Study, Design and Simulation of an Array Antenna

for Base Station 5G

Yassine El Hasnaoui Tomader Mazri
Electrical System and Telecommunication Engineering Electrical System and Telecommunication Engineering
National School of Applied Sciences National School of Applied Sciences
Ibn Tofail University Ibn Tofail University
Kenitra, Morocoo Kenitra, Morocoo
yassine.elhasnaoui@uit.ac.ma tomader20@gmail.com

Abstract—Patch array antennas are widely used in various patch, they are widely used in modern wireless
applications, namely, wireless communications networks, satellite communications systems. They are attractive for use in high-
telecommunications, radar systems, global positioning systems, speed vehicles such as missiles, aircraft and satellites [7].
and telemedicine applications. The purpose of this article is to During the design at a frequency of 28 GHz, the dielectric
design and simulate, using the simulation software ADS constant of the substrate used shall be in the range of 2,2  r 
(Advanced Design System), so we designed a rectangular 1 patch 12 [6,8-9]. Especially, our purpose is to design a new parallel
antenna powered by a microstrip line with notch, the results fed patch array antenna for 28 GHz-5G base stations having a
obtained were transformed to a 2 patches array and then to 4 higher bandwidth using software Advanced Design System
patches powered first in parallel using a power divider. The
(ADS), the choice of the 28 GHz band of 5G base stations is to
objective is to achieve: a high directivity of the antenna with
better gain and reduced losses by reflection, we analyzed the
increase the debut for users, so that all applications on the
results for the three coil arrays (1 patch, 2 patch, and 4 patch Internet can be run instantly thanks to improved latency.
coil), found that the 4 patch array provides better results than
the 1 and 2 patch array, because they show an increase in
directivity and gain with a very large bandwidth. II. ARRAY ANTENNA DESIGN
Keywords—array antenna, 5G, gain, bandwidth, directivity, A. Single Patch Antenna Design
ADS. The patch antenna consists of a ground plane and a
dielectric substrate with a radiant metallic motif on the top
surface (rectangle, square, triangle, disc, etc.). Figure 1 shows
I. INTRODUCTION an example of a patch shape. This radiant element is powered
Wireless communication has evolved rapidly in recent by a connection element, such as a microband probe feed or a
years; this evolution has been accompanied by a need for a line.
very high throughput and a more efficient communication
system. For example, the capacity of 5G base stations needs L
higher data rates and improved service quality for mobile users Patch
compared to their 4G counterparts [1]. The new generation
(5G) therefore requires advanced antennal systems that are
capable of meeting the agility needs of diagrams, good gain W
and high bandwidth operation [1-3]. Many frequency bands are t
offered for 5G communications, such as 28 GHz, 38 GHz, V Dielectric
band and E band (71-76 GHz, 81-86 GHz and 91-93 GHz) substrate
h
because the technologies need larger bandwidth [4].
This research aims to develop a new design for the antenna Ground Plane
array for the millimeter-wave band applications for 5G mobile
devices. Fig. 1. Microstrip antenna

In this article we propose designs of a base station antenna

for fifth generation (5G) wireless communication, The
proposed antenna array in this work is to be designed to The specifications of the structure of antenna to be
operate at 28 GHz and covers the millimeter-wave band [5], we conceived are:
use microstrip antennas that are now widely used due to their
low weight and reduced footprint, and have a narrow • Number of Patch: 4.
bandwidth and moderate gain [6]. These antennas are called • Impedance of the line of feeding: 50 .

978-1-7281-8041-0/20/$31.00 ©2020 IEEE

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 • Frequency of resonance: 28 GHz. TABLE I: PHYSICAL PARAMETERS OF THE PATCH

The design of the structure is carried out according to the Antenna Characteristics Value(mm)
following steps: patch length, L 1.57
patch width, W 3.17
• Design a rectangular patch antenna powered by
microstrip line. length of feedline, Lf 3.590600
width of feedline, Wf 0.972119
• Design the 2 and 4 square patch array antennas powered
in parallel.
B. Patch Antenna Design Parameters
In this design, using the substrate FR4 with dielectric
constant r = 4.7, height of substrate h = 0.5 mm, T= 0.035 mm
and loss tangent equal to 0.0197.
The impedance adaptation is notch type [10]. The antenna
is intended to operate at the frequency value of 28 GHz (Fig.
2).

Theoretical calculations of the dimensions of the

rectangular patch antenna
Fig. 2. 3D view of patch antenna in ADS
The dimensions of the radiating element are calculated
theoretically [11-13]. The width W for a rectangular patch is
given by the following formula: C. Designing of 2×1 and 4×1 Patch Array Antenna
c Figure 3 shows the 2 x 1 and 4 x 1 microstrip patch antenna
W= (1) array, these rectangular patch elements having the same shape
2 fo (ε r + 1) / 2 as the single element rectangular microstrip patch antenna.
Furthermore, these elements have the same dielectric substrate
where C is the speed of light in free space. and dimensions that proposed for the first antenna design.
The finite dimensions of the patch cause the field at its ends
to deform by edge effect, which corresponds to an elongation
of the length of the patch of 2L, where:

ΔL = 0.412h
(ε eff + 0.3) ( Wh + 0.264 )
(2)
(ε eff − 0.258 ) ( Wh + 0.8 )
The calculation of the effective permittivity of a microstrip
line is based on the width of the line and the height of the
substrate: (a) (b)
1/ 2 Fig 3. Microstrip array antenna rectangular with: two elements (a); four
ε r + 1 ε r −1 § h·
ε eff = + ¨1 + 12 ¸ (3) elements (b).
2 2 © W¹
The length of the patch becomes: III. SIMULATION RESULTS
L = Leff − 2ΔL (4) In this section we present the simulation results of the
single patch antenna and the 2 and 4 patch antenna array with
c corporate feed. The system was designed and simulated by the
where Leff = (5) ADS simulation software [10]. The evaluated parameters are
2 f o ε eff directivity, gain and bandwidth.

The line parameters are calculated using the ADS software A. Single Patch Rectangular
by the "LineCalc" command. As can be seen in Fig. 4, the reflection coefficient is - 32
dB at 28 GHz, also at below -10 dB return loss the bandwidth
The calculations based on the theory presented above led to is between 27.1 GHz to 28.9 GHz.
the values presented in Table 1.

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 S11 S11
0 -5

-10 -10

Mag. [dB]
M ag. [dB]

-20 -15

-30 -20

-40 -25
25 26 27 28 29 30 26.0 26.5 27.0 27.5 28.0 28.5 29.0 29.5

Frequency (a) Frequency

(a)

(b)

(b)
Fig. 6. S-parameter simulation results of the 2- elements: reflection
coefficient S11(a); 3D radiation pattern (b)
Fig. 4. S-parameter simulation results of the single element: reflection
coefficient S11 (a); 3D radiation pattern (b)
The resonance frequency obtained for this array is 28 GHz
and the value of S11 is -23.07 dB.
There are two important parameters directivity and gain
that are effected on the performance of the antenna have been
obtained 7.77931 dB and 4.30259dB respectively as shown in
Fig. 5.

Fig. 7. Characteristics of the microstrip antenna array with two elements

rectangular.

Fig. 5. Antenna parameters values of the single patch C. 4×1 Patch Array Antennas
The representation of radiation pattern and return loss of 4-
B. 2×1 Patch Array Antennas
element array antenna excited by parallel is shown in Fig. 8.
Figure 6 depicts the result for 2-element array antenna, the
graph is falling at 28 GHz with the return loss is -23.07 dB.
The bandwidth is around 27,3 GHz and 28,9 GHz

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 S11
0 Table 2 summarizes the simulated gain, directivity and
bandwidth values at 28 GHz for the 1, 2, and 4 rectangular
-10
parallel feed array antennas. From this table we can analyze
Mag. [dB]

that by increasing the number of elements the gain, return loss

-20
and directivity gets increased and the beam width gets
-30
decreased that means the four elements patch antenna has
narrow beam and has high characteristic. Comparison our
-40
results to those obtained in the references [14-16], which are
26.5 27.0 27.5 28.0 28.5 29.0 29.5 30.0 30.5 given in Table 3, yields the two following conclusions: i) our
Frequency
proposed novel array antenna provides better outcomes in
D terms of bandwidth, return loss and directivity, and ii) the
obtained simulation values are close to those presented at the
frequency 28 GHz and gave a large bandwidth (2.2 GHz)

TABLE II: SUMMARY RESULTS OF SINGLE PATCH, 2X1 AND 4X1 ARRAY
PATCH ANTENNA

S11 bandwidth Directivity Gain

Parameters
(dB) (GHz) (dB) (dB)
single patch -32 1.6 7.77 4.30
(b) 2 x 1 patch -23 1.7 10 6.24
4 x 1 patch -35.6 2.2 12.87 6.18

Fig. 8. S-parameter simulation results of the 4-elements: 3D reflection

coefficient S11(a); 3D radiation pattern (b)
TABLE III: COMPARISON OF BANDWIDTH GAIN AND EFFICIENCY OF
DIFFERENT ARRAY
From the return loss graph as shown in Fig. 8(a), is appear
that the reflection coefficient is -35.6 dB at 27.9 GHz, also at Resonance
below -10 dB return loss, the bandwidth is between 27.2 GHz S11 Bandwidth Directivity
References frequency
(dB) (GHz) (dB)
to 29.6 GHz. Figure 9 shows the directivity and gain that are (GHz)
obtained from array antenna are 12.8706 dB and 6.17796 dB [14] 5.8 -36 0.6 11.18
respectively, hence, the directivity and gain are significantly [15] 14.3 -30.9 0.75 6.46
increased compared to the 2-element patch antenna and the [16] 28 -25.8 1.2 13.5
single patch antenna. this work 28 -35.6 2.2 12.87

IV. CONCLUSION
In this research we have proposed a new antenna array
design at 28 GHz for the fifth generation base stations
antennas. From observing the parametric on simulating shown
that the single element microstrip antenna a with narrow
bandwidth and low gain can be enhance by using microstrip
patch array antenna, As can be observed from the simulation
results of a four elements antenna array the gain and directivity
became more as compared to single element and two elements
array antenna and also the bandwidth of array antenna with
four elements has improved roughly equivalent of two times as
compared to the single element patch antenna.
Our future investigation will be focus on enhancing the
gain and bandwidth of the array antenna using different
techniques, and we may extend our research to study an array
antenna with 8-elements.

Fig. 9. Characteristics of the microstrip antenna array with four elements

rectangular.

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