38 IEEE TRANSACTIONS ON ANTENNAS AND PROPAGATION,VOL. AP-29, NO.

1 , JANUARY 1981

An Improved Theory for Microstrip Antennas and Applications

WILLIAM F. RICHARDS, YUEN T. L o , FELLOW, IEEE, AND DANEL D. HARRISON

Absrracr-An improvementtoarecentlyreportedtheoryforthe G andqualityfactor Q arecomputedatresonanceand the

analysis of the pattern and impedance loci of microstrip antennas is impedance is found from 1/Z = [ 1 jQ(fo/f - f/fo)l where +
developed. It yields a theory which is simpleanainexpensive to apply. f o is the resonant frequency. This approachalsoyieldsloci
The fields in the interior of the antennas are characterizedin terms of which are symmetric about the real axis of the Smith chart
a discrete set of modes. The poles corresponding to these modes are and hence d o n o t accurately represent the impedance of the
complex and depend on the losses in the antenna. The representation
antenna at all feed points.
of the fields in terms of these modes is rigorous only for a bonafide
cavity with no copper loss. The proper shift in the complex poles due A thirdmethod [ 4 ] modelsthemicrostripasagridof
to the addition of copper and radiativelossesisapproximated by wires andsolves the resultingstructurenumerically. While
lumping the latter two together with the .dielectric loss to form an this method seems to be somewhat more accurate and general,
effective loss tangent. By so doing, it isfoundthattheresulting it is more costly t o apply than necessary for most practical
expressions forimpedanceofthemicrostripantennaareingood microstrips and provides little physical insight into the opera-
agreement with measured results for all modes and feed locations. The tion of these antennas.
theory is applied to the evaluation of impedance variation with feed A fourth method [ 51 , [ 6 1 , replaces the antenna, initially,
location,to multiportanalysis,andtothedesign of circularly withacavitywhose fields are computed using a furl modal
polarized microstrip antennas. expansion. It is the neglecting of the nonresonant modes that
causes much of the error in the first two methods. Inclusion
I. INTRODUCTION of the effects of these modes yields computed loci which are
NUMBER of recent papers have appeared on the subject shifted into the inductive side of the Smith chart, in agree-
A of impedance and pattern predictions for microstrip an-
tennas [ 1 ] -[ 51. Thesepapersrepresent basically four dif-
ment
suffers
with
some
the experiment.
difficulties of
However,
its own when
the
the
approach
dominant
used
mode
in[ 6 ]

ferentapproachestotheproblemwithdifferingdegreesof is not excited strongly enough. This paper is intended to pro-

flexibility, accuracy, and computational effort. The simplest vide a simpleimprovement t o this theorywhichnotonly
approach, applicable to only rectangular microstrip antennas yields accurate results at any feed location, but also improves
[ 11- [ 3 ] , involves treating the radiative properties of the latter the computational efficiency. In addition, some applications
as two parallel radiating slots interconnected by a low imped- of this theory to impedance matching, multiport analysis, and
ance transmission line. This approach will give fair agreement productionofcircularlypolarizedpatternsarepresented.It
with the experiment in [ 2 ] as long as the feed pointis chosen will be seen that in these applications, because of the strong
near one of the two radiating edges, such as point 3 in Fig. frequency sensitivity, generally an accurate theory is needed.
l(a) (in the 0, 1 mode). However if the feed is moved to some Theexcellentagreementwiththeexperimentsuggeststhe
point between the edges,such as point 1 o r 2 of the same validity of thetheory. An efficientcomputerprogramfor
figure, the theory predicts a locus symmetric about the real all these calculations has been prepared and will be reported
axis of the Smith chart. This is in contrast to the experimental elsewhere.
results which show a strong shift of the locus into the induc-
11. THEORY
tive side of the Smith chart (see Fig. l(b)). Thus the method
is not adequate for predicting impedance variation with feed By assuming that the perimeter of the microstrip antenna
location. can be enclosed in a perfect magnetic wall without significant
Furthermore, this theory, based on a simple slot-transmis- disturbance of the field structure, one can expand the fields
sion line model, cannot be applied to geometries other than inmodalfunctions @ [ 6,],. As anexample,considerthe
rectangles. This apparently has forced one author to abandon rectangular microstrip shown in Fig. 2. The z directed electric
hisearliertransmissionline approach and to finallyuse the field can thus be written as
well-knowncavity model in his study of disk antennas [ 21.
In his study, as well as those of others, it is generally assumed
thatthe fieldinside theantenna is approximatedbythe
dominant mode of the cavity derived from the antenna by in-
E =jkoTo
m

C. x
m

m=O n = O
d m n ( x , yMmn(x’* v’)
k2 - km,2 io (5) (1)

closingitsperiphery by amagnetic wall. Fromthisfield, where k 2 = ~ , ( l - j 6 ) k o 2 , k o = 2 r f / u , f is frequency, u is

radiativeandohmic losses associatedwith theantennaare the speedoflight, E, is the relative dielectric constant, 6 is
approximated together with stored energies. The conductance losstangentofdielectric, qo = 377 a,k m n 2 = ( r n n / ~-I- )~
( n n / b ) * , i o ( x ) = sin ( x ) / x , Q m n ( X ,V I = ( e o r n e o n / a b ~ ’ ’COS
~
Manuscript received April 5, 1979; revised April 9, 1980. ( m ~ x / a cos ) (nrylb), EO,,, = 1 for m = 0 and 2 for m # 0,
W . F. Richards was with the University of Illinois, Urbana, IL. He is and d is the “effective width” of a uniform strip of z directed
now with the University of Houston, Houston,TX 77004. sourcecurrent of oneamp.(Theconcept of effectivefeed
Y. T. Lo is with the Department of Electrical Engineering, University
of Illinois, Urbana, IL 61801. widthanditsimplicationsarediscussedlater.)Theinner
D. D. Harrison is with Electronics Laboratory 109, Electronics Park, series in (1) can be summed in closed form. This is equivalent
Syracuse, NY 13221. to the mode matching approach [ 51. Once the field distribu-

0018-926X/81/0100-0038$00.75 0 1981 IEEE

RICHARDS.er al. : MICROSTRIP ANTENNAS ANDAPPLICATIONS 39

RECTANGULAR
SVBSTRATE
MICROSTRIP ANTENNA
REXOLITE 2200
-
x I
MEASURED LOCUS
COMPUTED LOCUS
1/16" NOMINAL THICKNESS INCREMENT: 5 MHz
(INCREASING FREQUENCY IS CLOCKWISE)

(a) (b)
Fig. 1. (a)Dimensionsandfeedlocationsofrectangularmicrostrip
antenna. (b) Measured and computed impedance loci.

report, Ps, was only on the order of a few percent of the

totalpower.) Also, withintheinterior of theantenna,the
power lost in the copper walls PcU can be approximated as
usualby assuming thecurrentsthatactuallyflowarethe
same as those under the condition of lossless walls. Finally,
thepowerlostinthedielectric P d withintheantenna is
easily computed.
Fromthese losses, theinputimpedance Z canbe com-
puted by

l / z = [ P f j 2 w ( W E - i / M ) ] / I VI2 (2)

where P = Pd + +
PcU Psw Prad; + is the time-averaged
electricstoredenergy, W , is the time-averaged magnetic
stored energy, V equals the driving point voltage which equals
tE averagedover the feed strip, t is the dielectricthickness,
Fig. 2. Rectangularmicrostripantenna. and w = 2nf.
Ifoneweredealingwithan ideal cavity (onewithno
tion has been obtained, a magnetic current source, K(x, y ) = copperlossthoughperhapswithdielectric loss), the imped-
n X zE(x, y ) at the perimeter, with unit normal n, is defined. ance could also be computed by the expression
This source is allowed t o radiate into space. The far fieldis
computedforsimplicityunderthefollowingadditionalap- z = W[ PE+)j]2/ 1w1( Ii '2, M - (3)
proximationswhichhaveproven to give accurateresults:a)
radiation due to electric surface currents induced on the patch or
andgroundplane is negligible; b) the influence of the die-
lectric substrate on the radiation pattern can be ignored; c) the z= -V/I (4)
magnetic current ribbon is replaced by a magnetic line current where I = thetotalinputcurrent.However,inthecaseof
on the ground plane of rK.The surface wave trapped by the microstrip antennas analyzed by the procedure just described,
dielectric substrate is also computed from K. From these, the (2)-(4) give differentresults. In fact,only ( 2 ) yieldsuseful
radiatedpower Prad andthesurface wave power Psw are results, and then only for cases where excitation of the domi-
found.'(However,forthethinantennasinvestigated in this nant mode is sufficiently strong. When this is not the case, (2)
also fails. The reason for this failure and inconsistency can be
1 The same assumptions which allow the accurate computation of traced to the fact that additional losses P , a d , P c u , andP,, are
the far field are applied to the surface wave estimation. Namely, the only partially accounted for in (2) and (3) and not at all in (4)
magnetic current K(x, y ) (obtained by t h e cavity approximation) on since E (and thus V ) as given by (1) does not depend on all
the homogeneous sounded slab is assumed to be the source of the sur-
face wave. The latter is obtained from K in the usual manner [ 141. The these losses. In order for all of these expressions t o agree, the
power carried awayby t h e surface waveis then determined by the nu- poles of E in (1)mustbemodifiedtoaccountforthese
merical integration of the surfacewave intensity. additional losses.
40 IEEE TRANSACTIONS
ANTENNAS
ON AND PROPAGATION, VOL. AF-29, NO. 1, JANUARY 1981

It seems reasonable t o modify the locations of the complex the computed impedance locus is shifted into the upper half
poles by some means so as to make all three expressions (2)- of the Smith chart is dependent somewhat on the actual width
(4) coincide.This can bedonebylumping all losses into a chosen forthiseffectivefeed.Ingeneral,thenarrowerthe
single“effectivedielectric loss” witheffectivelosstangent feed, the more inductive the locus. At present, the effective
6eff. Thus, in (1) and all the expressions for P , W E , and W,, width of the feedhasbeenchosenbycomparing the com-
the complex wavenumber k would be replaced by an effective puted locus to the measured locus for a point on the micro-
wavenumber strip.Oncethiseffectivewidth is chosen, it is usedatany
other feed point in the antenna with good results as shown in
thenextsection.However,due to the difference in fringing
whenacoaxialfeed is locateddirectlyontheedge of the
How to compute 6,ff nowbecomesthequestion.Asimple microstrip than when in the interior, a separate effective width
method is given below. shouldbedeterminedfortheformer.Inthecase of the
In an ideal cavity, the loss tangent is related to the quality rectangular microstrip experiments carried out by the authors,
factor Q by 6 = l/Q. Therefore, one can define 6,ff = l / Q = an effective width of five times the diameter of the coaxial
P / ( 2 w w ~ Since
). W E and P depend on 6eff in a very complex feed cable center conductor was used. Clearly, this complex
manner, strictly speaking., the solution 6,ff t o this nonlinear problem deserves a more rigorous and detailed analysis in its
equation is very involved. Fortunately, in the present compu- own right. This is currently under study by the authors.
tation, an accuratevalue of Q can stillbe obtainedeven
though L U , and P are computed by simply using k for k,ff. 111. IMPEDANCE VARIATION
This can be explained as follows. At resonance of say the m =
M , n = N mode, the E field, as clearly seen from ( l ) , is domi- Thistheoryhasbeenappliedtostudythevariation of
nated by the MNth modal term. Thus W E and P assume the impedance with feed location for rectangular and disk micro-
following form: stripantennas.Theanalysis is performedbyreplacing k
bykeffintheexpressionscontainedin [ 6 ] . Adetailed
analysis of the diskradiatorbythistheory is in [ I S ] . Fig.
1 and 3 showtherespectiveresults of thetheorycom-
paredwiththemeasurements. As canbeseen, in all cases,
boththeshapeofthelocusandthedistribution of fre-
quenciesonthelocus(thusthe Q ) areingoodagreement
withtheexperiment.Itshouldalsobenotedthatthe fre-
quencies have been corrected for the fringing field effect by
The coefficients a, 0, and y, and the contribution due to terms edgeextensionusingtheformulasbyHammerstad [ 8 1 and
of all other (nonresonant) modes, Q and b , can be derived from LongandShen [ 9 ] fortherectangularandcircularmicro-
(1).Theyaresomewhatlengthybut can beobtainedina strips, respectively.
straightforward manner and therefore are omitted for brevity. It is also clear from these two figures that the impedance
Thus near resonant frequencies, locus can be vaned over a wide range by simply changing the
feed location. Since the pattern of the antenna is dependent
mainly upon the field structure of the dominant mode only,
theimpedancecanthusbevanedformatchingpurposed
independently of thepattern.Theresults also indicatethat
by using the appropriate effective feed width the theory can
This result indicates that in a moderately high Q cavity, the predict the locus very accurately for any feed location inside
exact value of k is not needed for evaluation of Q.Therefore, the antenna.
it suffices to compute for frequencies in the region of each Anobservation of (1)showsthattheantenna, so faras
resonant mode the value of tieff = a/P with the aid of (1) at its impedance is concerned, can have a simple network repre-
the resonant frequency only. With 6eff thus determined, the sentation. Define for conveniencea ,, = uk, n/c Then the
impedance locus can be efficiently computed by use of (4), impedance can be written as
the relation V = tE, and ( 1 ) in which k is replaced by keff.
Aparameterdescribedastheeffectivewidth of the feed
wasemployedin(1). For the case of a microstripantenna
fed by a strip line on its perimeter, the effective feed width is
taken to be the physical width of the strip. However, if the
microstrip is fed at a point interior to the patch by a coaxial
cable, it is still convenient to think of the antenna as being fed
by a uniform strip of vertizlly oriented electric current. How-
ever,due tothecomplicatedfringinginthevicinity of the
feed, the width of this equivalent feed will be different from
the diameter of the center conductor of the coaxial feed. It is
found that the impedance locus is unaffected by the orienta- where
tion of the feed strip. Thus, in the case of the rectangle, the
strip was always taken parallel to the x axis. In the disk, the
strip was taken as a segment of the circle coaxial to the disk
passing through the feed point. However, the degree to which
RICHARDS er al. : MICROSTRIP ANTENNAS AND APPLICATIONS 41

6 70 crn

-
I-

-5 03 crn-
1.68 crn
0.84 crn -d

... 1 2
.
3

DISK MICROSTRIP ANTENNA

SUBSTRATE REXOLITE 2200
- x
MEASURED
COMPUTED
LOCUS
LOCUS
1/16" NOMINAL THICKNESS
INCREMENT 5 MHz
(INCREASING FREOUENCY IS CLOCKWISE )

(b)
Fig. 3. (a)Dimensionsandfeedlocations of circulardiskmicrostrip
antenna. (b) Measured and computed impedance loci.

and

The microstrip antenna is typically narrow-band. Thus, over

the band of the antenna operation at any mode (M,N), G m n ( o ) t t t t
can be approximated simply by G m n ( o ~ Thus
~ ) . (5) repre-
sents a Foster expansion of a driving point impedance func- (0,O) (0,I 1 (m,n) all
tion. Since L m n -+ 0 with increasing modal indices ( m ,n ) , the other
modes mode:
infinite number of highorderFostersectionscanbesimply
combined t o form a single series inductance as shown in Fig.
4(a).
A simpler alternative representation that would be adequate
for frequencies near resonance of a mode ( M ,N) but suffi-
L:
ciently away from all other resonance is to write 2 as

(b)
where Fig. 4. (a)Networkmodelformicrostripantennaoperated in band
about the (M, N ) mode. (b) Simplified network model valid when

L' = c "m n

( m , n ) f ( M , N ) mmn2 - w M N
2'
WMNis well separated from all other resonant frequencies.

This equation has been applied to circular disk and rectangular

microstripantennaswithexcellentresults.Fig.5(a)and(b)
This yields the network of Fig. 4(b). From this network it is compare measured and comupted resonant resistances versus
seen that the real part of Z ( w ) attains its maximum at reson- feedlocationforthefirstandsecondresonantmodes of a
ance o = O M N . Moreover, the resonant resistanceis given by circular disk and rectangular microstrip antenna, respectively.
Itshouldbenotedthatthesecircuitrepresentationsdiffer
from those reported by others [ 11 -[ 31 which are base on the
oversimplifiedslot-transmission line
approach as indicated
earlier.
72 . IEEE TRANSACTIONS ON ANTENNAS AND PROPAGATION, VOL. AP-29, NO. 1, JANUARY 1981

I x MEASUREMENT
-
:- + CALCULATED
c: _""(
ann THEORY

\ (I,O) MODE

0' I
0.0 0I 02 03 04 05
y'/b FOR i = 5.33cm FOR (0.1) MODE
a'!" FOR y' = 3.81 crn FOR (I,O) MODE
(x,y') IS LOCATION OF
FEED POINT

r RECTANGULAR

I (0,I) MODE
I VARIED
ALONG
RADIAL SOURCE LOCATION, p' I THIS LINE

(a)
Fig. 5 . (a) Variation of resonant res&tance with feed location in circular disk microstrip antenna of radius a. (b) Varia-
tion of resonant resistance with feed location in rectangular microstrip antenna.

IV. MULTIPORT ANALYSIS For some applications, it is ofinterest to find the input
impedance at one port while the other is loaded. This would
Once the antenna has been replaced by an ideal cavity with
provide a means for tuning, matching, modifying patterns, or
theappropriatelosstangent,itbecomesarelativelysimple
arrayformation.Inparticular,whenport 2 is shorted,the
matter to perform multiport analysis. Consider the rectangular
input impedance at port 1 can be computed from the follow-
microstrip with two feed points of coordinates (x,, y l ) and
ing formula:
(x2, y 2 ) for ports 1 and 2, respectively. The z parameters for
the two ports are simply
zin= z , , --.2 , Z2 (6)
2' 2

An application of this theory is made to a circular disk micro-

strip antenna fed along the edge. Due to circular symmetry,
the input impedance wiU be independent of the feed location
as long as it is on the circumference. Now if a short-circuiting
pinisplacedatsomepoint on the circumference, the input
Thus 2, and Z Z 2 are computed in precisely the same way as impedance at the feed will vary according to its relative posi-
was theinputimpedancefortheoneportdiscussedearlier. tion to the short. The computed Zi, loci from (6) for various
anglesbetweentheshortandthefeedareshownwiththe
The mutual impedance 212 is computed using
experimental results in Fig. 7 . Once again, the close agreement
betweenthetwosupportsthevalidity of thetheory.This
analysis can obviously be extended to any numberof ports for
morecomplexarraystructuresand even forsystemswith

.jo2 (z) .
adaptive elements.

From the z parameters, the s parameters can be easily com-
puted and compared with measured results, as shown in Fig.
6(a)-(c) for the case of a rectangualr microstrip. It is seen that
the agreement is excellent.
V. CIRCULAR POLARIZATION
Circular polarization (CP) has been reported in a variety of
microstripantennas [ 101-[ 121 . Experimentalworkwas
recently reported [ 101 on a class of CP antennas derived from
disk and square microstrip antennas by cutting slots in their
interiors or corner off their perimeters. In all of these anten-
nas, the current theory provides an explanation for the mech-
RICHARDS e t al. : MICROSTRIP ANTENNAS AND APPLICATIONS 43

e .

1’
PORT I: (571, 0.76) I 1
PORT 2 (571,2 29)
MODE: (0,I )
1 PORT 2
PORT I 1 x

)------. MEASUREMENT

+ + s22

PORT I (571,0.00)
t
‘
*PORT 2
PORT 2: (571, 4.57)

(d
Fig. 6. Two port s parameters for rectangular microstrip antenna with various feed locations as shown. Frequency incre-
ment: 10 MHz.
44 IEEE TRANSACTIONS ON ANTENNAS ANDPROPAGATION, VOL. AP-29, NO. 1, JANUARY 1981

o = 12.68 cm x x COMPUTED POINTS

t = 0.15 cm
E,= 2.62
-
1.0 MHz INCREMENT
MEASURED LOCUS
1.0 MHz INCREMENT
Fig. I. Impedance variation for disk microstrip antenna with feed and shorting stub on circumference and at various
values of angle o12 between them.

Fig. 8. Microsfip antennascapable of producingcircularpolarization.(a) Nearly squaremicrostrip. (b) Truncated

microstrip. (c) Capacitively loaded microstrip. Polarization of the far field in the z direction (zenith) is indicated by
either a solid or a dashed arrow with a circled number correspondingto the feed location number.

anismofantennaoperationand, in somecases,provides a plane of the microstrip, the electricfieldsproduced b y Gl0

means for predicting the necessary dimension needed for CP and Qol are polarized in the x and y directions, respectively,
operation. This is important because CP op.eration is possible andcanbewrittenforappropriatechoiceofinputcurrent
onlyfor a verynarrowband of^ frequencyand,without a magnitude and phase as
theoreticalprediction,itwouldtakemanypainstakingcut-
and-trials for reaching the correct dimensions. cos (nx'la) cos (ny'lb)
Consider, as a first example, a nearZy square microstrip with E, 2 ' E,,%
k2-k10 k2 - k o 1 2
dimensions a X b as shown in Fig 8(a). If b f c = Q where
c/b < 1, then the resonant wavenumbers of the (0, model), k o
Thecontributions of thenonresonantmodesareignored in
and of the mode (l,O),k l o , will be very close to one another.
(7) for frequencies near the resonances of the two modes. To
In fact, they will be close enough t o assume that the effective
obtain CP the direction of the zenith, the ratio ofEy to Ex
i n ,
loss tangent is the same for each of the two modes. Feeding
shouldbeDefine A = cos
(ny'/b)/cos ( ~ X ' / Q ) .Then
the antenna at point 1 will excite the G1 mode but not GO1 .
Feedingatpoint 3 will excite Qol but not G10. Feedingat
point 2 or on the diagonal drawn in Fig. 8(a) will excite a
dominant field proportional to $+ = GOl -t G l 0 . With a feed
at point 4, the excited field will be proportional to $- =Go -
Inthefarfield, in the directionperpendicular to the It is particularly illuminating to plot k , k o , , and k 1 , in the
RICHARDS et al. : MICROSTRIP ANTENNAS AND APPLICATIONS 45

IMAGINARY accuracy in this application. However, one can experimentally

AXIS
refine the proper dimensions by simply measuring the resonant
frequencies corresponding t o k+ and k- by feeding at ports
2 and 4, respectively, so that (1 1) withA = 1 is satisfied.
The antenna in Fig. 8(c) operates by the same mechanism
as thatin8(a).Inthiscase,however,thepole k l o canbe
INCREASING variedbysimplyadjusting thecapacitanceattached tothe
FREQUENCY
antenna. (Since the capacitor is located at y = b / 2 , a null of
LLOCUS FOR WAVE NUMBER. K. WITH
FREOUENCY. OVER THE NARROW 8AND. the @ol mode k o l is unaffected by the capacitor.) If the range
THE LOCUS IS APPROXIMATELY
PARALLEL T O THE REAL AXIS
<
of capacity is large enough, and a b , one is able t o adjust the
antenna to produce fields of practically any polarization and
Fig. 9. Relative pole positions in the complex K plane.
sense. Thus the antenna can be at one moment left-hand CP,
linear at the next, and right-hand CP at some other time by
complex k plane as wasdoneinFig. 9. For E,/E, t o be simplychanging thecapacitance(orthebiasonavaractor
gnI2,(8) requires
that diode [ 161). It should be noted that the capacitor could just
aswellhavebeenlocatedin the comer of theantenna,in
whichcase,onewouldfeedatpoints1or 3 to achieve CP
operation.
Fig.lO(a),(b),and(c)showtherespectivemeasured
patternsobtainedfromthethreeantennas of Fig. 8. The
patterns are taken in a plane perpendicular to the microstrip
andaremeasuredwitharotatingdipole.It is clear that all
three patterns yield excellent CP for a cone of alargesolid
angle centered about thez axis.
Other structures that utilize a single feed point have been
reportedtoproduce CP. They arediskantennaswithslots
[ 101 and a pentagonal shaped antennna [ 121. These, too, are
kb sz n. (1Oc) believed to operate by the same mechanism as described for
(The parameters k and L are defined in Fig. 9.) Thus combin- therectangularantenna.Although all of theseantennasare
ing (9) with (10), abletoproducegood CP withoutthe need of anexternal
phase-shifter and power divider, a distinct advantage, it is clear
from the theory given above,thattheir CP operation is ex-
tremly narrow-band. Thedegredationinaxialratio (in dB)
with normalized frequency defined as

For the case of the feed point taken on the diagonal of the w-0
microstrip, A = 1, and therefore t= where 0 = vk
a 0 1 -010

-a_- 1 +-.1 is well approximated by I I times 3 dB per 17.5 percent. Thus,

b Q for an axial ratio within 3 dB (at zenith) that would produce a
polarizationmismatch loss of less than 1/4 dB withrespect
The sense of rotatio of the CP wave produced by the antenna t o CP, one is limited to a bandwidth of about 35 percent of
fed at point 2 will be left-hand circularly polarized. By simply the frequency difference between the two dominant poles or
feeding at point 4 instead, the sense is reversed. about 3 5 / Q percent bandwidth [ 161.
For the antenna of Fig. 8(b), the analysis follows along the
same lines as those for Fig. 8(a). However, in this case, rather VI. CONCLUSION
than using G1 and @ol modes, $+ and $- areusedwith A simple and efficient theory is established t o analyze the
correspondingwavenumbers k+ and k - , Of course, if the behaviorofmicrostripantennaswithremarkableaccuracy
corners of the square microstrip are not trimmed off, then k+ = even if thedominantmode is notstronglyexcited.Several
k - . However, by trimming the comers, k- is increased while importantapplicationsthatrequireahighlyaccuratetheory
k+ stays nearly constant. The precise amount of this shift has arepresented.Theinputantennaimpedancecanbevaried
been estimated using a perturbation formula [ 131 : over a wide range for matching purposes simply by changing
the feed location. The confidence in the theory is particularly
strengthened whenpredicted
it correctly
the
extremely
critical antennadimensionsforproducingcircularpolariza-
This formula is based on the assumption that the boundary tions.Thetheory isalsoapplied tomultiportantennacon-
condition along the perimeter of the microstrip is that of a figurations. For nearly all of the cases considered, theoretical
perfect magnetic wall. Although this assumption has proven to and experimental results are found to be in remarkably good
bereasonablyapplicable to the analysisofmostaspectsof agreement,
microstrip antennas, it is not entirely adequate to predict the REFERENCES
shift in poles in this critical application. It is believed that the [ I ] A. G . Derneryd,“Linearly polarized microstrip antennas,” IEEE
complicated fringing fields at the corners where the perturba- Trans. Antennas Propagar.. vol. AP-24, pp. 846-851, Nov. 1976.
tion formula is applied make the approximation of insufficient [ 2 ] -, “Design of microstrip patch antennaelements,” Rome Air
46 IEEE TRANSACTIONS ON ANTENNAS AND PROPAGATION, VOL. AP-29, NO. 1, JANUARY 1981

(a) cb) (C)

Fig. 10. Elevation patterns taken with rotating dipoles in Q = 0” and @ = 90” planes. (a) For nearly square microstrip
antenna. (b) For truncated microstrip antenna.(c) For capacitively loaded microstrip antenna.

Development Center, Griffiss AFB, NY 13441, RADC-TR-78-46, University of Illinois. Currently, he is an assistant professor of Electrical
Feb.1978. EngineeringattheUniversityofHouston,Houston,TX.Hisresearch
-, “Atheoreticalinvestigation of therectangularmicrostrip interestscurrentlyinvolvemicrostripantennas,spatialfilters,artificial
antenna element,” IEEE Trans. Antennas Propagat., vol. AP-26, dielectrics,
and
multiple
scattering.
Heshared
the
Antennasand
532-533,
1978.
pp.
Propagation
July Society’s
co-authors
Paper
Award
his
Best
with
Y. T. Lo and
P. K. AgrawalandM.C.Bailey,“Ananalysis for microstripD.Solomanfortheirpaperonthetheoryandanalysis of microstrip
antennas,” IEEE Trans. Antennas Propagar., vol. AP-25. pp. 7 5 6 antennas in 1979.
759,Nov.1977.
Y. T. Lo, D. Solomon,andW. F. Richards, ‘Theory andex-
perimentonmicrostripantennas,”in Proc. 1978 Antenna AD-
plications Symp. (sponsoredbyElectromagneticsLab.,Univ.bf
Illinois, Urbana). Yuen T. Lo (S‘49-53-M’58-SM’66F’69) was
-, “Theoryandexperimentonmicrostripantennas,” IEEE born in Hankow, China, on January 31, 1920. He
Trans. Antennas Propagat., vol. AP-27, pp. 137-145, Mar. 1979. received the B.S. degree in electrical engineering
Y. T. Lo, D. Solomon, F. R. Ore, and D. D. Harrison, “Study of fromtheNationalSouthwestAssociatedUni-
microstrip antennas, microstrip phased arrays, and microstrip feed versity, Kunming, China, in 1942, and the M.S.
networks,” Final
Rep.
RADC-TR-77-406, under
Contract andPh.D.degreesfromtheUniversityofIlli-
AF19628-76-C-0140,Oct. 1977. nois, Urbana, in 1949 and 1952, respectively.
Hammerstad, “Equations for microstrip circuit design,” in Proc. From 1946 to 1948 he was an Instructor in the
Srh European Microwave Conf., pp. 268-272. DepartmentofElectricalEngineering,National
S . A.LongandL.C.Shen,“Thecirculardisc.printedcircuit Tsing Hua University, Peking, China, and from
antenna,” inIEEEAP-SInrl. Symp. Dig., pp. 100-103, June 1977. 1949 to 1952 he was a Fellow of the Department
J. L. Kerr,“Microshippolarizationtechniques.” in Proc. 1978 of Electrical Engineering, University of Illinois. From 1952 to 1956 he
Antenna Applications Symp. (sponsored by Electromagnetics Lab.. was a Project Engineer in the Channel Master Corporation, Ellenville,
Univ. of Illinois, Urbana). NY.Since1956 he hasbeenwiththeElectromagneticsLaboratory,
R. E. Munson, “Microstrip antenna structures and arrays,’’ U.S. formerly the Antenna Laboratory, University of Illinois, where he is now a
Patent 3 921 177, Nov. 1975. Professor of Electrical Engineering. His works include large arrays with
H.D.Weinschel,“Acylindricalarrayofcircularlypolarized randomlyspacedelements,aberration-correctedreflectors,radiotele-
microstrip antennas,” in IEEE AP-S Int. Symp. Dig.. pp. 175-180, scope,multiple-beamantennas,multiplescattering,antennasynthesis,
June1975. waveandantenna in plasma,corrugatedguidesandhorns,artificial
C.C. Johnson, FieldandWaveElectrodynamics. New York: dielectrics.microstripantennas. He designed the University of Illinois
McGraw Hill, 1965, pp. 229-232. Radio Telescope. considered to be the world’s largest transit instrument in
R. E. Collin, Field Theory of Guided Waves. New York: theearlysixties.Hewas the recipientofthe1964JohnT.Bolljahn
McGraw-Hill, 1960, pp. 485-506. MemorialAwardandtheBestPaperAward,andthe1979 Best Paper
Y. T. Lo, D. D. Harrison, and W. F. Richards, “An analysis of the Award of the IEEE Antennas and Propagation Society.
disk microstrip antenna, Part II,” Interim Rep. RADC-TR-79-132. Dr. Lo is a member of Sigma Xi. Phi Kappa Phi, and URSI.
under Contract AF19628-78-C-0025, May 1979.
W . F. Richards, Y. T. Lo, and P. Simon, “Design and theory of
circularly. _ polarized microstrip antennas,”in IEEE AP-S Intl. Srmo.
I .

D i g . , pp. 117-1 20, June 1979.

William F. Richards was born in 1950 in

Cincinnati, OH. He received the B . S . degree in
engineering(withaconcentration in electrical
engineering)in1970fromOldDominionUni-
versity,Norfolk,VA. In 1972 he received the
M.S.degree in electricalengineering at the
University of Illinois,Urbana. He received the
Ph.D.degree in electricalengineering in 1977
also at the University of Illinois.
From1977 to 1980. he served as avisiting
assistant professor of electrical engineering at the