering, in cognitive radio systems, particularly with respect to the
National University of Singapore, 119077, Singapore; aspect of efficient dynamic spectrum access and management
R. W. Ziolkowski is with the Department of Electrical and Computer [35, 36]. Resorting to switch-type elements, one is only
Engineering, University of Arizona, Tucson, AZ 85721 USA and with the
Global Big Data Technologies Centre, University of Technology Sydney
provided with the function of band-notch ON/OFF switching at
(UTS), Sydney, Australia (E-mail: [email protected]). fixed frequencies. One does not obtain any frequency-agile

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property to continuously shift those band-notch frequencies. To board, which has a relative permittivity r = 2.2, relative
achieve dynamically-controlled band-notches over a wide permeability r = 1.0, and loss tangent tan  = 0.0009. Its
portion of the UWB spectrum with this approach, one would overall size is only 34 (L) × 27 (W) × 0.787 (h) mm3. The
have to incorporate several switches into the UWB antenna, thickness of copper film is 0.5 oz (0.017 mm). This monopole
each covering at least one discrete set of frequencies [8-21]. In configuration is simple and has evolved from our previously
contrast, employment of continuously-controllable elements reported printed planar UWB monopole antenna designs [3, 4,
does provide one with the ability to achieve the desired 38]. On the top side of the board material, a nearly rectangular
continuously-tunable frequency-agile band-notches. However, radiating patch with an inverted T-slot is positioned at the
to the best of our knowledge, the UWB antennas with terminal of a microstrip feed line that has a 50 Ω characteristic
embedded varactors that have been reported to date have only impedance (i.e., its width is W3=2.4 mm). On the bottom side, a
achieved a single frequency-agile notch-band. In other words, conducting ground patch is designed with a much smaller,
at any one dynamical time, they only provide one notched-band straight rectangular slot positioned at its upper edge to facilitate
[22-33]. They do not satisfy the cognitive radio requirements of impedance matching. This additional rectangular slot
being able to handle multiple band-notches at any one effectively tunes the mutual coupling between the radiating and
dynamical time. Consequently, it remains highly desirable to ground patches over a very large frequency range.
achieve one compact UWB antenna that would provide two or
more independent, continuously-tunable frequency-agile
band-notches, i.e., that would possess the means of creating
multiple, continuously-tunable frequency-rejection bands at
any stipulated dynamical time [8-33]. While two band-notches
were shifted in [34] by embedding two passive capacitors with
different values into the radiating patch of a UWB antenna,
active tuning was not achieved in practice.
In this paper, a compact planar UWB antenna with two
independent, frequency-agile band-notches is investigated
numerically and experimentally. It could potentially serve as
excellent candidate for cognitive radio systems owing to its
real-time agility to allocate spectrum [35, 36]. In Section II, an
inverted T-slot is first introduced in the center of the radiating
patch of a UWB monopole antenna. While it helps achieve a
compact size, it also provides enough space for the band-notch
structures. In Section III, two types of band-notch elements are
introduced. A split straight rectangular strip and an
interdigitated U-shaped parasitic element are embedded into
the top and bottom sides of a copper-cladded substrate to create
two different rejection-band elements. Varactors are inserted (a)
into these elements to enable their tunability. These two
band-notch structures are organically combined to realize a
new UWB antenna with two continuously-tunable
band-notches. The simulated and experimental results confirm
that both of these band-notches can be controlled independently
and that their total frequency-agile fractional bandwidth
coverage is as high as 74.5%, a very wide gamut. Next, in
Section IV, the design principles and physical mechanisms of
the two frequency-agile band-notch structures are described in
detail. Finally, some conclusions are drawn in Section V.
Note that all of the numerical simulations and their
optimizations reported in this paper were performed using the
frequency domain ANSYS/ANSOFT high frequency structure
simulator (HFSS), version 13.0 [37].

II. COMPACT MONOPOLE UWB ANTENNA DESIGN

The geometry of the baseline UWB monopole antenna used in
the overall design process is illustrated in Fig. 1. Its optimized
structural parameters are presented in Table I. This UWB (b)
antenna is to be constructed using standard printed circuit board
(PCB) technology. It employs a Rogers Duroid 5880 substrate Fig. 1 Geometry of the UWB antenna with an inverted T-slot. (a) Top view,
and (b) bottom view.

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The end of the microstrip-line strip and the lower edge of the frequency range and decreases the lower frequency bound
ground patch are directly connected with a coaxial SMA where VSWR < 2 from 3.015 to 2.738 GHz, thus exhibiting a
connector to the 50  source. Note that although it is not 277 MHz red-shift. This aspect of the design engenders a more
depicted here, the SMA connector was included in the HFSS compact antenna, i.e., the red-shift is equivalent to
model to improve the simulation accuracy. Moreover, it is approximately a 9.2% reduction in its electrical size. Moreover,
emphasized that both the radiating and ground patches are the slot shape leaves enough space to introduce a band-notched
designed with one elliptic curved edge to help tailor the input stub into it.
impedance to accommodate the 50 Ω source and to help
produce smooth transitions from one resonant mode to another III. COMPACT UWB ANTENNA DESIGN WITH TWO
across the UWB band [4, 38]. These elliptic curves are INDEPENDENT FREQUENCY-AGILE BAND-NOTCHES
constructed following the equation: (x/ρ)2 + (2y/W)2 = 1, where For the purpose of reducing the dynamical in-band interference
ρ = 1.5 mm for the radiating patch and ρ = 5.5 mm for the in the UWB band, a UWB antenna with two frequency-agile
ground patch. These characteristics ensure a good impedance band-notch structures was designed. The baseline monopole
match over the entire UWB frequency range. It is noted that the was the passive design discussed in Section II. The HFSS
presence of the inverted T slot in the center of radiating patch model, together with the fabricated prototype, is illustrated in
red-shifts the lower frequency bound and improves the Fig. 3. The optimized design parameters are presented in Table
impedance match within the operational frequency range. II. In addition, the elliptic curves for the edges are kept
unchanged except for a fine tuning of the radiating patch,
TABLE I. THE OPTIMIZED DESIGN PARAMETERS OF THE UWB ANTENNA
(ALL DIMENSIONS ARE IN MILLIMETERS) setting ρ = 1.6 mm.

L=34 L1=18 L2=17.9 L3=1 L4=5

L5=1.5 L6=14.6 L7=9.5 L8=2 W=27
W1=7.5 W2=5 W3=2.4 W4=2.4 Null

(a)

(a)

(b)
Fig. 2 Comparisons of the printed monopole UWB antennas with and without
the inverted T-slot: (a) |S11| and (b) VSWR values versus the source frequency.

Fig. 2 displays both the magnitude of the reflection

coefficient (|S11|) and the voltage standing wave ratio (VSWR)
of the antenna in Fig. 1 with and without the T-slot. From this
comparison, it is easily seen that the presence of the T-slot
improves the impedance match within the operational
(b)

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On the other hand, a second band-notch element, i.e., one

that would cover the higher frequency portion (above 5 GHz) of
the UWB band, was then sought. It was determined that a
U-shaped strip integrated onto the bottom side of the substrate
beneath the radiating patch could achieve the desired
notch-band properties. The placements in the configuration are
shown in Fig. 3(b). Two coil inductors were again applied to
isolate the DC bias voltage from the RF signal and prevent
damage to the components. Solder pads (with the same
(c) dimension Lpad×Wpad) were incorporated for those inductors.
To further improve the performance, an Aeroflex Metellics
Fig. 3 Geometry of the UWB antenna with two independent, continuously MGV 125-22-E28 varactor diode was selected for this design.
tunable, frequency-agile band-notches. (a) Top view, (b) bottom view, and (c)
fabricated prototype. It has a junction capacitance that changes in the range of 0.2 –
On one hand, as is shown in Fig. 3(a), the lower-frequency 2.0 pF for the corresponding tuning reverse bias voltage
(below 5GHz) band-notch function is accomplished with a cut variation from 19.6 – 2.1 V. Its diode parasitic inductance,
single straight rectangular strip. This design is simpler and series resistance, and parasitic capacitance are 0.4 nH, 1.28 
quite different from the one reported previously [4], which and 0.08 pF, respectively, according to its datasheet and
realized the low-frequency rejection band using two L-shaped application note [39]. While it provided a comparable
strips placed in parallel. In order to enable the frequency agility capacitance tuning ratio, the reason that this varactor was
of this band-notch element, a gap (with length G2) is etched in selected instead of the MGV 125-20-E28 was that it provided
the middle of strip to leave space for the varactor. Two solder twice the maximal junction capacitance value. This property
pads (with the same dimension Lpad×Wpad) are, respectively, enabled lowering the low end of the notch-band frequencies to
positioned close to the strip and to the inner edge of radiating be near 5 GHz, as will be explained in detail in Section IV.
patch. These pads are used for both the RF-blocking The arrangement of the two band-notch structures shown in
coil inductors and as the connection points for the two DC Fig. 3 has three main advantages. First, it efficiently utilizes the
feeder lines. limited area available in this already compact configuration.
Second, because the operational mechanisms of the two
TABLE II. THE OPTIMIZED DESIGN PARAMETERS OF THE COMPACT UWB band-notch structures are quite different, they can be
ANTENNA WITH TWO INDEPENDENT FREQUENCY-AGILE BAND-NOTCHES
(ALL DIMENSIONS ARE IN MILLIMETERS)
continuously tuned independently of each other. In particular,
because of the geometry, the mutual coupling between the
L=34 L1=18 L2=17.9 L3=1 L4=7.2
straight strip and the U-shaped strip is very low, even when the
two notch-bands are close to one another. As noted in [3, 43],
L5=1.6 L6=14.5 L7=9.5 L8=1.75 L9=6.65
multiple notch-bands are possible, even when their resonant
L10=6.65 L11=7.575 L12=7.575 L13=7.575 L14=7.575
structures are near to each other, if their mutual coupling is
L15=1.6 L16=1.6 W=27 W1=7.5 W2=5
small. Third, both the straight and U-shaped strips are natural
W3=2.4 W4=2.4 W5=2.75 W6=2 W7=17
DC-blocking structures [44]. Thus, any DC issues are avoided
W8=1.5 W9=0.32 W10=0.86 G1=1.3 G2=2.5
without subdividing any of the components [22, 25] or adding
G3=1.3 G4=2.5 Lpad=1 Wpad=1 Null
any auxiliary elements, such as lumped capacitive elements
[30-33] or DC blocking networks [45].
The Aeroflex Metellics MGV 125-20-E28 was selected as
the tunable varactor diode. It has a junction capacitance (Cj) in
the range of 0.1 – 1.0 pF and a corresponding tuning reverse
bias DC voltage in the range of 18.4 – 2.0 V [39]. Its equivalent
circuit model is simply described as the RLC series shown in
Fig. 4. It includes the diode parasitic inductance Lp (0.4 nH), the
series resistance Rs, and the total capacitance consisting of the
parasitic capacitance Cp (0.08 pF) and the junction capacitance
Cj (V). According to the Aeroflex application note, the value of
Rs0 at 50 MHz can be calculated approximately by the equation
Rs0=1/(2π f c Q), where c is the light speed, Q is the quality
factor of the varactor diode (4000), and f is the reference
frequency (50 MHz). Since this antenna operates in the UWB
range (above 3 GHz), its Rs value is approximately 1.3×Rs0  Fig. 5 Experimental setup to measure the antenna performance. The antenna
1.75 . under test (AUT), the VNA and the two DC power sources are shown.

However, it was initially found that there were unavoidable

extra resistive losses because there were twice the number of
lumped elements (e.g., varactors and inductors) required for the
Fig. 4 Equivalent circuit of the varactor diode.

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two independent band-notch systems. The presence of those

losses not only decreased the antenna radiation efficiencies
over the rest of the UWB frequency range of UWB band, but
they also degraded the rejection levels (i.e., the peak VSWR
values) within the notch-band.
In order to alleviate these drawbacks, RF-blocking coil
inductors with low values, 47 nH, were utilized in the final
design because they had low parasitic resistance values. It was
found that this choice maintained the antenna efficiency across
the UWB frequency range. Because of our use of lumped
elements, our frequency-agile approach is more suitable for
lower frequency applications rather than millimeter wave ones,
such as 60 GHz. Furthermore, when compared with similar
reported efforts (e.g., [23, 26, 29, 31, 32]), the overall number
count of lumped elements required in each of band-notch
structure in our design is much smaller. This feature alone
simplifies the antenna structure, saving much time in its design,
fabrication and measurement.
The UWB antenna was simulated and measured. The VSWR
of the fabricated antenna as a function of the excitation
frequency was obtained with the measurement system depicted
in Fig. 5. It included an Anritsu 37369D vector network
analyzer (VNA) and two voltage-stabilized sources.

(b)

(a)

(c)

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effective capacitances of the high frequency band-notch, C2, are provided for
each of the effective capacitances of the lower frequency band-notch: (a) C1 =
0.1 pF; (b) C1 = 0.2 pF; (c) C1 = 0.3 pF; (d) C1 = 0.6 pF; and (e) C1 = 1.0 pF.

The simulated and measured VSWR results are presented

and compared in Fig. 6. First, these results demonstrate that
both of the frequency-agile band-notch structures exhibited
excellent independent, continuous tunability. In particular, the
simulated junction capacitance C1 (experimentally applied bias
DC voltage V1) of the MGV 125-20-E28 varactor diode on the
top side of the substrate was set to the values: 0.1 pF (18.4 V),
0.2 pF (9.0 V), 0.3 pF (6.3 V), 0.6 pF (3.3 V), 1 pF (2.0 V) in the
measurement series while the high-frequency notched band
capacitance C2 was held fixed. When the value of C1 (V1) was
changed from 0.1 pF (18.4 V) to 1.0 pF (2 V), the center
frequency of the low-frequency notched band decreased from
4.3 GHz (3.95 GHz) to 3.5 GHz (3.225 GHz), yielding a
tunable bandwidth of 0.8 GHz (0.725 GHz), i.e., a 20.5%
(20.2%) tunable fractional bandwidth, while the
high-frequency notched band remained unchanged. In
comparison, the simulated junction capacitance C2
(experimentally applied bias DC voltage V2) of the MGV
125-22-E28 varactor diode on the bottom side of substrate was
set to the values: 0.2 pF (19.6 V), 0.4 pF (9.7 V), 0.6 pF (6.5 V),
1.2 pF (3.5 V), 2.0 pF (2.1 V) in the measurement series while
the low-frequency notched band capacitance C1 was held fixed.
When the value of C2 (V2) was changed from 0.2 pF (19.6 V) to
(d) 2.0 pF (2.1 V), the center frequency of the high-frequency
notched band decreased from 6.05 GHz (6 GHz) to 5.3 GHz
(5.25 GHz), yielding a tunable coverage of 0.75 GHz (0.75
GHz), i.e., a 13.22% (13.33%) tunable fractional bandwidth,
while the low-frequency notched band remained unchanged.

Fig. 7 The maximum realized gain and overall efficiency as a function of the
excitation frequency.

It was found in both simulation and measurement that the

rejection levels for both band-notch structures, i.e., the amounts
that the VSWR was greater than 2, were quite high. Moreover,
as observed in the simulated and almost all of the experimental
(e) results of Fig. 6, the corresponding notch heights decrease with
an increase of either the C1 or C2 values. The simulated
Fig. 6 The HFSS-predicted (I) and measured (II) VSWR values for the compact (measured) frequency-agile notch-bands covered frequencies
UWB antenna with two independent frequency-agile band-notches. The
voltages applied to the varactors were varied independently. The results for the from 3.26 (2.975) to 4.48 (4.75) GHz in the low-frequency

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range. This outcome corresponds to a fractional bandwidth of

31.5% (46.1%). The corresponding values in the
high-frequency range covered from 5.095 (4.975) to 6.64
(6.625) GHz. This outcome corresponds to a fractional
bandwidth of 26.3% (28.4%). In total, the measured fractional
frequency-agile notched bandwidth was 74.5%. This value is
much higher than the ones reported in related work [22-34].
Finally, we arbitrarily selected one case: C1 = 0.1 pF and C2 =
0.2 pF to investigate the radiation performance characteristics
numerically and experimentally. These results are compared in
Figs. 7 and 8. Fig. 7 provides the antenna peak realized gain and
(d)
overall efficiency values as a function of the excitation Fig. 8 Simulated and measured radiation patterns in the E- (ZOX) and H- (ZOY)
frequency. It is observed that the simulated (measured) gain planes at several frequency points. (a) 3, (b) 5, (c) 7, and (d) 9 GHz.
and efficiency values significantly decrease at the two
band-notched frequencies, i.e., around 4.3 GHz (3.95GHz) and The small differences between the simulated and
6.05 GHz (6 GHz). The far-field radiation patterns were experimental results were deemed very acceptable. They arose
measured in an anechoic chamber. The measured results and from the presence of the long feed lines in the measurement
the relevant simulation values at 3, 5, 7 and 9 GHz are shown in setup, and the usual unavoidable errors in the fabrication,
Fig. 8. As expected from the antenna geometry, the E-plane installation, and measurement processes. It must be mentioned
patterns are basically monopole-like in all cases, while the that there was an impact on the impedance match by the
H-plane patterns are almost omni-directional. It is noted that presence of the DC feeder lines in the near field of the antenna,
the radiation patterns degrade at the higher frequencies because especially in the lower frequency range near 3 GHz. It was
of the presence of higher order operational modes, which has found that the orientation of the feeder lines could not be
been extensively studied in our previous work [38]. neglected in those measurements. It was determined by
experience that their impact could be minimized effectively by
adjusting the feed line orientations relative to the main current
flow directions on the radiating and ground patches. The
minimum-impact layout of those feed lines is shown in Figs.
3(c) and 5.

IV. DISCUSSION
The design principles and physical mechanisms of the two
frequency-agile band-notch structures are described in detail.
The individual design features emphasize either or both of the
low and high frequency aspects of the antenna’s performance
(a) characteristics.
A. Low-frequency tunable band-notch function
The low-frequency tunable band-notch design is different
from the approach used in [26]. In that work a single tunable
band-notch was achieved by embedding two varactor diodes
into a pair of open-loop resonators. In contrast, as indicated in
Fig. 3(a), only a simple strip structure and a single varactor are
required to obtain the desired tunable band-notch performance.
In the same manner, the current design is also simpler than the
two L-shaped strips approach reported in [4].
The center frequency of the lower band-notch is determined
(b)
primarily by both the strip length and the effective capacitance
value produced by the varactor. Based on our parametric
studies of the strip alone, this center frequency was empirically
determined to be:
1 c
f notch   (1)
2 Leff Ceff 4 Lstrip .  eff
where Leff and Ceff are, respectively, the effective inductance
and capacitance of the antenna, c is the speed of light, Lstrip is
the total length of the strip (L9+L10), and εeff ~ (εr+1)/2 is the
approximate effective dielectric constant. The center frequency
(c) of the band-notch predicted with (1) and its HFSS simulated

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value are summarized in Table III for comparison purposes for Fig. 9 The VSWR values as a function of frequency for the single
high-frequency tunable band-notched UWB antenna. (a) with the interdigitated
different total lengths of the strip.
structure, and (b) without the interdigitated structure.
TABLE III. COMPARISONS BETWEEN THE THEORETICALLY PREDICTED AND
SIMULATIONS VALUES OF THE LOWER BAND-NOTCH FREQUENCY As is shown in Fig. 3(b), a rectangular cut was etched on the
right leg of the U-shaped structure to allow for embedding the
Lstrip (mm) Theoretical frequency (GHz) Simulated frequency (GHz)
varactor diode into it. On its left leg, an interdigitated capacitive
structure was inserted. It not only suppresses the resonance
14 4.235 4.205 arising from the second natural mode of the U-shaped resonator,
15 3.953 3.860
but it also increases the frequency-agile bandwidth of the
16 3.706 3.550
notched band. To clarify this phenomenon, the antenna with a
single high-frequency tunable band-notch (i.e., with the
We note that the process of integrating the varactor into the U-shaped resonator), and with and without the interdigitated
gap of the strip in Fig. 3(a) is equivalent to introducing an structure was simulated and compared.
additional tunable capacitance C1 into the band-notch structure These simulated VSWR values are presented in Fig. 9. As is
that increases its overall Ceff. This effect not only lowered fnotch, shown in Fig. 9(a), by changing the effective value of the
but it also enabled the tuning of fnotch in the lower-frequency varactor diode Cj(V) from 0.2 to 2 pF, the center frequency of
portion of the UWB band, as illustrated in Fig. 6. the rejection band of the antenna with the interdigital structure
B. High-frequency tunable band-notch function is tuned from 6.175 to 5.35 GHz. As a consequence, its
frequency-agile notched band, where the VSWR > 2, is in the
Physically, the U-shaped structure acts as a near-field
range from 6.950 to 5.080 GHz, i.e., a 31.1% fractional
resonant parasitic (NFRP) element [4, 40]. Its design principles
bandwidth was demonstrated. Comparing Figs. 9(a) and (b),
and an approximate expression to determine its band-notched
one readily observes that the antenna without the interdigital
frequency were reported in [41, 42]. By being placed directly
structure exhibits an impedance mismatch around 8.5 GHz
beneath the radiating patch, the U-shaped structure is
(where the peak VSWR values are greater than 3). Moreover, it
capacitively-coupled to it. This additional capacitance helps not
increases the frequency-agile bandwidth of the notched band.
only to red-shift the lower bound of the overall UWB
As is shown in Fig. 9(b), the center frequency of the rejection
bandwidth of this antenna, but it also helps create the desired
band is shifted only from 5.2 to 4.75 GHz for the same Cj (V)
band-notch.
tuning range, i.e., a shift of only 0.45 GHz, which is 54.5% of
that shown in Fig. 9(a) when the interdigitated structure is
present. In addition, it should be noted when comparing these
results that the presence of the interdigitated structure has an
additional side effect, i.e., it blue-shifts the center frequency of
the band-notch around 0.6 GHz. This also re-emphasizes why
the MGV 125-22-E28 varactor was selected for this design
instead of the MGV 125-20-E28; it facilitates a red-shift of the
lowest frequency bound of the notch-band closer to 5 GHz.

V. CONCLUSIONS
A compact planar UWB antenna with two independent,
continuously tunable band-notches was investigated
numerically and experimentally. On the top side of the printed
UWB monopole antenna substrate, a cut straight rectangular
(a) strip was embedded into the inverted T-slot of its radiating
patch to achieve the first band-notch, which occurs in the lower
portion of the UWB frequency band. An interdigitated, cut
U-shaped parasitic element was placed directly beneath the
radiating patch on the bottom side to realize the second
band-notch, which occurs in the higher portion of the UWB
frequency band. The interdigitated component was introduced
to suppress the impact of higher-order modes. Varactors were
inserted into the cuts of each of the band-notch structures to
enable their continuous frequency-agile tuning. The antenna
was designed, optimized and tested. Good agreement between
the simulated and measured results was obtained.
The final design incorporated a minimal number of lumped
components. It was demonstrated that each band-notch was
independently controllable and independently covered the
(b)

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This article has been accepted for publication in a future issue of this journal, but has not been fully edited. Content may change prior to final publication. Citation information: DOI 10.1109/TAP.2016.2570254, IEEE
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engineering of antennas,” Proc. IEEE, vol. 99, no. 10, pp. 1720-1731, Oct. (DTU) in 2012. He was the Computational Electronics and Electromagnetics
2011. Thrust Area Leader in the Engineering Research Division at the Lawrence
[41] R. Zaker, C. Ghobadi, and J. Nourinia, “Bandwidth enhancement of novel Livermore National Laboratory before joining the University of Arizona in
compact single and dual band-notched printed monopole antenna with a 1990. He was the 2014-2015 Australian DSTO Fulbright Distinguished Chair
pair of L-shaped slots,” IEEE Trans. Antennas and Propag., vol. 57, no. in Advanced Science and Technology.
12, pp.3978-3983, Dec. 2009. Prof. Ziolkowski is a Fellow of both the Institute of Electrical and
[42] D.-Z. Kim, W.-I. Son, W.-G. Lim, H.-L. Lee, and J.-W. Yu, “Integrated Electronics Engineers (IEEE) and the Optical Society of America (OSA). He
planar monopole antenna with microstrip resonators having band-notched served as the President of the IEEE Antennas and Propagation Society in 2005.
characteristics,” IEEE Trans. Antennas and Propag., vol. 58, no. 9, He is also actively involved with the URSI, OSA and SPIE professional
pp.2837-2842, Sep. 2010. societies. His research interests include the application of new mathematical
[43] K. S. Ryu, and A. A. Kishk, “UWB antenna with single or dual and numerical methods to linear and nonlinear problems dealing with the
band-notches for lower WLAN band and upper WLAN band,” IEEE interaction of electromagnetic and acoustic waves with complex linear and
Trans. Antennas and Propag., vol. 7, no. 12, pp.3942-3950, Dec. 2009. nonlinear media, as well as metamaterials, metamaterial-inspired structures,
[44] M.-C. Tang, R. W. Ziolkowski, S. Xiao, M. Li, and J. Zhang, and applications-specific configurations.
“Frequency-agile, efficient, near-field resonant parasitic monopole
antenna,” IEEE Trans. Antennas and Propag., vol. 62, no. 3, pp. 1479 -
1483, Mar. 2014.
[45] M. Li, S.-Q. Xiao, Z. Wang, and B.-Z. Wang, “Compact surface-wave
assisted beam-steerable antenna based on HIS,” IEEE Trans. Antennas
and Propag., vol. 62, no. 7, pp.3511-3519, Jul. 2014.

Ming-Chun Tang (S’12–M’13–SM’16) received the B. S.

degree in physics from the Neijiang Normal University,
Neijiang, China, in 2005 and the Ph. D. degree in radio
physics from the University of Electronic Science and
Technology of China (UESTC), in 2013. From August 2011
to August 2012, he was also with the Department of
Electrical and Computer Engineering, The University of
Arizona, Tucson, AZ, USA, as a Visiting Scholar. He is
currently an Assistant Professor in the College of Communication Engineering,
Chongqing University, China. His research interests include electrically small
antennas, RF circuits, metamaterial designs and their applications.
Prof. Tang was a recipient of the Best Student Paper Award in the 2010
International Symposium on Signals, Systems and Electronics (ISSSE2010)
held in Nanjing, China. He is serving as a reviewer for IEEE/IET journals
including the IEEE Transactions on Microwave Theory and Techniques, IEEE
Transactions on Antennas and Propagation, IEEE Antennas and Wireless
Propagation Letters, IEEE Antennas and Propagation Magazine, IET
Microwaves, Antennas & Propagation, and Electronics Letters.

Hao Wang received the B.S. degree in communication

engineering from the Lanzhou University (LZU), Lanzhou,
China, in 2014.He is currently pursuing the M.S. degree in
electronic science and technology at Chongqing University,
Chongqing, China.
His research interests include electrically small antennas,
planar antennas and arrays.

Tianwei Deng (S’12) received the B.S. degree from the

University of Electronics Science and Technology of China
(UESTC), Chengdu, China, in 2010 and the M.Eng degree
from the Nanyang Technological University (NTU),
Singapore, in 2012. He is working toward the Ph.D degree
at the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering,
National University of Singapore (NUS).
His research interests include metamaterials,
absorber/reflector and on-chip antennas.

Richard W. Ziolkowski (M’87–SM’91–F’94) received his

Sc.B. degree in physics, magna cum laude with honors,
from Brown University (1974), and his M.S. (1975) and
Ph.D. (1980) degrees in physics from the University of
Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. He is the Litton Industries
John M. Leonis Distinguished Professor in the Department
of Electrical and Computer Engineering at the University of
Arizona. He also is a Professor in the College of Optical
Sciences at the University of Arizona. He was awarded an Honorary Doctorate,
Doctor Technish Honoris Causa, from the Technical University of Denmark

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