International Journal of Trend in Scientific Research and Development (IJTSRD)

Volume 8 Issue 2, March-April 2024 Available Online: www.ijtsrd.com e-ISSN: 2456 – 6470

Design and Analysis of a Ku Band

Rectangular Microstrip Patch Antenna
Okeke Joseph Nonso1, Abdullahi Ayegba2, Ekundayo Monday Edeki3, Musa Yakubu4
1
Department of Engineering and Space Systems, National Space Research and Development Agency, Abuja, Nigeria
2
Mathson Research Consult; A Division of Mathson Space International School, Abuja, Nigeria
3
Starsight Energy Limited, Ikoyi, Lagos, Nigeria
4
Electrical and Electronics Engineering Department, Federal Polytechnic, Idah, Kogi State, Nigeria

ABSTRACT How to cite this paper: Okeke Joseph

The aim of this work was to design a rectangular microstrip patch Nonso | Abdullahi Ayegba | Ekundayo
antenna that will operate at a Ku band. The design was done using Monday Edeki | Musa Yakubu "Design
mathematical or computation method. The frequency of operation of and Analysis of a Ku Band Rectangular
the rectangular microstrip patch antenna designed is 16 GHz (16 x Microstrip Patch
Antenna" Published
109 Hz). It was observed from the result that as the values of the in International
dielectric constant is increasing, the dimensions- height, length and Journal of Trend in
width of the antenna decrease. For instance, when the value of the Scientific Research
dielectric constant increased from 2.0 to 2.5, the patch antenna height and Development
decreased from 0.633 mm to 0.566; the width decreased from 7.65 (ijtsrd), ISSN: 2456- IJTSRD64598
mm to 7.09 mm, and length changed from 6.48 mm to 5.82 mm. It 6470, Volume-8 |
was concluded that the higher values of dielectric constant will result Issue-2, April 2024, pp.225-228, URL:
in the decrease in the size of a rectangular microstrip patch antenna. www.ijtsrd.com/papers/ijtsrd64598.pdf
It was recommended that further work involving the varying of
frequency with or without the varying of the value of dielectric Copyright © 2024 by author (s) and
International Journal of Trend in
constant be done since this one involved a constant frequency of Scientific Research and Development
operation with varying values of the dielectric constant, ɛr. Journal. This is an
KEYWORDS: Antenna, Dielectric, Microstrip, Satellite, Width Open Access article
distributed under the
terms of the Creative Commons
Attribution License (CC BY 4.0)
(http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0)

1. INTRODUCTION
An antenna is a device that transmits and/or receives radiating patch. The substrate, besides providing
electromagnetic waves. Most antennas are resonant mechanical strength to the overall antenna design,
devices, which operate efficiently over a relatively also allows surface waves to propagate through it
narrow frequency band (Ahmed, 2011). Microstrip (Suvadeep, 2014).
antennas consists of patch, substrate, ground plane
The microstrip patch antenna is an essential
and feeding point. It is simple to construct and are
component of wireless communication and consists of
mostly used in the microwave frequency range (Atser
a ground plane, dielectric substrate, and a thin copper
et al., 2013).
metallic patch. The rectangular and circular shapes
The microstrip Ultra Wideband antennas is one of the are the most frequently employed shapes for
most commonly used antennas in radar applications. microstrip patch antennas (Rishitha, 2023 ). The
It has attracted a lot of attention because of their design carried out in this work is different from the
advantages such as ease of fabrication simple previous works reviewed so fr in the course of the
structure, easy integration with microwave integrated work.
circuits (Houda, 2016). In Wireless transmission
2. BASIC COMPONENTS OF MICROSTRIP
technology, a microstrip patch antenna is the most
PATCH ANTENNA DESIGN
popular, especially in microwave systems because of
2.1. Dielectric substrate: A substrate is a
their attractive features such as small in size, light
semiconductor used as basis for an integrated
weight and easy to fabricate (Mahmud, et al., 2018).
circuit or electronic component. A dielectric
The basic antenna geometry comprises of a dielectric
substrate is a substrate that does not conduct
substrate sandwiched between the ground and

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 International Journal of Trend in Scientific Research and Development @ www.ijtsrd.com eISSN: 2456-6470
direct current and therefore used as insulator. mathematical relation given as (Huang and
The value of dielectric constant reduces with Kevin, 2008);
the height of the patch antenna. the dielectric
 
constant ε r is defined as the ratio of  
(ε r + 1) (ε r − 1)  1  (4)
permittivity of a substance to the permittivity of ε eff = + 1 + 
2 2  H
free space. This design makes use of a 1 + 12  
  W  
substrate; RT DUROID 5880 with dielectric 
constant of 2.6 Or, equivalently,
2.2. Frequency of operation: This is the frequency −0.5
at which the antenna receives and/or transmits (ε + 1) (ε r −1)   H 
ε eff = r + 1 + 12   (5)
signals. It can be calculated when the height of 2 2   W 
the patch is known or can be selected before the
design. The operating frequency used in this H and W are the height and the width of the patch in
design is 4.5GHz which is within the C-Band that other.
frequency range. Operating frequency is
represented by the symbol F c o rF o .
2.3. Height of the patch antenna: The height can
be selected before calculating the operating
frequency of the antenna, or the operating
frequency can be used to find the height, or
both can be selected before the design but must
meet the condition given as (Huang and Kevin,
2008);
h 0. 3
≤ (1)
λ 2π ε r Fig. 1: Schematic diagram of a rectangular
microstrip patch antenna
3. Antenna Design Method 3.4. Determination of the effective length of the
The method used for the design is mathematical patch (Leff): The effective length of the patch is
method. Various parameters of the antenna are given by the formula (Huang and Kevin, 2008);
determined using mathematical equations as shown
below. C
Leff = (6)
3.1. Determination of the height (H) of the patch: 2 Fo ε eff
The height of the patch is calculated using the
3.5. Determination of the length extension ( ∆ L):
formula (Huang and Kevin, 2008);
Length extension is the additional length at the
0.3C
H= (2) end of the patch as a result of the fringing field
2Π Fo ε r along its width. It is calculated using the
formula given as (Huang and Kevin, 2008);
Where C = Speed of light, given as 3.0 x 108m/s,
ε r = The dielectric substrate, which varies from 2.0 to  (ε eff + 0 . 3 ) H + 0 . 264  
 W 
  (7)
4.0 in this design and analysis. ∆ L = 0 . 412 H 
 (ε eff − 0 . 258 ) H + 0 . 8  
 W 
The height, H is in millimetres (mm)  

3.2. Determination of the width (W) of the patch: Where ∆L is the patch length extension in millimetre,
The width of the patch is calculated using the H and W are the height and width of the patch
formula give as (Huang and Kevin, 2008); respectively, and ε eff is the effective dielectric
C (3)
W = constant of the substrate, and is dimensionless.
(ε r + 1)
2 Fo
2 3.6. Determination of the actual length (L) of the
patch: The actual length of the patch, L is the
The width, W is in millimetres (mm) difference between the effective length and
3.3. Determination of the effective dielectric twice of the length extension of the patch. It is
constant ( ε eff ): It is calculated using the represented mathematically as (Huang and
Kevin, 2008);

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 International Journal of Trend in Scientific Research and Development @ www.ijtsrd.com eISSN: 2456-6470
L = Leff − 2∆L (8) width was 6.63 mm and the length was 5.32 mm; as
the dielectric constant value was varied to 3.5, the
3.7. Determination of the ground plane height of the patch 0.478 , the width was 6.25 mm
dimensions: The ground plane dimensions are and the length was 4.94 mm; as the dielectric constant
calculated for the length and the width. The value was varied to 4.0, the height of the patch 0.448,
ground plane length and width dimensions are the width was 5.93 mm and the length was 4.62 mm.
more than the length and width in that order by
six times thickness or height of the patch. They Also, the ground plane dimensions are ground
are calculated using the formula given as distance of the length and the width of the substrate.
(Huang and Kevin, 2008); At the dielectric value of 2.0, the ground plane length
and width are 10.28 mm and 11.45 mm, at the
Lg = L + 6H (9) dielectric value of 2.5, the ground plane length and
width are 9.22 mm and 10.48 mm, at the dielectric
Wg = W + 6 H (10) value of 3.0, the ground plane length and width are
8.43 mm and 9.73 mm, at the dielectric value of 3.5,
L and W, are the length and the width of the patch
the ground plane length and width are 7.81 mm and
antenna accordingly.
9.12 mm, and at the dielectric value of 4.0, the ground
3.8. Determination of feed point: The point of plane length and width are 7.31 mm and 8.61
location of feed to the patch antenna can be respectively. Furthermore, the location or coordinate
located in x-y coordinates as Xf,Yf. The of the point of connection of the cable on the antenna
formulas for calculating the feed point locations is very important. It is given as Xf and Yf, which are
are given as (Huang and Kevin, 2008); the distance from the centre to the x-axis and Y- axis
L of the antenna. From the table, at the dielectric value
Xf = (11) of 2.0, the coordinate distances; Xf and Yf are 2.38
2 ε eff mm and 3.83 mm; at the dielectric value of 2.5, the
coordinate distances; Xf and Yf are 1.92 mm and
w
yf = (12) 3.54, and so on.
2
From the results, it can be observed that as the value
Where XF and Yf are the feed point location along X- of the dielectric constant increases from 2.0 to 2.5, ...
Y coordinates. 4.0, the height, length and width of the antenna
4. Results and discussions decrease accordingly. In other words, as the
Table 1.0 shows the parameters of the designed Ku frequency was kept constant at 16 GHz, and the
band rectangular microstrip patch antenna at a dielectric constant increases in values, there was a
frequency of 16 GHz. The design of the antenna was reduction in the height, length and width of the
carried out in such a way that the operating frequency antenna. This implies that at higher dielectric constant
was kept constant while the value of the dialectic values, the size of the size of the rectangular
constant of substrate was varied. While the operating microstrip antenna reduces.
frequency was kept at 16 GHz throughout the design, 5. Conclusion
the dielectric constant values were varied from 2.0, The design of a Ku frequency band rectangular
2.2, 2.4, 2.6, to 2.8 respectively. microstrip patch antenna has been done using
F h W L Lg Wg Xf Yf computation or mathematical method. From the
ɛr results, it was observed that as the values of the
(GHz) (mm) (mm) (mm) (mm) (mm) (mm) (mm)
16 2.0 0.633 7.65 6.48 10.28 11.45 2.38 3.83 dielectric substrate or material increase, the
16 2.5 0.566 7.09 5.82 9.22 10.48 1.92 3.54 dimensions- height, length and width of the antenna
16 3.0 0.517 6.63 5.32 8.43 9.73 1.61 3.31 decrease. For instance, when the value of the
16 3.5 0.478 6.25 4.94 7.81 9.12 1.39 3.13 dielectric constant increased from 2.0 to 2.5, the patch
16 4.0 0.448 5.93 4.62 7.31 8.61 1.22 2.96 antenna height decreased from 0.633 mm to 0.566;
From the table (table 1.0), it can be observed that at the width decreased from 7.65 mm to 7.09 mm, and
the frequency of 16 GHz and dielectric constant of length changed from 6.48 mm to 5.82 mm. It can be
2.0, the patch antenna height is 0.633 mm, the width concluded that the higher values of dielectric constant
is 7.65 mm, Length is 6.48 mm. As the dielectric will lead to reduction in the size of a rectangular
constant value was varied to 2.5, the height of the microstrip patch antenna.
patch was 0.566 mm, the width was 7.09 mm, the 6. Recommendation
length was 5.82 mm; as the dielectric constant value This work was done on a fixed frequency of operation
was varied to 3, the height of the patch 0.517 , the while the dielectric constants values were made to

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 International Journal of Trend in Scientific Research and Development @ www.ijtsrd.com eISSN: 2456-6470
vary, further work involving the varying of frequency [4] Huang Yi and Kevin Boyle 2008 Antennas:
with or without the varying of the value of dielectric From Theory to Practice Jhon Wiley & Sons
constant is recommended. United Kingdom.
References [5] Rishitha Kyama, Sree Dharani Sanapureddy,
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Analysis of Microstrip Patch Antenna Arrays, Design and Analysis of Microstrip Rectangular
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Kureve (2013): Effect of Dielectric Constant on
the Design of Rectangular Microstrip Antenna, [6] S N S Mahmud, M A Jusoh, S E Jasim, A H
https://www.researchgate.net/publication/27146 Zamani and M H Abdullah (2018): Design,
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Chaoui, Mongi Lahiani, Hamadi Ghariani
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