Designing multiband multilayered microstrip antenna for UMTS, ISM , civil and

military radar, HiperLAN and C-band

NEJDI Ibrahime Hassan Youssef El merabet

Dept. electrical engineering Faculty of Science and Laboratoire LASTID, Département de Physique,
Technology of Beni Mellal Faculté des Sciences, Université Ibn Tofail, BP 133,
FST of Beni Mellal 14000 Kenitra, Maroc
Beni Mellal, Morocco line 3: City, Country
E-mail: [Link]@[Link]

Abstract— The modern microwave communication system proposed, which maintains a consistent radiation pattern with
demands good antenna performance with variety of stable gain. This microstrip patch antenna simultaneously
application. One antenna should serve the purpose of many resonates for the frequency range of 2.4–2.485 GHz, 3.3–3.7
antennas to reduce the resource cost and installation cost. For GHz 5.15–5.35 GHz and 5.725–5.85 GHz. A compact
this reason, the concept of multiband antenna arises. In this multiband microstrip patch antenna is presented in [5]. The
paper, the attention has been given towards the design of a new multiband operation can be achieved by inserting inverted L
multiband multilayer rectangular microstrip patch antenna. A and T shaped parasitic elements. In [6], complementary split
modified rectangular compact size line-feed microstrip
ring resonator is used to achieve the multiband frequencies.
antenna is proposed for multiband operation in UMTS
(Universal Mobile Telecommunications System), ISM
In [7] a narrow size multiband inverted F antenna is
(Industrial Scientific Medical), civil and military radar, presented. This multiband antenna operates the Wi-Fi and
HiperLAN and C-band with increased bandwidth. The Wi-max frequency range. In most of the designs, the
proposed structure is a multilayer antenna consisting of a multiband operation can be achieved by cutting u shaped
substrate that protects the patch on the upper side, three layers slots [8], slots in the ground plane [9] inverted F-shape
below the patch, and the ground plane on the lower side. The antenna [10–12] and defected ground plane [13–16]. The
return loss, VSWR and gain are improved in this antenna most of the antenna is designed to the frequency range of 2–
design compared to previous work on multiband design. 5 GHz for the applications of Wi-Fi, WIMAX, Bluetooth and
HFSS 13.0 is used for simulation and analysis purpose. Though GPS [17–22]. In [23] a microstrip patch antenna using a
the proposed design is about multiband operation, the photonic band gap (PBG) structure for attaining higher band-
simulated result shows seven resonant frequencies of 2.1 GHz, width is proposed. In [24] a multiband multi layered
2.48 GHz, 2.9 GHz, 5.25 GHz, 5.91 GHz, 7.05 GHz and 8.56 microstrip antenna was designed for working at three
GHz with increased bandwidth. frequency regions of 41.98 GHz to 55.24 GHz, 64.36 GHz to
72.05 GHz and 75.16 GHz to 76.50 GHz. A low-profile
Keywords-multiband multilayer rectangular microstrip patch
textile-modified meander line Inverted-F Antenna (IFA) with
antenna, line-feed, Ansoft HFSS, substrate, UMTS, ISM, C
variable width and spacing meanders, for Industrial
band, HiperLAN.
Scientific Medical (ISM) 2.4-GHz Wireless Body Area
I. INTRODUCTION Networks (WBAN) is presented in [25].
Antennas are devices used to radiate the electromagnetic In this paper, a multiband antenna with simple structure
field into space or to capture it. There are many types of for Universal Mobile Telecommunications System (UMTS),
antennas among which, printed antennas, they are widely Industrial Scientific Medical (ISM), HiperLAN and C-Band
used in modern communication systems. Printed antennas, applications using a simple rectangular microstrip is
often called patch antennas or microstrips, are widely used in introduced. The proposed structure is a multilayer antenna
the microwave frequency band, because of their simplicity consisting of a substrate that protects the patch on the upper
and compatibility with printed circuit technology making side, three layers below the patch, and the ground plane on
them an easy to produce structure. the lower side.
In most wireless applications, the multiband microstrip By carefully adjusting the lengths and the width of
patch antenna is preferred, because it has the advantage of rectangular microstrip, the multi-band antenna centered at
operation without weight, low cost, low profile and multi- 2.1 GHz, 2.48 GHz, 2.9 GHz, 5.25 GHz, 5.91 GHz, 7.05
band. In addition, it replaces the use of diverse antennas for GHz and 8.56 GHz is obtained.
different resonance frequencies [1-3]. In [4] a novel The design procedures are given in detail, and the design
proximity coupled multiband microstrip patch antenna is theory is analyzed and discussed. The proposed multi-band
antenna is simulated by a commercial full-wave III. PROPOSED ANTENNA DESIGN
electromagnetic (EM) simulator ANSYS HFSS and
fabricated on a FR-4 substrate. Moreover, the structure of
this antenna is much simple, and the overall circuit size Fig 1 shows the geometry of the proposed multilayered
occupies only 74×37×19.12 mm3 which is very compact. microstrip antenna capable for seven-band operational
This antenna has nearly omnidirectional radiation characteristics. The antenna is designed using four layers of
characteristics and moderate gains in all the operating bands. substrate, one above the radiating element to protect it from
The VSWR is between 1 and 2 and you get a very good gain the external environment and further improve these
and a good directivity. performances, and three layers below the patch. The first
layer of dielectric above the patch is teflon_based (ℇr = 2.08,
II. THEORY DESIGN OF PATCH ANTENNAS tan δ = 0.001) and Su the height which equals to 1mm, the
The quality factor, bandwidth, and efficiency other three layers
are antenna figures-of-merit, which are between the patch
interrelated, and there is no complete freedom and the ground plane
to independently optimize each one. Therefore are, respectively,
there is always a trade-off between them in Taconic Rf- (tm) (Ɛr
arriving at an optimum antenna performance. = 6.15 tan δ =
Often, however, there is a desire to optimize 0.0028) of thickness
one of them while reducing the performance of noted Bt equals to
the other. 7.12 mm,
The quality factor is a figure-of-merit that is teflon_based (Ɛr =
representative of the antenna losses. Typically 2.08, tan δ = 0.001)
there are radiation, conduction, dielectric and of thickness P equals
surface wave losses. Therefore the total quality to 4mm and an air
a) gap of thickness Ar
factor Qt is influenced by all of these losses and
is, in general, written as: equals1 to 7mm.
1/Qt = 1/Qrad + 1/Qc + 1/Qd +1/Qsw (1) The simulation starts with the microstrip feed. The width
Where: Qt = total quality factor, Qrad = of the buried microstrip feed line corresponds to 50 Ω.
quality factor due to radiation (space wave)
losses, Qc = quality factor due to conduction
(ohmic) losses, Qd = quality factor due to
dielectric losses and Qsw = quality factor due to
surface waves. Figure.1 : Geometry and structure
The fractional bandwidth of the antenna is of the proposed patch antenna
multilayer multiband: (a) top view, (b)
inversely proportional to the Qt of the antenna, side view.
and it is defined by:
Δf/fo = 1/Qt (2) Table 1 shows the
A more meaningful definition of the fractional dimensions of the
bandwidth is over a band of frequencies where proposed microstrip patch
the VSWR at the input terminals is equal to or antenna.
less than a desired maximum value, assuming
that the VSWR is unity at the design frequency.
A modified form of (2) that takes into account TABLE I. DIMENSIONS OF
PROPOSED MICROSTRIP PATCH
the impedance matching is:
Δf/fo = (VSWR-1)/Qt√VSWR (3)
ANTENNA. ²
In general it is proportional to the volume, b)
which for a rectangular microstrip antenna at a Settings Values (mm)
constant resonant frequency can be expressed patch width Wp 74

BW ∼ volume = area * height = length *

patch length Lp 37
as Thickness of the first substrate Bt 7.12
Thickness of the second substrate P 4
width * height Thickness of the third substrate Ar 7
~1/√Ɛr Thickness of the protection 1
Therefore the bandwidth is inversely substrateSu
proportional to the square root of the dielectric Feed length (Wf) 4.5
constant of the substrate [26-27] Feed width (Lf) 24
 IV. RESULTS AND DISCUSSION

The first step is to compare the different heights of the

protective layer to find the ideal height. Figure ??? shows the
simulated return loss of the proposed antenna desired seven
bands with reasonable bandwidth.
Fig. 2 illustrates the simulated return loss of change of
height Su for the proposed antenna with the optimized
parameters which confirms seven-band, operation at desired
bands with reasonable bandwidth.

(Industrial Scientific Medical), GSM, Civil Radar,

HiperLAN, WiMAX, C and the X band.
Fig. 5 shows the distribution of the current density Js on
the surface of the multilayer multiband patch proposed at the
seven resonance frequencies found.

Figure.2 : Simulated return loss of the proposed patch

antenna with varied Su.

As can be well-verified from this figure, the value of

Su=1 mm gives us a better adaptation of return loss by
maintaining almost the same width of the bandwidth. Fig. 3
illustrates the simulated return loss for Su = 1 mm, and the
performance of VSWR is shown in Fig. 4.
Figure.3 : Simulated return loss of the proposed patch b)
antenna for Su selected. c) d)
Figure .4 : Simulated results of the proposed patch antenna: VSWR.

It can be seen from Fig. 3 that a very low return loss can
be achieved at seven bands which resound between 1 GHz
and 9 GHz. It can reach the return loss of -67.97 dB, -13.05
dB, -12.33 dB, -24.66 dB, -16.69 dB, -30.88 dB and -43.87
dB at 2.1, 2.48, 2.9, 5.25, 5.91, 7.05 and 8.56 GHz,
respectively. The performance of VSWR for the proposed
microstrip patch antenna is shown in Fig. 4, which lies
between 1 and 2 for all resonant frequencies. With this
optimization, the patch allows to cover the bands UMTS
(Universal Mobile Telecommunications System), ISM

e) f)
 e) f)
g)
Figure .5: Simulated surface current distribution of the seven-
band antenna at a) 2.1GHz, b) 2.48 GHz, c) 2.9 GHz, d)
5.25GHz, e) 5.91GHz, f) 7.02GHz and g) 8.56GHz

Under various resonant frequencies, the performances of

bandwidth, return loss and gain are displayed in Table 2. The
simulated radiation patterns in the E- and H-planes are
plotted in Fig. 6.
TABLE II. SUMMARIZED RESULTS OF THE PROPOSED SEVEN BAND
ANTENNA
g)
Resonance Width of the Coefficient of Gain (dB)
frequency bandwidth reflection (dB) Figure .6: Simulated radiation patterns in the E-plane and H-
(GHz) (GHz) plane at a) 2.1GHz, b) 2.48 GHz, c) 2.9 GHz, d) 5.25GHz, e) 5.91GHz, f)
2.1 0.2128 -67.9742 2.2768 7.02GHz and g) 8.56GHz.
2.48 0.1618 -13.0551 3.6164
2.9 0.1617 -12.3274 4.9609
5.25 0.7234 -24.6654 7.5812 It’s clear from Table 2 that the seven operating
5.91 0.3319 -16.6933 7.2146 bandwidths are large and achieve 1.37GHz for the resonance
7.05 1.3702 -30.8849 6.4067 frequency 7.05GHz, have a good adaptation of the return
8.56 0.5957 -43.8688 7.1548 loss which achieves -67.97dB at 2.1GHz, and a good gain
that exceeds 7dB in some bands.
In Fig. 6, which represents the radiation pattern, the half-
power beam widths given by the simulation for 2.1, 2.48,
2.9, 5.25, 5.91, 7.05 and 8.56GHz are
respectively for the plane H 63.84°, 103.69°,
90.32°, 35.79°, 68.26°, 50.32° and 45.95° and
for the plane E are respectively 147.71°,
173.89°, 96.40°, 43.62°, 46.67°, 28.62° and
53.92°.

V. CONCLUSION

a) In this paper, a novel design of multiband multilayered

b) microstrip antenna is proposed. The seven bands obtained by
the antenna cover the bands UMTS (2.11-2.17GHz), the ISM
band (2.4-2.5GHz), the U-NII band (5.15-5.35GHz, 5.725-
5.825GHz), the C band (5.725-7.075), the X band (8-
12GHz), weather radar (4-8GHz) and the HiperLAN band
(5.1-5.3GHz). The proposed structure exhibits good
impedance matching, radiation characteristics and gain at
their operational bandwidths. In addition to the discreet
advantage, the proposed antenna is small and easy to build.

c) d)
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