Practical Novel Design Component of Microstrip Patch Slot

Antenna MSPSA for RFID Applications

Raied A. R. Ibrahim Student Member IEEE
1
, Mustapha C.E. Yagoub, Member IEEE
2
1
Carleton University, Ottawa, Ontario,
2
University of Ottawa, Ottawa, Ontario, Canada,
ribrahim@doe.carleton.ca
Abstract---This paper presents and
demonstrates the necessity of microstrip
patch and slot antennas for RFID
applications. Various microstrip patch and
slot antennas fed by a feed line designed on a
2.2 permittivity Rogers Duriod substrate are
considerably studied and comprehensively
analyzed as new and authentic new design
approaches antennas. The antennas have been
designed using the 3D EM High Frequency
Structure Simulator (HFSS) V11. The
microstrip patch (MSPA) design 1 provides a
total antenna gain of 1.87 dBi, a return loss
(S11) of -5.5 dB. while the micro strip patch
slot antenna (MSPSA) design 2 have achieved
a total antenna gain of 6.017 dBi and a return
loss (S11) of -23.8 dB at 865 MHz for 60 mm
patch length. The other micro strip patch slot
antennas (MSPSA) designs have achieved a
total antenna gain of 5.92 dBi, 4.48 dBi and at
S11 12 dB, 6.87 dB respectively. Modeling and
optimization of the one slot MSPSA design 2
have produced the most optimized results
hence the MSPSA design 2 is an attractive
antenna solution for RFID applications.
1. INTRODUCTION
Radio Frequency IDentitifation (RFID)
technology has been commercialized in areas of
mobile communications, logistics,
manufacturing, transportation, and health care
[1]. RFID system generally uses frequencies
between 30 Hz and 5.8 GHz depending on its
applications. Basically RFID system is a tag or
transponder and a transceiver or reader. The tag
consists of an antenna combined with an
application-specific integrated circuit (ASIC)
chip. RFID system components can be seen in
Figure 1.
Microstrip patch and slot antennas are
increasing in recognition for use in wireless
applications namely RFID applications
especially in UHF band due to their low-profile
structure. Antennas for communications on
telecom and military applications requires thin
and conformal structure and microstrip patch
antennas are the most suitable antennas to meet
these criterias. Another area where they have
been used successfully is in Satellite
Communications. Conventional microstrip patch
antennas (MSPA) have a conducting patch
printed on grounded microwave substrate.
Microstrip patch slot antenna (MSPSA) by
utilizing slot techniques antenna design can be a
modified version of microstrip patch antenna by
enhancing bandwidth and reducing antenna size.
Backward Link Forward Link
Figure 1: RFID System Components
2. MODELING AND SIMULATION
It is vital to model and simulate the
microstrip patch antenna (MSPA) with the
combination of slot antennas technique for
optimized performance. The range of resonate
frequency of operation is 860 MHz to 960MHz.
The MSPA has been further optimized utilizing
slot antenna technique. This paper proposes three
different microstrip patch slot antennas
(MSPSA) that has been comparatively analyzed
and modeled using HFSS V11. The first design
initiates microstrip patch antenna with its
rectangular and square patches shape. It is
simulated using Rogers Duroid substrate. The
modeling occurs with the length of rectangular
are 50 mm 100mm, while the square part has its
length of equal measurements of 60mm. Figure 4
shows the compact shape of new microstrip
patch antenna MSPA.
Reader
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978-1-4244-5377-1/10/$26.00 2010 IEEE
2.1 Design 1: MicroStrip Patch Antenna
MSPA
MSPA has been formed by integrating
square patch and rectangular patch. These two
patch combination form a microstrip patch
antenna (MSPA) on Rogers Duriod substrate
with a coaxial port excitation feed in the square
patch area is shown in Figure 2. The modeling
and simulation results for the MSPA have been
done in HFSS. The MSPA antenna without
optimized impedance matching has reflection
coefficient RL (S11) -5.5 dB that is shown in
Figure 4.
Figure 2: MSPA in HFSS modeling
The feed point is positioned where the
input impedance is 50 ohms for the resonant
frequency where the RL is most negative below -
10 dB. Figure 3 shows the center of MSPA
approximately.
Figure 3: MSPA model in HFSS and port
excitation.
The initial design of MSPA without any
slotting has produced a reflection coefficient
(S11) below the nominal value of -10 dB which
indicates that this design has caused return losses
to be increased and the antenna behave as a non
good resonator. This means increased level of
back radiation as the compact patch (MSPA) do
not radiate efficiently and below 10 dB return
loss bandwidth.
Figure 4: Return Loss S11 for MSPA design 1
modeled using HFSS environment
Another drawback of this antenna
MSPA design 1 is that total antenna gain has a
value of 1.87 dBi and this drop in gain is due to
an increased level of back radiation and the
compact MSPA is not behaving as a good
radiator. The total antenna gain is shown in the
smith chart in Figure 5 which represents the
radiation pattern of microstrip patch antenna
(MSPA) design 1.
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Ansoft Corporation HFSSDesign6 Radiation Pattern 1
m1
Curve Inf o
dB(GainTotal)
Setup1 : LastAdaptive
Phi='0deg'
dB(GainTotal)
Setup1 : LastAdaptive
Phi='10deg'
dB(GainTotal)
Setup1 : LastAdaptive
Phi='20deg'
dB(GainTotal)
Setup1 : LastAdaptive
Phi='30deg'
dB(GainTotal)
Setup1 : LastAdaptive
Phi='40deg'
dB(GainTotal)
Setup1 : LastAdaptive
Phi='50deg'
dB(GainTotal)
Setup1 : LastAdaptive
Phi='60deg'
dB(GainTotal)
Setup1 : LastAdaptive
Phi='70deg'
dB(GainTotal)
Setup1 : LastAdaptive
Phi='80deg'
dB(GainTotal)
Setup1 : LastAdaptive
Phi='90deg'
Name Theta Ang Mag
m1 0.0000 0.0000 1.8773
Figure 5: Radiation Pattern with a total
Antenna Gain of MSPA design 1 modeled
using HFSS environment
2.2 Design 2: MicroStrip Patch Slot Antenna
MSPSA
MicroStrip Patch Slot Antenna
(MSPSA) has been formed by integrating square
patch and rectangular patch. These two patch
combination form a microstrip patch antenna
(MSPA) on Rogers Duriod substrate with a
coaxial port excitation feed in the square patch
area and inserting a slot in the square patch area
is shown in Figure 6. The MSPSA has been
modeled by having one slot in the square part of
the antenna with a dimension of 6 mm width and
47 mm length. This design is shown in Figure 6.
Figure 6: MSPSA with one slot in square
patch modeled in HFSS
The MSPSA design 2 has been
structured by inserting slot technique using one
slot in the square patch and leaving the
rectangular patch without any slotting technique.
The MSPSA design 2 structure has been
modeled using HFSS environment. This design
has produced a return loss (S11) of -23.8 dB at
865 MHz as shown in Figure 7. The slot in the
patch introduces an additional capacitive
reactance that compensates the inductive
reactance contributed by the shorting pin and the
probe thus improved S11 impedance matching
[6]. In Figure 7 markers such as m1, m2, m3,m4,
m5 m6, m7, m8, m9, m10 and m11. For example
m1 reads -10.83 dB at the frequency 861 MHz,
m2 reads the highest and most optimized value
of -23.83 dB at the frequency of 865 MHz. M3
reads a flat value of zero dB at 990 MHZ while
m4 reads the same value of m2 the highest value
of S11 for the best return loss for this design.
m5, m9 and m11 have the lowest values of -0.42
dB, -0.47dB, -0.37 dB at 826 MHZ, 828MHz,
and 928 MHz respectively. Like m1 the values of
m6, m7, m8 and m10 are -10.47 dB, 9.08 dB,-
10.83, and -13.14 dB at the frequencies 869
MHz, 860 MHZ, 861MHz & 862 MHz. These
values apart from the peak value show that this
MSPSA design 2 has a good margin of being
above -10 dB in the negative of S11 in dB
against its corresponding frequencies. It
indicated clearly that m2 and m4 of S11 reflects
that best value.
Figure 7: Design 2 MSPSA S11 Return Loss
The MSPSA design 2 with one slot has a total
antenna gain of 6.17 dBi as shown in Figure 8. In
this figure it is apparent that the values of total
antenna gain have ranged from 5.9 dBi to 6.017
dBi with different angles from 0- 360 degree.
This reflects that this design (MSPSA design 2)
with one slot in the square patch behave like a
good resonator and the rectangular patch play the
role of reflecting the radiated power in the main
area of excitation near the wave port. Figure 8
presents the radiation pattern of microstrip patch
slot antenna (MSPSA) design 2 with a total
antenna gain of 6.017 dBi.
Figure 8: Radiation Pattern with a total
Antenna (MSPSA) Design modeled using
HFSS environment
2.3 Design 3: MicroStrip Patch Slot Antenna
MSPSA with two slots
MicroStrip Patch Slot Antenna
(MSPSA) has been formed by integrating square
patch and rectangular patch. These two patch
combination form a microstrip patch antenna
(MSPA) on Rogers Duriod substrate with a
coaxial port excitation feed in the square patch
area and inserting two slots in the square patch
and rectangular patch areas as shown in Figure 9.
In this design the two slots have been initiated on
square with a dimension of 6 mm width and 60
mm both sides and rectangular with a dimension
of 6 mm width and 47 mm length patches and
can be seen in Figure 9.
Figure 9: Design 3 MSPSA with 2 slots
modeled in HFSS
The MSPSA design 3 has been
structured with two slots in the square patch and
the rectangular patch. The MSPSA design 3
compact structure has been modeled using HFSS
environment. This design has produced a return
loss (S11) of -12.11 dB at 954 MHz as shown in
Figure 10. The slot dimensions were of 6 mm
width and 47 mm length for the square patch and
a dimension of 6 mm width and 47 mm length,
50 mm width for rectangular patches
820.00 840.00 860.00 880.00 900.00 920.00 940.00 960.00 980.00 1000.00
Freq [MHz]
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))
Ansoft Corporation HFSSDesign8 XY Plot 5
m2
Curve Inf o
dB(S(WavePort1,WavePort1))
Setup1 : Sweep1
Name X Y
m2 953.0000 -12.1145
Figure 10: MSPSA Design 3 (S11) Return
Loss modeled using HFSS environment
The impedance matching known as -10 dB return
loss bandwidth is a function of electrical
thickness of substrate the thicker substrate
material, the greater the gain of the design 3
MSPSA antenna. The gain of design 3 MSPSA
has a value of 5.92 dBi as shown in Figure 11.
Figure 11: Radiation Pattern (MSPSA)
Design 3 with a total antenna gain modeled
using HFSS environment
As can be noticed from figure 11, MSPSA
design 3 has a fairly large collecting area and
therefore larger gain from design 1 MSPA
antenna. The gain increases due to the volume of
the antenna is large [7, 8].
2.4 Design 4: MicroStrip Patch Slot Antenna
MSPSA with four slots.
MicroStrip Patch Slot Antenna (MSPSA) has
been formed by integrating square patch and
rectangular patch. These two patch combination
form a microstrip patch antenna (MSPA) on
Rogers Duriod substrate with a coaxial port
excitation feed in the square patch area and
inserting two slots in the square patch and
rectangular patch areas as shown in Figure 9.
In design 4 of MSPSA the slots have been
initiated as one slot on square patch and 3 slots
on rectangular patch with a dimension of 6 mm
width and 60 mm length for both sides and
rectangular with a dimension of 6 mm slot width
and 47 mm length, 6 mm width 50 mm width for
both sides patches and can be seen in Figure 12.
Figure 12: Design 4 of MSPSA with 4 slots
modeled in HFSS environment
The MSPSA design 4 with four slots with the
one slot on square patch and 3 slots on
rectangular patch with a dimension of 6 mm
width and 60 mm length for both sides and
rectangular with a dimension of 6 mm slot width
and 47 mm length, 6 mm width 50 mm width
patches has a return loss (S11) of -8.7 dB as
shown in Figure 13.
820.00 840.00 860.00 880.00 900.00 920.00 940.00 960.00 980.00 1000.00
Freq [MHz]
-9.00
-8.00
-7.00
-6.00
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(S
(W
a
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rt1
,W
a
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o
rt1
))
Ansoft Corporation HFSSDesign7 XY Plot 5
m2
Curve Inf o
dB(S(WavePort1,WavePort1))
Setup1 : Sweep1
Name X Y
m2 943.0000 -8.6948
Figure 13: MSPSA Design 4 S11 Return Loss
The radiation pattern of MSPSA design 4 has
produced a total antenna gain of a value of 4.48
dBi as shown in Figure 14.
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Ansoft Corporation HFSSDesign7 Radiation Pattern 1
m1
m1: total antenna gain = 4.48 dBi
Curve Inf o
dB(GainTotal)
Setup1 : LastAdaptive
Name Theta Ang Mag
m1 0.0000 0.0000 4.6840
Figure 14: Radiation Pattern of MSPSA
Design 4 with a total antenna gain modeled
using HFSS environment
3. DISCUSSIONS AND CONCLUSION
The microstrip patch (MSPA) design 1
provides a gain of 1.87 dBi, a return loss (S11)
of -5.7 dB while the microstrip patch slot
antenna (MSPSA) design 2 have achieved a total
antenna gain of 6.017 dBi and a return loss
(S11) of -23.8 dB at 865 MHz for 120 mm patch
length. Thus introducing one slot technique, as in
design 2 improves both return loss and antenna
gain S11 respectively. MSPSA Design 3 has
achieved a total antenna gain of 5.92 dBi and a
return loss (S11) of -12 dB. MSPSA Design 4
has achieved a total antenna gain of 4.68 dBi and
a return loss (S11) of -8.7 dB. The other micro
strip patch slot antennas (MSPSA) designs have
achieved a total antenna gain of 5.92 dBi, 4.68
dBi and at S11 12 dB, 6.87 dB respectively.
Therefore antenna design 2 MicroStrip Patch
Slot Antenna (MSPSA) has produced the most
optimized results and is suitable for RFID
applications.
4. References
[1] MD. Shamim Shahriar Hossain, and Dr
Nemai Karmakar, An Overview on RFID
Frequency Regulations and Antennas. 4th
International Conference on Electrical and
Computer Engineering, ICECE 2006, 19-21
December 2006.
[2] R.B..Waterhouse, Microstrip Patch
Antennas A Designers Guide, Kluwer
Academic Publishers, 2003.
[3] R.A.R. Ibrahim, M.C.E. Yagoub, R.W.Y.
Habash Microstrip Patch Antenna for RFID
Applications 3-6 May 2009.
[4] C. A. Balanis, Antenna theory: analysis and
design, John Wiley and Sons, New York, 1996.
[5] Kin-Lu Wong, Compact and Broadband
Microstrip Antennas, John Wiley & Sons, New
York, 2002.
[6] Jean-Francois Zurcher, Fred E. Gardiol,
Broadband Patch Antennas, Artech House,
Boston, London, 1995.
[7] Budak, E.; Catay, B.; Tekin, I.;
Yenigun, H.; Abbak, M.; Drannikov, S.;,
Microstrip Patch Antenna for RFID
Applications 2007.
[8] Lorean I. Basilio, Michael A. Khayat, Jeffery
T. Willianms, and Stuart A. Long, The
Dependence of the Input Impedance on Feed
Position of Probe and Microstrip Line-Fed Patch
Antennas IEEE Trans. Antennas Propagation
,VOL.49,NO.1,January 2001.