ISSN (Print) : 0974-6846

Indian Journal of Science and Technology, Vol 10(44), DOI: 10.17485/ijst/2017/v10i44/120576, November 2017 ISSN (Online) : 0974-5645

MATLAB-CST Interfacing for a Micro-strip Patch

Antenna
Garima*, Aarti Bansal and Surbhi Sharma
Department of Electronics and Communication Engineering, Thapar University, Patiala – 147004, Punjab, India;
garima.01sethi@gmail.com, bansal.virgo@gmail.com, surbhisharma26@yahoo.com

Abstract
Objectives: To present an overview on interfacing of MATLAB and commercial electromagnetic software packages (such
as CST microwave studio). Methods/Statistical Analysis: This type of interfacing requires a scripting language interface
termed as VBA script. An example for the design of an inset microstrip patch antenna is demonstrated in this paper using
VBA. The controlling of CST microwave studio is done using MATLAB which calls microstrip patch antenna design along
with its performance parameters such as S11 parameter, VSWR, power requirement, radiation pattern, return losses etc.
Findings: The interface created between CST and MATLAB worked well and antenna parameters can be called in MATLAB
to operate on them. Improvements: Further optimization algorithm can be performed on this in order to get optimized
real time performance of antenna.

Keywords: CST Microwave Studio (MWS), MATLAB, Microstrip Patch Antenna, PSO, VBA

1. Introduction also improved. With the ease of installation, the cost of

antenna also reduced to a great extent. In today’s world
MATLAB (Matrix laboratory) is a ubiquitous tool of wireless communication technology, the desire for the
employed to allow matrix manipulations, implementa- compact size3, planner structure, low profile, low weight
tion of algorithms, signal processing, creation of user and easy fabrications are being fulfilled by the microstrip
interfaces and graphics software package1. It is a general patch antenna4. Basic structure of patch antenna is shown
purpose application comprises powerful analysis tool in Figure 1. This type of antenna can be integrated eas-
for design, analysis and control which facilitates esoteric ily with passive and active components5. It is also more
applications like antenna design, are done using special versatile rather than conventional antennas which do
commercial electromagnetic software. The MATLAB not offers diversity function in operating frequency,
commercial electromagnetic solver interface2 becomes radiation pattern and polarization to mobile communi-
critical in number of applications such as in numeri- cation in a single antenna4. It has a operating range of
cal optimization. The systematic instruction to interface frequencies from 1 GHz to 100 GHz. But the inherent
MATLAB with CST microwave studio2 using Visual Basic narrow Bandwidth and Low efficiency are the well known
for Application is demonstrated in this paper. For the demerits of the microstrip patch antenna which can be
above interfacing, an example from the wireless commu- optimized by various techniques6.
nication technology is taken. As in the past years, there Because of the above stated advantages, microstrip
is a fast evolution in the wireless research and develop- patch antennas are employed in various fields like The
ment activity. Due to this advancement the size of the Wireless and Mobile communications, Biomedical
antenna is going smaller day by day, the performance is equipments, Radio Frequency Identification (RFID),

*Author for correspondence

 MATLAB-CST Interfacing for a Micro-strip Patch Antenna

Automotive industry, Ultra Wide band systems, Military • Effective dielectric constant:
and commercial applications such as Radar and satellite −.5

∈eff =  ∈r  +  r  1 +
communication5,7.  + 1   ∈ − 1   12h 

 2   2  W 
at h = 4.5 mm
• Length Extension:
 W  
 + .264 
 ∈eff +.3   h  
∆L=.412h  
 ∈ +.258   W  
 eff    + .8 
 h 
• Length of Rectangular Microstrip Patch:
 c 
L=  
 2 fr ∈eff 
 
• Length and Width of Ground Plane:
Lg=2L
Wg=2W
Figure 1.  Top view of inset microstrip patch antenna8.

The paper is organized as follows: The Section 1 3.  Antenna Design Specifications
describes us the brief introduction about MATLAB-
CST interfacing using an inset microstrip patch antenna. Before we describe our technical contributions, we first
Section 2 describes the various mathematical formulas introduce the notations and terms adopted throughout
employed to calculate the dimensions of patch antenna. this paper. The parameters such as resonant frequency
In Section 3 the antenna design specifications (both (fr), dielectric constant (єr), substrate thickness (h) are
known and calculated antenna parameters) are depicted. employed to calculate the geometrical dimensions of
In Section 4 we describe the VBA interfacing architecture substrate and ground plane of the antenna. Some of the
which helps us to get familiar with VBA editor, different known antenna parameters are given in Table 1.
files generated during MATLAB-CST interfacing to get
the simulated results. The last section concludes the paper Table 1. Known antenna parameters
along with its future scopes. S.NO Antenna parameters Data
1 Resonant frequency (fr) 1.8 GHz
2. Mathematical Formulation 2 Dielectric constant (єr) 4.3
to Calculate Dimensions of 3 Substrate thickness (h) 4.5 mm
Microstrip Patch Antenna
To calculate the dimensions of ground plane and patch Using above stated mathematical formulas and antenna
of the antenna (that is length and width), the following parameters, the geometrical dimensions of substrate,
mathematical formulas are inured8–10. patch and ground plane of antenna are calculated8 as pre-
• Width of the patch: sented in Table 2. In order to meet the antenna design
criteria these calculated geometrical dimensions are
−.5 applied. Figure 2 shows the side view of patch antenna.
 c   ∈r + 1  The patch of the antenna is fed by a 50Ω microstrip feed
W=   
 2 fr   2  line.

Where c = 3 x 108 ms-1, Ԑr = 4.3, fr = 1.8 Ghz

2 Vol 10 (44) | November 2017 | www.indjst.org Indian Journal of Science and Technology
 Garima, Aarti Bansal and Surbhi Sharma

Table 2.  Calculated parameters tions written in a scripting language in the form of a text
S. NO Antenna parameter Data (mm) file. CST is accessed by MATLAB as shown in Figure 4.
In order to do interfacing between MATLAB and
1 Patch length (L) 38
CST, the concept of client and server comes into picture.
2 Patch Width (W) 51 Both the software can act as server and client depending
3 Ground plane length(Lg) 76 upon the application. Here we are controlling CST using
MATLAB so, CST will act as server and MATLAB as cli-
4 Ground plane Width(Wg) 102
ent1,2. CST offers Command Line option for invoking
VBA via external programs (Windows, MATLAB etc).
The above method becomes inconvenient when multiple
commands are to be executed. Our method comprises a
single command line:

Figure 2.  Side view of microstrip patch antenna8.

4.  Interfacing via VBA Script

In order to meet the requirement for creating a power-
ful design and system analysis environment, MATLAB is
used to control commercial electromagnetic software. The
interfacing between MATLAB and commercial software
is created via a scripting language (VBA script)11 as shown
in Figure 3. A VBA script incorporates a set of instruc-
Figure 4.  Calling CST using MATLAB1,2.

Figure 3.  VBA Interfacing Architecture11.

Vol 10 (44) | November 2017 | www.indjst.org Indian Journal of Science and Technology 3
 MATLAB-CST Interfacing for a Micro-strip Patch Antenna

! (“c:\program files(x86)\CST STUDIO SUITE 2015\CST Table 3. Different files used in interfacing and their
DESIGN ENVIRONMENT.exe-m\c:\test1.bas”) extensions1,2
File name Contents
The auxiliary script is written in real time and using the test1.m MATLAB m file
user input its internal content is determined.
test.txt ASCII file with variable values
test1.bas VBA program
test1.mod Microwave Studio model files
test1^a1(1)1(1).sig File containing s11 data

After invoking CST, the VBA program reads the data

from test1.txt data file generated by MATLAB. The MWS
file is opened once the data is read. When the scripting
languages open the file, the commands in the script are
executed. The next step is to start and save the solver
using commands11:

! (solver.’start’)
! save
! release

The microwave studio window closes automatically and

control returns to MATLAB using release command,
when the solver finishes and stores the data. Whenever
the program is called from MATLAB the microwave
studio window will reopen every time1,2. On running
the MATLAB microwave studio interfacing algorithm
resulted in S11 of value -14.305dB at 1.8GHz resonant fre-
quency. The plot for S11 parameter is illustrated in Figure 6.
Similarly using the result.dll directory and different
text files generated during the simulation got saved in
result of microstrip patch antenna, the value for perfor-
mance parameters such as VSWR; return losses etc can be
obtained. Interfacing of CST with MATLAB can be uti-
lized for performing numerical optimization of antenna
design using optimization algorithms such as PSO12,13.
Figure 5.  Flow chart for MATLAB-CST Interfacing11.
5.  Conclusion and Future Scopes
Before attempting to interface with MATLAB, it
is a good idea to get familiar with the VBA editor. A In this paper we have described how to interface
microstrip patch antenna example is described in these MATLAB-microwave studio via VBA using an example
papers which use MATLAB to control Microwave stu- of design of inset microstrip patch antenna of 1.8 GHz
dio via VBA. Interfacing steps of MATLAB and CST are of resonant frequency. With the advancement in the field
shown in Figure 5. With each run in microwave studio, a of wireless communication system led to increase con-
huge number of files are generated. The files posses same straints on antennas. To achieve the desired goals antenna
name but a different extensions. The relevant extensions are typically designed by modifying existing design and
ofparticular files are shown in Table 3. often require cumbersome trial and error method. So the
need for novel antenna design solution and strategies are

4 Vol 10 (44) | November 2017 | www.indjst.org Indian Journal of Science and Technology
 Garima, Aarti Bansal and Surbhi Sharma

Figure 6.  The Simulated plot for S11 Parameter2.

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