High Performance Compact Broadband Planar

Monopole Antenna for UWB Applications

Minor Project Report

Submitted in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the award of the degree
of
BACHELOR OF TECHNOLOGY
By
Charul Goyal (16435)
Anurag Kumar (16430)
Jitendra Kumar (16444)
Ram Gole (16442)

Under the guidance

of
Dr. SAURABH KUMAR

DEPARTMENT OF ELECTRONICS & COMMUNICATION ENGINEERING

NATIONAL INSTITUTE OF TECHNOLOGY
HAMIRPUR-177005, HP (INDIA)
July-Dec, 2019
Copyright © NIT HAMIRPUR (HP), INDIA, 2019
 DECLARATION

We hereby certify that the work which is being presented in the project titled “High
Performance Compact Broadband Planar Monopole Antenna for UWB (Ultra
Wide Band) Applications” in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the award
of the Degree of Bachelor of Technology and submitted in the Name of Electronics
and Communication Department, National Institute of Technology Hamirpur, is an
authentic record of our own work carried out during a period from July 2019 to
December 2019 under the supervision of Dr. Saurabh Kumar, Assistant Professor,
Electronics and Communication Engineering, National Institute of Technology
Hamirpur.

The matter presented in this project report has not been submitted by us for
the award of any other degree of this or any other Institute/University.
Charul Goyal (16435)
Anurag Kumar (16430)
Jitendra Kumar (16444)
Ram Gole (16442)

This is to certify that the above statement made by the candidates is correct to the
best of my knowledge.

Date: Dr. Saurabh Kumar

Assistant Professor

The project Viva-Voce Examination has been held on ………………………………

Signature of Supervisor Signature of External Examiner

 ACKNOWLEDGEMENT

It gives us great pleasure to present our minor project report on ‘High Performance
Compact Broadband Planar Monopole Antenna for UWB (Ultra Wide Band)
Applications’ as a part of ‘Electronics & Communication Engineering’ curriculum. We
wish to thank all the people who helped us and gave their unending support.
Firstly, we would like to express our sincere gratitude towards our mentor Dr. Saurabh
Kumar for providing his invaluable guidance, motivation and suggestions from the very
beginning of this project work till its completion. His counselling, incitement and
guidelines provided us necessary insight into the research problem and paved the way for
the meaningful approach for the work in a short duration. We have no hesitation to say
that, without his constant support and valuable advice from time-to-time, we would have
probably failed to complete the work within the expected duration.
We are also thankful to NIT Hamirpur, department head, officials and all office staff of
Electronics and Communication department for their sincere co-operation and giving us
this opportunity to do a project. Lastly, we would like to thank our parents for giving their
invaluable assistance and encouragement to work harder. Besides, we would also like to
thank our friends for their support and help throughout.
 CONTENTS

1. Introduction.................................................................................................................1
2. Literature Review........................................................................................................1
3. Objectives....................................................................................................................2
4. Methodology................................................................................................................2
5. Implementation of proposed Antenna (Re-Simulation)................................................3
6. Designing new Antenna…………… ………………………………………………..9
7. Conclusion…………………………………………………………………………..17
8. References…………………………………………………………………………..18
 PROJECT REPORT

Title:
High Performance Compact Broadband Planar Monopole Antenna for UWB (Ultra
Wide Band) Applications.

Introduction:
In radio engineering, an antenna is the interface between radio waves and propagating
through space and electric currents moving in metal conductors, used with a transmitter or
receiver. An antenna is an array of conductors, electrically connected to the receiver or
transmitter. The first antennas were built in 1888 by German physicist Heinrich Hertz in
his pioneering experiments to prove the existence of waves predicted by the
electromagnetic theory of James Clerk Maxwell. Over the past one decade, there is a rapid
growth in development of wireless communication applications. The performance of all
such wireless systems depends on the design of the antenna. A monopole antenna is a class
of radio antenna consisting of a straight rod-shaped conductor, often mounted
perpendicularly over some type of conductive surface, called a ground plane. Microstrip
antennas are preferred for majority of their applications in aircraft, spacecraft and small
sized satellites. Ultra-wideband is a technology for transmitting information spread over a
large bandwidth (>500 MHz). UWB technology becomes one of the greater attractive
applications in modern wireless communication systems, due to its favorable advantages
such as providing high-speed data transmissions, short range indoor communications, wide
operating bandwidth and less power consumption [1].

Literature Review:
Planar monopole antennas have received more attention towards UWB systems because of
their benefits such as exhibit low-profile, ease of fabrication, transportability of handheld
devices (mobile phones, laptops), reduced system complexity and overall device dimension
and easy circuital integration [2]. Numerous works have been reported so far to ensure a
low signal distortion as well as an adequate stability of the group delay, of the antenna gain,
and of the angular behavior of the radiation patterns [3].
A low-profile Newton’s egg curved monopole antenna is reported in [4] to radiate UWB
signals. However, antenna size is not compact and gain is also low. In [5], different UWB
antenna geometries to transmit short signal pulses and having reduced overall dimensions
have been proposed. Nevertheless, the reduction in antenna size does not cause noticeable
negative effects on impedance matching. Use of UWB communication in frequency band
of 3.1 to 5.1 GHz is reported in [6]. However, we need to attain the frequency range of 3.1
to 10.6 GHz. Most of the recent works aim at improving the performance of the UWB
antenna, especially to avoid the interference problem. However, the radiation patterns are
still problematic because the omni-directivity usually cannot be realized in high frequency
band. Planar broadband monopole antennas suffer high cross-polarization [7]. Fractional
bandwidth of 168.25% from 2.5 to 29 GHz is obtained in [8] but the size is very large hence
not acceptable.
The desired characteristics of planar monopole antenna were not achieved in literature,
which inspire the researchers to work further in this aspect.

Objectives:
The main objectives of the project are:
1. To achieve compactness in terms of overall area
2. High performance(in terms of gain and efficiency)
3. Monopole like radiation pattern as compared to previously reported literature.
4. UWB applications(3.1-10.6 GHz)

Methodology:
 Study of basic design and functioning of antenna in general and monopole antenna
in particular.
 To achieve the objectives, we have given emphasis to geometries, radiation
mechanisms, broad banding methods, materials, and prediction numerical tools
adopted to the analysis and design of monopole antennas.
 Resimulation to understand and verify the research gap (antenna design suitable to
cover mobile and wireless services and to reduce the system complexity, the overall
device dimensions and costs.
 CST Microwave studio suit 2019 is used for the simulation purpose.
 Comparison of antenna performance (in terms of reflection coefficient) with
previously reported validation and practicability.
ReSimulation: Validation of Simulation Process:
Figure 1 shows development stages of the referenced antenna, and figure 2 contains
corresponding simulated reflection coefficient curves[9].

Figure 1. Stages of the antenna design

Figure 2. Simulated reflection coefficient curves of the antennas corresponding to Figure1

Antenna 1 Design:

Antenna 1 design is the first step towards design process. As figure 1 illustrates, antenna 1
consists of square ground plane (28 x 28 mm2) and a rectangular radiator which is
asymmetrically fed by a 50Ω microstrip line. From figure 3(b), it can be observed that
antenna 1 provides a -8db reflection coefficient bandwidth of about 4.5% from 7.6 to
7.95GHz.

Figure 3(a). Design of Antenna 1

Result:

Figure 3(b). Reflection coefficient of Antenna 1

Antenna 2 Design:

After etching the first open slots on the ground plane and rounding the corners of the slot
(Antenna 2), multiband behavior of the antenna is obtained with a -27db reflection
coefficient impedance bandwidths of about 111.08% from 2.4 to 11.287 GHz and 22%
from 11.3 to 13 GHz as depicted in figure 4(b).

Figure 4(a). Design of Antenna 2

Figure 4(b). Reflection coefficient of Antenna 2

Antenna 3 Design:

Next the second open L-shaped slot is etched on the ground plane (Antenna 3) and again
the multiple resonances are generated with impedance bandwidths of about 6.25%
(2.4-2.9 GHz), 86.2% (3.31-10.1 GHz), 16% (11.8-13.1 GHz) as depicted in figure 8. The
antenna provides -24.46dB reflection coefficient.

Figure 5(a). Design of Antenna 3

Figure 5(b). Reflection coefficient of Antenna 3

Antenna 4 Design:

Next one corner of the radiator is cut in triangular shape to enhance the impedance
bandwidth (Antenna 4) and as depicted in figure 6(b), dual-band operation with two
impedance bandwidths of 4.3% from 2.45 to 2.8 GHz and 124.67% from 2.96 to
12.93 GHz and minimum reflection coefficient is -27.47dB.

Figure 6(a). Design of Antenna 4

Figure 6(b). Reflection coefficient of Antenna 4

Antenna 5 Design:

In the last step, a small inverted L-shaped slot if etched on the ground plane (Antenna 5)
to improve the impedance matching at the middle frequencies. This antenna provides a -
25db reflection coefficient having wide impedance bandwidth of about 124.91% from
2.955 to 12.95GHz thus satisfying the UWB range of 3.1 to 10.6 GHz.

Figure 7(a). Design of Antenna 5

Figure 7(b). Reflection coefficient of Antenna 5

Designing our own Antenna:
Figure 8 shows the geometry and design parameters of the proposed antenna. As
shown in this figure, the proposed structure has a doubly curved rectangular radiator
(having an etch of plus shape in between) which is fed symmetrically by a 50Ω
microstrip line. In order to achieve the wide impedance bandwidth with a compact
size antenna, the size of the FR 4 substrate is reduced from 28*28 mm2 to 20*20
mm2, with a thickness of 0.8mm and relative permittivity εr=4.3. Also, almost half
of the ground plane from the top is etched and corners are rounded. Moreover, three
ring type structures are drawn on the right side of the antenna. The geometrical
parameters of the radiator and ground plane is shown in the following figure
(Figure 8). The numerical analysis and geometry refinement of the proposed antenna
are performed using CST Microwave Studio.

Figure 8. Geometry and design parameters of the proposed antenna

The proposed antenna is the result of the aim to achieve high performance with a
compact size planar monopole antenna. This proposed antenna results in dual band
operation with two impedance bandwidths of 7% (3.44 - 4 GHz) and 81.4% (4.34 –
10.86 GHz) which does not cover the UWB range of 3.1 to 10.6 GHz but still
gives the wide impedance. The work to attain the UWB range is still in progress
as there is lot to improve in this design.

Development Stages:

i. First step is to design a square ground plane (20 x 20 mm2) and a rectangular radiator
which is symmetrically fed by a 50Ω microstrip line. From figure 9(b), it can be
observed that antenna 1 provides a -8db reflection coefficient bandwidth of about
4.5% from 7.6 to 7.95GHz.

Figure 9(a). Step 1 Antenna Design

Figure 9(b). Reflection Coefficient of step 1 Antenna

ii. Next, the ground plane is cut into half such that the upper half is etched out. The
results got improved with the graph cutting the -10dB line at 5.4 GHz.

Figure 10(a). Cut in the ground plane

Figure 10(b). Design of the patch

Figure 10(c). Reflection Coefficient of step 2 Antenna

iii. To improve the performance, the left corner of the ground is curved and a vertical
strip at the right side of antenna is drawn in the ground plane. As shown in the figure
11(b), the graph now cuts the -10dB line at 4.4GHz.

Figure 11(a). Step 3 Antenna Design

Figure 11(b). Reflection Coefficient of step 3 Antenna

iv. To further improve the lower range of the radiations, more curves are made
in the ground i.e. at the top right side of the antenna, a ring like structure is
made as shown in figure 12(a). The graph in figure 12(b) gives the sharp dip in
between 3.5 and 4GHz.

Figure 12(a). Step 4 Antenna Design

Figure 12(b). Reflection Coefficient of step 4 Antenna

v. To optimize it further, the left lower corner of the ground plane is also curved and
two more rings are attached as shown in figure 13(a). The figure 13(b) shows the
dual band behavior of antenna with impedance bandwidths of 5% (3.34 - 3.78 GHz)
and 81% (10.92 – 4.4 GHz).

Figure 13(a). Step 5 Antenna Design

Figure 13(b). Reflection Coefficient of step 5 Antenna

vi. Next, two semi-circular shaped design is etched from the bottom of the ground.
Also, the right bottom corner of ground plane is curved as shown in figure 14(a).
This antenna design gives impedance bandwidths of 5% (3.34 – 3.78 GHz) and
82.5% (11 – 4.4 GHz)

Figure 14(a). Step 6 Antenna Design

Figure 14(b). Reflection Coefficient of step 6 Antenna

vii. To shift the upper part at 4GHz downwards, changes in the patch are made. A plus
shaped design is cut in between the patch radiator and the opposite corners of the
radiator are curved. The figure 15(b) depicts that the height of the outer portion is
reduced giving impedance bandwidths of 7% (3.44 - 4 GHz) and 81.4% (4.34 –
10.86 GHz).

Figure 15(a). Step 7 Antenna Design

Figure 15(b). Simulated reflection coefficient (S11) curve of the proposed antenna
 Figure 16. Influence of radius of curves on impedance bandwidth

Figure 16 shows the influence of the radius of curves, r, on the antenna impedance
characteristic. It is seen that these geometrical parameters affect the impedance matching
of the antenna over the whole band of interest. Figure 16 shows that selecting the optimal
values of r=2mm leads to better performance.

Results and Discussions:

The proposed antenna gives two impedance bandwidths of 7% (3.44 - 4 GHz) and
81.4% (4.34 – 10.86 GHz) which is quite beyond the UWB range (3.1-10.6 GHz).
Hence the work is to be continued to change certain design parameters so as to
increase the range for |S11| < −10dB. The ground plane and radiator affect the
impedance characteristic at low and high frequencies, respectively. Thus probably,
the ground has to be modified so as to increase the lower range of the impedance
bandwidth.
 (a)

(b)

(c)

Figure 17. Far-field radiation pattern at different values of theta and phi angles
(a) At phi=0 (b) At phi=90 (c) At theta=90

Conclusion:
This project presents a compact planar UWB antenna. In order to jointly achieve
UWB performance with a compact size, almost half of the ground plane from the
top is etched and corners are rounded. Moreover, to improve the impedance
matching, three ring type structures are drawn on the right side of the antenna.
Measured results show that the proposed antenna with a small size of 20×20×1.6mm3
has a dual impedance bandwidth of 7% (3.44 - 4 GHz) and 81.4% (4.34 – 10.86 GHz)
(for |S11| < −10dB). The evolution procedure of the proposed antenna is presented
and several designs are investigated. Experimental results for the reflection coefficient,
and far-field radiation patterns of the designed antenna are presented. The measured
outcomes show that the antenna can be a competent option for the use in UWB
communication systems is its range is increased. Thus this antenna design needs
improvement in terms of UWB applications.

References:
1. Balanis, C.A. , “Antenna Theory Analysis and Design”, Textbook 3rd Edition.
New Jersey : John Wiley and Sons, 2005.
2. Renato Cicchetti, EmanuelaMiozzi, and Orlandino Testa, “Wideband and UWB
antennas for Wireless Applications: A Comprehensive Review,” International
Journal of Antennas and Propagation, vol. 17, Article ID 2390808, 45 pages,
2017.
3. V. Sipal, B. Allen, D. Edwards, and B. Honary, “Twenty years of ultra wide
band: opportunities and challenges,” IET Communications, vol. 6, no. 10, pp.
1147–1162, 2012.
4. S. Verma and P. Kumar, “Printed Newton’s egg curved monopole antenna for
ultra wide band applications,” IET Microwaves, Antennas and Propagation, vol.
8, no. 4, pp. 278–286, 2014.
5. J. Liu, K. P. Esselle, S. G. Hay, and S. Zhong, “Effects of printed UWB antenna
miniaturization on pulse fidelity and pattern stability,” IEEE Transactions on
Antennas and Propagation, vol. 62, no. 8, pp. 3903–3910, 2014.
6. Conference Paper : March 2016
Conference: 2016 2nd International Conference on Advanced Technologies for
Signal and Image Processing (ATSIP).
7. Zhiwei Song ; Hongxing Zheng ; Mengjun Wang ; Yan Li ; Tao Song ; Erping
Li ; Yongjian Li, “Equilateral Triangular Dielectric Resonator and Metal Patch
Hybrid antenna for UWB application,” IEEE Access, DOI
10.1109/ACCESS.2019.2936013, IEEE Access, 2019.
8. M. N. Rahman, M. T. Islam, M. Z. Mahmud, M. Samsuzzaman, “Compact
microstrip patch antenna proclaiming super wideband characteristics,” Microw
Opt Technol Lett. 2017;59:2563–2570.
9. Aliakbar Dastranj and Faezeh Bahmanzadeh, “A Compact UWB Antenna
Design Using Rounded Inverted L-Shaped Slots and Beveled Asymmetrical
Patch,” Progress In Electromagnetics Research C, vol. 80, 131–140, 2018