IEEE ANTENNAS AND WIRELESS PROPAGATION LETTERS, VOL.

7, 2008

127

Frequency Recongurable U-Slot Microstrip Patch Antenna

Shing-Lung Steven Yang, Member, IEEE, Ahmed A. Kishk, Fellow, IEEE, and Kai-Fong Lee, Fellow, IEEE
AbstractA frequency recongurable microstrip patch antenna is presented. It is found that the incorporation of a U-slot in the patch can provide a at input resistance and a linear input reactance across a wider bandwidth than the conventional patch antenna. By placing a variable capacitor and an inductor at the antenna input, the impedance matching frequency of the antenna can be varied. The fabricated prototype antenna attains a tunable frequency range from 2.6 to 3.35 GHz. The proposed antenna is simple in structure, and the control circuitry is placed underneath the ground plane. It is suitable for use in reducing the crosstalk from adjacent channels in multichannel system. Index TermsFrequency tunable, microstrip patch antenna, recongurable antenna.

I. INTRODUCTION

ICROSTRIP patch antennas are widely employed in wireless communication systems. However, conventional microstrip patch antennas have the disadvantage of narrow bandwidth, which would not be suitable for modern mobile communication systems. The addition of a U-shaped slot on a microstrip patch [1], [2] is one of the techniques proposed to enhance the impedance matching bandwidth of probe feed microstrip patch antenna with thick substrate. It is pointed out in [2] that the U-slot could introduce a capacitive component to counteract the large input inductance when thick substrate is used. One of the techniques proposed to change the resonant frequency of a microstrip antenna is presented in [3] and [4]. An air gap is introduced between the substrate and the ground plane, which could lower the effective permittivity of the cavity under the patch. Hence, the resonant frequency of the antenna could be tuned by adjusting the thickness of the air gap. However, this method requires adjusting the air gap width mechanically, which is not an easy task in practice. Recongurable antennas have found increasing attention in recent years. Antenna performance reconguration is usually achieved by incorporating switches, variable capacitors, varactor diodes or MEMS switches in the design of the antenna. These enable the frequency response, radiation patterns, gain or the combination of various antenna parameters to be controlled. In [5], a dual-band antenna is designed by inserting a chip capacitor across the slots, and the impedance matching frequency could be changed when different capacitor values are used. In

Fig. 1. Geometry of the proposed antenna.

[6], a dual-band slot antenna is presented. Changing the bias applied across a varactor diode, which introduces a variation in capacitance, could vary the matching frequency. However, these papers incorporated the components on the radiating element, which may introduce difculties in antenna fabrication. In this letter, a frequency tunable U-slot microstrip patch antenna is presented. Variable chip capacitor (trimmer) is used to control the frequency of the antenna. The geometry and results of the proposed antenna will be separately presented in the following sections, and a brief discussion about the function of the U-slot will be presented. Finally, a conclusion remark will be drawn. II. ANTENNA GEOMETRY The geometry of the proposed U-slot frequency tunable antenna is shown in Fig. 1. The patch has a dimension (W L) of 77 mm 57 mm, and is placed 12 mm (H) above the ground is used to plane. In the fabricated prototype, foam is used in the simsupport the patch; while free space ulation. The U-slot has a width (U ) and length (U ) of 32 mm and 31 mm respectively; a gap width (U ) of 2 mm, and it is 14.5 mm away from the upper edge of the patch (U ). Probe is

Manuscript received November 30, 2007; revised January 14, 2008. The authors are with the Department of Electrical Engineering, University of Mississippi, University, MS 38677 USA (e-mail: slsteven@olemiss.edu). Color versions of one or more of the gures in this letter are available online at http://ieeexplore.ieee.org. Digital Object Identier 10.1109/LAWP.2008.921330

1536-1225/$25.00 2008 IEEE

128

IEEE ANTENNAS AND WIRELESS PROPAGATION LETTERS, VOL. 7, 2008

Fig. 3. Measured return loss of the proposed antenna when different capacitance value is obtained by rotating the trimmer.

Fig. 2. Schematic and geometry of the tuning circuitry (back side of the antenna).

used to excite the U-slot patch antenna, and the probe location is 26 mm away from the lower edge of the patch (d). The ground L ) 150 mm 150 mm. Microstrip plane dimension is (W transmission line is fabricated underneath the ground plane for the xture of the tuning components. The substrate has a dielectric constant of 2.6 and a thickness of 1.524 mm. The tuning circuitry is located on the back of the antenna, which is shown in Fig. 2. The tuning components are soldered to the microstrip line at the position where the feeding probe is connecting to the microstrip line. The matching frequency of the antenna could be tuned by changing the capacitance value of the variable chip capacitor (trimmer). The model of the trimmer used in this prototype is TZW4, manufactured by MuRata Co. The trimmer has a capacitance range between 0.4 and 1.5 pF. A chip inductor of 1 nH is connected in parallel to the trimmer, this could adjust the capacitance tuning range to the range of the trimmer. An antenna prototype is built and the results are presented in the next section.

Fig. 4. Simulated input impedance of the U-slot microstrip patch antenna (without lump components).

In order to measure the actual capacitance value of the trimmer at the operating frequency, a testing xture is constructed. It is found that the trimmer has a measured capacitance value from 0.37 to 1.26 pF at 3 GHz. This is within 20% tolerance of the documented value. The tolerance is likely due to the presence of gaps between the trimmer and microstrip line and the effects due to the soldering points. IV. DISCUSSION In [2] and [7], extensive parametric study of U-slot microstrip patch antenna was performed. Although not explicitly pointed out by the authors of [2], it is clear from the results that the input impedance of a U-slot microstrip patch antenna performs differently from that of a conventional microstrip patch antenna. The simulated input impedance of the U-slot microstrip patch antenna presented in this letter is shown in Fig. 4. It can be observed that the U-slot patch maintains a relatively at input resistance and a more linear input reactance, especially at the second and third resonances, than the conventional microstrip patch antenna [8]. In order to increase the tuning range, the input impedance matching of the rst resonance is neglected, while the antenna geometry is tuned for a relatively at region across the second and third resonances. The almost at input resistance and the linear input reactance characteristic make it possible to tune the antenna input impedance by using a capacitor to vary

III. RESULTS An antenna prototype is built to demonstrate the frequency tuning ability of the proposed design. The measured return loss is shown in Fig. 3. The impedance matching frequency of the antenna can be varied when the capacitance of the trimmer is varied. It is difcult to determine the exact capacitance value of the trimmer (in Fig. 3) when the trimmer is turning, since there are no markers on the trimmer. However, it is observed that the antenna attains a tunable range from 2.6 to 3.35 GHz (return loss dB) in the full-scale range of the trimmer. This is equivalent to an upper and lower frequency ratio of about 1.28.

YANG et al.: FREQUENCY RECONFIGURABLE U-SLOT MICROSTRIPPATCH ANTENNA

129

shows the input impedance of the proposed antenna with different U-slot horizontal portion position (U ). It is seen that this parameter can be used to tune the amplitude of the second and third resonances. In this letter, a trimmer is used to introduce the varying capacitance value. However, this could also be achieved by other techniques such as varactor diode or switching stubs. The capability of reconguring the matching frequency is a desired feature in multiple channel systems because the crosstalk can be reduced by selecting the designating channel. V. CONCLUSION
Fig. 5. Parametric study on the probe position (d).

A frequency tunable microstrip antenna was presented. By adding a U-slot on the patch, a at input resistance and a linear input reactance is obtained. Adjusting the input reactance could vary the matching frequency. It has been demonstrated that a trimmer could control the input impedance of the patch antenna and a frequency ratio between the highest and lowest frequency of about 1.28 is achieved. ACKNOWLEDGMENT The authors would like to thank Roger Corporation for providing the dielectric material. REFERENCES

Fig. 6. Parametric study on the position of the horizontal portion of the U-slot (U ).

the input reactance. Thus, U-slot antenna could be designed for wideband, multiband or frequency tuning operation. Parametric studies on the proposed antenna have been performed to investigate the effect on the input impedance. It is found that the probe feed position (d) and the horizontal portion position (U ) of the slot could be used to tune the amplitude of the second and third resonances. The lengths of the U-slot (U ) and (U ) have less signicant effects on the amplitudes of the second and third resonances. These parameters mainly vary the resonant frequency of the rst resonance. Fig. 5 shows the input impedance of the proposed antenna with different probe feed positions (d). Each position is varied by 2 mm. This parameter is tuned to obtain a similar resistance level between the second and third resonances. When the probe is moved away from the designated position, the input resistance of the second resonance increases, while the third resonance decreases. Fig. 6

[1] T. Huynh and K. F. Lee, Single-layer single-patch wideband microstrip antenna, Electron. Lett., vol. 31, no. 16, pp. 13101312, Aug. 1995. [2] K. F. Lee, K. M. Luk, K. F. Tong, S. M. Shum, T. Huynh, and R. Q. Lee, Experimental and simulation studies of the coaxially fed U-slot rectangular patch antenna, IEE Proc. Microw. Antennas Propag., vol. 144, no. 5, pp. 354358, Oct. 1997. [3] J. S. Dahele and K. F. Lee, A tunable dual-frequency stacked microstrip antenna, in Proc. IEEE Antennas Propag. Soc. Sym. Digest, May 1982, vol. 20, pp. 308311. [4] K. F. Lee, K. Y. Ho, and J. S. Dahele, Circular-disk microstrip antenna with an air gap, IEEE Trans. Antennas Propag., vol. 32, no. 8, pp. 880884, Aug. 1984. [5] C. Y. Huang, C. W. Ling, and J. S. Kuo, Dual-band microstrip antenna using capacitive loading, IEE Proc. Microw. Antennas Propag., vol. 150, no. 6, pp. 401404, Dec. 2003. [6] N. Behdad and K. Sarabandi, Dual-band recongurable antenna with a very wide tenability range, IEEE Trans. Antennas Propag., vol. 54, no. 2, pp. 409416, Feb. 2006. [7] S. Weigand, G. H. Huff, K. H. Pan, and J. T. Bernhard, Analysis and design of broad-band single-layer rectangular u-slot microstrip patch antennas, IEEE Trans. Antennas Propag., vol. 51, no. 3, pp. 457468, Mar. 2003. [8] K. F. Lee and J. S. Dahele, , J. R. James and P. S. Hall, Eds., Characteristics of microstrip patch antennas and some methods of improving frequency agility and bandwidth, in Handbook of Microstrip Antennas. Stevenage, U.K.: Peter Peregrinus Ltd., 1989, vol. 1.