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Design of Inset Feed Tri-Band Microstrip Patch

Antenna for GPS and IRNSS Application
J S Aravind Gopal Dharshini T, Student Member, IEEE T J P Jayajith
Department of Electronics Department of Electronics Department of Electronics
and Communication and Communication and Communication
SASTRA Deemed to be University SASTRA Deemed to be University SASTRA Deemed to be University
Thanjavur, India. Thanjavur, India. Thanjavur, India.
jsgopal2000@gmail.com dharshini2303@gmail.com jayajith0681@gmail.com

K.G. Sujanth Narayan, Member, IEEE James A. Baskaradas, Member, IEEE

Department of Electronics Department of Electronics
and Communication and Communication
SASTRA Deemed to be University SASTRA Deemed to be University
Thanjavur, India. Thanjavur, India.
sujanthnarayan@sastra.ac.in jamesbaskaradas@ece.sastra.edu

Abstract — A low profile tri-band microstrip patch antenna is without shorting pin is sufficient to make the patch resonate
designed and fabricated for GPS and IRNSS application. The at the three band frequencies.
design involves Inset feeding technique and substrate FR_4
which is dielectric in nature. The slotted patch is designed using Similar work can be observed in [5], where the antenna is
Keysight Technologies, Advanced Design System© where
stacked. Comparatively, the designed antenna proves to be
considerable antenna parameters were obtained for the
simulated design and for the prototype when measured using efficient in simple structure, easy feed and fabrication, thus
Keysight N9917A Vector Network Analyser. Simulated results cost efficient. But one of the discrepancies is that the gain is
show that the patch resonates in L1 Band (1.575 GHz), L5 Band relatively low.
(1.176 GHz) and S-Band (2.49 GHz) with reasonable antenna
parameter values.
II. ANTENNA DESIGN
Keywords — Inset feed, L-Band, Microstrip patch, S-Band, Tri-
band.
The length, width of the patch is determined with the
I. INTRODUCTION material type and relative permittivity of the substrate [10].

The patch length and width are derived from the

Microstrip antennas are exclusively preferred for their light equations given below,
weight, reduced size and is affordable. Multiband antennas
are used in applications with switching frequencies [3]. With Width of the patch
the use of inset feed technique, one can maintain the planarity
of the microstrip patch antenna. It also provides more (1)
spurious feed radiation, easy fabrication and proper ͳ ʹ ‫ݒ‬଴ ʹ
ܹൌ ඨ ൌ ඨ
impedance matching [1][6]. The slots in the patch behave as ʹ݂௥ ඥߝ଴ ߤ଴ ௥ߝ ൅ ͳ ʹ݂௥ ߝ௥ ൅ͳ
resonant radiator and can enhance the gain for high
Effective dielectric constant
permittivity substrate [3]. The truncated edge provides ߝ௥ ൅ ͳ ߝ௥ െ ͳ ݄ ଵ
circular polarisation. The designed antenna works mainly for ߝ௥௘௙௙ୀ ൅ ሾͳ ൅ ͳʹ ሿିଶ (2)
GPS and IRNSS applications having L1 Band (1.575 GHz), ʹ ʹ ܹ
L5 Band (1.176 GHz) and S-Band (2.49 GHz). The
Due to fringing extra length of patch
parameters that define the quality of an antenna are:
Bandwidth, Gain, Directivity, Reflection coefficient, VSWR, ܹ
Polarisation, Radiation pattern [2]. Other triband antenna ο‫ܮ‬ ൫ߝ௥௘௙௙ ൅ ͲǤ͵൯ ቀ ൅ ͲǤʹ͸Ͷቁ (3)
ൌ ͲǤͶͳʹ ݄
proposed are generally stacked or array which makes the ݄ ܹ
൫ߝ௥௘௙௙ െ ͲǤʹͷͺ൯ሺ ൅ ͲǤͺሻ
structure complicated. Hence the proposed antenna is ݄
efficient in size and easy to fabricate as it is a single patch Length of the patch
antenna. General PCB material such as copper and ͳ
‫ ܮ‬ൌ െ ʹο‫ܮ‬ (4)
aluminium can be used to fabricate the patch of the antenna. ʹ݂௥ ඥߝ௥௘௙௙ ඥߝ଴ ߤ଴
It also exhibits disadvantages like low gain, low capacity to
handle power and narrow bandwidth [11]. Yet, proposed Where the thickness of the substrate is denoted by h.
antenna is preferred for low cost and reduced design
complexity. The main advantages are that, a single feed

k,(((
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A patch with dimensions 53.05 mm x 56.50 mm is The truncated edge at the top right and bottom left of
designed from equation (1), (4). The rectangular patch is the patch provides right hand circular polarisation. Similarly,
truncated by 6.70 mm and 6.90 mm at the right and left edge left hand circular polarisation can be obtained by truncating
respectively. the top left and bottom right edges [4].

FR_4 is preferred as the substrate material since it is Inset feed technique is preferred as it is easy to use
affordable, accessible and easy to fabricate. It also has high with array and obtain input match. Hence the antenna can also
mechanical and dielectric properties for heat and moisture be developed into array for better directivity and less power
resistance. loss.

The dielectric substrate FR_4 with thickness 1.6mm III. RESULTS OF SIMULATED ANTENNA
and ߝ௥ of 4.4 is used in design. The conducting layer is
Copper with a thickness of 0.05mm and during the process of Reflection coefficient value of the simulated
fabrication, a protective coating of Lead of negligible size antenna is in the desired range for all the three needed bands.
layer is used to prevent oxidisation. Since, the size decreases
with increase in frequency, the patch is designed for the Fig. 2. shows the parameter S11 (reflection
maximum size corresponding to the minimum frequency coefficient) of the proposed single patch antenna at three
band L5. The conductors in the designed patch are assumed required band frequencies. The S11 value at 1.176 GHz is -
to be thin for reduced complexity [7]. 12.4 dB, at 1.575 GHz is -13.832 dB and at 2.49 GHz it is
noted to be -24.244 dB which indicates that the simulated
Fig. 1, shows the layout of the antenna ADS© with patch resonates at all the three frequency bands.
region A, B, C, D depicting different slots of L, inverted F,
rectangular with four slots at the edge and rectangular shape
respectively [8].

Fig. 2. Reflection coefficient of the antenna design

The Fig. 2, indicates that the antenna resonates at

0.825 GHz, 1.175 GHz, 1.575GHz, 2.49 GHz and 2.6 GHz.
A bandpass filter can be attached to the antenna to filter the
additional resonating bands at 0.825 GHz and 2.6 GHz. The
filter has to be designed to pass bands between the
frequencies 1 - 2.55 GHz. This helps in interference of other
frequencies that resonate other than the desired frequency
Fig. 1. Top view of Microstrip Slotted Patch design
bands. A strip-based filter also helps in maintaining the
overall size being minimal.
In Fig.1. the slotting techniques equipped were
mainly with the help of the reference papers [9], [13]. The The Voltage Standing Wave Ratio (VSWR) values
main slot represented by region B was slotted to excite the fall in the desired range for all the three desired band
antenna in multiple bands. The slot D helps in improving the frequencies. Various results of the antenna parameters are
return loss at 1.575 GHz. The minute slots on the corners of discussed further.
slot C was were due to low current density distribution. The
L shaped region A is a combination of 2 slots, one helped in
increasing reflection coefficient at 2.49 GHz and the other
hand low current density distribution.

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TABLE I. PARAMETERS – 1 TABLE II. PARAMETERS-2

Marker Frequency Bandwidth Frequency (GHz) Directivity (dBi) Gain (dBi)

S11 (dB) VSWR 1.176 6.19 1.00
(Fig. 2) (GHz) (MHz)
m1 1.176 -12.400 1.631 6 1.576 6.10 0.63
m2 1.575 -13.832 1.511 10 2.490 7.04 1.04
m3 2.490 -24.244 1.130 30
Fig. 4. indicates that the proposed antenna is placed
Fig. 3., shows the parameters: Gain and Directivity in XY plane and radiates omni-directionally. The current
for the three resonating bands. distribution over the antenna is also shown for the desired
three frequencies. [5][12]. Increasing the height of the
substrate or defecting the ground plane with slots may result
in increased efficiency of the antenna.

The co and cross polarisation graphs provide the

information of polarisation pattern for the proposed antenna.
Co-Polarization is defined as the polarization the antenna was
meant to radiate, while Cross-Polarization is defined as its
orthogonal pair. A purely polarized antenna will have low
cross polarized radiation. The graphs depict that the
magnitude of the co-polarisation is greater than the cross
polarisation which indicates purely polarised and provides us
the required electromagnetic orientation. The current
distribution of the patch provides the electron density over the
radiating antenna. The direction of electron flow is circular,
leading to circular pattern of radiation.
Fig. 3(a). Radiation pattern at 1.176 GHz
To achieve the stated polarisation the top right
corner and the bottom left corner of the antenna is truncated.
The truncated edges direct the flow of electron in clockwise
which results in circular polarisation. Since the proposed
antenna is of single feed type and multiband, orthogonal feed
can’t be used to achieve CP.

Fig. 3(b). Radiation pattern at 1.575 GHz

Fig. 4(a). Polarisation and Current Distribution at 1.176GHz

Fig. 3(c). Radiation pattern at 2.49 GHz Fig. 4(b). Polarisation and Current Distribution at 1.576GHz

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network need to be connected with at least one ground port

of the multiband antenna.

IV. RESULTS OF THE ANTENNA PROTOTYPE

The prototype is analysed using Keysight N9917A

Vector Network Analyser and the parameters measured for
the fabricated antenna are compared with the simulated
results.

Fig. 4(c). Polarisation and Current Distribution at 2.49 GHz

(a) (b)
Fig. 6. (a) Keysight N9917A Vector Network Analyser
(b) Fabricated Antenna

Fig. 7. shows the comparison of measured and

simulated reflection coefficient values (S11 parameters) after
the fabrication process. The results of the fabricated antenna
is measured between the frequncy range of 800 MHz to 3
Fig. 5. Axial Ratio at Phi = 0 degree with GHz using a Network Analyser.
varying angles of theta

The Fig. 5. gives the Axial Ratio of the antenna or

the three band frequencies. It is observed that the antenna is
capable of receiving circular polarisation at theta 90 degree
at 1.176 GHz and theta 10 degree at 2.49 GHz.

Further improvements will be made in the future to

make the antenna completely circularly polarized.

TABLE III. FREQUENCY AND IMPEDANCE RELATION

Frequency Impedence Real Part Of Impedence

(Ohms)

1.176 GHz (1.007-j0.618)*50 50.3

1.576 GHz (0.639-j0.160)*50 32.0

2.490 GHz (0.969+j0.045)*50 48.4

One of the complications in Multiband antenna is the

Fig. 7. Comparison of simulated and measured Return Loss
impedance matching. To compensate the undesirable
impedance mismatch between the antenna and the receiver
Ssystem, specifically in low frequency bands, matching

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The improvisation over the antenna parameters: Gain, [6] Sourabh Bisht, Shweta Saini, Dr Ved Prakash and
Directivity and Reflection Coefficient can be made by Bhaskar Nautiyal, “Study The Various Feeding Techniques
changing the feed technique and material of the substrate. of Microstrip Antenna Using Design and Simulation Using
CST Microwave Studio” in International Journal of
Future development of the antenna will involve Engineering Technology and Advanced Engineering,
improvising polarisation as RHCP with extended beam split Volume 4, Issue 6, September 2014.
and phase center estimation techniques for all the resonating
bands. [7] M A Matin and A. I. Sayeed, “A Design Rule for Inset fed
Rectangular Microstrip Patch Antenna” in WEAS
Transactions on Communications, Volume 9, Issue 1,
V. CONCLUSION January 2010.

A low-profile microstrip single patch antenna for [8] Surbhi Mehta and Manasi Jain, “An Overview: Various
three band frequencies are designed, simulated, fabricated Slots Shapes of Microstrip Patch Antenna” in International
and analysed. The frequency of the single patch antenna is Conference on Multidisciplinary Research and Practice,
measured in the range 0.8-3 GHz. The fabricated results Volume 1, Issue 7, 2014.
almost match the simulated results for the frequencies 1.176
GHz, 1.575 GHz and 2.49 GHz. The single patch antenna is [9] Neha Gupta, “Effects of Slots on Microstrip Patch
noticed to have VSWR value in the range 1-2 at three Antenna” in International Research Journal of Engineering
required band frequencies. Gain and Directivity fall in the and Technology, Volume 4, Issue 2, February 2017.
limits of 0.6-1 dBi and 6 -7.1 dB making it eligible to work
for GPS and IRNSS application. [10] Constantine A. Balanis, “Antenna Theory, Analysis and
Design”, John Wiley and Sons, Inc,1997.

ACKNOWLEDGEMENT [11] Daniel Colles, Dean Arakaki, “Multi-technique

The authors wish to thank the management of SASTRA broadband microstrip patch antenna design”, in 2014 IEEE
Deemed University for their encouragement and support Antennas and Propagation Society International Symposium.
rendered in this work. The authors also wish to thank
SASTRA and Keysight Technologies for their financial [12] Wanchu Hong,Hung-Hsiang wang,Yu-De-Lin and
support in establishing the SASTRA Keysight Centre of Toshihide Kitazawa, “Design of Magnetic Antenna with
Excellence in RF System Engineering for performing antenna Dual Circular Polarizations” in Proceedings of Asia Pacific
simulation and measurements. Microwave Conference,2006.

REFERENCES [13] Amit A Desmukh and K P Ray, “Compact Broadband

Slotted Rectangular Microstrip Antenna” in IEEE Antennas
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[2] Ruchi Kadwane and Vinay Gohokar, “Design and

Characteristics Investigation of Multiband Microstrip Patch
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[3] Geeetanjali and Rajesh Khanna, “A Review of Various

Multi Frequency Antenna Design Techniques” in Indian
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[4] M. T. Islam, N. Misran and M. N. A. Zamri, “Circularly

Polarised Microstrip Patch Antenna” in Information
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[5] K. G. Sujanth Narayan, V. Velavikneshwaran and James

A. Baskaradas, “A Tri Band Microstrip Stacked Patch
Antenna Design for GPS and IRNSS Application” in IEEE
Indian Conference on Antennas and Propagation (InCAP),
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