A MODIFIED QUASI-YAGI ANTENNA FED BY A MICROSTRIP LINE

SHIH-YUAN CHEN Graduate Institute of Communication Engineering National Taiwan University Taipei, Taiwan 10617 E-mail: d91004@ew.ee.ntu.edu.tw POWEN HSU Department of Electrical Engineering and Graduate Institute of Communication Engineering National Taiwan University Taipei, Taiwan 10617 E-mail: phsu@cc.ee.ntu.edu.tw
A modified quasi-Yagi antenna fed by a microstrip line is proposed to have a comparable performance to that designed previously using a microstrip-to-coplanar strip transition but with a simpler structure. The transition used in this design is a pair of linearly tapered line sections, which connects the driving dipole, the microstrip line, and the truncated ground plane. A bandwidth of 24% with 6.7 dBi gain and 15 dB front-to-back ratio is measured for an X-band prototype antenna.

1.

Introduction

The quasi-Yagi antenna presented in [1] is an important candidate for power combining, waveguide transitions, and active antenna applications. However, its design process is somewhat bothersome as the microstrip-tocoplanar strip (CPS) transition increases the design complexity enormously. In order to have similar broadband characteristics with less design parameters, a modified microstrip-fed quasi-Yagi antenna is thus proposed. An X-band prototype is verified experimentally to have a higher gain and larger bandwidth than those presented in [1].

oriented in opposite directions are in phase. Note that the two tapered line sections are of the same form and at the corresponding positions on both sides of the substrate. In addition, the tapered line section can guide the currents smoothly to the strip and then the driving dipole, and thus improve the return loss bandwidth. Although only linear taper line sections are used in our design, more complicated or higher order taper lines can be applied as well. Also note that the tapered line section is not necessary between the microstrip line and the arm of the driving dipole when the width of the feeding 50- microstrip line is less than g/8. The truncated ground plane of the proposed structure functions as a reflector [1]. During the design process, the length of each arm of the driving dipole, l1, is first determined to be g/4 at the required central operating frequency, and the length of the director, l2, is slightly less than g/4. The distance between the driving dipole and the truncated ground plane, d1, are also g/4. Furthermore, the width of the director is wider than that of the driving dipole for a stronger coupling. One unique feature of this antenna design is the use of the linear taper line. This results in a compact and simple structure with broadband characteristics. Length of the taper section, lt, is the dominant parameter affecting the return loss bandwidth of this antenna. Bandwidth could be improved by

2.

Modified Quasi-Yagi Antenna

The configuration of a modified quasi-Yagi antenna fed by a microstrip line, which consists of a printed dipole director, a driving dipole, and the truncated ground plane on the back side of the substrate as a reflecting element, is shown in Fig. 1. The two arms of the driving dipole are placed on the opposite sides of the substrate, one of which is fed by the microstrip signal line tapered from a 50- feedline, while the other is fed by a strip tapered from the truncated ground plane. Since the currents distributed on the microstrip line are out of phase with those on the ground plane, currents on the driving dipole

increasing lt, but degraded radiation patterns should not be ignored. Thus, compromise must be made for lt. In our design process, simulations are carried out on a package software HFSS [2] from Ansoft.

4.

Conclusion

3.

Simulation and Measurement Results

A test piece is fabricated on an RT/Duroid 5880 substrate (r = 2.2) with thickness of 62 mils (1.5748 mm), and is designed to operate at 10 GHz. A photograph of the X-band prototype is shown in Fig. 2. The antenna total size is 4 cm6 cm. Measured and simulated return losses and E- and H-plane patterns are presented in Figs. 3, 4(a), and 4(b), respectively. The measured bandwidth (Return loss > 10 dB) is 24%, while the simulated one is about 18%. The difference between the measured and the simulated return losses may be resulted mainly from not using the TRL calibration technique during our testing. The E- and H-plane patterns are shown to be similar across the entire frequency band, and the antenna gain measured at 8.9, 10.0 and 10.2 GHz is 8.7, 6.7 and 6.1 dBi, respectively. Furthermore, the in -band front-toback ratio is measured to be larger than 15 dB. This compact antenna radiates a well-defined pattern in the end-fire direction.

The design of a modified quasi-Yagi antenna fed by a microstrip line has been presented. The structure demonstrates comparable performance to that of the previously designed microstrip-fed quasi-Yagi antenna [1]. This antenna has several advantages, such as ease of fabrication, broadband, good front-to-back ratio, and compact in size. It is thus an excellent candidate for integration in the MIC/MMIC circuits.

Acknowledgements
This work is supported in part by the National Science Council, Republic of China, under contract no. NSC 91-2219-E-002-015, and in part by the Ministry of Education, ROC, under contract no. 89E-FA06-2-4.

References
[1] Y. Qian, W. R. Deal, N. Kaneda and T. Itoh, Microstrip-fed quasi-Yagi antenna with broadband characteristics, Electronics Lett., vol. 34, no. 23, pp. 2194-2196, Nov. 1998. [2] Trade mark of Ansoft Corp.

l2 w2 d2 l1 d1 lt h w1 X

Z W

Fig. 1. Geometry of a modified quasi-Yagi antenna fed by a microstrip line.

Fig. 3. Simulated and measured return losses of the modified quasi-Yagi antenna.

(a) Front

(b) Back

Fig. 2. Photograph of an X-band modified quasi-Yagi antenna.

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(a) E-plane (=90)

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Fig. 4. Simulated and measured E- and H-plane patterns of an X-band prototype. Measurements were made at 8.9, 10.0 and 10.26 GHz, while the simulated pattern was done at 10.0 GHz.