International Journal of Soft Computing and Engineering (IJSCE)

ISSN: 2231-2307, Volume-2, Issue-3, July 2012

Design and Simulation of E-Shape Microstrip

Patch Antenna for Wideband Applications
Indu Bala Pauria, Sachin Kumar, Sandhya Sharma
U-slot microstrip antenna provides bandwidth up to 30%
Abstract: This paper presents the design and simulation of while E-shaped patch antenna can increases bandwidth
E-shape microstrip patch antenna with wideband operating above 30% compared to a regular rectangular patch antenna.
frequency for wireless application. The shape will provide the Comparing both designs, the E-shaped is much simpler to
broad bandwidth which is required in various application like construct by only adjusting length, width and position of
remote sensing, biomedical application, mobile radio, satellite slots.
communication etc. The antenna design is an improvement from
In this paper, a wideband single patch antenna is proposed as
Previous research and it is simulated using HFSS (High
Frequency Structure Simulator) version 11 software. Coaxial
in Figure 1. The main objective of this paper is to optimize
feed or probe feed technique is used in the experiment. the base design in to obtain higher bandwidth. This single
Parametric study was included to determine affect of design patch antenna operates at voltage standing wave ratio of less
towards the antenna performance. The performance of the than 2 (VSWR < 2). Theoretical simulation and optimization
designed antenna was analyzed in term of bandwidth, gain, are performed using HFSS (High Frequency Structure
return loss, VSWR, and radiation pattern. The design was Simulator) version 11 software.
optimized to meet the best possible result. Substrate used was air
which has a dielectric constant of 1.0006. The results show the
wideband antenna is able to operate from 8.80 GHz to 13.49 GHz
frequency band with optimum frequency at 8.73 GHz.

Index Terms: E-shape microstrip patch antenna, HFSS (High

Frequency Structure Simulator) version 11 software, wideband.

I. INTRODUCTION
Microstrip patch antenna is a key building in wireless
communication and Global Positioning system since it was
first demonstrate in 1886 by Heinrich Hertz and its practical
application by GuglielmoMarconi in 1901. Future trend in
communication design is towards compact devices. Figure 1: Design of E+U shaped patch antenna
Microstrip patch antenna have been well known for its
advantages such as light weight, low fabrication cost, II. DESIGN METHODOLOGY OF RADIATING
mechanically robust when mounted on rigid surfaces and ELEMENT
capability of dual and triple frequency operations all these Recently there have been numerous methods of enhancing
features, attract many researchers to investigate the the bandwidth of an antenna for example modifying the
performance of parch antenna in various ways. However, probe feed, using multiple resonances, using folded patch
narrow bandwidth came as the major disadvantage for this feed, or using the slotted radiating element.
type of antenna. The U shape slot in the radiating element tends to have
Several techniques have been applied to overcome this wideband characteristics. It also suggests that a U shape slot
problem such as increasing the substrate thickness, introduces the capacitive component in the input impedance
introducing parasitic elements i.e. co-planar or stack to counteract the inductive component of the probe. Also to
configuration, or modifying the patch’s shape itself. compensate the increasing inductive effect due to the slots,
Modifying patch’s shape includes designing an E-shaped thickness of the substrate is increased.
patch antennas or a U-slot patch antenna. As we know that as thickness increases the bandwidth
increases accordingly. The input impedance of about 42% is
achieved. The slots making it to look alike inverted E shape;
Manuscript received on July. 2012 it demonstrated a bandwidth enhancement by 30 %.In this
Indu Bala Pauria, Electronics and Communication Department, Suresh
Gyan Vihar University, Jaipur, India, design an air-filled or foam has been essential to realize
Sachin Kumar, Electronics and Communication Department, Suresh broadband characteristics. This design uses substrate
Gyan Vihar University, Jaipur, India, material with relative permittivity (ε) of 1.0006 i.e. Air and
Sandhya Sharma, Electronics and Communication Department, Suresh
Gyan Vihar University, Jaipur, India. the patch shape is the combination of inverted E and inverted
U.

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275 & Sciences Publication
 Design and Simulation of E-Shape Microstrip Patch Antenna for Wideband Applications

A. Simulation Setup
The antenna’s resonant properties were predicted and
optimized using High Structure simulation software Ansoft
version 11. The design procedure begins with determining
the length, width and the type of dielectric substance for the
given operating frequency as shown in flow diagram Fig.2.
Then using the measurements obtained above simulation has
been setup for the basic rectangular microstrip antenna and
the parameters are optimized for the best impedance
matching. Furthermore two parallel slots are incorporated
and optimized such that it closely resembles E shape; this
increases the gain of the antenna. After that two more Fig.3 Design geometry of E shaped patch antenna
parallel slots and one perpendicular slots are incorporated The main E shaped patch has Wa x La dimension while the
and optimized such that it closely resembles U shape.Then outer patch has Wb x Lb dimension. The antenna is fed by a
dielectric substrate od dielectric constant of 1.0006 SMA connector positioned at the center arm. The center of
introduces to decrease the size of the antenna and to further probe is positioned at (Wc/2,Lf). The width and length of the
enhance the bandwidth. At last the probe feeding is microstrip antenna are determine as follows
introduced for attaining a required bandwidth, resonating
frequency and gain value. The proposed design methodology
of the antenna is given in Fig.(2).

Where νo is the free-space velocity of light.

Where the dimensions of the patch along its length have been
extended on each end by a distance ΔL, which is a function of
the effective dielectric constant εreff and the widthto- height
ratio (W/h), and the normalized extension of the length, is

The actual length of the patch (L) can be determine as

Parallel slots in this design are responsible for the

excitation of next resonant mode i.e. main parallel slot excite
2nd resonant frequency while outer slot excite 3rd resonant
frequency. Slotslength (LsA and LsB), slot width (S), main
slot width (WsB) and center arm (Wc) controls the frequency
of the next resonant mode. Figure 4 shows the cut plane view
of the antenna. The patch and ground are separated by
closed-cell low loss air of thickness 3.2 mm. Dielectric
constant for this foam is 1.0006, and it benefits to obtain
wider bandwidth and higher gain.
Air gap was used as substrate and infinite ground was
assumed. This paper design a finite set of ground dimension
Fig.2 Flow diagram of designing procedure which is defined by Wg x Lg. SMA connector design is
B. Geometry of the antenna according to specification in using Teflon of dielectric
constant = 2.08. The default value of this antenna design is
The geometry of the designed antenna is shown in the shown in Table 1.
Fig.3.The antenna is made of a single patch on top, one
layers of dielectric (air) and a vertical probe connected from
ground to the upper patch.

Published By:
Retrieval Number: C0811062312/2012©BEIESP Blue Eyes Intelligence Engineering
276 & Sciences Publication
 International Journal of Soft Computing and Engineering (IJSCE)
ISSN: 2231-2307, Volume-2, Issue-3, July 2012

parameter is allowed to change at a time while other

variables remain constant as default except ground and
substrate that will varied together. All dimension mentioned
in graphs are in millimetre (mm).
A. Changing Air Gap with C-Foam PF-2
The microstrip antenna is simulated with C-Foam PF-2
substrate that has a dielectric constant of 1.03 and compared
the output with the microstrip antenna which is simulated
with Air that has a dielectric constant of 1.0006. The result is
shown in Figure 5. Replacing air gap (blue) with C-Foam
Fig.4 Cut plane view of antenna PF-2 (red) we found that the bandwidth is slightly decreased
as compared to air gap(blue) so air gap gives wider
Table 1: Default microstrip patch antenna specifications bandwidth than foam. The reason to use C-Foam PF-2 is
Parameter Label Dimension because outer patch in is connected to main patch by
(mm) switches, but in this paper, no switches will be used, so a
Length La 10.9 substrate is needed to connect outer patch to main patch. As
Main Patch mentioned, dielectric constant for this foam is 1.03 which is
Width Wa 15.7 very close to air gap, so that the reference result would not be
much difference when using air gap. Using C-Foam PF-2,
the frequency band is from 8.74 GHz to 13.36 GHz while
Length Lb 13.2
when using Air gap, the band is from 8.80 GHz to 13.49
Outer Patch
Width Wb 21.7 GHz, which create a slightly wider bandwidth.

Main slot width WsB 17.7

Slot Width Sa,Sb 1.0

Slot Slot A length LsA 8.4

Slot B length LsB 10.9

Centre Arm Width Wc 5.2

Width Wc/2 2.6

Feed point Length Lf 1.8 Fig.5 S11 for air and foam substrate
B. Changes in substrate size
Thickness h 3.2 Figure 6 shows the S11 parameter when dimension of
Substrate substrate is changing where Wsub = Lsub = Wg = Lg. These
Air Dielectric 1.0006 parameters are decreased by 10 mm for each run, starting
constant from 60 mm to 30 mm. The result doesn’t show much
difference in terms of bandwidth but slightly affect the
Substrate Width and 60 magnitude of S11. The magnitude decreased when
and Ground Length dimension decreased from 40 mm to 30 mm only at 1st and
Core Diameter Dc 1.275 2nd resonant frequency. but when increased from 40 mm to
50 mm, only magnitude at 2nd and 3rd resonant frequency
increased. The magnitude at 60 mm is almost same when at
Teflon Diameter Dt 4.17 40 mm.
SMA
Teflon 2.08
Dielectric
constant

III. PARAMETRIC STUDY

The default value of dimension for this antenna is presented
in Table 1. Dimension that are kept constant in this paper are
Main Patch, Outer Patch, Substrate’s thickness, LsB and
SMA feed. Other parameters are set as variables. Only one

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 Design and Simulation of E-Shape Microstrip Patch Antenna for Wideband Applications

E. Changes in Main Slot Width(WsB)

WsB is varied from 15.7 mm to 19.7 mm with increment of 1
mm. The result shown in Figure 9 shows a pattern when WsB
is varied Low cut-off frequency is virtually the same for all
values. The upper cut-off decreases as WsB increases. It can
be said WsB influence the bandwidth of other parameters are
kept constant.

Fig.6 S11 of various size of substrate

C. Changes in Centre Arm Width (Wc)
Figure 7 shows the S11 parameter when Wc varied from
4.2 mm to 6.2 mm by 0.5 mm increment. As the width
increases,
the 1st and 2nd resonant frequency shifted to lower frequency
and the magnitude of S11 decreases. The opposite occur at
the 3rd resonant frequency where the frequency does not Fig.9 S11 of various size of WsB
seem to change very much, but magnitude of S11 increases as
the width of centre arm increases. F. Changes in Slot Width (Sa,Sb)
Slot widths, Sa and Sb is varied from 0.5 mm to 2mm, with
increment of 0.5 mm. For Sa, almost similar pattern can be
seen in Figure 10. Magnitude for S11 at 1st resonant
frequency decreases as Sa Increase while the opposite happen
at 3rd resonant frequency, when magnitude of S11 increases
as Sa decreases. S11 magnitude is very low when Sa= 2 mm.
In Figure 11, when Sb varied all value show a similar
pattern. Magnitude for S11 at 1st and 3rd resonant frequency
decreases as Sb Increase. Very low S11 magnitude occurred
when Sb = 2 mm.

Fig.7 S11 of various size of Wc

D. Changes in Slot Length (LsA)
Figure 8 shows S11 magnitude when LsA varied from 7.6
mm to 9.6 mm with 0.4 mm increment. As the length
increases, the 1st and 2nd resonant frequency shifted to lower
frequency and the magnitude of S11 decreases but not the
case when LsA = 9.2 mm & 9.6mm where the magnitude at
1st resonant frequency increase. The opposite also occurred
at the 3rd resonant frequency where the frequency does not
Fig.10 S11 of various size of Sa
seem to change very much, but magnitude of S11 increases as
the length of LsA increases.

Fig.11 S11 of various size of Sb

Fig.8 S11 of various size of LsA

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278 & Sciences Publication
 International Journal of Soft Computing and Engineering (IJSCE)
ISSN: 2231-2307, Volume-2, Issue-3, July 2012

IV. RESULTS AND DISCUSSION measure of how well matched an antenna is to the cable
impedance. A perfectly matched antenna would have a
Antenna is optimized based on the results obtained in section
VSWR of 1:1. This ratio indicates how much power is
III. The aim of optimization is to obtain better gain and
reflected back or transferred into a cable. VSWR is closely
bandwidth than in Figure 5. The varied parameters
related to S11 The line impedance set in this paper is 50 Ω.
specification after optimization is shown in Table 2.
For default specification, the lowest VSWR value is 1.67 for
Table 2: Optimized parameters
11.24GHz while for optimized antenna which uses Air
Parameter Label Dimension
substrate substrate acquires the lowest VSWR of 0.217 at the
(mm)
optimum frequency (8.73 GHz) and 1.61 at the optimum
Main slot WsB 15.7 frequency of 11.45GHz.
width
Slot Slot A Width Sa 2

Slot B Width Sb 0.6

Slot A length LsA 8.8

Centre Width Wc 4.7

Arm
Ground Width Wg 60

Length Lg 60

A. Improvement in Bandwidth, Gain,S11 and VSWR Fig. 13 VSWR of optimized wideband antenna
Figure 12 shows S11 parameter for the original air gap B. Radiation Pattern of Optimized Antenna
substrate, the original foam substrate, and the optimized Figure 14(a) and (b) show the radiation pattern for the
wideband antenna. The frequency band for the optimized antenna at 8.73 GHz. HPBW is the angular separation which
wideband antenna range from 8.59 GHz up to 13.99 GHz. the magnitude of the radiation pattern from the peak of the
Compared to original default bandwidth (using Air), the main beam decreases by 50% or -3 dB. HPBW (angle) is 70˚
bandwidth is expanded from 4.68 GHz to 5.4 GHz which is a for Optimum Frequency of 8.73 GHz.
15.38% bandwidth improvement. The obvious improvement
is the position of low cut-off frequency. The antenna operates
optimally at 1st resonant frequency which is 8.73 GHz,
followed by 2nd resonant at 11.45 GHz and finally 3rd
resonant at 13.15 GHz.

(a)

Fig.12 Comparison of three antenna design

The gain measured for default design at its most optimum
frequency (11.24 GHz) is 8.31 dB and the gain using air
substrate at 8.73 GHz, the gain is 7.33 dB.
S11 represents how much incident signal at port 1, being
reflected at port 1. The S11 is the ratio of reflected wave, b1
to incident wave, a1 (b1/a1). If S11 = 1, it indicates that all
signal is reflected and nothing is radiated. In foam substrate,
at its most optimum frequency 11.11 GHz radiated power is
measured to be 0.00826W while in air gap substrate, radiated (b)
power is 0.0085726W at 8.73 GHz, which indicates smaller Fig. 14(a) & (b) 8.73 GHz radiation pattern
amount of signal is reflected back at port 1.
Figure 13 shows the VSWR comparison of default
specification antenna and the optimized antenna. VSWR is a

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 Design and Simulation of E-Shape Microstrip Patch Antenna for Wideband Applications

Table 3: Values for radiation parameter for each

frequency
Frequency 8.73 11.45 13.15
(GHz)
Gain (dB) 7.33 8.43 7.79
Radiation .02641 0.1254 0.3035
efficiency
(dB)
Front to back 15.2 17.299 19.53
ratio (dB)
Max U (W/Sr) 0.0039681 0.0045996 0.0068782
Peak Directivity 5.8169 6.767 5.6102
Radiated 0.0085726 0.0085418 0.015407
power(W)
Accepted 0.008521 0.0082989 0.014366
Power(W)
Incident 0.0087812 0.0083887 0.014814
Power(W)

V. CONCLUSION
In this paper, an E-shaped wideband microstrip patch
antenna using Air substrate has been designed, simulated,
optimized and analyzed using HFSS (High Frequency
Structure Simulator) software version 11. A parametric study
is presented with the results showing that the antenna can be
operated at 8.80 GHz up to 13.49 GHz frequency band. This
result is an improvement when compared to the original
specification which saw the bandwidth is expanded from
4.68 GHz to 5.4 GHz. Other parameters such as S11 and
VSWR also have been improved.

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