2021 7th International Conference on Advanced Computing and Communication Systems (ICACCS)

Design of Substrate-Integrated-Waveguide Antenna

for Automotive Short Range Radar Application
2021 7th International Conference on Advanced Computing and Communication Systems (ICACCS) | 978-1-6654-0521-8/20/$31.00 ©2021 IEEE | DOI: 10.1109/ICACCS51430.2021.9442014

G. Santhakumar R. Vadivelu M. Revathy Lakshmi

Department of Electronics and Department of Electronics and Department of Electronics and
Communication Engineering Communication Engineering Communication Engineering
Sri Krishna College of Technology Sri Krishna College o f Technology Sri Krishna College o f Technology
Coimbatore, India Coimbatore, India Coimbatore, India
g. [email protected]. in [email protected] [email protected]

G.J. Saranya R. Subasini

Department of Electronics and Communication Engineering Department of Electronics and Communication Engineering
Sri Krishna College of Technology Sri Krishna College of Technology
Coimbatore, India Coimbatore, India
17tuec217@skct. edu.in [email protected]

Abstract— The proposed antenna operates at mm-Wave crash sensing, blind-spot detection, front and rear collision
frequency, 77 - 81GHz frequency band which supports the Short- warning, etc.
Range Radar (SRR). The design consists of a substrate sandwiched
between two PEC layers. The substrate material used is silicon with In this paper, we propose an antenna that uses the concepts
a thickness of 0.2mm. The radiating element patch has a single of SIW and metamaterial structure (split ring resonator). The
complementary circular split ring resonator (CSRR) at its center and resonance below -10dB with minimum return loss at
the feedline is slightly shiftedfrom the center of patch for a better 77.4GHz and 78GHz with a gain of above 4dB. This antenna
impedance matching. The SIWplated-through-holes (PTH) which is structure can be used in the array for short-range radar
rectangular, is introduced on three edges of the square patch to systems.
suppress the surface waves. The simulated results obtain a s11 below
-10dB at 78GHz and gain of above 5dB. II. L i t er at ur e Re v i e w
A microstrip patch antenna array at 79GHz for millimeter-
Keywords— patch antenna; short-range radar; substrate-
Wave applications, achieved a wide beamwidth of 138°. The
integrated-waveguide; plated through holes.
design consists of two substrates (RO4350B and RO4450F)
I. In t r o d u c t io n sandwiched between three metallic layers. To enhance the
beamwidth of the patch antenna, SIW probe feed is used. The
Automobiles, which self-propel, would inarguably require SIW portion is constructed in the bottom substrate. The patch is
perfect sensors to identify information and risk in its vicinity a 1 x 8 antenna array. The patch element consists of a three-
to operate. In order to ensure safety, there is radar operating element subarray to expand the radiation pattern.
around an autonomous car to detect possible danger, such as
other vehicles, barricades, people, etc. RADAR is preferred A gain of 10.74 dBi is obtained at 79 GHz. Total dimension
to Camera or LiDAR because of its robust performance even is 23x12x0.46mm. HPBW (E/H plane) is 138°/8° respectively
under ambient conditions like dense fog, bright sunlight, such [1]. The use of Electronic Band Gap structures was introduced,
bad weather. These systems w ill take into account not only to effectively control the surface wave propagation
the driver and the vehicle but also the environment of the characteristics around the antenna. An undistorted radiation
vehicle. Radars are advantageous in detecting the speed and pattern was achieved. The antenna operates at 77GHz and the
range of other objects around the car. substrate material is Si (er = 11.9) [2]. For blind-spot detection,
a novel antenna was designed at 5.8GHz of DSRC band (IEEE
However, radar too has limitations, it needs good resolution 802.11p). The antenna’s shape is triangular and a fern fractal
when it comes to range. According to FCC’s report and order, structure is introduced to reduce the size. 79% compactness is
in 2017, automotive radar’s frequency range was adopted as achieved.
77-81GHz band (or 79GHz band). This new frequency range
has 4GHz bandwidth. So, blatantly rather than using the The gain is obtained as 3.5dB. The feeding technique used
200MHz bandwidth in the 24GHz range, the automotive is electromagnetic coupling as well as capacitor coupling [3]. A
industry w ill shift to the new band. Having a wide bandwidth four-port balanced antipodal vivaldi that is embodied by strip
is always appreciated in radar systems, hence increased range lines is used to create a balanced antipodal vivaldi antenna. one
and velocity resolution. Radar can be used in autonomous antenna produces four directional beams with 90-degree angle
cars for a number of different applications like adaptive cruise of view so the antenna can be mounted at four corners of the
control, parking assistance, automatic braking system, pre- car. This antenna radiates at 76- 77 GHz band. The first and
fourth beam has 6.2dB gain and second and third has 7.5dB, all
the beams with different radiation efficiencies [4]. Microstrip
978-1-6654-0521-8/21/$31.00 ©2021 IEEE

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 2021 7th International Conference on Advanced Computing and Communication Systems (ICACCS)

patch antenna operating at 3.67GHz, achieves circular s formed. The substrate (Si, dielectric constant =11.9), having
polarization by employing aperture coupling feeding technique. a high dielectric constant is apparently going to be the reason to
Wide beamwidth is obtained, and the antenna profile is compact provide undesired surface waves and propagation losses. So,
and the impedance bandwidth is 410MHz. Fern fractal shaped SIW and a metamaterial structures are introduced to confine the
patch is used to achieve these results [5]. Rectangular vias are radiation fields inside the substrate as well as to get the
used at three edges of the patch, and a circular split ring resonance at the desired frequency. The metamaterial structure,
resonator is used at the center of the patch for better impedance chosen here is a complementary circular split ring resonator,
matching, achieved resonance at 77GHz. The substrate material positioned at the center of the patch.
used is silicon, though the dielectric constant is high, the SIW
(or substrate integrated waveguide) structure is drastically
helpful in reducing the surface waves [6].
Series fed; rectangular microstrip patch antenna is used in
an array (1x10) to operate at 77GHz. The Taconic substrate
material (er = 2.2) is used, and below -10dB, the S11 bandwidth
is obtained as 2.2% and 3.8% from 75.88-77.58GHz and 75.04-
77.95GHz respectively. The measure gain at the broadside
direction, in E-plane is 16.56dBand sidelobe level is obtained
as -17.2dB. The 3dB beamwidth in H-plane is 76.3deg. [7]
Using two substrates, RO4835 and RO3003, a broadband patch
array antenna; series fed is designed for the application, vehicle
collision warning system; the frequency range of operation is
77GHz to 81GHz. The antenna gain is obtained as 14.2dBi
because of the usage of two substrates. And the radiation
efficiency is more than 85% [8]. Using high resolution any layer
PCB technology, a differential multi-layer grid antenna array is
designed for automotive radar applications. The operating
frequency is 79GHz and the gain is obtained as 13.52dB. The
array bandwidth is 9.6%. The design structure achieves a wide
impedance bandwidth and flat gain bandwidth [9]. A t 77GHz, The proposed antenna structure might resemble the concept of
a linear series feed antenna; as an array (or SFPA) is designed substrate integrated waveguide (SIW) structure. However, it is
for middle range radar (or MRR) for transmitters and receivers. a single port integrated waveguide cavity[6]. The feed line is
A planar based on Substrate Integrated Waveguide (or SIW) for slightly shifted from the center of the antenna and the
feeding network can also be used for long range radar (LRR). complementary circular split-ring resonator (CSRR) is located
[10]. at the center of the patch. The antenna structure is shown in
Figure 1 and 2. The 3DEM software, High Frequency Structure
A six ten-element serially fed patch array, operating at Simulator (V13.0) was used to simulate the design.
77GHz takes use of a cavity back structure and GCPW (Ground
Co-Planar Waveguide) transition to give a miniaturized radar The length and width of the silicon substrate, as well as the
module. The total dimension of the module is ground plane is 3.6mm (Xg = Yg = 3.6mm). The dimensions of
36mmx18mmx7mm. The design is on a three-layered board, the antenna are shown in figure1. Xp = Yp = 2mm, D1 = D2 =
using Ro4350B Ro4450F substrates and rectangular slots are 0.1mm, Fx = 0.8mm, Fy = 0.1mm, C1 = 0.07mm, and C2 = 0.17
used to confine the fields better under the patch. via holes (or mm.
plated through holes) are used around the slots [11]. Sidelobe
IV. Re s u l t s a n d Dis c u s s io n
level are a significant factor when it comes to radar. Here a
comb-line feed is used for microstrip antenna array operating at The simulation results are shown in figures. The return loss
77GHz. Roger’s 4003 is the substrate material and metal is below -10dB for approximately a bandwidth of 1GHz
copper. The realized gain is 24dBi, the radiation efficiency is (from77.22 to 78.20 GHz) at 78GHz is achieved as -27.53dB
63%, the e and h plane HPBW are 6.8° and 8.7° respectively. and at 77.4GHz, it is achieved as -21.1dB as shown in Figure 3.
The sidelobe level -17 to -18Db. The cost is low and the design
could be used for automotive radar applications [12].

III. Pr o po s ed Mo d e l

The antenna consists of a ground plane, a radiating patch,

(PEC), a Silicon substrate and rectangular metallized vias
touching the radiating patch and ground plane. The thickness of
the silicon substrate is 0.2 mm and the relative dielectric
constant is 11.9. To minimize the surface waves propagation
that is certainly possible at this frequency (79GHz) and also to
reduce the radiation loss, the three edges, except the one, that is
connected to the feed line of the square patch have been shorted
to the ground plane using rectangular via holes (or plated
F ig 2. B ottom v ie w o f the SIW antenna
through holes). And only on the feeding side, the radiation slot

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 2021 7th International Conference on Advanced Computing and Communication Systems (ICACCS)

For the return loss to be achieved at yet higher frequency, say

79GHz, optimizing the design by reducing the length of the
patch or by decreasing the length of the feed line could to be
implemented. The corresponding gain plot is shown in Figure4.
The gain at the 78 GHz is achieved as 4.15 dB. Whereas, at
77.8GHz frequency, a high gain of 5.2dB is achieved.
The radiation patterns, the E and H plane radiation pattern
are shown in figure 5. The Voltage Standing Wave Ratio is
obtained as 1.21. The S11 plot could to be optimized in order to
obtain resonance at 79GHz (which is the center frequency of
the 77-81GHz band), also enhancing the gain plot. Yet, a
perfectly directional radiation pattern can be achieved after
further optimization. The design has to be further optimized to
get a much more good performance of the antenna in real time. Fig 5. E-plane & H-plane characteristic o f S IW antenna

V. Co n c l u s io n

In this paper, a SIW antenna with a loaded complementary

CSRR at the center o f the patch was designed. The
metamaterial structure, complementary circular split ring
resonator on the patch and the rectangular vias have proven
itself by shifting to the desired frequency and efficient in
suppressing the surface waves. Though the design might be
further optimized by changing the substrate material (since
Si possess a low resistivity and it has a high dielectric
constant value), this design has achieved S11 at two
frequencies, 78GHz and 77.4GHz. A high gain of 5.2dB is
obtained.

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