International Journal of Scientific and Research Publications, Volume 3, Issue 11, November 2013 1

ISSN 2250-3153

Dual Frequency Hexagonal Microstrip Patch Antenna

Sanchita Basu*, Ashish Srivastava**, Abhishek Goswami**
*
ECE, Future Institute of Engineering & Management, Kolkata
**
ECE, Future Institute of Engineering & Management, Kolkata

Abstract— The study of Microstrip patch antennas have made

great progress in recent years. Compared with conventional
antennas, Microstrip patch antennas have more advantages and
better prospects. They are lighter in weight, low volume, low
cost, low profile, smaller in dimension and ease of fabrication
and conformity. Moreover, the Microstrip patch antennas can
provide dual and circular polarizations, dual-frequency
operation, frequency agility, broad band-width, feed line
flexibility, and beam scanning omnidirectional patterning. In this
Fig:-1 Structure of Microstrip Patch Antenna
paper we discuss the Microstrip antenna, types of Microstrip
antenna, feeding techniques and application of Microstrip patch
antenna with their advantage and disadvantages and the benefits
In order to simplify analysis and performance prediction, the
of using slots.
patch is generally square, rectangular, circular, triangular,
elliptical or some other common shape as shown in figure below.
Index Terms- Antenna, Slots, MSA, Dielectric, Patch,
For a rectangular patch, the length L of the patch is usually
Substrate, Feed.
0.3333λ0 < L < 0.5λ0, where λ0 is the free-space wavelength.
The patch is selected to be very thin such that t << λ0 (where t is
the patch thickness). The height h of the dielectric substrate is
I. INTRODUCTION
usually 0.003λ0 ≤ h ≤ 0.05λ0. The dielectric constant of the

A n antenna is an electrical device which converts electric

power into radio waves, and vice versa. It is usually used
with a radio transmitter or radio receiver.
substrate (εr) is typically in the range 2.2 ≤ εr ≤ 12.

I.1 Microstrip Patch Antenna

The study of Microstrip patch antennas has made great progress

in recent years. Compared with conventional antennas,
Microstrip patch antennas have more advantages and better
prospects. They are lighter in weight, low volume, low cost,
low profile, smaller in dimension and ease of fabrication and
conformity. Moreover, the Microstrip patch antennas can
provide dual and circular polarizations, dual-frequency
operation, frequency agility, broad band-width, feed line Fig-2 Common shapes of Microstrip Patch Elements
flexibility, and beam scanning omnidirectional patterning. Few
points- Advantages:-
Microstrip patch antennas are increasing in popularity for use in
• A Microstrip patch antenna consists of a radiating wireless applications due to their low-profile structure.
patch on one side of a dielectric substrate which has a Therefore they are extremely compatible for embedded antennas
ground plane on the other side. in handheld wireless devices such as cellular phones, pagers etc.
• The patch is generally made of conducting material The telemetry and Square Rectangular Dipole Circular
such as copper or gold and can take any possible Triangular Circular Ring Elliptical 33 communication antennas
shape. on missiles need to be thin and conformal and are often
• The radiating patch and the feed lines are usually Microstrip patch antennas. Another area where they have been
photo etched on the dielectric substrate. used successfully is in Satellite communication. Some of their
principal advantages are:
• Light weight and low volume.
• Low profile planar configuration which can be easily made
conformal to host surface.

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• Low fabrication cost, hence can be manufactured in large

quantities.
• Supports both, linear as well as circular polarization.
• Can be easily integrated with microwave integrated circuits
(MICs).
• Capable of dual and triple frequency operations.
• Mechanically robust when mounted on rigid surfaces.

Disadvantages:- Fig:- 5
Microstrip patch antennas suffer from a number of
disadvantages as compared to conventional antennas. Some of 4. Proximity Coupled Feed: In this type of feed
their major disadvantages are: technique, two dielectric substrates are used such that
• Narrow bandwidth the feed line is between the two substrates and the
• Low efficiency radiating patch is on top of the upper substrate.
• Low Gain
• Extraneous radiation from feeds and junctions
• Poor end fire radiator except tapered slot antennas
• Low power handling capacity.

I.2 Feed Techniques

1. Microstrip Line Feed: In this type of feed technique, a

conducting strip is connected directly to the edge of the
microstrip patch.
Fig:- 6

II. PROPOSED WORK

In this paper we provide the comparative study of Hexagonal
Microstrip Antenna, its disadvantages and it has been overcome
by Dual Frequency Hexagonal Microstrip Patch Antenna using
Slots.

II.1 Hexagonal Microstrip Antennas(HMSA)

For the given patch dimension, the HMSA has higher resonance
Fig:- 3 frequency as compared to RMSA. The modal distributions of
HMSA are studied and it was observed that HMSAs distribution
2. Coaxial Feed: In this type of feed technique, a coaxial is similar to the modal distributions of circular MSA (CMSA).
feed is used. The inner conductor of the coaxial Therefore by equating the areas of HMSA and CMSA the
connector extends through the dielectric and is soldered resonance frequency formulation for HMSA is proposed. The
to the radiating patch, while the outer conductor is formulations obtained using this method agrees closely with the
connected to the ground plane. simulated results for fundamental as well as higher order modes.

The HMSA is shown in Fig. 1(a). It is obtained from equivalent

RMSA by changing the side length S as shown in Fig. 1(a). In
this all the side lengths are not equal. A regular HMSA has all
equal side length as shown in Fig. 1(b). For the dimensions
shown in Fig. 1(a), the first and second order resonance
frequencies are 1113 and 1425 MHz as shown in their current
distributions in Fig. 2(a, b). Similarly for regular HMSA, the
Fig:- 4 frequencies are 915 and 1516 MHz as shown in their surface
current distributions in Fig. 2(c, d). These current distributions
3. Aperture Coupled Feed: In this type of feed technique, are similar to the current distributions of TM11 and TM21 modes
the radiating patch and the microstrip feed line are in CMSA. Due to this similarity between the distributions of
separated by the ground plane. Coupling between the HMSA and CMSA, the resonance frequency formulation for
patch and the feed line is made through a slot or an HMSA is derived using frequency equation for CMSA as given
aperture in the ground plane. below.

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The formulation is proposed for HMSA as well as regular

HMSA. The area of HMSA (ah) is first calculated and it is
equated with the area of equivalent CMSA (ac). Further the
equivalent radius of the CMSA in terms of side length of HMSA
is calculated. This equivalent radius is used in the resonance
frequency equation of CMSA to formulate the resonance
frequency of HMSA as given in equation (7).

Fig:- 7

Fig:- 8
Performance Parameters:

The performance of an antenna can be measured by a number of

parameters. The followings are the critical ones.

(a) Radiation Pattern: The antenna pattern is a graphical

representation in three dimensional of the radiation of
the antenna as the function of direction. It is a plot of
the power radiated from an antenna per unit solid angle
which gives the intensity of radiations from the
antenna. If the total power radiated by the isotropic
antenna is P, then the power is spread over a sphere of
radius r, so that the power density S at this distance in
any direction is given as:

Then the radiation intensity for this isotropic antenna

𝑈𝑖 can be written as:

Fig:- 9 Isotropic antennas are not realizable in practice but can

be used as a reference to compare the performance of
practical antennas. The radiation pattern provides
information on the antenna beam width, side lobes and
antenna resolution to a large extent. The E plane pattern

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is a graphical representation of antenna radiation as a expressed as ratio in dB relative to the transmitted

function of direction in a plane containing a radius signal power. The return loss is given by:
vector from the center of the antenna to the point of
maximum radiation and the electric field intensity
vector. Similarly the H plane pattern can be drawn
considering the magnetic field intensity vector
Where 𝑃𝑖 is the power supplied by the source and 𝑃𝑟 is
the power reflected.
(b) Gain: Antenna gain is the ratio of maximum radiation If 𝑉𝑖 is the amplitude of the incident wave and 𝑉𝑟 that
intensity at the peak of main beam to the radiation of the reflected wave, then the return loss can be
intensity in the same direction which would be expressed in terms of the reflection coefficient τ as:
produced by an isotropic radiator having the same
input power. Isotropic antenna is considered to have a
gain of unity. The gain function can be described as:
And the reflection coefficient г can be expressed as:

For an antenna to radiate effectively, the return loss

where(𝜃,∅) is the power radiated per unit solid angle in should be less than−10 𝑑𝐵.
the direction(𝜃,∅) and 𝑊𝑡 is the total radiated power. (f) VSWR: A standing wave in a transmission line is a wave
Microstrip antennas because of the poor radiation in which the distribution of current, voltage or field
efficiency have poor gain. Numerous researches have
strength is formed by the superimposition of two waves
been conducted in various parts of the world in order to
obtain high gain antennas. of same frequency propagating in opposite direction.
Then the voltage along the line produces a series of
(c) Directivity: If a three dimensional antenna pattern is nodes and antinodes at fixed positions.
measured, the ratio of normalized power density at the
peak of the main beam to the average power density is If 𝑉 (𝑧) represents the total voltage on the line then
called the directivity. The directivity of the antenna is
given by:
Then the Voltage Standing Wave Ratio (VSWR) can
be defined as:

The relation between directivity and gain can be given

as:
𝐺=ɳ𝐷, where ɳ is the antenna efficiency. The value of VSWR should be between 1 and 2 for
(d) Bandwidth: It is defined as “The range of usable efficient performance of an antenna.
frequencies within which the performance of the
Antenna Design
antenna, with respect to some characteristic, conforms
to a specified standard.” The bandwidth can be the In this project, the modal distributions of HMSA are studied and
range of frequencies on either side of the center it was observed that HMSAs distribution is similar to the modal
frequency where the antenna characteristics like input distributions of circular MSA (CMSA). Therefore by equating
impedance, radiation pattern, beam width, the areas of HMSA and CMSA the resonance frequency
polarization, side lobe level or gain, are close to those formulation for HMSA is proposed. The formulations obtained
using this method agrees closely with the simulated results for
values which have been obtained at the center
fundamental as well as higher order modes. Also the dual band
frequency. The bandwidth of narrow band and dual polarized configuration of HMSA by cutting the
broadband antennas are defined as: rectangular slot in the center of the patch is proposed. The
formulation in resonant length for dual polarized response is also
𝐵𝑊𝑏𝑟𝑜𝑎𝑑𝑏𝑎𝑛𝑑= proposed. The frequency values obtained using the proposed
formulations agree closely with simulated results. All these
MSAs were first analyzed using the IE3D software followed by
𝐵𝑊𝑛𝑎𝑟𝑟𝑜𝑤𝑏𝑎𝑛𝑑 % =
experimental verification in dual band and dual polarized
Where 𝐹h is the upper frequency, 𝐹𝑙 is the lower HMSA.
frequency and 𝐹𝑐 is the center frequency. The Neltec NX9320 substrate (εr = 3.2, h = 0.76 mm, tan δ =
(e) Return Loss: Return loss or reflection loss is the 0.0024) is used for the simulations as well as the measurements.
reflection of signal power from the insertion of a The HMSAs are fed using microstrip line of width 1.8246 mm.
device in a transmission line or optical fiber. It is Area of a Regular hexagon (Ah)

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Area of a Circle (Ac) Putting the value of

Equating Both the Area, We get

We know that the resonance frequency of circular patch antenna,

The Resonance frequency of regular hexagon,

For TM11 Mode X11 =1.84118

For TM21 Mode X21 =3.05424

The Operating Frequency ( ) of the Hexagonal Patch is taken Fig:- 10

to be 3.8 GHz
Putting this in the above Eq we get,
Hexagonal Microstrip Patch Antenna
Radius of the patch,
Inset Feed width,
Cut Width, III. SIMULATED RESULTS AND DISCUSSION
Transmission Line Length
 Hexagonal Microstrip Patch Antenna
After finding the patch size the antenna feed line should be The Above design of Hexagonal Microstrip Patch Antenna
designed. The patch antenna was matched to Zo = 50 Ω was simulated using Zeland Ie3D 14.0.
transmission lines where two matching methods were
considered: inset feed and quarter wave transformer. Matching
reduces the loss of the signal and reflected power towards the
transmission line that supplies a smooth transition of energy
from the antenna input impedance to the feed line. The program
also provided the input impedance at the edge of the patch
antenna Zin = 204.75 Ω. The quarter wave transformer was
designed theoretically by first calculating its characteristic
impedance as:

Inserting the appropriate collected data into the transmission line

calculator, the desired length and width of the quarter wave
transmission line was calculated. Furthermore, utilizing the
inset-feed length was found as: Fig:- 11

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Fig:- 15
Fig:- 12

Fig:- 16

OBSERVATION:
Fig:- 13  The Return Losses at 3.80983 GHz and 6.26937 GHz
were -5.78261 dB and -16.913 dB respectively

 The Gain at 3.80983 GHz and 6.26937 GHz were

3.55904 dB and 3.20694 dB respectively

CONCLUSION:

 The above simulated results are not satisfactory as the

antenna is working in a single band.

 The antenna is not working in a license free band.

And our aim is to design a dual frequency microstrip

antenna working in a license free band and therefore slot
is introduced.

Fig:- 14 II.2 Dual Frequency Hexagonal Microstrip Patch Antenna

using Slots

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The multi-band microstrip antenna (MSA) is realized by using the

techniques of placing an open circuit or short circuit stub on the
edges of the patch or by cutting the slot at an appropriate position
inside the patch. Of these two methods, the slot method is more
frequently used since it realizes dual band response without
increasing the overall patch size. The dual polarized response is
realized when the patch mode and the mode introduce by the slots
are orthogonal to each other.

Fig:-19

Fig:- 17

Simulated results and discussion:

 Hexagonal Microstrip Patch Antenna using Slots

Fig:- 20

Fig:- 18

Fig:- 21

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OBSERVATION:

 The Return Losses at 3.33839 GHz and 5.72896 GHz

are -10.2391 dB and -25.8261 dB respectively.

 The gain at 3.33839 GHz and 5.72896 GHz are

3.16886 dB and 2.29384 dB respectively.

IV. CONCLUSION

The resonance frequency formulations for HMSA and regular

HMSA using the CMSA equivalence are proposed. The
frequency obtained using them closely matches with the
Fig:- 22 simulated HMSA results. The dual polarized HMSA is
proposed. The resonance frequency formulation in terms of slot
dimension is proposed at f1. The frequency obtained using them
closely matches the simulated frequency. Since these antennas
are analyzed using Neltec NX 9320 substrate they have lower
gain which can be increased using slots.
The impedance bandwidth of slotted patch is achieved more in
comparisons to simple hexagonal patch antenna. The average
gain achieved in slotted hexagonal patch more than simple
hexagonal patch antenna and radiation efficiency achieved more
in simple patch against slotted patch antenna.

• The Frequency Band in which the Antenna is working by

using slot is 3.33839 GHz and 5.72896 GHz which are
License free band.

• The most recent versions of both WiMAX standards in

802.16 cover spectrum ranges from at least the 2 GHz
range through the 66 GHz range. The International
standard of 3.3 GHz spectrum was the first to enjoy
WiMAX products which is a license free band. Hence
Fig:- 23 this Antenna can be used in the above frequency range.

• Wi-Fi is aimed at use within unlicensed spectrum. There

are a number of unlicensed spectrum bands in a variety
of areas of the radio spectrum. Often these are referred
to as ISM bands - Industrial, Scientific and Medical,
and they carry everything from microwave ovens to
radio communications. This 5 GHz band or 5.8 GHz
band provides additional bandwidth, and being at a
higher frequency, equipment costs are slightly higher,
although usage, and hence interference is less. It can be
used by IEEE 802.11a & n.

REFERENCES:-
1. Broadband Microstrip Antenna by Girish Kumar 2003
Artech House Publisher.

2. Dual Band and Dual Polarized Microstrip Patch Antenna

Fig:- 24 by Prof. S K Behera May 2010

3. Bandwidth Enhancement of Hexagonal Microstrip Patch

Antenna by P.K. Gupta

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4. Design of a compact Microstrip Patch Antenna for use in

Wireless Communication by PS Nakar – 2004.

5. [Link]

6. [Link]/.../technicalarticles--dual_polarise
d_patch_antennna

7. [Link]/wp-content/.../01/Volume-1Number-2PP-53
-

 Software Description:

Author’s Profile:-

Sanchita Basu, currently pursuing

[Link] in Electronics &
Communication Engineering at Future
Institute of Engineering &
Management under West Bengal
University of Technology. Her
research interest includes control
system and radar engineering.

Ashish Srivastava, currently pursuing

[Link] in Electronics & Communication
Engineering at Future Institute of
Engineering & Management under West
Bengal University of Technology.
His research interest includes control
system and wireless communication.

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