ISSN: 2319-8753

International Journal of Innovative Research in Science,

Engineering and Technology
(An ISO 3297: 2007 Certified Organization)

Vol. 3, Issue 5, May 2014

Design and Optimization of Aperture Coupled

Microstrip Patch Antenna Using Genetic
Algorithm
Hayat Errifi 1, Abdenacceur Baghdad 2, Abdelmajid Badri 3
PhD student, EEA & TI Laboratory, Faculty of sciences and techniques, Mohammedia, Morocco 1
Professor, EEA & TI Laboratory, Faculty of sciences and techniques, Mohammedia, Morocco 2, 3
Abstract: Microstrip patch antenna is one of the important elements in modern wireless communication systems and
hence its design optimization is an important aspect for improving the overall performance of the system. In this paper
Genetic Algorithm optimization technique has been utilized in HFSS software for optimization of the aperture coupled
patch antenna dimensions in order to achieve better return loss and height directivity. The microstrip patch antenna is
designed to operate in C band with the centre frequency at 7GHz and various important performance metrics of the
patch antenna are analyzed for performing comparative analysis between un-optimized patch design and optimized
patch design. A program has been developed in MATLAB for obtaining the patch dimensions based on theoretical
formulas.

Keywords: Patch antenna, HFSS, Genetic Algorithm, Return Loss, and Directivity.

I. INTRODUCTION

Microstrip patch antennas have been extensively used in many applications due to their low profile, ease of
manufacture, and the possibility of integration with other circuits. However, most patch antennas provide a wide
beamwidth and low radiation efficiency.
In order to overcome the shortcomings of the patch antenna it is important to make an optimal antenna design for best
performance. Various existing optimization algorithms can come handy in this case and genetic algorithm which is one
of the global optimization algorithms has been used widely in the past by antenna designers [4] for the optimization of
the patch shape and size in order to achieve better overall performance of the antenna. In this paper genetic algorithm
has been used for optimization of aperture coupled rectangular microstrip patch antenna (ACMPA) dimensions, It was
exactly used to optimize the patch length, the slot dimensions in the ground plane and the dimensions of the feed line.
The work has been performed by interfacing the genetic algorithm to Ansoft High Frequency System Simulator
(HFSS). The paper is organized as follows: Section 2 presents a design approach for aperture coupled rectangular
patch antenna, Section 3 gives a brief about genetic algorithm and the flowchart used, in section 4 simulation results are
presented and finally in section 5 conclusion is drawn.

II. APERTURE COUPLED PATCH ANTENNA DESIGN

An aperture coupled patch antenna eliminates the direct electrical connection between the feed and radiating conductors
by employing two dielectric substrates separated by a ground plane. This allows independent optimization of both the
microstrip transmission line feed and radiating patch; patch and feed line are electromagnetically coupled through an
aperture made on the ground. Such a design can be well explained with the help of following diagram:

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 ISSN: 2319-8753

International Journal of Innovative Research in Science,

Engineering and Technology
(An ISO 3297: 2007 Certified Organization)

Vol. 3, Issue 5, May 2014

Fig.1 Geometry of the basic aperture coupled microstrip antenna

2.1 Design of the patch

Mostly the length (L) and width (W) of the patch can be calculated using the parameters like height of the substrate
(h2) below the patch, the dielectric constant (Ɛr2) and the resonant frequency (fr) which are given by the formulas [3]:
c
W=
2
2
ɛ +1

L = Leff -2ΔL

Where
(ɛ + 0.3) + 0.264
= 0.412 ℎ
ℎ
(ɛ − 0.258) + 0.8
ℎ

And
/
ɛ +1 ɛ −1 12h
ɛ = + 1+
2 2

Where, c is the free-space velocity of light and fr is the resonant frequency of the antenna.

2.2 Design of the microstrip feed line

Usually 50Ω microstrip line is used to feed the radiating patch. Feed line width decides the characteristic impedance of
the feed line, so chosen to get the required impedance. Also for maximum coupling, slot is centered below the patch
and the feed line must be placed perpendicular to the center of the slot.

2.3 Design of the Aperture

The amount of the coupling between the patch and feed line is determined by the aperture, so aperture has a very
important role in the microstrip antenna with aperture coupled feeding. Mostly the length of the aperture (La) and the
stub length are considered and width of the aperture (Wa) is small and has only a small effect on the antenna behavior.
It was fixed at 1mm.

2.4 Design of the stub

Stub length is considered as the length of the feed line after the slot. It is used to tune the excess reactance of the
aperture.
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 ISSN: 2319-8753

International Journal of Innovative Research in Science,

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(An ISO 3297: 2007 Certified Organization)

Vol. 3, Issue 5, May 2014

Resonance frequency (fr) 7 GHz

Dielectric constant (Ɛr) (both
of the substrate have same 2.2
values)
Thickness of the substrate (h) 0.79 mm
Length of the patch (L) 9.66 mm
Width of the patch (W) 11.86 mm
Width of the aperture (Wa) 2.596 mm
Length of the aperture (La) 0.6372 mm
Width of the feed line (Wf) 2.36 mm
Length of the feed line (Lf) 19.32 mm

Table1. Dimensions of the un-optimized patch antenna with aperture feed

Table 1 shows the dimension of the ACMPA calculated by Matlab. This calculator makes use of the formulas presented
in section 2. The benefit of such calculator is the reduction in time for calculating the patch dimensions for different set
of inputs which otherwise has to be done manually.

III. GENETIC ALGORITHM

GA’s are the search algorithms based on the mechanics of natural selection and natural genetics. They are stochastic
search procedures modeled on the Darwinian concepts of natural selection and evolution. In GA a set or population of
potential solutions is caused to evolve towards a global optimal solution. GA optimization technique is different from
local optimization techniques which produce results that are highly dependent on the starting point or initial guess.
GA’s can handle discontinuous and non differentiable functions. They are also well suited for constrained optimization
problems.

Genetic Term Meaning

Allele Characteristic value
Gene It is a coded optimization parameter
Chromosome A trial solution vector consisting of genes
Generation Successively created populations
Child A member of next generation
Parent A member of next generation
Fitness Evaluation Criteria
Reproduction Process of producing new solution based on fitness value
Population Set of trial solutions
Crossover It is a process of producing new solution from crossover principle
Mutation Change in the value within the chromosome

Table 2. Important terms related to genetic algorithm

Table 2 gives a brief about various important terms related to genetic algorithm. Fitness function is the only connection
between the physical problem being optimized and the genetic algorithm. Fitness function is used to assign a fitness
value to each of the individuals in the GA population. Fitness value returned by the fitness function is in some manner
proportional to the goodness of a given tried solution in generation. GA starts with coding the unknown variables into
chromosome, randomly generating N number of solutions. The chromosomes are weighted based on their fitness
function values and the inferior ones will be updated by selection, crossover and mutation operations. Optimisation is
terminated when stopping criteria is met.
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International Journal of Innovative Research in Science,

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Vol. 3, Issue 5, May 2014

START

Enter the center frequency, Dielectric constant and

Height of substrate in patch calculator
programmed by MATLAB

Use the outputs (W, L) for designing aperture

coupled patch antenna in HFSS

Analyze the performance of the patch antenna

designed in term of Return loss and Directivity

No Yes
Is Return loss
better than -20 dB
and Directivity
better than 7 dB?
Optimize ACMPA ACMPA
design using genetic optimized
algorithm in HFSS and
analyze its performance

FIN

Fig.2 Flow chart showing use of GA in ACMPA design

Figure 2 shows the flow chart used to design ACMPA. First, we calculate the antenna parameters then we analyze its
performance, if the results are not satisfied we use genetic algorithm optimization. Optimization is terminated when
criteria is met.

IV. SIMULATION RESULTS

Patch antenna has been designed in HFSS software (Fig.3) and various important performance metrics are measured to
analyze the performance of the designed ACMPA.

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International Journal of Innovative Research in Science,

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Vol. 3, Issue 5, May 2014

Fig.3 ACMPA Design

The figure above represent the design model of aperture coupled microstrip patch antenna with HFSS software. We
used the dimensions calculated in section II.

XYPlot 1 HFSSDesign1 ANSOFT

0.00
Curve Info
dB(S(1,1))
Setup1 : Sweep

-2.00 Name X Y
m1 7.5050 -11.1074

-4.00
dB(S(1,1))

-6.00

-8.00

-10.00
m1

-12.00
5.00 6.00 7.00 8.00 9.00 10.00
Freq [GHz]

Fig.4 Return loss plot of un-optimized ACMPA

The return loss should be minimal at resonance frequency for better performance; the return loss plot for the designed
antenna is shown in figure 4. It shows a bad value and the resonance frequency is not exactly at 7 GHz. This in
accuracy in terms of the center frequency is removed by optimizing the patch using genetic algorithm in HFSS
environment. Genetic algorithm is one of the EM optimization techniques integrated with Ansoft HFSS. This can be
utilized to reduce the efforts of manual tuning of the patch dimensions in order to achieve the desired goal.

Genetic Algorithm parameters are given below:

Error function limit = 0.001 Mutation Rate = 0.2

Standard deviation = 0 Crossover Rate = 0.3

Maximum number of generations = 1000 Random search = 0

Population size = 50 Iterations = 50

Optimized patch exhibits return loss of -28.24 dB at exactly 7 GHz. Return loss plot of the optimized patch antenna is
shown in Figure 5.

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International Journal of Innovative Research in Science,

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Vol. 3, Issue 5, May 2014

XYPlot 1 HFSSDesign1 ANSOFT
0.00
Curve Info
dB(S(1,1))
Setup1 : Sweep

-5.00 Name X Y
m1 6.9940 -28.2416

-10.00
dB(S(1,1))

-15.00

-20.00

-25.00
m1

-30.00
5.00 6.00 7.00 8.00 9.00 10.00
Freq [GHz]

Fig.5 Return loss plot of the optimized ACMPA

VSWR: it is used to describe the performance of an antenna when attached to transmission line. It is the measure of
how well the antenna terminal impedance is matched to the characteristic impedance of transmission line. Ideal value
of SWR is unity indicating that there is no standing wave on the line. Un-optimized ACMPA has SWR of 1.8 at 7.5
GHz. VSWR variation with frequency of the optimized patch antenna is shown in Figure 6. From this plot it is clear
that the optimized patch has a SWR of 1.08 at 7GHz.
XYPlot 3 HFSSDesign1 ANSOFT
1000.00
Curve Info
VSWR(1)
Setup1 : Sweep

Name X Y
800.00 m1 6.9940 1.0806

600.00
VSWR(1)

400.00

200.00

m1
0.00
5.00 6.00 7.00 8.00 9.00 10.00
Freq [GHz]

Fig.6 VSWR vs. Freq. plot of the optimized ACMPA

Input impedance plot: One of the most important requirements of a good patch design is that its input impedance
should be purely real at the frequency where patch resonates. Figure 8 shows the input impedance variation in function
of the frequencyfor the optimized patch. The patch designed has the input impedance of 92Ω at 7.5GHz and optimized
patch has input impedance of 51Ω at 7 GHz, so better impedance matching is achieved in the optimized patch. (Fig.7)
XYPlot 4 HFSSDesign1 ANSOFT
60.00
Curve Info

51.0170 im(Z(1,1))
50.00 Setup1 : Sweep
re(Z(1,1))
Setup1 : Sweep
40.00

30.00
Y1

20.00

10.00

0.00 -1.0657

-10.00

-20.00
5.00 6.00 7.00 8.00 9.00 10.00
Freq [GHz]
MX1: 6.9913

Fig.7 Input impedance variation with frequency

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Vol. 3, Issue 5, May 2014

Directivity: It is one of the most important parameter of the patch antenna; Figure 8 shows the three dimensional polar
plot of the optimized ACMPA in which the maximum directivity achieved is 7.13 dB at 7GHz which is 29 % more as
compared to the un-optimized MPA. 3dB beam width of the optimized patch is 73 degrees.

Fig.8 3D polar plot of: (a). un-optimized ACMPA, (b). optimized ACMPA

2-D Radiation pattern plot for Φ=0° at 7 GHz for un-optimized ACMPA and optimized ACMPA is shown in Figure 9,
Removal of secondary lobes can be seen.

Fig.9 Radiation pattern of: (a). un-optimized ACMPA, (b). optimized ACMPA

The comparison between un-optimized and optimized ACMPA is shown in table 3.

Parameter un-optimized results Optimized results

Resonance frequency 7.5 GHz 7 GHz
Length of the patch (L) 9.66 mm 9.15 mm
Width of the aperture (Wa) 2.596 mm 5.5 mm
Length of the aperture (La) 0.6372 mm 0.625 mm
Width of the feed line (Wf) 2.36 mm 2.5 mm
Length of the feed line (Lf) 19.32 mm 18.3 mm
Return loss -11.10 dB -28.24 dB
VSWR 1.8 1.08
Impedance 92 Ω 51 Ω
Directivity 5.07 dB 7.13 dB
Table 3. Comparative Analysis

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Vol. 3, Issue 5, May 2014

From the above table it can be seen that the performance of the optimized patch antenna using genetic algorithm is
better than the un-optimized patch in terms of return loss, VSWR, Input impedance and directivity.

V. CONCLUSION

A rectangular microstrip patch antenna coupled to microstrip line through a small rectangular aperture in ground plane
has been designed and optimized. The GA is very precise and fast comparing to other techniques because it encodes the
parameters and the optimization is done with the en-coded parameters. From the simulation results of HFSS presented
in section 4 it can be concluded that the optimized patch antenna using Genetic Algorithm exhibits better return loss
and radiation properties as compared to the un-optimized patch designed using theoretical formulas. The optimized
patch exhibits 29 % more gain and 17.14 dB better return loss as compared to un-optimized patch antenna design.
Future research work should aim at utilizing Genetic Algorithm optimization technique to improve the performance of
the patch antenna array.
REFERENCES

Books:

[1] Ramesh Garg, Prakash Bharti, Inder Bahl, “Microstrip Antenna Design Handbook,” Artech House, Boston London, 2000.
[2] Pozar, D.M, “Microwave Engineering”, 2nd edition, John Wiley & Sons, New York, 1998.
[3] Balanis, C.A., “Antenna Theory Analysis and Design”, John Wiley & Sons, New York, 1997.
Periodicals:
[4] N. Herscovici, M. F. Osorio, and C. Peixeiro, “Miniaturization of rectangular microstrip patches using genetic algorithms,” IEEE Antennas and
Wireless Propagation Letters, vol. 1, pp 94-97, Jan. 2002.
[5] Manoj Singh, Ananjan Basu, and S.K. Koul, “Design of Aperture Coupled Fed Micro-Strip Patch Antenna for Wireless Communication”, India
Conference, 2006.
[6] Shruti Vashist, M.K Soni, P.K.Singhal, “ Genetic Approach in Patch Antenna Design”, International Journal of Emerging Science and
Engineering, Volume-1, Issue-9, July 2013.
[7]. H. Errifi, A. Baghdad, A. Badri, “Effect of Change in Feedpoint on the Antenna Performance in Edge, Probe and Inset-Feed Microstrip Patch
Antenna for 10 GHz”, International Journal of Emerging Trends in Engineering and Development, ISSN 2249-6149, January 2014.
[8] S. Egashira, E. Nishiyama, and A. Sakitani, “Stacked microstrip antenna with wide band and high gain,” in Proceedings IEEE
Antennas and Propagation Society International Symposium, vol. 3, pp. 1132–1135, May 1990.
[9] Sullivan, P. S., and Schaubert, D. H,” Analysis of an aperture coupled microstrip antenna”, IEEE Trans. Antennas Propagation, vol. 34, 977 –
984. 1986.
[10] Himdi, M., Daniel, J. P., and Terret, C,” Analysis of aperture-coupled microstrip antenna using the cavity method”, Electronic Letters, vol. 25,
91-92, 1989.

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