Md. I. HOSSAIN et al.: A METAMATERIAL-EMBEDDED WIDE-BAND ANTENNA FOR THE MICROWAVE C-BAND
25–28
A METAMATERIAL-EMBEDDED WIDE-BAND ANTENNA FOR
THE MICROWAVE C-BAND
[IROKOPASOVNA ANTENA Z VGRAJENIM METAMATERIALOM
ZA MIKROVALOVNI C-PAS
Md. Ikbal Hossain1, Mohammad Rashed Iqbal Faruque1, Mohammad Tariqul Islam2,
Atiqur Rahman1
1Space Science Center (ANGKASA), 43600 UKM, Bangi, Selangor, Malaysia
2University Kebangsaan Malaysia, Department of Electrical, Electronic and Systems Engineering, 43600 UKM,
Bangi, Selangor, Malaysia
ipk_eee@yahoo.com
Prejem rokopisa – received: 2015-06-30; sprejem za objavo – accepted for publication: 2015-12-15
doi:10.17222/mit.2015.145
In this paper a metamaterial-embedded, compact microstrip-fed patch antenna is introduced for microwave C-band applications.
The proposed antenna is composed of a rectangular metamaterial-embedded patch, microstrip-fed line and a partial ground
plane. The finite-integration technique (FIT) based on Computer Simulation Technology (CST) Microwave Studio is utilized in
this study. The measurements of antenna performances are conducted in a near-field measurement laboratory. The antenna
performance parameters comprising the reflection coefficient, radiation efficiency, gain, and radiation pattern are studied to
validate the antenna performance. The measured results show that the proposed metamaterial-embedded antenna exhibits a wide
impedance bandwidth over the C band (from 3.77 GHz to 6.58 GHz). The results also indicate good radiation efficiency and
antenna gain with a nearly omni-directional radiation pattern at the frequencies of interest.
Keywords: antenna, head model, substrate material
V ~lanku je predstavljena kompaktna mikrotrakasta antena v obliki obli`a, z vgrajenim metamaterialom za uporabo v
mikrovalovnem C-pasu. Predlagana antena je sestavljena iz v obli` vgrajenega metamateriala pravokotne oblike, iz linije iz
mikrovlakna za napajanje in z delno ozemljeno povr{ino. V {tudiji je uporabljena tehnika kon~ne integracije (FIT), ki temelji na
tehnologiji ra~unalni{ke simulacije (CST) Microwave Studio. Meritve zmogljivosti antene so bile izvedene v gluhi sobi
merilnega laboratorija. Za oceno zmogljivosti antene so bili izmerjeni parametri zmogljivosti, ki obsegajo koeficient refleksije,
u~inkovitost sevanja, izkoristek in sevalni diagram. Izmerjeni rezultati ka`ejo, da ima antena z vgrajenim metamaterialom {irok
impedan~ni pas v C pasu (od 3,77 GHz do 6,58 GHz). Rezultati ka`ejo tudi na dobro u~inkovitost sevanja antene in izkoristek
antene s skoraj vsesmernim diagramom sevanja na frekvencah interesa.
Klju~ne besede: antena, glava modela, material podlage
1 INTRODUCTION
With the exponentially increasing need for electronic
communications, interest in designing a broadband
antenna with a wide frequency coverage is increasing.
The microstrip antenna offers a low-profile, conformal
design, ease of manufacture and integration, and it is low
cost and lightweight.1 Although the microstrip patch an-
tennas have a low profile and compact size characte-
ristics, they suffer from a narrow bandwidth and low
gain, and a poor polarization purity and tolerance
problem.2–3 In the past decade, various techniques have
been proposed to enhance the bandwidth of microstrip
antennas with an increasing substrate thickness4, using
slots on radiating patches5, using magneto dielectric sub-
strates6, and stacking different radiating elements.7
A wide-band antenna of wide-slot belonging to a
microstrip line was designed using a fork-like tuning
stub to increase the bandwidth.8 This design approach
successfully showed a wide bandwidth but an antenna
gain changing below 1.5 dBi over the complete opera-
tional frequency bands. A slotted microstrip antenna was
proposed for enhancing the bandwidth printed on an
FR-4 substrate with about 2.01 dBi antenna gain.9
Nowadays, metamaterials are being used in antenna
engineering to enhance the antenna’s performance and
reduce the antenna’s sizes. However, the electromagnetic
band gap (EBG) or metamaterial can also be used to
enhance the antenna performance, such as the antenna
gain and impedance bandwidth.10 The bandwidth en-
hancement of a microstrop patch antenna was performed
using planar artificial magnetic conductor (AMC)
surface.11 A compact wide-band microstrip antenna was
proposed with a modified patch and ground plane using a
metamaterial.12
In this paper, a wide-band microstrip-fed patch an-
tenna is proposed for microwave C-band radar applica-
tions. For the antenna-bandwidth enhancement, the
metamaterial structure is incorporated with the antenna
patch. Moreover, the antenna performance in terms of
radiation efficiency, gain, and gain radiation pattern are
analyzed in this study.
Materiali in tehnologije / Materials and technology 51 (2017) 1, 25–28 25
MATERIALI IN TEHNOLOGIJE/MATERIALS AND TECHNOLOGY (1967-2017) – 50 LET/50 YEARS
UDK 67.017:621.396.677.3:004.942 ISSN 1580-2949
Original scientific article/Izvirni znanstveni ~lanek MTAEC9, 51(1)25(2017)
2 ANTENNA DESIGN
Figure 1 shows the geometry of the proposed micro-
strip antenna. The antenna consists of a rectangular patch
with metamaterial, a partial ground plane and a printed
microstrip line. A circular split-ring resonator with two
slots is used as a metamaterial structure. The excitation
is fed between the microstrip line and the ground using
an SMA connector of 50  normalized impedance. A
0.8-mm-thick, FR-4 sheet with a 4.6 relative permittivity
is used as the substrate.
Table 1: Antenna design specifications
Tabela 1: Specifikacija zgradbe antene
Parameter Value (mm) Parameter Value (mm)
a 1 f 10
b 2 g 12
c 3 h 17
d 8.5 k 36
e 9.5 w 20
The antenna specifications are listed in Table 1. The
antenna design investigation was based on the finite-in-
stigation technique (FIT) of the CST microwave studio.
A prototype of the proposed antenna is fabricated using
Md. I. HOSSAIN et al.: A METAMATERIAL-EMBEDDED WIDE-BAND ANTENNA FOR THE MICROWAVE C-BAND
26 Materiali in tehnologije / Materials and technology 51 (2017) 1, 25–28
MATERIALI IN TEHNOLOGIJE/MATERIALS AND TECHNOLOGY (1967-2017) – 50 LET/50 YEARS
Figure 3: Reflection coefficient of proposed antenna with and without
metamaterial
Slika 3: Koeficient sevanja predlagane antene, z in brez metamateriala
Figure 4: Surface current distribution of proposed antenna at: a) 4.5 GHz, b) 5 GHz and c) 5.5 GHz
Slika 4: Razporeditev toka po povr{ini predlagane antene pri: a) 4,5 GHz, b) 5 GHz in c) 5,5 GHz
Figure 2: Antenna design phases: a) ground plane configurations and
b) reflection coefficient for different configurations
Slika 2: Faze sestavljanja antene: a) konfiguracija osnovne plo{~e in
b) koeficient odseva pri razli~nih konfiguracijah
Figure 1: Proposed antenna geometry
Slika 1: Predlagana geometrija antene
the printed-circuit technique for measurement in an
anechoic chamber. The total antenna dimensions are 36
× 20 × 0.8 mm. At first, the proposed antenna is consid-
ered as a simple microstrip patch antenna with full
ground plane (g-1), as indicated in Figure 2a. Secondly,
a partial ground plane (g-2) is used to get a wide band-
width. Finally, a slotted partial ground plane (g-3) is
taken for the least back reflections. The reflection coeffi-
cient of the antenna with three different ground plane
configurations is plotted in Figure 2b. The reflection co-
efficients of the proposed antenna with and without the
metamaterial are plotted in Figure 3. The results indicate
that the incorporation of the proposed metamaterial with
an antenna leads to a dramatically wider antenna imped-
ance bandwidth. The surface current distributions of the
proposed metamaterial antenna are given in Figure 4
comprising frequencies at 4.5 GHz, 5 GHz, and 5.5 GHz
considering a zero phase of the input signal. The results
show that the lower frequency response of the antenna
depends significantly on the antenna patch. On the other
hand, the antenna patch length does not affect the re-
sponse of the antenna at the upper frequencies.
3 ANALYSIS AND RESULTS
According to Figure 5, the proposed antenna exhibits
a wide bandwidth 2.81 GHz (from 3.77 GHz to 6.58
GHz). Very good agreement is observed between the
measured and simulated results, indicating an almost
identical bandwidth. According to the measured reflec-
tion coefficient, the antenna’s fractional bandwidth is
54.97 % at the central frequency. The measured results
of the peak gain and radiation efficiency of the proposed
antenna are plotted in Figure 6. The antenna radiation
efficiency varies from 85 % to 97 % for different
frequencies.
On the other hand, the proposed antenna exhibits an
antenna peak gain from 1 dB to 4.5 dB for different
frequencies. However, the proposed antenna shows very
good radiation efficiency and gain over the operating
frequency range of the antenna. Figure 7 indicates the
measured gain radiation pattern of the proposed antenna
at 4.5 GHz, 5 GHz, and 5.5 GHz. The results show near
omni-directional radiation patterns in the H plane. The
results at other frequencies of the C band exhibit very
similar patterns as plotted, indicating stable radiation
patterns are obtained. The radiation patterns of the pro-
posed antenna are quite similar to the planar quarter-
wavelength mono-pole antenna.13
Md. I. HOSSAIN et al.: A METAMATERIAL-EMBEDDED WIDE-BAND ANTENNA FOR THE MICROWAVE C-BAND
Materiali in tehnologije / Materials and technology 51 (2017) 1, 25–28 27
MATERIALI IN TEHNOLOGIJE/MATERIALS AND TECHNOLOGY (1967-2017) – 50 LET/50 YEARS
Figure 7: Radiation pattern at: a) 4.5 GHz, b) 5 GHz, and c) 5.5 GHz
Slika 7: Diagram sevanja pri: a) 4,5 GHz, b) 5 GHz in c) 5,5 GHz
Figure 5: Simulated and measured reflection coefficient of the pro-
posed antenna
Slika 5: Simuliran in izmerjen koeficient odseva predlagane antene
Figure 6: Peak gain and radiation efficiencies of the proposed antenna
Slika 6: Najve~ji izkoristek in u~inkovitost sevanja predlagane antene
4 CONCLUSIONS
In this paper, a wide-band antenna for microwave
C-band application is proposed. The bandwidth enhance-
ment is obtained using metamaterial incorporation with
an antenna patch. The results indicate that the proposed
antenna exhibits a wide impedance bandwidth from 3.77
GHz to 6.58 GHz. The results also indicate good ra-
diation efficiency and antenna gain with a nearly omni-
directional radiation pattern at the frequencies of interest.
This antenna can be used in long-distance radar
communication systems.
5 REFERENCES
1 H. Elsadek, Microstrip Antennas for Mobile Wireless Communi-
cation Systems, INTECH Open Access Publisher, 2010, doi:10.5772/
7705
2 D. M. Pozar, Microstrip antennas, The Proceedings of IEEE, 80
(1992) 1, 79–91, doi:10.1109/5.119568
3 T. Alam, M. R. I. Faruque, M. T. Islam, N. Misran, Composite-
material printed antenna for a multi-standard wireless application,
Mater. Tehnol., 49 (2015) 5, 745–749, doi:10.17222/mit.2014.232
4 R. Garg, Microstrip antenna design handbook, Artech House, 2001
5 J. Lao, R. Jin, J. Geng, Q. Wu, An ultra-wideband microstrip
elliptical slot antenna excited by a circular patch, Microwave and
Optical Technology Letters, 50 (2008) 4, 845–846, doi:10.1002/
mop.23240
6 L. Yousefi, B. Mohajer-Iravani, O. M. Ramahi, Enhanced bandwidth
artificial magnetic ground plane for low-profile antennas, IEEE
Antennas and Wireless Propagation Letters, 6 (2007), 289–292,
doi:10.1109/LAWP.2007.895282
7 B. L. Ooi, S. Qin, M. S. Leong, Novel design of broad-band stacked
patch antenna, IEEE Transactions on Antennas and Propagation, 50
(2002) 10, 1391–1395, doi:10.1109/TAP.2002.802087
8 J. Y. Sze, K. L. Wong, Bandwidth enhancement of a microstrip-
line-fed printed wide-slot antenna, IEEE Transactions on Antennas
and Propagation, 49 (2001) 7, 1020–1024, doi:10.1109/8.933480
9 J. Y. Jan, J. W. Su, Bandwidth enhancement of a printed wide-slot
antenna with a rotated slot, IEEE Transactions on Antennas and
Propagation, 53 (2005) 6, 2111–2114, doi:10.1109/TAP.2005.848518
10 N. Engheta, Nader, Richard W. Ziolkowski, eds. Metamaterials:
physics and engineering explorations, John Wiley & Sons, (2006),
ISBN: 978-0-471-76102-0
11 R. C. Hadarig, M. E. De Cos, F. Las-Heras, Microstrip patch antenna
bandwidth enhancement using AMC/EBG structures, International
Journal of Antennas and Propagation, 2012 (2011), doi:10.1155/
2012/843754
12 H. Xiong, H. O. N. G. Jing-Song, T. A. N. Ming-Tao, L. I. Bing,
Compact microstrip antenna with metamaterial for wideband
applications, Turkish Journal of Electrical Engineering and Com-
puter Science, 21 (2013) 2, 2233–2238, doi:10.3906/elk-1204-6
13 M. R. I. Faruque, M. I. Hossain, M. T. Islam, Low specific absorp-
tion rate microstrip patch antenna for cellular phone applica-
tions, IET Microwaves, Antennas & Propagation, 9 (2015) 14,
1540–1546, doi:10.1049/iet-map.2014.0861
Md. I. HOSSAIN et al.: A METAMATERIAL-EMBEDDED WIDE-BAND ANTENNA FOR THE MICROWAVE C-BAND
28 Materiali in tehnologije / Materials and technology 51 (2017) 1, 25–28
MATERIALI IN TEHNOLOGIJE/MATERIALS AND TECHNOLOGY (1967-2017) – 50 LET/50 YEARS