PIERS ONLINE, VOL. 4, NO.

1, 2008 1

Design and Implementation of Aperture Coupled Microstrip IFF

Antenna
M. N. Jazi1 , Z. H. Firouzeh2 , H. Mirmohammad-Sadeghi3 , and G. Askari3
1
Institut National de la Recherche Scientifique, Université de Québec, Canada
2
Department of Electrical Engineering, Amirkabir University of Technology, Iran
3
Information and Communication Technology Institute, Isfahan University of Technology, Iran

Abstract— Design and implementation procedure of a wideband aperture coupled microstrip

antenna in L-band frequency is introduced. To improve radiation performance of the microstrip
antenna four structures are proposed. The structure with air substrate has the maximum fre-
quency bandwidth. Experimental results of frequency bandwidth and radiation patterns of the
optimum structure agree with the simulation results. The antenna has the gain of 8.5 dB, the
frequency bandwidth of greater than 25%, and F/B better than 15 dB. This aperture coupled
microstrip antenna can be used as an element of microstrip array antennas in IFF systems.

1. INTRODUCTION
Microstrip antennas (MA) are simple planar structures that have advantages such as low profile,
conformal availability, simple fabrication using printed circuit technology, low cost and compatibil-
ity with integrated circuits. In spite of limitations such as small bandwidth, low gain and low power
handling capability [1], MA offers over than other type of antennas due to their advantages and in-
creasingly used in a variety applications such as military, industry and wireless communication [2].
Different techniques have been used to increase bandwidth such as using thick substrate [3]. This
technique improves bandwidth less than 5 percent. Aperture coupled stacked patch microstrip
antenna can improve bandwidth more than 50 percent at the expense of increasing in back lobe
radiation level. To reduce back radiation, metallic rods or resonance planes are used in the back of
the antenna or appropriate cavities are put next to the coupling aperture [5–8]. Aperture coupled
microstrip antenna has been used for IFF (or Secondary Surveillance Radar) systems with 6 percent
bandwidth for VSWR < 1.5. However, Front to Back (F/B) ratio has been reported 10 dB which
is not enough for IFF application [9].
In this paper, both techniques have been used to increase the bandwidth and decrease the back
radiation. The design process of the proposed structure is organized as followed. First of all, an
aperture coupled microstrip antenna will be designed according to the requirements. Then, four
structures will be introduced and compared to each other. After simulation, the best structure will
be selected and optimized to fabricate. Finally, the measurements and conclusion will be reported.
2. DESIGN AND SIMULATION
The structure of the aperture coupled microstrip antenna has been depicted in Figure 1. This
antenna has been designed to use as an element in the microstrip array antenna for IFF (or SSR)
systems. The central frequency is 1060 MHz and the bandwidth is at least 250 MHz. The thick-
ness of patch substrate, h3 is chosen 20 mm due to the desired bandwidth. The feed substrate is
RT/Duroid 5880 with thickness of h2 = 0.787 mm and relative dielectric constant of 2.2. FR4 is
used as cover with thickness of h4 = 1 mm and εr4 = 4.3.
According to [1], the preliminary antenna dimensions are designed and calculated at the central
frequency of 1060 MHz. [4] recommends that aperture width Ws is the half of its length Lsl and Ts
is the one-tenth of Lsl . The length of the stub, Lst is 0.22λg , in which λg is the wavelength in the
feed substrate.
The antenna parameters such as patch dimensions, aperture length, the length of stub, and the
distance between feed line and back plane are optimized by use of full wave simulator IE3D until
frequency bandwidth greater than 25% and F/B greater than 20 dB will be obtained at the central
frequency of 1060 MHz. Four different structures as shown in Figure 2 are designed, simulated and
compared to recognize the structure with best performance.
Aperture has been designed to resonate near the resonance frequency of the patch. Aperture
shape is very important to control the maximum coupling between the feed line and the patch and
 PIERS ONLINE, VOL. 4, NO. 1, 2008 2

also the minimum back radiation. A metallic plane is placed behind of the antenna to reduce back
radiation power to −20 dB. Actually, this plane functions as a resonator and generates appropriate
current distribution to eliminate undesired radiation fields in the rear of the antenna. The distance
between the back plane and the feed line influences on the amplitude of the current distribution
but the phase of the current distribution is controlled by the size of the back plane.
The four structures have been simulated and optimized by IE3D software. The graph of their
return losses has been depicted in Figure 3. According to Figure 2, structure (a) has the maximum
bandwidth. The simulation results indicate that the smallest bandwidth will be achieved when
Teflon dielectric is directly beneath the patch. In addition, the frequency center of structure (d) is
lower than other structures. The simulation results have been indicated in Table 1 in which fu and
fl are the low and high frequency corresponding to −10 dB return loss.

Cover h 4 , ε r4

Air h3
h 3 , ε r3 (a) Air substrate
Wp
Lp
Slot Ts Foam h3
L sl Ws
(b) Foam substrate
Feed Line h 2 , ε r2
L st Foam h3
(c) Foam-Teflon substrate
h 1 , ε r1

Foam h3
Back Plane (d) Teflon-Foam substrate

Figure 1: Aperture coupled microstrip antenna Figure 2: Four different structures of aperture cou-
structure. pled microstrip antenna.

Central Frequency Bandwidth

Structure (MHz) (MHz)
(fu + fl ) /2 fu − fl
(a) 1038 279
(b) 1030 260
(c) 1018 224
(d) 1000 195

Table 1: Simulation results of four different struc- Figure 3: Return losses of four structures simulated
tures as shown in Figure 2. by IE3D.

E- and H-plane radiation patterns at 1030 MHz and 1090 MHz have been represented for struc-
ture (a) in Figures 4 and 5, respectively. The Front to Back ratio is greater than 20 dB. E-
and H-plane Half Power Beam Width (HPBW) at 1030 MHz are 65◦ and 75◦ , respectively. At
1090 MHz, E-plane HPBW is 63◦ and H-plane HPBW is 74◦ . Figure 6 shows simulated results for
gain of four structures. The gain difference between 1030 MHz and 1090 MHz is less than 0.5 dB
for four structures. For example, the gain of structure (a) at 1030 MHz is 8.5 dB but at 1090 MHz
is 8.8 dB.
 PIERS ONLINE, VOL. 4, NO. 1, 2008 3

After consideration and comparison of the simulation results of four structures show that struc-
ture (a) i.e., the antenna with air substrate has the performance to realize the desired antenna.
Consequently, this structure is selected to be fabricated and measured its radiation parameters.

Figure 4: E- and H-plane radiation patterns at Figure 5: E- and H-plane radiation patterns at
1030 MHz simulated by IE3D. 1090 MHz simulated by IE3D.

Figure 6: Comparison the gain of four different Figure 7: The photo of the fabricated aperture cou-
structures simulated by IE3D. pled microstrip antenna with air substrate.

Figure 8: Simulation and measurement results of return loss of the antenna.

 PIERS ONLINE, VOL. 4, NO. 1, 2008 4

Figure 9: Measurement of co- and cross-polarization Figure 10: Measurement of co- and cross-
radiation patterns at 1030 MHz. polarization radiation patterns at 1090 MHz.

3. MEASUREMENT
Figure 7 shows photo of the fabricated aperture coupled microstrip antenna. Return loss of the
antenna has been measured and compared with simulation result in Figure 8. A little frequency
difference between two curves is observed because of simulation accuracy, simulation settings, mea-
surement accuracy and fabrication tolerance. The return loss of the antenna is less than −10 dB
in the frequency range of 875 MHz–1150 MHz, i.e., the frequency bandwidth is greater than 25%.
Figures 9 and 10 show respectively co- and cross-polarization radiation patterns at 1030 MHz and
1090 MHz. F/B of E- and H-plane radiation patterns are greater than 15 dB and 13 dB at 1030 MHz,
respectively. Figure 10 indicates F/B of E-plane radiation pattern is greater than 20 dB but that
of H-plane radiation pattern is greater than 15 dB. This difference is due to low accurate measure-
ment of anechoic chamber for this frequency bandwidth. The gain difference of both planes is less
than 0.5 dB. This antenna has better performance such as bandwidth and F/B than the antenna
reported in [9].
4. CONCLUSIONS
In this paper, four different structures of aperture coupled microstrip antenna have been considered
to achieve the maximum bandwidth with good radiation performance in this bandwidth. The air
substrate antenna was selected and optimized by IE3D simulator. The simulation and measurement
results have the good agreement with each other. The antenna has the gain of 8.5 dB, the bandwidth
of greater than 25%, and F/B better than 15 dB. This aperture coupled microstrip antenna can be
used as an element of microstrip array antennas in IFF (or SSR) systems.
ACKNOWLEDGMENT
The authors would like to thank the staff of Information and Communication Technology Institute
(ICTI), Isfahan University of Technology (IUT), Isfahan, Iran for their co-operator and supporting
this work.
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