Compact Wideband Rectangular Dielectric Resonator

Antenna with Slots and Air Gaps for C-band

Applications
Jitendra Kumar
Department of Electrical and Electronics Engineering,
Birla Institute of Technology and Science, Pilani,
Rajasthan 333031, India
jitu.kumar87@gmail.com

AbstractAn approach to improve the bandwidth and gain of

Dielectric Resonator Antenna (DRA) using air gap slots are
presented. Air gap slots can be used to widen the DRA bandwidth
or to tune the DRA frequency. This new structure offers a good
impedance bandwidth and wide-band DRA. In addition, the
projected antenna has a quite higher and more stable gain than
that of reference antenna. The characteristics of the antenna are
analysis using CST Microwave StudioTM in terms of reflection
coefficient, gain and impedance bandwidth and are compared with
the computational value. It is observed that the new proposed
configuration reduces the DRA volume by 25% and at the same
time enhances the gain up to 7.2dB and bandwidth significantly up
to 31% with slot cut in DR. The proposed antenna is considered as
a good candidate for wideband wireless communication systems.
Keywords Bandwidth Enhancement; Dielectric Resonator
Antenna (DRA); High Gain; Slot-Technique

I. INTRODUCTION
Dielectric Resonator Antennas (DRAs) have been widely
investigated by numerous antenna designers in the microwave
and millimeter frequency bands due to their attractive features
like high radiation efficiency, light weight, small size, low
temperature coefficient of frequency, wide impedance
bandwidth, zero conductor loss and no excitation of surface
waves [1-3]. Significant efforts for DRAs have been devoted to
achieve wide bandwidth enhancements in the past such as fractal
approach on DRA [4], introducing an air gap between the DRA
and ground plane [5], using multiple layers DRA [6], using
collinear parasitic elements [7], and by stacking parasitic DR
elements [8]. In order to further improve the bandwidth and other
radiation characteristics, rectangular DRA with slot-technique
iteration for wideband applications is proposed. The rectangularshaped DRAs offer practical advantages over cylindrical and
hemispherical ones in that they are easier to fabricate and have
more design flexibility.
In this work, a rectangular DRA fed by coaxial-probe is
developed and its characteristics have been investigated with the
help of simulations performed on CST Microwave StudioTM. The

Navneet Gupta
Department of Electrical and Electronics Engineering,
Birla Institute of Technology and Science, Pilani,
Rajasthan 333031, India
ngupta@pilani.bits-pilani.ac.in
characteristics of the antenna are simulated and discussed in
terms of return loss, gain and bandwidth. Iterations of cutting slot
in Dielectric Resonator (DR) are embedded on single structure of
DRA.
II. ANTENNA CONFIGURATION
A general expression linking the unloaded Q to the antenna
basic geometrical features is [9]:
Q = 2o

Stored Energy
Volume
2o ( r ) p

Radiated Power
Surface

with p > s 1

where o is the resonant angular frequency, and r is the

dielectric constant. Since the resonance frequency is roughly
proportional to 1/

. Therefore, with reference to equation,

we expect that the Q-factor is decreased when volume of DRA is

reduced and this is further increases the bandwidth.

Fig. 1 The configuration of the probe-fed rectangular DRA

(a)

(b)

(c)

Fig. 2 Evolution of the proposed antenna by cutting rectangular and hemicylindrical slots

(a)

(b)

ow the reflection coefficient

Figures 5, 6, 7 and 9 also sho
curve versus frequency for the rectaangular antenna with different
slots that are shown in Figures 2(a), 2(b), 2(c) and 3(b)
respectively. An impedance bandwid
dth of 9% to 31% is obtained,
which is wide enough for normal DRA applications.It is also
observed that multi resonances at 3.8 GHz and 4.6 GHz exist in
the frequency band for Figure 3(b
b) while for rectandular slot
antenna shown in Figure 2(c), onlly one resonance exist. Both
DRA as shown in Figures 7 and 9 achieve a -10dB impedance
bandwidth of about 31% as comp
pared to antennas shown in
Figures 2(a) and 2(b) which could achieve
a
impedance bandwidth
about 12.5% and 20% respectively as
a shown in Figures 5 and 6.

Fig. 3 Evolution of the proposed antenna by cutting rectangullar slots

Figure 2 presents the evolution of the propposed antenna by

cutting hemi-cylindrical slots in the DR with dieelectric resonator
antenna. Rectangular slots have of length L andd width W while
hemi-cylindrical slots are of radius r. Figuree 3 presents the
proposed antenna with cutting rectangular slots in the DR.
Optimized parameters dimensions for the projeccted antenna are:
1. DR has size of 40x40x15mm3
2. Cut1=Cut2 has size of 7.5x10x15mm3 .
3. Cut3=Cut4 has size of r =10mm and heeight=15mm.
4. Cut5=Cut6 has size of 10x7.5x15mm3 .
5. Ground plane has size of 60x60x2mm3

-20
-30
-40
-50
3.5

Figure 4 shows the reflection coefficiennt curve versus

frequency for the reference antenna that is shown in Figures 1.
Multi-band impedance bandwidth of less than 10% is obtained,
which is not wide enough for normal DR
RA applications.
Computational impedance band width is 12%
% for resonance
frequency fr = 2.9GHz is calculated by DWM method [11]. So
for enhancement in bandwidth and gain, slots aare introduced in
DR.

5.5

0
-10
-20
-30
4

4.55

5.5

Frequenccy (GHz)
Fig. 5 Reflection coefficient of rectangular DRA as a function of frequency shown
in Fig. 2 (a) and 3 (a)
0

III. RESULTS AND DISCUSSION

-10
|S11| (dB)

The design of the structure is based on the facct that the overall
equivalent dielectric constant of DRA is decreaased due to slots
and enhances the bandwidth because dielecctric constant is
inversely proportional to bandwidth.

4.55

Fig. 4 Reflection coefficient of reference DR

RA as a function of frequency shown
in Fig. 1

3.5

Thus, the dimensions of the projected anteenna are 30 mm

width, 40 mm length, and 15 mm height w
with a dielectric
constant of 9.8, and it is supported by a 60 60 mm2 ground
plane.

Frequency
y (GHz)

|S11| (dB)

Figure 1 shows the schematic view of refereence DRA having

length a, width b and height d located at the ceenter of the finite
ground plane. As per our recent study [10] we found that Roger
TMM10i having dielectric constant ( r ) of 9.8 is the best
possible material for wideband DRA.

|S11| (dB)

-10

-20
-30
-40
3.5

4.55

5.5

Frequenccy (GHz)
Fig. 6 Reflection coefficient of rectangular DRA as a function of frequency shown
in Fig. 2 (b)

|S11| (dB)

0
-5
-10
-15
-20
-25
-30
-35
-40
3.5

4.5

5.5

6.5

Frequency (GHz)
Fig. 7 Reflection coefficient of rectangular DRA as a functionn of frequency shown
in Fig. 2 (c)

Figures 8 and 10 show the far-field aantenna gain of

rectangular DRA at 5GHz and 4.7GHz respectiively for antenna
shown in Figure 2(c) and 3(b) where gain is apprroximately 6.4dB
and 7.2dB.

The comparative performance ev

valuations of the five designs
are summarized in Table 1. Th
he table clearly shows the
advantages of the proposed design over
o
the conventional DRA. It
can be observed that the bandwidth
h impedance can be increased
up to 31% compared to using the reference
r
DRA. Also, there is
improvement in gain for both design
ned antennas using iteration 3
and 4 compared with that of the co
onventional DRA. Evidently,
the final proposed DRA are much better
b
than the reference DRA
in terms of bandwidth impedance an
nd gain. From the dimensions
of DRA, it can be observed that, by using the final DRA the
volume was decreased by almost 25% compared to reference
DRA. Compared to the other stru
uctures, the proposed design
balances the size/gain/bandwidth trade-off by providing the
smallest volume together with reasonable gain and impedance
bandwidth. These features are suitaable for wireless applications
operating between 3.7 to 5.1 GHz.
TABLE I.

SUMMARY OF THE STA

ATE OF THE ART OF DRA SLOTTECHNOLOGY FOR DIFFER
RENT ITERATIONS

Design and
Iterations

Resonance Frequenccy
(fc)

Bandwidth
Fractional

Gain

Rectangular

3.7GHz,
4.1GHz

BW <<
10% for all
bands.

----

Figure 1

4.5GH
Hz
and
Hz
4.85GH

Multi band
Iteration-1

|S11| (dB)

Fig. 8 Far-field gain characteristic of rectangular DRA at 5GH

Hz in Fig. 2 (c)
0
-5
-10
-15
-20
-25
-30

Figure 2(a)
and 3(a)
Iteration-2
Figure 2(b)

Iteration-3
3.5

4.5

5.5

Frequency (GHz)

Hz
4.9GH
Dual Band

4GHz

4.6GH
Hz

12.5% @3.4 GHz

3% @4.92 GHz

20%

~4.5dB

31%

~6.4dB

31%

~7.2dB

Dual Resonancee
5.1GHz

Figure 2(c)
Iteration-4
Figure 3(b)

Fig. 9 Reflection coefficient of rectangular DRA as a functionn of frequency in Fig.

3 (b)

4.2GHz

3.7GHz

4.6GH
Hz

Multi Resonance

USION
IV. CONCLU

Fig. 10 Far-field gain characteristic of rectangular DRA at 4.77GHz in Fig. 3 (b)

A technique for the bandwidth

h and gain enhancement of
Dielectric Resonator Antennas usin
ng a slot has been proposed
and demonstrated. For this study, we
w examine the air gap slots
(semi-cylindrical and rectangular)) based dielectric resonator
antenna on a conducting ground plan
ne excited by a coaxial probe.
It has been found that by the new prroposed configuration reduces
the DRA volume by 25% and at thee same time enhances the gain
up to 7.2dB and bandwidth significantly up to 31% with slot cut
in DR. Thus, the slot-technique can
c be utilized to widen the

impedance bandwidth or to tune the resonant frequency of the

antenna. Finally, this method can be further improved to
overcome shortcomings by employing design modification,
modeling, and optimization of design parameters.
ACKNOWLEDGMENT
The authors would like to thank Biswajeet Mukherjee from
IIITDM Jabalpur, India for his help in getting simulation work
reported in this paper.
REFERENCES
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Jitendra Kumar is currently working towards the

Ph.D. degree in the Department of Electrical and
Electronics Engineering, Birla Institute of Technology
and Science, Pilani, (BITS-Pilani) Rajasthan, India. He
received the Associate degree in Electronics and
Telecommunication from The Institution of Electronics
and Telecommunication Engineers (IETE), New Delhi,
India, in 2008 and M.Tech. degree in Microwave
Electronics from University of Delhi, South Campus,
India, in 2010. His research interests are dielectric
resonator antennas and design of microwave planner and passive components.

Dr. Navneet Gupta obtained M.Sc. (PhysicsElectronics) in 1995 from H.N.B Garhwal Central
University (HNBGU), Srinagar, India with first rank
in the University. He received M.Tech in Materials
Technology in 1998 from Indian Institute of
Technology (IIT-BHU) (formerly IT-BHU). He did
his Ph.D. in the field of Semiconductor Devices in
2005 from HNBGU. Presently, he is Assistant
Professor and Convenor-Departmental Research
Committee in Electrical and Electronics Engineering
Department, Birla Institute of Technology and
Science, Pilani, (BITS-Pilani) Rajasthan, India. He has guided 1 Ph.D. student
and is currently guiding 4 Ph.D. candidates. He is on doctoral advisory
committee for 6 Ph.D. students. He completed 2 sponsored research projects
from UGC and DST. His research interests include Semiconductor Device
Modelling, RF-MEMS, Material Selection and Antenna Design. He is life
member of several international and national professional bodies. He has over 59
research publications (of which 29 are in reputed peer reviewed international and
national journals with good impact factors, and 30 in conference proceedings.).
He has published six books in the areas of engineering physics and electronics
engineering. He received Bharat Jyoti Award in 2011 by IIFS, New Delhi, India,
DST Young Scientist Award (Fast track Scheme) in Physical Sciences in 2007
and Gold Medal in M.Sc. His biography is included in Marquis Who's Who in
World and Marquis Who's Who in Science and Engineering. He is expert
reviewer of over 5 International Journals. He reviewed three books of Oxford
University Press, Pearson Education and Tata McGraw Hill publishers.