Linearly Polarized HMSIW U-Slot Antenna

Patrik Hubka, Jaroslav Lacik

Department of Radio Electronics
Brno University of Technology
Brno, Czech Republic
xhubka00@stud.feec.vutbr.cz, lacik@feec.vutbr.cz

Abstract—In this paper, a linearly polarized half-mode second approach, the maximum of antenna radiation is in the
substrate integrated waveguide (HMSIW) U-slot antenna antenna plane which can be cumbersome for some
is proposed. It is based on a combination of U-shaped slot applications, such as off-body communication, where
etched in the HMSIW top wall and two shorts placed in maximum radiation in the normal direction is usually
this slot. Thanks to this configuration, a linearly polarized desirable.
antenna with maximum radiation in the normal direction In this paper, a half-mode substrate integrated waveguide
is obtained. The antenna is designed for the operating U-slot antenna with linear polarization is proposed. It only has
frequency band of 10 GHz with help of CST Microwave a single layer configuration and the maximum radiation is
Studio. Experimental results prove that the antenna with a perpendicular to the antenna plane. The antenna can be easily
HMSIW-to-GCPW (grounded coplanar waveguide) fabricated by a printed circuit board process.
transition radiates linearly polarized electromagnetic wave
and achieves the impedance bandwidth of 3.2 % for II. PROPOSED ANTENNA CONFIGURATION
reflection coefficient less than -10 dB and gain of 6.01 dBi. The proposed antenna is shown in Fig. 1. The dielectric
substrate of the length L, the width W, and the height h with
Keywords—Half-mode substrate integrated waveguide, slot
the relative permittivity εr, and the loss tangent tan(δ) is on its
antenna, grounded coplanar waveguide. both sides covered by metal sheets. In order to reduce
computing time for design of the antenna, vias of HMSIW are
substitute by a solid wall made of perfect electrical conductor
I. INTRODUCTION
(in Fig. 1 depicted by a dashed line). The slot is etched at the
In past years, a substrate integrated waveguide (SIW) end of the waveguide at the distance LeffX from its short end in
technology has been applied to the design of microwave and the x-direction, and from the solid wall of HMSIW at the
millimeter wave systems. SIW has many advantages such as a distance WeffY in the y-direction. The antenna radiates linearly
low manufacturing cost, a low profile, and easy integration polarized wave with maximum radiation in the normal
with planar circuits. However, for many applications this direction. The antenna is equipped by a HMSIW to GCPW
technology can be too wide. Thus, the reduction of the SIW (grounded coplanar waveguide) transition.
size is very desirable task.
To reduce the width of SIW, the ridge SIW (RSIW) [1], C-
type folded SIW (CFSIW) [2] or T-type folded SIW (TFSIW)
[3] technologies can be used. Unfortunately, all these
technologies are based on a multilayer concept which
increases demands of the design and fabrication process. Other
option is to exploit a half-mode SIW (HMSIW) technology [4]
since it preserves all advantages of the SIW technology and its
size is reduces nearly by half with lower design and
fabrication complexity than RSIW, CFSIW and TFSIW.
A narrow rectangular slot etched in a top metal wall of a
HMSIW is a simple and useable radiator for linear polarized
HMSIW slot based antennas [5]. However, antennas based on
this conception have usually narrow impedance bandwidth (in
[5], the impedance bandwidth of 1.1 % is reached for the
reflection coefficient less than – 10 dB). To increase it, the slot
can be loaded by a piece of a dielectric [6], or the dielectric
aperture principle can be exploited [7]. In case of the first
Fig. 1. Top (a) and side (b) view of the proposed antenna with solid wall
approach, the antenna is not a single layer, and in case of the instead of HMSIW.
The presented research was supported by the Czech Grant Agency project
no. P102/12/1274, by the Czech Ministry of Education in frame of National
Sustainability Program under grant LO1401, and by the Internal Grant
Agency of Brno University of Technology project no. FEKT-S-14-2483. The
research is the part of the COST Action IC1301 which is financially supported
by the grant of the Czech Ministry of Education no. LD14057. For research,
infrastructure of the SIX Center was used.
 III. DESING OF ANTENNA AND SIMULATED RESULTS 0

Reflection Coefficient [dB]

The antenna is designed for the operating frequency of 10 -5
GHz on the dielectric substrate ARLON Cuclad 217 with -10
relative permittivity εr = 2.17, tangent loss tan(δ) = 0.0009 and
height h = 1.524 mm. The bottom side is fully coated with -15
metal. -20

One side of the waveguide is created within the substrate -25

by the solid wall and the other side is open. Due to the large -30
ratio of the waveguide width to height, the open side can be 9 9.2 9.4 9.6 9.8 10 10.2 10.4 10.6 10.8 11
equivalent to a magnetic wall. The waveguide operates in the Frequency [GHz]
fundamental mode TE0,5;0. The cut-off frequency for chosen
Fig. 3. Simulated reflection coefficient of the proposed antenna.
width of the waveguide WeffHMSIW = 8.4 mm is 5.99 GHz. The
cut-off frequency of higher mode TE1,5;0 is 17.97 GHz. 0

Normalized Magnitude [dB]

The proposed antenna was designed with the help of time
domain solver of CST Microwave Studio 2013 (CST MWS). -10
The resultant dimensions are summarized in Table I.
-20
TABLE I. DIMENSIONS OF THE PROPOSED ANTENNA (FIG. 1)
-30
[mm] [mm] [mm] Co-polar
-40
Cross-polar
L 31.2 W 14.4 WSHORT2 0.4
-50
LμSTRIP 6.4 WμSTRIP-GAP 0.7 GY 3.0 -180 -150 -120 -90 -60 -30 0 30 60 90 120 150 180
Theta [°]
LGCW 3.8 WeffμSTRIP 1.3 GX 3.0
(a)
LGCW-SLOT 3.8 WeffGCW 1.1 WeffHMSIW 8.4
0
LSLOT-X 12.4 WeffY 1.3 WμSTRIP 1.9
-5
Normalized Magnitude [dB]

LSLOT-Y 7.1 WGCW 5.2 WAP 3.0

-10
LSLOT2 4.7 WSLOT 1.1 h 1.524
-15
LeffX 1.7 WSHORT1 0.5
-20

The distribucion of the electric field in the substrate at the -25

frequency 10 GHz is depicted in Fig. 2. The position of the -30
Co-polar
short S1 strongly affects polarization of antenna. The operating Cross-polar
frequency depends mainly on the length of the slot LSLOT-X and -35
the impedance matching is affected dominantly by the width -180 -150 -120 -90 -60 -30 0 30 60 90 120 150 180
Theta [°]
of the slot WSLOT and by the width of the short S2 WSHORT2.
(b)
The simulated impedance bandwidth of the proposed Fig. 4. Simulated radiation pattern of the proposed antenna (Fig. 1) at 10 GHz:
antenna concept is 3% for the reflection coefficient less than – (a) E-plane (xz-plane), (b) H-plane (yz-plane).
10 dB (Fig. 3).
The simulated radiation patterns in two orthogonal cutting IV. EXPERIMENTAL VERIFICATION OF THE ANTENNA
planes are decipted in Fig. 4. The maximum radiation in the E To verify the proposed antenna concept (Fig.1) defined by
and H plane is shifted about 5° and 7° from the normal geometrical parameters in Table I experimentally, the solid
direction, respectively. The simulated gain of the antenna is G wall of perfect electrical conductor is substituted by a row of
= 6.55 dBi. vias of the width WHMSIW = 9.0 mm (Fig. 5) and the antenna is
equipped with SMA coaxial connector to carry out a
conventional coaxial measurement. The antenna was
fabricated by a low-cost etching PCB process.
The reflection coefficient is depicted in Fig. 6. It is
apparent that the measured reflection coefficient is about 100
MHz shifted to a lower frequency in comparison to the
simulated one due to the manufacturing tolerance. The
Fig. 2. Distribution of electric filed intensity at 10 GHz in substrate measured impedance bandwidth of the fabricated sample of
(magnitude). the antenna is 3.2 % for the reflection coefficient less than –10
dB while the antenna presented in [5] has only 1.1 % 0

Normalized Magnitude [dB]

impedance bandwidth. -5
simulation Co-polar
The normalized radiation patterns in two orthogonal -10 simulation Cross-polar
cutting planes are depicted in Fig. 7. The measurement was measurement Co-polar
-15
done in anechoic chamber for the Theta range from -90° to measurement Cross-polar
90°. In the E-plane, we can observe that the radiation pattern is -20
shifted about 10° in comparison to the simulated results due -25
parasitic radiating of GCPW and manufacturing tolerance. In
the plane-H, the simulated and measured values are in good -30
-180 -150 -120 -90 -60 -30 0 30 60 90 120 150 180
agreement. The measured gain of the antenna is Gmeas = 6.01
Theta [°]
dBi. Fabricated sample of the proposed antenna is in Fig. 8.
(b)
Fig. 7. Normalized radiation pattern of the proposed antenna (Fig. 5) at 10
GHz: (a) E-plane (xz-plane), (b) H-plane (yz-plane).

Fig. 8. Fabricated sample of the proposed HMSIW U-slot antenna.

V. CONCLUSION
In this paper, a linearly polarized half-mode substrate
integrated waveguide U-slot antenna has been introduced. For
the operating frequency band of 10 GHz, the fabricated
sample of the proposed antenna achieves the impedance
Fig. 5. Top (a) and side (b) view of the proposed antenna with row of vias, bandwidth of 3.2 % for the reflection coefficient less than – 10
where WHMSIW = 9.0 mm, d = 1.4 mm, p = 2.5 mm, LviaX =1.3 mm, LviaY = 1.9 dB and the gain of 6.01 dBi.
mm, WGCW-via = 1.5 mm and WμSTRIP-via = 1.9 (other parameters are defined in
Table I). Due to a small dimensions of the radiator, its exploitation
seems promising e.g. for body area network, energy harvesting
0 or wireless power transmission applications (after its redesign
Reflection Coefficient [dB]

-5 for a desired frequency band).

-10
-15 REFERENCES
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0
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