CAREER EPISODE 1

a) Introduction
C.E. 1.1
This career episode is written on the The design of 2.4 GHz Broadband Circular Polarized Microstrip
Patch Antenna. I worked on the project from (month, year) to (month, year) for a total period of (x)
days. The project was compulsory and required proper performance in order for me to complete my
final year of my Bachelors in Electronics and Communication Engineering from UCSI University. UCSI
University's Engineering degree programmes are accredited by Board of Engineers, Malaysia (BEM) -
one of Washington Accord signatories under the International Engineering Alliance (IEA). The
university provides excellence in engineering education in several branches. It is a teaching cum
research oriented university consisting of the constituent and affiliated colleges. Many major
engineering branches offered by the college include Electrical, Civil, Mechanical, Electronics,
Chemical, Physics and many more. The entire setup was located on the UCSI campus in a UCSI lab
using transparency film.

C.E. 1.2 The nature of overall engineering project

This was final year project that focused on following aspects:

a. Functional frequency of the antenna

b. Parameters concerned are bandwidth, frequency, directivity, gain, axial ratio, and return loss
c. Copper used as material of patch & ground while FR-4 used as material of substrate
d. The frequency of the antenna is 2.4 GHz
e. Perform simulation of size and performance of conventional and broadband circular polarized
microstrip patch antenna
f. Design implementation of of the 2.4GHz Broadband Circular Polarized Microstrip Patch Antenna

C.E. 1.3 The objectives of the project

The main objective of this project is to design a broadband antenna with circular polarization antenna.
The designed antenna need to be able to be simulated and meet all the basic requirement and design
specifications. The simulated design need to be able to be fabricated and measured. In the end, the
results between broadband circular polarized microstrip and basic microstip will be to compared to
find which one perform best performance. In order to achieve this objective, I need to perform
thorough review about the methods used by previous researcher to design a broadband antenna and
a circular polarized antenna. I also need to understand thoroughly about the concept of 2.4GHz
Broadband Circular Polarized Microstrip Patch Antenna. I also learnt some practical experience of
designing the simulation microstrip patch antenna for the basic microstrip and also for Broadband
and Circular Polarized Microstrip Antenna to implement and fabricate the design of the 2.4GHz
Broadband Circular Polarized Microstrip Patch Antenna.

C.E. 1.4 The nature of my work

1. I studied the different design of antenna such as rectangular microstrip patch antenna, broadband
rectangular microstrip patch antenna, circular polarized microstrip patch antenna, and broadband
 circular microstrip patch to understand thoroughly the design of the antenna before I perform a
simulation in CST software.
2. I spent a significant amount of time to observed the various operations of several measurements
and fabrications that I did such as return loss measurement using vector network analyzer and
expose the transparency film with UV using UV exposure machine.
3. I also learnt how to use CST Microwave Studio software properly.
4. I simulated several antenna designs in CST Microwave Studio to optimize antenna design.
5. I analyzed the simulation results and perform fabrication to justify the simulation results.

C.E. 1.5 Organizational Structure

The project was research based project. I was guided by my academic supervisor and coordinate with
her in the project from the beginning of the project till end. I also took technical assistance from lab
instructor. As a team member, I was able to organize a schedule for the timely completion of the
project. Figure shown below is the organization structure of this project.

Ms Nur
Izzati
Academic Supervisor

Me
Bachelor Student

C.E. 1.6 Statement of Duties

The main scope of this project was to optimizing the antenna design by simulate different antenna
design and fabricate the antenna design to justify simulation results.

The project was mainly divided in to three milestones:

1) Perform literature review about different antenna designs

2) Perform antenna designs simulation in CST Microwave Studio software.

3) Fabricate Antenna design and measuring several key parameters.

My responsibilities during the entire tenure of the project is summarized below:

a) Improving my skills in researching and reading technical document about antenna design.

b) Developing weekly report of managing all the project related work to my academic supervisor.

c) Proposed an optimized antenna design.

d) Fabricated optimized antenna design.
 e) Preparing weekly reports and presentations to coordinate with my academic supervisor.

b) Personal Engineering Activity

C.E. 1.7
I began my work on the project by preparing a synopsis with major project details. I worked hard to
made project schematics and project management plan. I arranged a project meeting with my project
supervisor to discuss project chores and sub-activities of the project. Gathering all details, I divided
whole work into sub-activities.

C.E. 1.8
I made a block diagram of the proposed methodology by highlighting major activities got it approved.
I arranged all the components according to it all through the project.
 Start

Literature review

No
Design Rectangular
Microstrip Patch
Antenna
Yes
No
Design Broadband
Rectangular Microstrip Patch
Antenna

Yes
No
Design Circular Polarized
microstrip Patch Antenna

Yes
No
Design Broadband
Circular Polarized
microstrip Patch Antenna
Yes
No

CST Simulation

Yes

Optimize Antennas Design

Antennas Fabricate

No

Measurement

Yes

Data Analysis

End
C.E. 1.9
There are four antenna design investigated in this project which are rectangular microstrip patch
antenna, broadband rectangular microstrip patch antenna, circular polarized microstrip patch
antenna, and broadband circular polarized microstrip patch antenna. I designed those four design in
CST Microwave Studio software based on literature review that I did before. The first milestone of this
project is literature review. I conducted literature review by reading latest academic paper in electrical
engineering portal such as IEEE and IET to gain knowledge about how to simulate all of those antenna
designs properly. I also gathered some practical knowledge about how to operate several tools I used
such as UV exposure machine, CST Microwave Station Software, and vector network analyzer.

C.E. 1.10
In the second milestone, I was responsible to simulate those four design and evaluated key
parameters such as gain ratio, return losses, and bandwidth. There are four methods to increase the
bandwidth value of antenna, I used two methods which are increase substrate thickness and
multiplying layer of dielectric substrates to enhance the bandwidth of the antenna. It turns out that
by using those methods, bandwidth increased at frequency of 2.4 GHz. Figure 1 below shows the
bandwidth and return loss between two different heights (1.6m, 3.2m,)

Figure 1. Bandwidth and return losses at different heights

C.E. 1.11
In the last milestone, I fabricated the antenna design that I simulated to justify the results that I got
from simulation and compare between the simulation results and measurement results. I found that
there is difference between simulation and measurement result, the simulation results tend to show
better results compare to measurement results. This is because in simulation, there are certain
parameter that assumed as ideal which may different in real circumstances. Figure 2 shows the
differences between measurement result and simulation result. For future work, I recommend my
academic supervisor to continue this research and observing more method to enhance bandwidth
value such as modifying type of substrate and dielectric constant.
 Figure 2. Differences between measurement result and simulation result

C.E. 1.12
After finalizing all three milestones, I organized a final report, authenticating all the steps of the
project and the final result and recommendations. I also presented this final report at UCSI Campus
to my academic supervisor and Engineering department; and it was then reviewed and approved by
my academic supervisor.

C.E. 1.13
I always practiced work safety rules and regulations while working on this project. I followed soldering
safety precautions and never touched the element or tip of the soldering iron as they were very hot.
I always ensured that all the hot wires should be held by tweezers or by using clamps.

C.E. 1.14
I conducted a comprehensive study about basic principles how to design the antenna.

I completed empirical study about antenna design such as such as calculating width of patch,
length of patch, and the effective length of the antenna.

I simulated four different prepared graphical results obtained after the empirical study was done
and placed them in the project report.

I also read IEEE 149 1979 Standard that explain about test procedures for antenna to ensure the
measurement that I did in this project comply with IEEE standard.
I compared the measurement results that I obtained with simulation results.
I recommend some future improvements for future work such as modifying type of substrate and
dielectric constant to enhance the bandwidth value of the antenna.
I optimized the antenna design by using two methods which are increase substrate thickness and
multiplying layer of dielectric substrates.

I had regular meetings with my academic supervisor and lab technician to discuss regarding the
project and sharing of knowledge.
C.E. 1.15 Technical Difficulties/Problem Solved:
1. Problem Statement: The challenge of this project to ensure that measurement results and
simulation results still comparable.

Solution: I checked all of the tools that I used to fabricated antenna design and measured several
parameters such as UV exposure machine, etching machine, and vector network analyzer. I also
plotted the measurement results and simulation results in same graphs to analyze the result easily.
Therefore, measurement results still comparable to simulation results.

C.E. 1.16 Original/Creative design work:

I provided a final project report explaining the details of the existing problem and my proposed
solutions in regards of how to optimizing antenna design and evaluating antenna design. I also
provided power point to present my project to academic supervisor. Moreover, I proposed an
optimization design of the antenna that described in my final project report.

C.E. 1.17 Coordination with team members:

I coordinated with my academic supervisor following standard communication protocol. Some
important tasks delegated to me during the project were also ended well. I utilized all major concepts
of electronics engineering, mathematics, software proficiency besides project management
techniques learnt during my coursework while developing this key project. I at all times made sure
that all the project tasks of the project should go as per the professional code of ethics as well as each
one of them should follow work compliance at every level. I also discussed about this project to other
academic staff and students.
c) Summary
C.E. 1.18 Personal Overview of Project
This project was my final project to obtain bachelor degree which was very effective in terms of
theoretical and practical point of view. I was responsible to study and understand the antenna design
along with its key parameters. During this project, I improved my knowledge on how to optimize the
antenna design that has higher bandwidth value. Furthermore, I learned how to solve some electrical
related problems. Like telecommunication and antenna design challenge and opportunities available
related to the field in future. Planned meetings with my academic supervisor and subsequent time
table was really beneficial to the completion of this project.

C.E. 1.19 Project Goals accomplished

I completed the proposed objectives of the project which to optimized the antenna design by
simulating and fabricating four different antenna designs. In order to do that, I compared the result
between simulation and measurement results, evaluate four different antenna designs and enhance
the bandwidth value of antenna design by multiplying the layer and increase the thickness.

C.E. 1.20 Personal role in contribution to the Project:

All in all, I played major role to handle main project tasks in this project. I managed to complete all of
my tasks in this project by providing efficient solutions to all the problems. I demonstrated good
performance as a team member to finish this project. I learnt about the important of non-technical
skill such as communication and interpersonal skills during this project. I realized that non-technical
skill plays more important role during the execution of the project. Therefore, I always involve my
academic supervisor to solve various problems together. I also got an opportunity to be acquainted
with the professional-standard technical documents.