Progress In Electromagnetics Research Letters, Vol.

61, 47–53, 2016

Bandwidth and Gain Enhancement for Probe-Fed CP Microstrip

Antenna by Loading with Parasitical Patches

Wen-Quan Cao1, 2, * and Wei Hong1

Abstract—A novel probe-fed single-layer circularly polarized (CP) truncated microstrip antenna with
enhanced CP bandwidth and gain is presented in this paper. The axial ratio (AR) bandwidth is
broadened by loading with a circle of eight truncated square parasitical patches. Parameter analysis
is made to investigate the effect of the loading structures on the AR property. For comparisons, both
the unloaded and loaded truncated patch antennas with the same size are designed, fabricated and
measured. The measurement results show that by adding the parasitical patches, the −10 dB impedance
bandwidth was increased from 0.98 GHz (15.9%) to 1.42 GHz (21.5%), among which the 3-dB RHCP
AR bandwidth has been increased from 200 MHz (3.3% at the center frequency of 6.04 GHz) to 780 MHz
(12.6% at the center frequency of 6.19 GHz). The gain enhancement is about 0.5 dB ∼ 1.5 dB around
the operating frequency range, and the maximum gain of the proposed antenna is about 9.1 dB. With
the advantages of simple structure, wide CP bandwidth and considerable gain property, this antenna
has potential application in wireless communications.

1. INTRODUCTION

With the advantages of better mobility, reduction in multipath reflections and stable signal quality
between the transmitting and receiving devices, circular polarized (CP) antennas are widely used in
the satellite communication, radar tracking, global positioning system (GPS), and radio frequency
identification (RFID) systems. Microstrip antennas (MPAs) are one choice to design CP antennas for
their advantages of flat shape, light weight, and low production cost. However, narrow impedance
bandwidth and axial ratio (AR) bandwidth are the main disadvantage of the CP MPAs.
Several methods are used to solve the bandwidth problem. Dual- or multi-feed type can be adopted
to increase the CP bandwidth. However, new feeding networks including additional circuit with power
dividers or couplers are needed at the expense of complicating the antenna structure. Thus single-feed
type is preferred for its compactness. However, the single-feed patch antenna suffers from inherently
narrow AR and impedance bandwidths (1%–3%) [1–3].
The techniques used to ease this problem can be divided into two types. On one hand, radiating
patches with suitable slots/stubs or stacked parasitical patches are designed to broaden the CP
bandwidth. For example, slots with U-shape, E-shape or other shapes are proposed to generate CP
radiation with AR bandwidth of more than 5% [4–6]. Air layer/foam substrate or stacked patches can
also be used to increase the CP bandwidth at the expense of using thicker volume [7–10]. On the other
hand, other single-feed techniques such as L-probe feed [11], C-type single feed [12], capacitive coupled
feeds [13, 14], aperture coupling feed [15], and meandering probe (M-probe) feed [16, 17] can be used to
improve the AR bandwidth of a patch antenna. Nevertheless, dual- or multi-layers are needed to design
Received 13 March 2016, Accepted 23 April 2016, Scheduled 8 July 2016
* Corresponding author: Wen-Quan Cao (cao wenquan@163.com).
1 State Key Laboratory of Millimeter Waves, Southeast University, China. 2 College of Communications Engineering, PLA University

of Science and Technology, China.

48 Cao and Hong

c2 g

Radiating
patch
Lp s Ls
x y
c1

Parasitic
patch

(a)

substrate h
Ground plane SMA
(b)

Figure 1. Geometry of the proposed broadband microstrip antenna: (a) top view and; (b) side view.

such kind of antennas which is not simple enough and may cause difficulty in compact array realization
at higher frequencies.
Adding co-planar parasitical patches is one technique can be adopted to improve the antenna
bandwidth by the mutual coupling effect [18]. As we know, probe-fed single-layer microstrip antenna
with wide impedance bandwidth and high gain properties can be achieved by loading with parasitical
patches. The impedance bandwidth of the loaded one can be much wider than the unloaded type [19–
21]. However, the CP case was not realized. In this paper, co-planar parasitical patches are added for
broadening the CP bandwidth of truncated microstrip antenna. Parameter analysis is made to optimize
the antenna, and the 3-dB AR bandwidth has been increased from 200 MHz (3.3% at the center frequency
of 6.04 GHz) to 780 MHz (12.6% at the center frequency of 6.19 GHz) without increasing the antenna
size. Meanwhile, the gain enhancement is about 0.5 dB ∼ 1.5 dB around the operating frequency range.
The antenna is valuable in wireless communication systems for its extreme simple structure and wide
CP bandwidth property.

2. ANTENNA DESIGN AND PARAMETERS ANALYSIS

2.1. Antenna Structure

The perturbation method is often used to excite the CP on the patch antenna. Truncated radiating
patch is adopted to introduce two linear polarized (LP) degenerate modes perpendicular to each other
and in phase quadrature. The polarization of the antenna can be changed from LP to CP by tuning the
feeding position and the truncated geometry. The proposed antenna is shown in Fig. 1. The truncated
square patch has a length of Lp and is printed on a substrate with thickness h, length Ls and relative
permittivity εr = 2.2. Around the radiating patch eight co-planar truncated square parasitical patches
with a size of a arranged in a square circle are printed on the upper plane of the same substrate, and
the gap between each unit parasitical patch is g. The radiating patch, the square circle of parasitical
patches and the substrate own the same coordinate center. The distance S between the location of the
feed probe and the edge of the radiating patch can be optimized to obtain a good impedance match.
Actually the antenna operates at two different resonant frequencies which are determined by the size
of the radiating patch and the parasitical patches, respectively. Broad impedance bandwidth can be
obtained by merging the two resonant points. The gap between the radiating patch and the parasitical
Progress In Electromagnetics Research Letters, Vol. 61, 2016 49

patches is another vital factor which influences the impedance matching condition. For simplicity, it
will not be discussed in detail here. The size of the truncated geometry c1 , c2 for the radiating patch
and co-planar parasitical patch, respectively, are the vital parameters determining the CP performance.
The detailed parameter analysis for the CP characteristics is given in the next section.

2.2. Parameter Analysis

Parameter analysis is done for further understanding the working principle of the antenna. The vital
parameters are analyzed with other parameters unchanged. Fig. 2 shows the simulated results of the
proposed antenna with various truncated sizes for the radiating patch c1 , from 3.6 mm to 4.0 mm.
The same as conventional unloaded truncated patch antenna, the truncated size plays a role on both
the impedance matching and AR bandwidth for the loaded antenna, especially for the first resonant
frequency point of the proposed type. However, the antenna gain is not influenced much.
Figure 3 shows the simulated results of the proposed antenna with various truncated sizes for the
parasitical radiating patches c2 , from 3.4 mm to 3.8 mm. It can be found that both S-parameters and
gain property are not affected much. However, the AR performance can be adapted in some extend
by this factor. Based on the analysis above, the antenna performance can be optimized by tuning the
truncated size of the radiating patch and co-planar parasitical radiating patches step by step. The results

11 11
0
10 10
9 9
-10
8 8
Axial Ratio (dB)

7 7
-20 c1=3.6mm

Gain (dBi)
S11 (dB)

6 6
c1=3.8mm
5 5
-30 c1=4.0mm
4 4
c1=3.6mm 3 3
-40
2 2
c1=3.8mm
1 1
-50 c1=4.0mm 0 0
5.0 5.5 6.0 6.5 7.0 7.5 8.0 5.4 5.6 5.8 6.0 6.2 6.4 6.6 6.8
Frequency (GHz) Frequency (GHz)
(a) (b)

Figure 2. Simulated results of the proposed antenna with various truncated size for radiating patch
c1 , other parameters are the same as listed in Table 1. (a) S11 ; (b) AR and gain.

11 11
0
10 10
9 9
-10 8 8
Axial Ratio (dB)

7 7
6 c2=3.4mm 6
S11 (dB)

-20
Gain (dBi)

5 c2=3.6mm 5
-30 4 c2=3.8mm 4
3 3
c2=3.4mm 2 2
-40 c2=3.6mm 1 1
c2=3.8mm 0 0
-50 -1 -1
5.0 5.5 6.0 6.5 7.0 7.5 8.0 5.4 5.6 5.8 6.0 6.2 6.4 6.6 6.8
Frequency (GHz) Frequency (GHz)
(a) (b)

Figure 3. Simulated results of the proposed antenna with various truncated size for the parasitical
radiating patches c2 , other parameters are the same as listed in Table 1. (a) S11 ; (b) AR and gain.
50 Cao and Hong

show that the two linear polarized (LP) degenerate modes can be tuned by the truncated geometry of
both the radiating patch and co-planar parasitical patches.
For comparisons, the unloaded truncated square patch antenna is also designed, and the results are
given in Fig. 4 and Fig. 5. It can be found that S-parameter shifted a little to the higher band with the
−10 dB impedance bandwidth increased from 1.26 GHz to 1.32 GHz by adding the parasitical patches,
which is shown in Fig. 4. Fig. 5 shows the axial RHCP AR curve and gain curve of the antenna.
With the truncated part in the orthogonal direction, LHCP can be realized accordingly. Compared

0
-5
-10
-15
S11 (dB)

-20
-25
Simulated no add
-30
Simulated add
-35 Measured no add
Measured add
-40
4.0 4.5 5.0 5.5 6.0 6.5 7.0 7.5 8.0 8.5 9.0
Frequency (GHz)

Figure 4. Simulated and measured reflection coefficients of the two antennas.

10
7 Simu no add
Simu add
6 Meas no add 9
Meas add
Axial Ratio (dB)

5
Gain (dBi)

8
4
3
7
2
Simu no add
1 6 Simu add
Meas no add
0 Meas add
5
5.6 5.8 6.0 6.2 6.4 6.6 5.4 5.6 5.8 6.0 6.2 6.4 6.6 6.8
Frequency (GHz) Frequency (GHz)
(a) (b)
Figure 5. The simulated and measured far field results of the two antennas: (a) AR; (b) Gain.

(a) (b)

Figure 6. Photos of the proposed antenna. (a) loaded type; (b) unloaded type.
Progress In Electromagnetics Research Letters, Vol. 61, 2016 51

(a) (b)

Figure 7. Simulated and measured radiation patterns of both the proposed antenna and the unloaded
type at 6.1 GHz: (a) Y OZ-plane; (b) XOZ-plane.

Table 1. Parameters of the antenna (unit: mm).

Ls g a Lp h c1 c2
50 2.3 12 15 3 3.8 3.6

with unloaded antenna, the 3 dB AR bandwidth of the loaded type was broadened quadruplely, from
190 MHz to 780 MHz, while gain enhancement about 0.5 ∼ 1.6 dB is achieved around the operating
frequency range. This is because the field distribution of the proposed antenna is more uniform, which
is like an antenna array owning more effective aperture efficiency within the radiating area. Thus gain
enhancement can be realized accordingly.

3. RESULTS AND DISCUSSION

As shown in Fig. 6, prototypes of both unloaded and loaded antennas are fabricated to validate the
predictions. The loaded and unloaded types are shown in the left and right sides, respectively. Based
on the HFSS simulation software, the parameters of the two antennas are optimized and given in
Table 1. An Agilent N5230A network analyzer is used to measure the S-parameters. For comparison,
both the simulated and measured reflection coefficients of the two antennas are given in Fig. 4. The
results show that by adding the parasitical patches, the −10 dB impedance bandwidth was increased
from 0.98 GHz (15.9%) to 1.42 GHz (21.5%). The measured bandwidth of the unloaded type is little
narrower than simulated one, and that of the loaded type is a little wider than the simulated results.
The discrepancy may be attributed to the fabrication toleration and measurement errors. However, the
agreement between the measured and simulated results is acceptable.
Figure 5 shows both the simulated and measured far-field results of the two antennas at the axial
direction. The measured 3-dB AR bandwidth has been increased from 200 MHz (3.3% at the center
frequency of 6.04 GHz) to 780 MHz (12.6% at the center frequency of 6.19 GHz). The gain enhancement
is about 0.5 dB ∼ 1.5 dB around the operating frequency range, and the maximum gain of the proposed
antenna is about 9.1 dB, which is described in Fig. 5(b). Measured gains of the antennas are a little lower
than the simulated ones. The difference between the simulation and measurements can be explained
as follows: (a) the fabrication toleration such as the SMA soldering; (b) the loss from the substrate
including the unexpected loss from the material and the metal loss from the radiating patch and the
ground plane; (c) the measurement errors such as the measurement environment and the mount effect.
Finally, the measured radiation patterns were taken at 6.1 GHz for both Y OZ and XOZ planes, shown
52 Cao and Hong

in Fig. 7, and verify the bore-sight radiation characteristic. Good agreement between the simulated
and measured results can be obtained. It can be found that the beamwidth of the proposed antenna is
narrower than the unloaded type with the half-power beamwidth (HPBW) decreased for about 15◦ ∼ 25◦
in the two planes.

4. CONCLUSION

In this paper, a simple probe-feed CP patch antenna with enhanced AR bandwidth is proposed. By
loading with a square circle of truncated square parasitical patches around the truncated radiating patch,
the 3 dB AR bandwidth of the proposed antenna was about four times wider than the unloaded antenna,
and the gain enhancement is about 0.5 dB ∼ 1.5 dB around the operating frequency range. Both
antennas are designed and fabricated. The measured results confirm the analysis. Besides truncation
method, other perturbation methods, such as adding slots or stubs, can also be introduced to design
broadband CP patch antennas with an extremely simple structure. This co-planar parasitical concept
can be used to design novel antennas with multi-function applied in the wireless communication systems
in future.

ACKNOWLEDGMENT

This work was supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China under Grant 61401506.

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