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IEEE TRANSACTIONS ON ANTENNAS AND PROPAGATION, VOL. 49, NO. 7, JULY 2001

Bandwidth Enhancement of a Microstrip-Line-Fed Printed Wide-Slot Antenna

Jia-Yi Sze, Member, IEEE, and Kin-Lu Wong, Senior Member, IEEE
AbstractPrinted wide-slot antennas fed by a microstrip line with a fork-like tuning stub for bandwidth enhancement are proposed and experimentally investigated. Both impedance and radiation characteristics of this antenna are studied. Experimental results indicate that a 1:1.5 VSWR bandwidth of 1 GHz is achieved at operating frequencies around 2 GHz, which is nearly ten times that of a conventional microstrip-line-fed printed wide-slot antenna. It also achieved a 2-dB gain bandwidth of at least 0.5 GHz. Index TermsBandwidth enhancement, broad-band antenna, printed slot antenna.

I. INTRODUCTION ICROSTRIP-LINE-FED printed slot antennas, especially printed wide-slot antennas [1], [2], have received much attention and are applicable in satellite and communications applications. Characteristics of printed wide-slot antennas fed by a microstrip line with a simple tuning stub have also been extensively studied [1][7] in which impedance characteristics [1], [2] and circularly polarized radiation characteristics [3][7] are reported. In this paper, we report the study of a new design of microstrip-line-fed printed wide-slot antennas with a fork-like tuning stub for bandwidth enhancement, and radiation characteristics of such a design are also investigated. The microstrip feed line with a fork-like tuning stub used in the proposed design is different from the dual-offset microstrip feed lines used for the excitation of an aperture-coupled patch antenna with a narrow coupling slot [8][12]. The fork-like tuning stub studied here is all positioned within the slot region in the opposite side of the printed wide slot. Through proper selection of the parameters of the fork-like tuning stub, it can be expected that the coupling between the microstrip line and the printed wide slot can be controlled more effectively, which makes possible significant bandwidth enhancement of the printed wide-slot antenna. From experiments, the obtained impedance bandwidth (1:1.5 VSWR) of the proposed antenna can reach nearly about ten times that of a conventional microstrip-line-fed printed wide-slot antenna with a simple tuning stub. Details of the proposed antenna are described, and experimental results are presented and discussed. II. ANTENNA CONFIGURATION The configuration of the proposed antenna is shown in and Fig. 1(a). The printed wide slot has dimensions of

Fig. 1. Configurations of the microstrip-line-fed printed wide-slot antennas with (a) a fork-like tuning stub and (b) a simple tuning stub.

Manuscript received February 15, 2000; revised December 6, 2000. The authors are with the Department of Electrical Engineering, National Sun Yat-Sen University, Kaohsiung, Taiwan 804, R.O.C. Publisher Item Identifier S 0018-926X(01)05655-1.

is printed on a microwave substrate of thickness and relative permittivity . The wide slot is fed by a 50- microstrip line with a fork-like tuning stub, which is printed on the opposite side of the microwave substrate and placed symmetrically with respect to the centerline ( axis) of the wide slot. The fork-like tuning stub is composed of a straight section of and two branch sections of equal lengths , and length the spacing between the edges of the two branch sections is . The widths of these sections are all the same and equal of the 50- microstrip line. By selecting proper to that of the fork-like tuning stub, good dimensions impedance matching of the printed wide-slot antenna across a much enhanced bandwidth can be obtained. For comparison, the geometry of a conventional microstrip-line-fed printed wide slot antenna with a simple tuning stub (denoted as reference antenna in this study) is depicted in Fig. 1(b). The parameters

0018926X/01$10.00 2001 IEEE

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TABLE I COMPARISON BETWEEN THE PROPOSED ANTENNA (ANTENNAS 13) AND THE REFERENCE ANTENNA; PARAMETERS ARE GIVEN IN FIG. 2. THE IMPEDANCE BANDWIDTH IS DETERMINED BY 1:1.5 VSWR, AND f AND f ARE, RESPECTIVELY, THE LOWER AND HIGHER FREQUENCIES WITH VSWR = 1:5 IN THE IMPEDANCE BANDWIDTH

Fig. 2. Measured return loss against frequency; " = 4:4; h = 0:8 mm, L = W = 53:7 mm, w = 1:5 mm, and ground-plane size = 110 mm 110 mm. Reference antenna: ` = 28 mm. Antenna 1: ` = 10 mm, ` = 2 mm, and ` = 20:6 mm. Antenna 2: ` = 15 mm, ` = 2 mm, and ` = 15:9 mm. Antenna 3: ` = 15 mm, ` = 0 mm, and ` = 24:9 mm.

of the reference antenna are the same as those of the proposed antenna, except that the tuning stub length of the reference antenna is . III. RESULTS AND DISCUSSION A. Impedance Characteristics of the Proposed Antenna The proposed antenna was experimentally studied. The dimm mensions of the printed wide slot were chosen to be mm (i.e., a square slot). Measured return loss results of several design examples (denoted as antennas 1 to 3) are shown in Fig. 2. The measured input impedance on a Smith chart for the reference antenna and antennas 1 to 3 is presented in Fig. 3. Results of the reference antenna are also shown in the figures for comparison, and the design parameters and corresponding measured data are listed in Table I. From the obtained results, it is seen that antenna 2 has an impedance bandwidth as large as 1091 MHz, which is nearly

about ten times that (115 MHz) of the reference antenna. Antennas 1 and 3 also have larger bandwidths than the reference antenna. This bandwidth enhancement is obtained mainly through the enhanced coupling between the microstrip feed line and the printed wide slot by the fork-like tuning stub. When dimensions of the fork-like tuning stub vary, the coupling changes and the input impedance curve can have different resonant loops on the Smith chart. From the results shown in Fig. 3, we can see that antenna 2 [Fig. 3(c)] has a tightest resonant loop around the center of the Smith chart among the reference and proposed antennas, which leads to a greatly enhanced impedance bandwidth of the proposed antenna. By comparing the results of antennas 1 and 2, it suggests that there exists an optimal spacing between the two branch sections of the fork-like tuning stub. Since, for antenna 2, the selected spacing is about one-third of the slot length, which may suggest that more uniform field distributions in the printed wide slot studied here can be obtained. This may be related to the reason for obtaining a tighter resonant loop around the center of the Smith chart for bandwidth enhancement. Also, by comparing antennas 2 and 3, it indicates that a much wider impedance bandwidth can be obtained by placing a of the fork-like tuning stub within the small straight section slot region in the opposite side of the printed square slot. As for of the two branch sections, it is mainly effective the length in fine-tuning the imaginary part of the input impedance. B. Radiation Characteristics of the Proposed Antenna Typical measured radiation patterns of the reference antenna and antennas 13 are plotted in Figs. 4 7, respectively. Note that a printed slot antenna without a reflecting plate is a bi-directional radiator, and the radiation patterns in both sides of the antenna are about the same. The proposed antenna also shows the same characteristic, and thus only the forward radiation patterns are plotted here. From these results, it is seen that the frequencies across the impedance bandwidths of the reference and proposed antennas (for antenna 2, it is valid for frequencies within 18212400 MHz) have same polarization planes and similar broadside radiation patterns. It is noted that, for the frequencies within the impedance bandwidth of antenna 2 larger than 2400 MHz, the radiation patterns are found to be tilted to a large angle, and the maximum radiation direction is no longer

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(a)

(b)

(c) Fig. 3.

(d)

Measured input impedance on Smith chart; parameters are given in Fig. 2. (a) Reference antenna. (b) Antenna 1. (c) Antenna 2. (d) Antenna 3.

(a)

(b)

Fig. 4. Measured y z plane (E -plane) and xz plane (H -plane) radiation patterns at 1670 MHz for the reference antenna.

in terms of the gain drop in the broadside direction less than 2 dBi compared to that in the maximum radiation direction, the operating bandwidth of antenna 2 with usable or acceptable broadside radiation patterns is still about 580 MHz (18212400 MHz), which is about five times that of the reference antenna. Fig. 8 also shows the measured peak antenna gains within the operating bandwidth of antenna 2. The gain variations are observed to be less than 1.5 dBi, with a peak antenna gain of about 5.0 dBi. IV. CONCLUSION

in the broadside direction of the slot antenna. This is probably because for higher frequencies in the impedance bandwidth of antenna 2, some undesired higher order modes of the printed wide-slot antenna are also excited, which could cause some distortions in the resultant radiation patterns. Also, the cross-polarization radiation, especially in the -plane ( - plane) pattern, increases with increasing operating frequencies. In this case,

A printed wide-slot antenna fed by a 50- microstrip line with a fork-like tuning stub for bandwidth enhancement has been demonstrated. Several design examples have been successfully implemented. Experimental results show that the impedance bandwidth of a printed wide-slot antenna can significantly be improved by selecting suitable dimensions of the proposed fork-like tuning stub for coupling of the

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(a)

(a)

(b)

(b)

(c) Fig. 5. Measured y z plane and xz plane radiation patterns for antenna 1. (a) f = 1665 MHz. (b) f = 1764 MHz. (c) f = 1862 MHz.

(c) Fig. 7. Measured y z plane and xz plane radiation patterns for antenna 3. (a) f = 1639 MHz. (b) f = 1773 MHz. (c) f = 1907 MHz.

(a)

(b) Fig. 8. Measured peak antenna gain against frequency for antenna 2.

Within this wide impedance bandwidth, the operating bandwidth with usable broadside radiation patterns is still about 580 MHz or about five times that of the corresponding conventional printed wide-slot antenna.
(c) Fig. 6. Measured y z plane and xz plane radiation patterns for antenna 2. (a) f = 1821 MHz. (b) f = 2100 MHz. (c) f = 2400 MHz.

REFERENCES
[1] M. Kahrizi, T. K. Sarkar, and Z. A. Maricevic, Analysis of a wide radiating slot in the ground plane of a microstrip line, IEEE Trans. Microwave Theory Tech., vol. 41, pp. 2937, 1993. [2] S. M. Shum, K. F. Tong, X. Zhang, and K. M. Luk, FDTD modeling of microstrip-line-fed wide-slot antenna, Microwave Opt. Technol. Lett., vol. 10, pp. 118120, 1995. [3] R. M. Sorbello, A. I. Zaghloul, J. Effland, and D. DiFonzo, A highefficiency flat plate array for direct broadcast satellite applications, in Proc. 1988 European Microwave Conf., pp. 295299. [4] R. M. Sorbello and A. I. Zaghloul, Wideband, high-efficiency, circularly polarized slot elements, in 1989 IEEE Antennas Propagat. Soc. Int. Symp. Dig., pp. 14731476.

electromagnetic energy from the microstrip feed line to the printed slot. For the optimal results obtained in this study, the impedance bandwidth (1:1.5 VSWR) can reach nearly 1.1 GHz for the proposed antenna with designed operating frequencies around 2 GHz, which is about ten times that of a corresponding conventional microstrip-line-fed printed wide-slot antenna.

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[5] T. N. Chang and C. P. Wu, Microstripline-fed circularly-polarized aperture antenna, in 1998 IEEE Antennas Propagat. Soc. Int. Symp. Dig., pp. 13721375. [6] J. Jun and Y. Lee, Triplate printed antenna with circular slot, in 1998 IEEE Antennas Propagat. Soc. Int. Symp. Dig., pp. 21282131. [7] K. L. Wong, J. Y. Wu, and C. K. Wu, A circularly polarized patchloaded square-slot antenna, Microwave Opt. Technol. Lett., vol. 23, pp. 363365, Dec. 20, 1999. [8] M. Yamazaki, E. T. Rahardjo, and M. Haneishi, Construction of a slotcoupled planar antenna for dual polarization, Electron. Lett., vol. 30, pp. 18141815, 1994. [9] J. R. Sanford and A. Tengs, A two substrate dual polarized aperture coupled patch, in 1996 IEEE Antennas Propagat. Soc. Int. Symp. Dig., pp. 15441547. [10] B. Lindmark, A novel dual polarized aperture coupled patch element with a single layer feed network and high isolation, in 1997 IEEE AP-S Int. Symp. Dig., 1997, pp. 21902193. [11] B. Lindmark, S. Lundgren, J. R. Sanford, and C. Beckman, Dual-polarized array for signal-processing applications in wireless communications, IEEE Trans. Antennas Propagat., vol. 46, pp. 758763, 1998. [12] S. D. Targonski, R. B. Waterhouse, and D. M. Pozar, Design of wide-band aperture-stacked patch microstrip antennas, IEEE Trans. Antennas Propagat., vol. 46, pp. 12451251, 1998.

Jia-Yi Sze (M99) was born in Kaohsiung, Taiwan, in 1963. He received the B.S. degree in automatic control engineering from Fong-Chia University, Taichung, Taiwan,, in 1984, the M.S. degree in electronic engineering from the Chung-Cheng Institute of Technology, Taoyuang, Taiwan, in 1986, and the Ph.D. degree in electrical engineering from National Sun Yat-Sen University, Kaohsiung, Taiwan, in 2001. Since 1986, he has been a Lecturer with the Department of Electrical Engineering, Chung-Cheng Institute of Technology, National Defense University, Taoyuang, Taiwan, and in 2001, he became an Associate Professor with the same department. His current research interests are in microstrip antenna theory and design and electromagnetic wave propagation.

Kin-Lu Wong (M91SM97) received the B.S. degree in electrical engineering from National Taiwan University, Taipei, Taiwan, in 1981, and the M.S. and Ph.D. degrees in electrical engineering from Texas Tech University, Lubbock, in 1984 and 1986, respectively. From 1986 to 1987, he was a Visiting Scientist with Max-Planck-Institute for Plasma Physics in Munich, Germany. Since 1987, he has been with the Department of Electrical Engineering at National Sun Yat-Sen University, Kaohsiung, Taiwan, where he became a Professor in 1991. He also served as Chairman of the Electrical Engineering Department from 1994 to 1997. From 1998 to 1999, he was a Visiting Scholar with the ElectroScience Laboratory, The Ohio State University, Columbus. He has published more than 200 refereed journal papers and numerous conference articles and has graduated 27 Ph.D. students. He also holds 15 patents and is the author of Design of Nonplanar Microstrip Antennas and Transmission Lines (New York: Wiley, 1999). Dr. Wong received the Outstanding Research Award from the National Science Council of the Republic of China in 1994 and 2000. He also received the Young Scientist Award from URSI in 1993, the Excellent Young Electrical Engineer Award from Chinese Institute of Electrical Engineers in 1998, the Excellent Textbook Award for Microstrip Antenna Experiment (in Chinese) from the Ministry of Education of the Republic of China in 1998, the Outstanding Research Award from the National Sun Yat-Sen University in 1994 and 2000. He is on the editorial board of the IEEE TRANSACTIONS ON MICROWAVE THEORY AND TECHNIQUE (1997~) and Microwave Optical Technology Letters (1999~). He is a member of the National Committee of the Republic of China for URSI, Microwave Society of the Republic of China, and Chinese Institute of Electrical Engineers. He is also on the Board of Directors (1995~) of the Microwave Society of the Republic of China. He is listed in Whos Who of the Republic of China and Marquis Whos Who in the World.