ISSN (Print): 0974-6846

ISSN (Online): 0974-5645

Indian Journal of Science and Technology, Vol 11(23), DOI: 10.17485/ijst/2018/v11i23/125651, June 2018

Design and Development of Microstrip Patch

Antenna at 2.4 GHz for Wireless Applications
Kukunuri Suraj and M. Neelaveni Ammal
Department of ECE, SRM University, Kattankulathur - 603203, Chennai, Tamil Nadu, India;
ksuraj1896@gmail.com, neelaveni.m@srmuniv.ktr.in

Abstract
Due to the existence of growth in development of low cost, less weight, highly reliable, minimal profile antennas for
wireless devices, it poses a new challenge for the design of antenna in wireless communications. This paper presents design
and simulation of a rectangular micro strip patch array antenna at 2.4 GHz for wireless communications that provides a
radiation pattern along a wide angle of beam and achieves a gain of 11.6 dBi. The rectangular micro strip patch antenna
was analysed using Ansof/Ansys HFSS and also made a comparison among the different substrates which shows different
results based on same parameters.

1. Introduction RT duroid 5880(tm) with 𝜖r = 2.2. The software tool HFSS

is used because it is a high performance full wave Electro-
In recent years there is a need for more compact antennas Magnetic (EM) field simulator for arbitrary 3D volumetric
due to rapid decrease in size of personal communication passive device modelling. It integrates simulation, visualiza-
devices. As communication devices become smaller due tion, solid modelling, and automation in an easy to learn
to greater integration of electronics, the antenna becomes environment where solutions to your 3D EM problems are
a significantly larger part of the overall package volume. quickly and accurate obtained.
This results in a demand for similar reductions in antenna
size. In addition to this, low profile antenna designs are also
important for fixed wireless application. The microstrip
2. Background
antennas used in a wide range of applications from com- A microstrip patch antenna is very simple in the con-
munication systems to satellite and biomedical applications. struction using a conventional microstrip fabrication
In order to simplify analysis and performance predic- technique1. The most two models of the rectangular
tion, the patch is generally square, rectangular, circular, patch antenna are transmission line model and the cav-
triangular, and elliptical or some other common shape. ity model.
The rectangular microstrip patch antenna is the widely
used of all the types of microstrip antennas that are pres- 2.1  Antenna Shape
ent The substrate material, dimension of antenna, feeding Microstrip patch antenna has a ground plane on the one
technique will determines the performance of microstrip side of a dielectric substrate which other side has a radi-
antenna. To enhance the gain, the array of patch elements ating patch as shown in Figure 1. A rectangular patch is
is used instead of single patch. Hence among different feed- used as the main radiator. The patch is generally made of
ing techniques, edge fed technique is used for the design of conducting material such as copper or gold and can take
rectangular microstrip patch antenna at 2.4 GHz. The sub- any possible shape. Dielectric constant of the substrate
strate material mainly used for design technique is Rogers (𝜖r) is typically in the range 2.2< 𝜖r <12
 Design and Development of Microstrip Patch Antenna at 2.4ghz for Wireless Applications

• W = Width of the patch

• L = Length of the patch
Assume Figure 3 a rectangular microstrip antenna of
width W, length L resting on the height of a substrate h.
The coordinate axis was selected as the height along z direc-
tion, length along x direction and width along y direction.

Figure 1.  Microstrip antenna.

For good antenna performance, a low dielectric constant
with thick dielectric substrate is desirable, as it provides
better radiation, better efficiency and larger bandwidth.

3.  Analysing Method

Transmission line model depicts the microstrip antenna
by two slots of width W and height h separated by Figure 3.  Microstrip patch antenna.
transmission line of length L. The microstrip is a non
homogeneous of two dielectrics, typically, substrate and In order to operate in the fundamental mode, length
the air. Most of the electric field lines reside some part in of the patch should be slightly less than λ/2, where λ is
the air and rest in the substrate. This results that trans- the wavelength equal to λ0/√. The TM10 implies that field
mission does not support Transverse Electric-Magnetic varies a cycle of λ/2 along the length, and width of the
(TEM) mode of transmission, as phase velocities would patch has no variation.
be different in substrate and in the air. So, dominant mode The microstrip patch antenna is represented by two
of propagation will be the quasi-TEM mode. An effective slots, separated by a transmission line of length L and
dielectric constant (𝜖reff) must be obtained to account open circuited at both the ends as shown in Figure 4.
for wave propagation in the line and fringing. The value
of 𝜖reff must be smaller than 𝜖r, as fringing fields across
patch periphery was not totally included in the substrate,
it also spread in the air as shown in Figure 2.

Figure 2.  Electric field lines.

Figure 4.  Rectangular microstrip antenna.
To design the patch antenna, following things has to
be determined. The voltage is maximum along the width of the patch
• 𝜖reff = Effective dielectric constant and due to the open ends, the current is minimum. With
• 𝜖r = Dielectric constant of substrate respect to the ground plane the fields at the edges can be
• h = Height of dielectric substrate resolved into tangential and normal components.

2 Vol 11 (23) | June 2018 | www.indjst.org Indian Journal of Science and Technology
 Kukunuri Suraj and M. Neelaveni Ammal

The normal components of the electric field at the two 4.1  Antenna Design Calculations
edges along the width are in opposite directions and thus
A)  Frings factor:
out of phase as seen in Figure 5. The patch is λ/2 long and W 
hence they cancel each other in the broadside direction. (€reff + 0.3)  + 0.264 
 h 
The tangential components which are in phase means that ΔL = 0.412h
W 
the resulting fields combine to give maximum radiated (€reff − 0.258)  + 0.8 
field normal to the surface of the structure. Hence the  h 
B)  Calculation factor:
edges along the width can be represented as two radiating
L = Leff − 2∆L
slots, which are λ/2 apart and excited in phase and radiat-
ing in the half space above the ground plane. The fringing C
Where Leff =
fields along the width can be modeled as radiating slots 2Lf 0 €reff
and electrically the patch of the microstrip antenna looks C)  For a rectangular Micro strip patch antenna.
greater than its physical dimensions. The dimensions of Frequency for any TM10 mode is given as:
the patch along its length have now been extended on −1

each end by a distance ΔL. C   m 

2
 n  
2 2

= f0   +   
2 €reff  l   w  
Where m and n are modes along L and W respectively
D)  Calculation of width
For efficient radiation, the width W is given as:
C
W=
2 f € +1
r
0
2

E) Calculation of the ground plane dimensions

(Lg and Wg)
The transmission line model is applicable to infinite
ground planes only. However, for practical considerations, it
is essential to have a finite ground plane. It has been shown
by9 that similar results for finite and infinite ground plane
can be obtained if the size of the ground plane is greater
Figure 5.  Side view of antenna.
than the patch dimensions by approximately six times the
substrate thickness all around the periphery. Hence, for this
4.  Design Consideration design, the ground plane dimensions would be given as:
L(g) = 6h + L = 6(12) + 46.23 mm = 118.23 mm
We have designed an array of rectangular patch antenna
W(g) = 6h + W = 6(12) + 62.04 mm = 134.04 mm
of the center frequency 2.4 GHz sweeping between
1.2 to 3.6 GHz. Gains required as 11.5 dBi. We have Hence after calculating all the parameters using the
employed a hybrid structure where we are using rog- above formulae, the rectangular microstrip patch antenna
ers RT duroid 5880 as a substrate. The three essential was designed.
parameters for the design of microstrip patch antenna A)  Determination of feed point location
are: 1. Frequency of operation (f0): The resonant fre- The feed co-ordinates were calculated Yf =W/2 and
quency of the antenna must be selected appropriately, 2. Xf = X0 -ΔL.
Dielectric constant of the substrate (𝜖 r), and 3. Height where,
of dielectric substrate (H): For the microstrip patch L 50
X0 = cos −1
antenna the height of the dielectric substrate is critical π Z0
since the antenna should not be bulky. The transmis-
and
sion line model will be used to design the antenna. The
probe type feed is used in this design. Z0 = 50 ∗ Zin

Vol 11 (23) | June 2018 | www.indjst.org Indian Journal of Science and Technology 3
 Design and Development of Microstrip Patch Antenna at 2.4ghz for Wireless Applications

B)  Dielectric Substrate

It was found suitable to select a thin dielectric sub-
strate with low dielectric constant by considering the
trade-off between the antenna dimensions and its per-
formance. Thin substrate permits to reduce the size and
also spurious radiation as surface wave, and low dielectric
constant–for higher bandwidth, better efficiency and low
power loss. The simulated results were found satisfactory
(Table 1).

Table 1. Dimensions of patch antenna

1. Solution frequency 2.4 GHz
2. Length 76 mm
3. Width 58 mm
Figure 6.  Design of single patch antenna in HFSS.
4. Length of the patch 38 mm
5. Width of the patch 29 mm
5.  Simulation Results
6. Probe feed length 3.14 mm
7. Probe feed width 1.09 mm The rectangular patch array antenna is simulated using
Ansoft HFSS. The parameters evaluated were gain, beam
4.2  Software Tool width and return loss.

The software used to model and simulate the microstrip A)  Figure 7 of 3D polar plot for patch array antenna
patch antenna is HFSS. HFSS is a high-performance
full-wave EM field simulator for arbitrary 3D volumet-
ric passive device modeling that takes advantage of the
familiar Microsoft Windows graphical user interface.
It integrates simulation, visualization, solid modeling,
and automation in an easy-to-learn environment where
solutions to your 3D EM problems are quickly and accu-
rately obtained. Ansoft HFSS employs the Finite Element
Method (FEM), adaptive meshing, and brilliant graph-
ics to give you unparalleled performance and insight to
all of your 3D EM problems. Ansoft HFSS can be used
to calculate parameters such as S-Parameters, Resonant
Frequency, and Fields4.
A)  Structure of Patch Antenna Design in HFSS
The rectangular patch array antenna design is Figure 7.  3D polar plot for patch array antenna.
shown in Figure 6 in 3D model. It consists of patch ele-
ments on one side of a dielectric sub-state and a planar B)  3D Radiation pattern for patch array antenna
ground on the other side. It was assigned with a air box
Figure 8 shown the beam width for patch array
boundary and virtual radiation to create far field
antenna obtained was 40 degrees in E-plane and 26
radiation pattern and assigned with a excitation in
degrees in H-plane.
lumped port.

4 Vol 11 (23) | June 2018 | www.indjst.org Indian Journal of Science and Technology
 Kukunuri Suraj and M. Neelaveni Ammal

6.  Conclusion
Thus the design and simulation of microstrip patch array
antenna was successfully designed and analysed using
Ansoft/Ansys HFSS. The performance parameters were
achieved with gain 12 dB and beam width 40 degrees
in E-plane and 26 degrees in H-plane for patch array
antenna. The fabrication of this patch array antenna will
be our targeted work

7. Acknowledgement
Authors are thankful for SRM University for providing
facility in this research work.
Figure 8.  3D radiation pattern for patch antenna.
8. References
The return loss for patch array antenna is shown in
Figure 9. The return loss is found to be varying between 1. Kin-Lu Wong. Compact and Broadband Microstrip
2.24 GHz to 2.5 GHz. Its value at 2.24 GHz is -18.75 dB Antennas, A Wiley-Interscience Publication, Jon Wiley &
and 12.2 dB at 2.4 GHz. Sons, Inc.; 2002. p. 324. ISBN 0-471-41717-3.
2. Balanis CA. Antenna Theory, John Wiley & Sons Inc.; 2010.
p. 1096. ISBN: 978-1-118-64206-1
3. Pozar DM, Kaufman B. Increasing the bandwidth of a
microstrip antenna by proximity coupling, Electronic
Letters. Apr 1987; 23:12-14].
4. www.AnsoftHFSS.com.
5. Jagdish M Rathod. Comparative study of microstrip
patch antenna for wireless communication applica-
tion, International Journal of Innovation, Management
and Technology. 2010; 1(2):194-97. ISSN: 2010-0248.
http://www.ijimt.org/papers/36-M410.pdf.
6. Suneel E, Prabhakararao B, Madhav BTP, Teja SAR, Vamsi
Krishna VV, Shankar Acharya. Comparision of performance
characterization in 2 × 2, 3 × 3 and 4 × 4 array antennas,
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(IJERA). 1(4):2091-95. ISSN: 2248-9622. www.ijera.com.

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