TABLE OF CORRECTIONS

(SUMMARY OF REVISION)

We have addressed all reviewers’ comments below.

Reviewer 1 Comment Section/Page No Revision/Response

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Reviewer 2 Comment Section/Page No Revision/Response

Comment 1 Page all Response 1

Thank you.
 1

COMPACT AND BANDWIDTH EFFICIENT MULTI-

BAND MICROSTRIP PATCH ANTENNAS FOR 5G
APPLICATIONS

Abdulguddoos S. A. Gaid1, Amjad M. H. Alhakimi2

Osama Y. A. Sae'ed3, Mohammed S. Alasadee4, and Ali A. Ali5
1,2,3,4,5
Dept. Of Communication and Computer Engineering
Faculty of Engineering, Taiz University, Yemen (2019)
1 asry2000@hotmail.com
2 amjad770497211@gmail.com
3 osama12.12.12c@gmail.com
4 moalasadee@gmail.com
5 alialzuriqi1989@gmail.com

Abstract. This paper proposes two compact and bandwidth efficient multi-band
rectangular microstrip patch antennas for future mm-w 5G wireless communi-
cations. The first proposed one is a dual-band antenna with dimensioning to
7.68 × 9.18 × 0.78 mm3. This antenna provides approximately 2.086 GHz /
7.143 GHz of bandwidth and produces a maximum gain of 8.13 dBi / 6.33 dBi
at 28 GHz / 38 GHz respectively. The second antenna is a tri-band resonating at
28 GHz, 45 GHz and 60 GHz. This antenna has a small size of 7.2 × 8.8 × 0.78
mm3. The first band is 3.543 GHz wide with a maximum achievable gain of
5.19 dBi. The second band has a bandwidth of 4.687 GHz and a maximum gain
of 5.85 dBi. Moreover, a maximum gain of 6.07 dBi is obtained at the third
band, which has a bandwidth of 5.926 GHz. The proposed antennas are low
profile and compact enough to be integrated into handheld mobile units. Fur-
thermore, the antennas provide enough bandwidth (> 5 % of the center frequen-
cy) and an acceptable gain which are required by the mm-w 5G wireless sys-
tems.

Keywords: Multi-band microstrip patch antenna, mm-w 5G, compact antennas.

1 Introduction

The last few decades have witnessed a rapid development and fast growth in the mo-
bile and wireless communications industry, evolving from the first generation (1G),
which was an analog voice-based technology, to the second-generation (2G) digital
technology then later on to the third generation (3G), and nowadays the fourth genera-
tion (4G, LTE) [1]. The ever-increasing demand for higher data rates due to increas-
ing number of users of computers, smart phones and tablets connected to the internet,
2

thrust for web browsing and video streaming, made it necessary to move forward a
further step to a new generation, the fifth generation networks (5G) [2].
5G networks are characterized by their high data rates and high capacity [3]. These
demands are realized by using antenna arrays consisting of microstrip patches at base
stations and on the terminals [4, 5]. On the other hand, high data rates are achievable
by shifting to the millimeter band at which a large spectrum is available. However,
the frequencies in the millimeter band suffer from a severe path loss [6]. To overcome
these impairments, small size, high bandwidth and high gain antennas are required [7,
8]. Microstrip patches are planar, low profile and adaptable; however, microstrip
patches are inherited by their low bandwidth and low radiation gain [9].
During the last decades, engineers and researchers carried intensive research to
overcome these shortcomings, i.e., its small bandwidth and poor gain [10]. We will
here survey some literature to see the efforts in improving the bandwidth, the gain and
the size of the microstrip patch antennas to suit the requirements of the 5G new tech-
nology.
For example, Rahayu and Hidayat [11] designed a dual-band antenna at 28/38
GHz whose patch size is 3.2 × 3 mm2. The maximum gain achieved is 5.75 dBi and
7.23 dBi at 28 GHz & 38 GHz respectively. Hence, the maximum gain averaged over
the two resonance frequencies is 6.49 dBi. In addition, the total bandwidth (< -10 dB)
provided at both bands are 4.864 GHz and 3.602 GHz with a total of 8.466 GHz. Ab-
delaziz and Hamad [12] proposed a tri-band antenna operating at 10/28/38 GHz with
a patch size of 9.7 × 9.9 mm2. The total achieved bandwidth is 2.604 GHz whereas
the maximum gain averaged over the three center frequencies is 8.19 dBi. In addition,
a dual-band antenna operating at 28/38 GHz with a patch sizing to a 3.4 × 4.127 mm 2
was proposed by Kamal and Sarwar [13]. The maximum gain averaged over the two
bands is 6.265 dBi and the total bandwidth provided is 1.38 GHz. Final-ly, Khattak et.
al. [14] proposed a dual band circular patch antenna with a radius of 2 mm resonating
at 28/45 GHz. the maximum gain averaged over the two band is 7.405 dBi while the
total bandwidth offered is 2.3 GHz.
Table 1 summarizes the results discussed above and compares them with the out-
comes of this work. We can clearly see that the proposed antennas in this research
managed to tradeoff between the patch size, bandwidth and radiation gain. For in-
stance, in [12] the achieved gain is slightly better than the gain of our proposed patch-
es; however, the proposed patches in this work are much smaller and superior in terms
of bandwidth. To summarize, our proposed antennas here are compact, band-width
efficient and directive antennas.
This paper is organized as follows: section 2 illustrates the design process of the
two proposed microstrip patches, while our simulation results are presented and dis-
cussed in section 3. Finally, in section 4 the conclusion of the paper is presented.

2 The Design Procedure

The first step in the designing process is to select carefully the substrate material
based on the desired performance required. Type, thickness, dielectric constant and
 3

the loss tangent are important parameters that play a crucial role in deciding the
bandwidth, the gain, the efficiency and also the volume of the antenna [12]. In this
work, Rogers RT/duroid 5880 substrate whose thickness is 0.78 mm, dielectric con-
stant is 𝜀𝑟 = 2.2 and with a loss tangent of 𝑡𝑎𝑛𝛿 = 0.0009, is used. Additionally, the
radiator patches and the ground planes of both antennas are made of a copper sheet
with a thickness of 0.035 mm. According to the desired resonance frequency, the
patches’ lengths and widths are first roughly obtained from applying the transmission
line model as stated below [15]. The width is calculated first using Eq. (1) and subse-
quently apply Eq. (2) to Eq. (5) to find the approximate length of the patch.

Table 1. A comparison between this work and some of the recently published work.

Ref. Antenna Resonant S11 BW Gain Total Average

Size frequencies dB GHz dBi BW Gain
mm3 GHz GHz dBi

[11] 20×20×1.575 28 -40.64 4.864 5.75 8.466 6.49

38 -32.66 3.602 7.23
10 -25.8 0.343 5.67
[12] 20×16.5× 0.508 28 -24.9 0.761 9.33 2.604 8.19
38 -32.9 1.5 9.57
28 -19.3 0.9 7.03
[13] ____ 1.38 6.265
38 -18.7 0.48 5.5
28 -40 1.3 7.6
[14] 6×6×0.508 2.3 7.405
45 -14 1 7.21
Dual-band 28 -33.87 2.087 8.13
microstrip 7.68×9.18×0.78 38 -31.87 7.143 6.334 9.2107 7.232
patch
Tri-band 28 -24.1 3.543 5.19
microstrip 7.2 × 8.8×0.78 45 -18.14 4.687 5.85 14.156 5.703
patch 60 -31.2 5.926 6.07

The following step is then to optimize these calculated length and width so that the
best results are obtained. The optimization process is performed using any one of the
available commercial high frequency simulation software's such as the HFSS simula-
tor, which is used in this work. The optimized dimensions of the two proposed patch
antennas are summarized in Table 2 and Table 3.
𝑐
w= 𝜀 +1
(1)
2𝑓0 √ 𝑟
2

Where 𝜀𝑟 is the dielectric constant of the Rogers substrate, 𝑓0 is the center reso-
nance frequency and 𝑐 is the speed of light.
4

Eq. (2) is used to calculate the patch’s length. After all, the effective length, the
length extension and the effective dielectric constant are calculated first applying Eq.
(3) through Eq. (5).
𝐿 = 𝐿𝑒𝑓𝑓 − 2𝛥𝐿 (2)

Where 𝐿𝑒𝑓𝑓 is the effective length and 𝛥𝐿 is the length extension. These parameters
are calculated using the following equations:
𝑐
𝐿𝑒𝑓𝑓 = (3)
2𝑓0 √𝜀𝑟𝑒𝑓𝑓

Where 𝜀𝑟𝑒𝑓𝑓 is the effective dielectric constant, which is determined by:

1
𝜀𝑟 +1 𝜀𝑟 −1 ℎ
𝜀𝑟𝑒𝑓𝑓 = + (1 + 12 ( ))−2 (4)
2 2 𝑤

The extension length, 𝛥𝐿 is obtained from the following formula:

𝑤
(𝜀𝑟𝑒𝑓𝑓 +0.3)( +0.264)
ℎ
Δ𝐿 = 0.412ℎ 𝑤 (5)
(𝜀𝑟𝑒𝑓𝑓 −0.258)( +0.8)
ℎ

Where w is the patch width obtained from eq. (1) and h is the dielectric substrate
thickness.

2.1 The Dual-Band Rectangular Microstrip Patch Antenna

Figure 1 shows a top and bottom views of the dual-band rectangular patch antenna.
Two circular and one-half circular slots are etched on the patch to improve the return
loss, gain and bandwidth [12, 14]. The radiating patch size is 3 × 4.5 mm2 and the
overall volume of the antenna is 7.68 × 9.18 × 0.78 mm 3. This antenna is a dual-band
resonating at 28/38 GHz. A 50 Ω microstrip line of 1.85 mm length and 0.9 mm width
is utilized to feed the radiating patch; using inset technique to improve the matching
between the line and the patch. Table 2 summarizes the optimized dimensions of this
rectangular dual-band antenna.

(a) (b)

Fig. 1. The dual-band patch antenna (a) Top view (b) Bottom view.
 5

Table 2. Optimal parameters of the proposed rectangular dual-band antenna.

Parameters Symbols Values (mm)

Patch’s Width Wp 4.5
Patch’s Length Lp 3
Substrate’s Length Ls 7.68
Substrate’s Width Ws 9.18
Substrate’s thickness h 0.78
Circle Radius Re 0.4
Half-Circle Radius Rm 0.5
Gap Wg 0.1
Insertion Yg 0.58
Feeder’s Length Lf 1.85
Feeder’s Width Wf 0.9
Position of circle (ref. to position half x, y -0.6, -1.4
circle)
Position of half-circle x, y 0,0

2.2 The Tri-Band Rectangular Microstrip Patch Antenna

Figure 2 shows the geometrical configuration of the proposed tri-band microstrip

patch antenna. The overall volume of the antenna is 7.2 × 8.8 × 0.78 mm 3. To im-
prove the return loss and bandwidth of the proposed antenna, a partial ground is per-
formed. According to [16], applying the partial ground technique enhances the anten-
na bandwidth by about 30%. The impedance matching is also improved when com-
paring with the full ground. Besides that, the patch is fed by a 50Ω microstrip line,
which is a 1.85 mm long and 1 mm wide. The inset feed technique is applied in order
to get the best match between the feeding line and the radiating patch. Slots are etched
on the radiating patch to improve the antenna performance. The optimized dimensions
of this antenna are summarized in Table 3.

3 Simulation Results and Discussions

This section presents the simulation results we have obtained and interpret. The per-
formance of the two proposed antennas are simulated and optimized by using two
commercial software's namely, High Frequency Structural Simulator HFSS and CST
Microwave Studio.
6

(a) (b)
Fig. 2. Geometry of the tri-band microstrip antenna (a) Radiator patch view (b) Partial ground
view.

Table 3. Optimal parameters of the proposed rectangular tri-band antenna

Parameters Symbols Values (mm)

Patch’s Width Wp 4.308
Patch’s Length Lp 3.155
Substrate’s Length Ls 7.2
Substrate’s Width Ws 8.8
Substrate’s thickness h 0.78
Circle Radius R1 0.4
Slot Length Lm 2.6
Gap Wg 0.1
Insertion Yg 0.5
Feeder’s Length Lf 1.85
Slot Width Wm 0.1
Ground width Wgr 4.4

Figure 3 shows the return loss, S11 of the dual-band antenna versus frequency. It is
clearly seen that, at a frequency very close to 28 GHz, the value of S11 is about
-33.8771 dB, and at 38 GHz the value of the return loss is -31.8737 dB. The band-
width (< -10 dB) provided by this antenna is 2.0678 GHz (7.385%), around 28 GHz,
extending from 26.6125 GHz to 28.6992 GHz. The second band is 7.1429 GHz
(18.79%), extending from 35.9259 GHz to 43.0688 GHz. The total bandwidth offered
by this proposed antenna is about 9.2107 GHz, which is much better than the band-
width offered by antennas proposed in [11 – 14]. The VSWR against the frequency is
shown in Figure 4. The value of this parameter is less than 2 throughout the -10 dB
bandwidth. At 28/38 GHz, the value of VSWR is 1.04 and 1.05 respectively. Figure 5
shows that the proposed antennas is directive where the maximum gain is about 8.13
dBi at 28 GHz and about 6.334 dBi at 38 GHz. The maximum gain averaged over the
two center frequencies is about 7.232 dBi, which indicates its good directivity.
 7

S-parameters [Magnitude in dB ] ANSOFT

ANSOFT
0.00
0.00 CurveInfo
Curve Info
CurveReturn
Curve ReturnLoss
Loss dB(S(1,1))
dB(S(1,1))
Setup1::Sw
Setup1 Sweep
eep
-5.00
-5.00
-10.1231
MY1: -10.1231

mm33 mm44 mm55 mm66

-10.00
-10.00 -10.0045 -10.0788 -10.0444 -10.0146
MY1:

Name
Name XX YY
mm11 27.6000 -33.8771
27.6000 -33.8771
-15.00
-15.00
dB(S(1,1))
dB(S(1,1))

mm22 38.1000 -31.8737

38.1000 -31.8737
mm33 26.6000 -9.9031
26.6000 -9.9031
mm44 28.7000 -10.0730
28.7000 -10.0730
-20.00
-20.00
mm55 35.9000 -9.9171
35.9000 -9.9171
23.7832
23.7832

mm66 43.1000 -9.9068

43.1000 -9.9068

-25.00
-25.00

-30.00
-30.00 mm22
-33.9063
MY2: -33.9063

mm11

-35.00
-35.00
MY2:

20.00
20.00 25.00
25.00 30.00
30.00 35.00
35.00 40.00
40.00 45.00
45.00 50.00
50.00
Freq [GHz]
Freq [GHz]
MX1: 26.6125 2.0867 MX1: 35.9259 7.1429
MX2: 28.6992 MX2: 43.0688

Fig. 3. Simulated return loss (S11) Vs frequency of the dual-band microstrip patch antenna.

voltage standing wave ratio (VSWR) HFSSDesign1 ANSOFT

Curve Info
24.00
VSWR(1)
Setup1 : Sw eep
22.00
Name X Y
20.00 m1 27.6000 1.0413
m2 38.1370 1.0531
18.00

16.00
VSWR
14.00
VSWR(1)

12.00

10.00

8.00

6.00

4.00
MY1: 2.0335
MY2: 1.0167

2.00 m1 m2

0.00
20.00 25.00 30.00 35.00 40.00 45.00 50.00
Freq [GHz]

Fig. 4. Simulated VSWR Vs frequency of the dual-band microstrip patch antenna.

The return loss performance of the proposed tri-band microstrip patch is shown in
Figure 6. The value of the maximum return loss at the first band is -24.1 dB, whereas
it is -18.17 dB and -31.17 dB at the 2nd and 3rd bands respectively. The first band
centered at 28 GHz has a bandwidth (< -10 dB) of 3.5433 GHz (12.66%), extending
from 26.526 to 30.069 GHz. A bandwidth of 4.6872 GHz (10.42%) in the second
band is centered at 45 GHz, extending from 42.732 to 47.419 GHz. Moreover, a
bandwidth of 5.9265 GHz (9.88%) is available in the third band, centered at 60 GHz,
extending from 57.365 to 63.291 GHz. Total bandwidth offered by this antenna is
14.157 GHz, which indicates the broadband nature of the proposed antenna.
8

(a) (b)
Fig. 5. Simulated 3D gain of the dual-band microstrip patch antenna at (a) 28 GHz (b) 38 GHz.

Fig. 6. Simulated return loss (S11) Vs frequency of the tri-band microstrip patch antenna.

Figure 7 shows the VSWR characteristics of the tri-band microstrip patch. The value
of VSWR is 1.14, 1.28 and 1.06 at 28 GHz, 45 GHz and 60 GHz respectively. Gener-
ally speaking, the value of this parameter is less than 2 throughout the bandwidth of
the antenna, revealing the good matching between the feeding microstrip line and the
radiating patch.
Figure 8 shows the gain of the tri-band antenna at the three bands. Figure 8(a)
shows the gain at 28 GHz, where it is seen that a maximum gain of 5.19 dBi is pro-
vided. Figure 8(b) shows the gain at 45 GHz at which the maximum gain achieved is
5.85 dBi. Furthermore, a 6.07 dBi of maximum gain is realized as shown in Figure
8(c). Therefore, the maximum gain averaged over the resonance frequencies is about
5.7 dBi, meaning that the patch is directive enough.
 9

Fig. 7. Simulated VSWR Vs frequency of the tri-band microstrip patch antenna.

(a) (b)

(c)
Fig. 8. Simulated 3D gains of the tri-band microstrip patch antenna at (a) 28 GHz (b) 45 GHz,
and (c) 60 GHz

4 Conclusions

In this paper, two rectangular multi-band microstrip patch antennas have been pro-
posed, designed and analyzed. The two antennas are characterized by their low pro-
file, compactness, good directivity and bandwidth efficiency. The dual-band antenna
achieves a total bandwidth of 9.2107 GHz and realizes a maximum averaged gain of
7.232 dBi. The tri-band, however, achieves a total bandwidth of 14.157 GHz and a
maximum gain of 5.7 dBi averaged over the three center frequencies. The proposed
antennas are suitable for 5G terminals due to their small size and good performance.
10

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