Conception and Optimization of a Bidirectional Ultra

Wide Band Planar Array Antennas for C-Band Weather

Radar Applications

A. SLIMANI, S.D. BENNANI A. EL ALAMI, H. HARKAT

University Sidi Mohamed Ben Abdellah University Sidi Mohamed Ben Abdellah
Faculty of Sciences and Technics Faculty of Sciences and Technics
Laboratory of Renewable Energy and Intelligent Systems Laboratory of Renewable Energy and Intelligent Systems
Fez, Morocco Fez, Morocco
slimani.abdellatif.ma@gmail.com, a.elalami1984@gmail.com,
bennani.saad.ensaf@gmail.com harkat.houda@gmail.com

Abstract—This paper presents an Ultra Wide Band (UWB) allows to assist the researchers in making timely decisions; its
microstrip planar array antennas for weather RADAR typically uses a high-gain antenna that scans especially space
application which covers the C-Band. The proposed array by transmitting radio signals in known directions and
antenna is composed of T-junction power divider which has a receiving the returned echoes for detecting objects of interest
role to divide the power equally to all antenna elements. This in a very short duration [1-2].
array is etched onto a FR4 printed circuit board with an overall
size of ( × × . ) mm3 and dielectric constant = Several factors that affect radar performance are caused by
. . The main objective of this work is to design a directive the antennas used. These factors are: side-lobe level, main-
array antennas with a bidirectional radiation patterns to cover a beam width and speed delay transmission [3].
long distance space vertically to the antennas radiating surface.
Substrate type, partial ground technique and the geometry of It is prevented that UWB technology enable high-speed
the array antennas are the key words for the desired band data transmission rate with low power consumption. In
(UWB) with a high gain and bidirectional radiation pattern. particular, a suitable UWB antenna should be capable of
The proposed array antenna is able to achieve an impedance operating over an ultra-wide bandwidth [ 3.1 GHz −
bandwidth about %, it will provide a high gain which are 10.6 GHz] as allocated by the FCC and any signal that
required in various radar applications. Ansoft's High occupies at least than 500 MHz spectrum or a fraction
Frequency Structure Simulator (HFSS) and Computer bandwidth of 20 % , or greater can be used in UWB
Simulation Tool (CST) softwares are used to simulate and communication systems [4-5].
compare the different radiation characteristics of this array.
For radar applications, we must to have a high gain and
Keywords—Array patch antenna, UWB, weather RADAR, good directional beam-width in a wide frequency band is an
return loss, VSWR, gain. essential characteristics. It is therefore desirable to develop an
UWB antenna array [6-12]. Microstrip patch array antennas
are extensively applied in radar systems, which are high gain,
I. INTRODUCTION low cost, lightweight, low profile and can accurately control
radiation patterns [13-17].
Ultra-wideband (UWB) technology is widely used in a
variety of applications such as weather radars and microwave In this paper, we introduce a planar patch array antenna
imaging systems, because it offers advantages of large which consists of a twenty rectangular patch antenna element
channel capacity and multipath propagation performance. with UWB characteristic for weather radar application. The
Currently, several frequency bands are assigned to weather geometric parameters of the array antennas structure are
radar application, including the S band (2 − 4 GHz), C band optimized to radiate a bidirectional radiation pattern with
(4 − 8 GHz) and X band (8 − 12 GHz), in this research, the minimum side lobes in undesirable directions. The advantages
operating bandwidth ranges focused is C band which from of this array antennas, consists of his small size and simple
4 GHz to 8 GHz . Weather radars are essential sensors structure easing the manufacturing.
designed for detecting clouds, precipitation and discovering To validate the different simulation on the array antennas,
the weather condition (such as Rain, snow and wind etc). This we used both simulators, the first is High Frequency Structure

978-1-4673-7689-1/16/$31.00 ©2016 IEEE

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 Simulator (HFSS) which use the finite element method and
the second is Computer Simulation Technology (CST), which
is based on the finite integration technique.
II. METHODS AND MATERIALS
In this paper, we plan to have a bidirectional maximum
radiation pattern with the minimum side lobes in other
direction. The total field radiated by uniform array of NxM-
identical elements is equal to the product of the field of a
single element, at a selected reference point (usually the
origin) and the array factor of that array [8-10].

Fig.1. Quarter wave-transformer

( , )=[ ( )] [ ] (1)

( )ø
=∑ ( )ø ∑ (2) A standard T-junction power divider is used to divide
power equally to the two linear patch array antennas shown
with ø = ∅+ (3) in figure 2 [18] :

ø = ∅+ (4) = . ⁄2 (8)

β and β : The excitation phase shift between two

successive elements in x-axis and y-axis .
θ : The angle of elevation between the z-axis and the point of
calculating the distant field.
∅ : The angle between the x-axis and the point of calculating
the distant field.
d : The distance between two successive elements.
k : The wave number k = 2π λ
I : The excitation amplitude of element i.
Since the array is excited by uniform signal amplitude, so:
= =

∀ = 1, … , and m = 1, … , M Fig.2. T-junction power divider

To avoid the grating lobes (x-z and y-z planes), the

spacing between the element dx and dy, must be less than For printed antenna, microstrip feeding array may
λ at resonance frequency = 8 . become quite complex, including several right-angled
2 bends. In designing feed array we have to consider reflection
For optimizing it’s radiation performance, the maximas of levels at and electrical lengths of the bends. Removing a part
the single element and of the factor array should both be of the area of metallization in the bend’s corner can reduce
directed toward θ = 0 deg. Therefore, the first maximum of the reflection level of the bend. Mitring the bend reduces the
the array factor occurs when ø = 0 and ø = 0. area of metallization and so removes the excess capacitance.
The percentage mitre is the cut-away fraction of the diagonal
with : ø = ∅+ ⌋ ° =0 (5) between the inner and outer corners of the un-mitred bend
(fig.3).
ø = ∅+ =0 (6)
°

which implicate that : = =0 (7)

In general, impedance matching is very important in
RF/microwave circuit design. It is relatively simple at a
single frequency, but becomes very difficult if wideband
impedance matching is desired. The Quarter-wave
transformer impedance matching is used to divide the power
equally to all patches as shown in figure 1.

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 waveguide (CPW) transmission line printed on a partial
ground substrate.

Fig.3. Microstrip mitred bend

The optimum mitre for a wide range of microstrip

geometries has been determined experimentally by Douville
and James [19]. They find that a good fit for the optimum
percentage mitre is given by :
( ⁄ )
= (100 ⁄ )% = 52 + 65 .
% (9)
where, ℎ is the thickness substrate,
⁄ℎ ≥ 0.25 and dielectric constant ≤ 25.
For our antenna design, we give e for each corner and
calculate the value of x by applying equation (9) and the
following table I shows the results obtained.
TABLE I. PARAMETERS CORNERS OF THE PROPOSED
Fig.4. Geometry of proposed UWB array antennas
ANTENNA

Corner (mm) (mm)

7 0.67 0.4 Table III shows the geometric parameters of our antenna
8 3 1.7 that have been calculated by use of the relation [20] :
9 1.1 0.6
10 2.9 1.65
TABLE III. PARAMETERS OF THE PROPOSED ANTENNA
Note : i = 7, 8, 9, 10. Parameter Value (mm) Parameter Value (mm)
3.5 2.2
The characteristic impedances of the microstrip lines 28.7 10.5
being used for feeding elements of the array is given in the 5.2 10
following table II. 2.5 118
19 148
4 82.4
1 21.2
TABLE II. MICROSTRIP LINE IMPEDANCES
1.5 = 9.5
Impedance Value (Ω) Impedance Value (Ω) 1.2 = 51
44 87.1 ℎ 1.58 12
33.9 72
54 80.6
= 40.4 60 III. RESULTS AND DISCUSSION
A. Return Loss
The geometry of the proposed directional UWB array In figure 5, the return loss of the bidirectional array
antenna is depicted in figure 4 with its characterizing antennas as obtained from Ansoft HFSS and CST Microwave
parameters. The antenna is located on the x-y plane and the Studio, it is shown that it has an impedance bandwidth for
normal direction is parallel to z-axis. It is printed on FR-4 return loss less than −10 dB from 3.5 GHz to 9 GHz, it is
substrate with a dielectric ε = 4.4, thickness h = 1.58 mm, a about (115 %) of bandwidth which covers the standard of
loss tangent δ = 0.02 and is excited by a 50 Ω coplanar IEEE 802.15a (3.1 − 10.6 GHz).

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 Fig.7. Phase delay of array antennas
Fig.5. Return loss of array antennas

D. Gain Versus Frequency

B. Voltage Standing Wave Ratio
The peak of gain for the array antennas is plotted and
Figure 6 shows the voltage standing wave ratio (VSWR) compared between HFSS and CST in figure 8. It is observed
characteristic of the array antennas. This figure shows that the that the array gain steadily increases with frequency and
VSWR of the array antennas remains less than 2 over a attains a peak of more than 10 dB in all range frequency.
bandwidth range of 3.5GHz to 9 GHz. This result proves that
there’s a good adaptation between the transmission line and It can be seen that the planar array antennas has a good
the array antennas. gain enhancement across the frequency band of interest
(4 − 8 GHz).

Fig.8. Gain versus frequency

Fig.6. VSWR of array antenna

E. Far Field Radiation Pattern

C. Phase Delay
Figure 9 show the polar radiation of microstrip array
Group delay is another important parameter to determine antenna in 2D between HFSS and CST at 6 GHz and 8 GHz.
the performance of UWB antennas. The antenna should be Figure 9(a) and 9(c) show the polar gain radiation pattern in
able to transmit the electrical pulse with minimal distortion. E- plane (x − z) and figure 9(b) and 9(d) show the polar gain
The calculated group delay of the proposed array antennas radiation pattern in H-plane (y − z).
is shown in figure 7. The variation is less than 2 ns over the According to the same figure, we find that the array
frequency band from 4 to 8 GHz. It shows that the antenna antennas has a bidirectional radiation pattern directed towards
has low-impulse distortion and is suitable for UWB weather the desired End-Fire angles.
radar applications.
The radiation pattern taken for the far-field in 3D is
indicated by HFSS and CST in figure 10. Figure 10(a) shows
the 3D gain radiation pattern in HFSS at 6 GHz and figure
10(b) shows the 3D gain radiation pattern in CST at 6 GHz.
Figure 10(c) shows the 3D gain radiation pattern in HFSS at
8 GHz and figure 10(d) shows the 3D gain radiation pattern in
CST at 8 GHz.
From figure 10, we see a slight increase in the gain of
approximately 3dB when we pass from 6 GHz to 8 GHz.

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 (a) for =6 (b) for =6

(c) for =8 (d) =8

Fig.9. 2D Gain radiation pattern of the proposed array antennas

(a) HFSS at =6 (b) CST at =6

(c) HFSS at =8 (d) CST at =8

Fig.10. 3D Gain radiation pattern of the proposed array antennas

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 (a) for =6 (b) for =8

Fig.11. Surface current distribution of the proposed array antennas

Figure 11 illustrates the surface current distributions on

the top patch array antennas in the both frequencies IV. CONCLUSION
resonance 6 GHz and 8 GHz , the red colour indicates In this paper, a novel design of bidirectional ultra wide
maximum current density while blue colour indicates band array antennas with a partial ground plane has been
minimum current density. As expected, strong surface presented for C-band Weather Radar applications.
current densities were present at the lower and upper
resonance frequencies along the T-junction power divider The high gain and quite stable group delay over an ultra
region. When moving away from this cross-section, the wide frequency range from about 3 GHz to upper than 9
current density decrease and the interaction vanishes rapidly GHz are obtained. Accordingly, the proposed antenna is
because the distance increases from the point of excitation. expected to be a good candidate in UWB weather radar
systems.
The Half Power Beamwidth (HPBW) is the angular
separation in which the magnitude of the radiation pattern In outlook, we plan to achieve our prototype to validate
decreases by 50 % (or −3 dB) from the peak of the main its performance with experimental measurements.
beam [10] [21] and when it is very minimal, the array
antennas is best and more directional.
Finally, the proposed UWB array antennas presents the REFERENCES
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