ISSN : 2230-7109 (Online) | ISSN : 2230-9543 (Print) IJECT Vol.

6, Issue 3, July - Sept 2015

Design of Series Feed Microstrip Antenna

Array for Low Side Lobe Level
1
Ragib Khan, 2D.C. Dubkariya
1
Dept. of ECE, IIMT Engineering College, Meerut, Uttar Pradesh, India
2
Dept. of ECE, BIET, Jhansi, Uttar Pradesh, India

Abstract II. Antenna Array Design

This paper describe the design of series feed microstrip antenna The microstrip antenna array is designed on the FR4/glass epoxy
array. The microstrip array antenna is simulated using the IE3D substrate of thickness h=1.6 mm, the relative dielectric constant
electromagnetic simulator. The microstrip array antenna is of the material is 4.4. The loss tangent of the material is 0.01.The
designed on the glass epoxy FR4 dielectric substrate having the basic element of the antenna array is the rectangular patch. The
thickness of 1.6 mm. The designed antenna array resonates at a resonating frequency of the array is 5 GHz. The designed antenna
frequency of 5 GHz. The different parameters of antenna array array is series feed with five elements. In the designed antenna
such as gain return loss and radiation pattern is investigated .The array tapering in the width of the rectangular patch is taken for
tapering in the width of the patch is done to reduce the side lodes non uniform excitation in the different patches. The tapering in the
level (SLL). width is done according to the Chebyshev polynomials to reduce
the side lobe level. The different excitation amplitude is ai = (1,
Keywords 0.92, 0.8) and tapering is done accordingly. The tapering is done
IE3D, SLL, Array from the central element on the both sides equally. The central
elements dimension is calculated at the 5 GHz. The dimensions
I. Introduction are calculated according to below formulae [1].
Microstrip antennas are used not only as single elements but are
very popular in arrays. Arrays are very versatile and are used (1)
among other things to synthesize a required pattern that can’t be
achieved with single element [1]. There are usually two types of
arrays in microstrip structures, the corporate fed and the series (2)
fed patch antenna array both of which are inherently narrow in
bandwidth [2]. Series fed microstrip patch array antennas are (3)
widely used in the field of communication and microwave sensors.
Their advantages, as they are light weight, low profile and a
compact and minimum line length feed network are appreciated (4)
for many years in various applications [3]. Despite increasing
Despite increased popularity, efficient design and fabrication L = Leff - 2∆L (5)
of planar array antennas with low side-lobe levels and wide
impedance bandwidth still remains a challenging task [4].The c = Velocity of light in free space
discontinuities, bends, power dividers, and other components in f0 = Operating resonant frequency
the corporate fed array cause spurious radiation that limits the ɛr = Relative dielectric constant
minimum SLL achievable. The structure of a series fed array is ɛreff =Effective dielectric constant of the substrate
such that it uses shorter line length in comparison with corporate h = Height of the substrate
fed arrays and this leads to an antenna with less space on substrate, w = Width of the substrate
lower attenuation loss and spurious radiation from feed lines ,
but for large series fed arrays amplitude and phase tracking with The calculated dimensions of the central elements L=13.9 mm
frequency can be problematic [2, 5-6].There are several approach and W=18.25mm.The electrical length of the feeding line is λg/2
to reduce the SLL in printed antennas, among which are used of and is same for all the patches. The microstrip feed line width
coaxial probe along with phase shifters [2], feed network behind is calculated for characteristics impedance of 50 ohm from the
the ground and connected via pins [7], aperture coupled patch following formula.
antennas [8-9] and a wave guide feed patch array [10-11]. The For
most commonly used approach for reducing the side-lobe level of a
uniform array involves amplitude tapering in which the excitation
amplitudes of the array elements generally decrease with distance
from the center of the array. In order to obtain In order to obtain (6)
the amplitude shading coefficients for a linear array of uniformly
spaced point sources, several techniques have been developed and (7)
the narrowest possible beam was produced at a given degree of
uniform minor lobe suppression. Several techniques, including
impedance matching, the use of multiple resonators and the use The line length is 16.4 mm and width is 3.05 mm. the first elements
of lossy materials, have been proposed [12].In this paper a series width on either side of the central element is 17.02 mm and the
feed tapered antenna array is designed as shown in one as in [13]. second elements on either side of central elements is 14.8 mm.
The designed microstrip antenna array is simulated using IE3D The designed antenna array is shown in fig. 1.
electromagnetic simulator [14].

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IJECT Vol. 6, Issue 3, July - Sept 2015 ISSN : 2230-7109 (Online) | ISSN : 2230-9543 (Print)

The above curve shows that the directivity at the 5 GHz is around
13dB. Fig. 5 shows the radiation efficiency curve of the designed
antenna array

Fig. 1: Designed Series Feed Tapered Microstrip Antenna Array

III. Results and Discussions

Fig. 2 shows the variation of return loss with the frequency for
the designed antenna array

Fig. 5: Radiation Efficiency vs Frequency Curve

The radiation efficiency of the antenna array is approximately

50 % at resonating frequency, which is not so high because the
material FR4 has a high loss tangent so the dielectric loss in the
material is high but it is less costly and easily available. Fig. 6
Fig. 2: S11 vs Frequency Curve shows the 3 D radiation pattern of the antenna array at the 5 GHz
resonating frequency.
From the above curve it is shown that the given antenna resonates
at 5 GHz with return loss of 14 dB. Fig. 3 shows the gain of the
designed antenna array

Fig. 3: Gain vs Frequency Curve

Fig. 3 show that at the resonating frequency the gain of the Fig. 5: Three Dimensional Radiations Pattern
antenna is near to 10 dB at is good at the lossy FR4 glass epoxy
substrate. Fig. 4 shows the directivity curve of the microstrip The above figure shows that the first side lobe is around 13 dB below
antenna array the major lobe. So it exhibit good radiation characteristics.

IV. Conclusion
In this letter, a new configuration of microstrip series-fed taper
array is designed in order to improve the performance of microstrip
antenna array. The side-lobe level is also reduced by using the
taper structure. A 5-element linear taper microstrip array is, thus,
designed and it achieves a peak side-lobe level as low as 13 dB.
So the designed antenna array. Is simple and have good radiation
charecteristics.

References
[1] C. A. Balanis,“Antenna Theory Analysis and Design”, 3rd
Fig. 4: Directivity vs Frequency Curve ed., Wiley, 2005.

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ISSN : 2230-7109 (Online) | ISSN : 2230-9543 (Print) IJECT Vol. 6, Issue 3, July - Sept 2015

[2] Pozar, D. M., B. Kaufman,“Design considerations for low

sidelobe microstrip arrays”, IEEE Trans. Antennas and Ragib Khan received his B.Tech degree
Propag., Vol. 38, No. 8, pp. 1176 1185, Aug. 1990. in Electronics & Communication from
[3] B. Jones, F. Chow, A. Seeto,“The synthesis of shaped UPTU,Lucknow in 2009, pursuing
patterns with series-fed microstrip patch arrays”, IEEE M.Tech in Digital Communication
Trans. Antennas Propag., Vol. 30, No. 6, pp. 1206–1212, from UPTU, Lucknow .His research
Nov 1982. includes Antenna design ,has an
[4] C. L. Dolph,“A current distribution for broadside arrays which experience of six years in teaching
optimizes the relationship between beamwidth and side-lobe undergraduate students.
level”, In Proc. IRE, Jun. 1946, Vol. 34, pp. 335–348.
[5] Pozar, D. M., D. H. Schaubert,“Comparison of three series
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Vol. 2, pp. 728-731, 1993.
[6] Pozar, D. M.,"A review of bandwidth enhancement techniques Dr. D.C.Dubkariya working as
for microstrip antennas”, Microstrip Antennas: Analysis and Associate Professor at BIET Jhansi.
Design of Microstrip Antennas and Arrays, 157 166, IEEE His research includes in antenna
Press, 1995. and electromagnetic field .Has been
[7] Gronau, G., H. Moschuring, I. Wolff,“Microstrip antenna teaching and guiding undergraduate
arrays fed from the backside of the substrate”, Proc. Int. and postgraduate students for more
Symp.,Antennas Propagat., Kyoto, Japan, 1985. than a decade.
[8] Pozar, D. M.,“A microstrip antenna aperture coupled to a
microstrip line”, Electronics Letters, Vol. 21, pp. 49-50, Jun.
1985.
[9] Pozar D. M., R. W. Jackson,“An aperture coupled microstrip
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IEEE Trans. Antennas and Propag. , Vol. 35, pp. 728 -731,
Jun. 1987.
[10] Hirokawa J., M. Ando,“Sidelobe suppression in 76GHz post-
wall waveguide-fed parallel plate slot arrays”, IEEE Trans.
Antennas and Propag., Vol. 48, No. 11, pp. 1727-1732, Nov.
2000.
[11] Kimura, Y., et al.,“76GHz alternating-phase fed single Layer
slotted waveguide arrays with suppressed sidelobes in the
E-plane”, IEEE Trans. AP-S Dig., Vol. 41, pp. 1042-1045,
Jun. 2003.
[12] Tao Yuan, Ning Yuan, Le-Wei Li,“A Novel Series-Fed
Taper Antenna Array Design”, IEEE Antennas and Wireless
Propagation Letters, Vol. 7, 2008.
[13] R. A. Sainati,“CAD of Microstrip Antennas for Wireless
Applications”, Boston, MA: Artech House, 1996.
[14] Zeland Software Inc. IE3D user’s manual release 14.10.
[Online] Available: http://www.zeland.com

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