Design And Minimization of SAR of Printed Millimeter Wave Based Patch

Antenna For 5G Applications

Mandeep Singh1 (Corresponding Author), Simranjit Singh 2
Department of Electronics and Communication Engineering 1, 2,
Punjabi University Patiala, Patiala (147002), Punjab, India1, 2
mswalia23@gmail.com1, simrankatron@gmail.com2

Abstract- In this paper, a new method is developed to minimize the SAR of planar antenna for millimeter-wave
applications. In this technique, a patch antenna is developed at 28 GHz frequency by using the Rogers RT/Duroid
6002 substrate material having dielectric constant 2.94 and thickness 1.52mm. By applying the biological
properties of human head, the human head phantom is designed in CST microwave studio. Then the proposed
patch antenna is loaded with CSRR and is encapsulated with a low conducting material. The CSRR has increased
the directivity of antenna and low conducting material has absorbed the radiation towards human head. The SAR
of proposed patch antenna is measured on a human head phantom and found that it has a minimized value of
1.18W/Kg for 1g of bio tissue.

Keywords – SAR, Antenna, CSRR, Phantom.

1.1 Introduction
In this new age, cell phones are used by everyone. A low degree of radio frequency electromagnetic energy is
radiated by every cell phone. There are varying impacts of this radiation on human well-being. It can trigger
biological damage to cells owing to their heating effects. So, with the exponential growth in digital technology
and the tremendous rise in cellular operators, the production of revolutionary compact-size low SAR antennas is
becoming very popular on the international market [188-190]. Also, the latest personal cell handsets are prepared
to facilitate multimedia (good quality picture, nice voice, and high data transmission) everywhere at any time. It
reports that modern smartphones are required to support multiple technologies and to work in different bands. The
Long-Term Evolution (LTE) is then introduced as a new mobile age to give communication networks outstanding
quality. It has a strong cellular network capability and great speed [191-193]. Today, antenna designers have
developed several low SAR antennas for microwave spectrum applications. But due to an increase in the number
of users, the world is moving towards a new generation of communication i.e 5G. The 5G wireless
communications will use high-frequency millimeter waves. So, researchers are developing and investigating the
new antenna design and methodologies to lower the impact of SAR on human body for millimeter-wave devices.
The SAR of an antenna can be defined as the measurement of radiation energy absorbed by the human body tissue
during the usage of cellular devices and it can be measured by using equation (1.7) [194].

In various countries, the SAR cap varies and it is dependent on the recommendations of standardization
committee. The national body of US recommends the value of SAR is 1.6 W/kg for cell phones, measured over
1g of bio tissue. But in Europe, devices having a SAR value of more than 2 W/kg over 10g of human tissue are
not allowed. India adopted the most restrictive FCC standards for cellular phones “Only cellular phones with an
updated SAR value of 1.6W/kg will be authorized to be assembled or manufactured into India as of 1 September
2013” [195]. The antenna must be changed if the SAR value is too high. As minimum transmitting capacity
requirements for mobile devices are available, the SAR cannot be lowered indefinitely. Therefore, techniques for
lowering the SAR required improvements in impedance matching and parasitic resonators that would control the
radiation of antenna. From the literature, it is clear that several methods are applied to minimize the SAR of the
antenna in the microwave region but there is no approach is done in millimeter-wave region. Also, practically
applying these methodologies will make the antenna system complex will impact the cost of antenna and degrade
the performance of the system, so there is a need to develop a new technique that minimizes the SAR of antenna
without affecting the performance of antenna.

This chapter is organized as, in the second section, the millimeter-wave antenna using CSRR is designed
at 28 GHz frequency and modelling of a human head is done in the third section. In the fourth section, the SAR
of antenna is investigated at various materials, and in the last, the conclusion of the research is discussed.

1.2 Design of Proposed Millimeter Wave Patch Antenna

Figure 1: Proposed millimeter wave patch antenna for 5G wireless devices (a) Top view of optimized
proposed antenna at first stage (Antenna design A) (b) Top view of CSRR based Antenna (Antenna design
B) (c) Bottom view of antenna design A and B.
 Table 1: Various dimensions of the proposed antenna (mm).

Length of patch (𝑃𝐿 ) 3.54

Width of patch (𝑃𝑊 ) 7.42

Length of feedline (𝐹𝐿 ) 11.23

Width of feedline (𝐹𝑊 ) 4.68

Width of the ground (𝐺𝑊 ) 20

Length of ground (𝐺𝐿 ) 17.81

Diameter of circular slot inside ground 3.44

surface (𝐺𝑎 )

Length of substrate (𝑠𝐿 ) 20

Width of substrate (𝑠𝑤 ) 20

1.3 Results and Discussion

The results of the proposed antenna are presented in this section which is simulated and measured by using CST
microwave studio. The return loss, gain, antenna efficiency, radiation efficiency against frequency is plotted in
Figure (7.2-7.4).

-5
10
-10
9
Reflection coefficient (dB)

-15
8
-20
(dB)

-25
6

-30
Gain of optimized antenna
Optimized antenna 5 Gain of CSRR based antenna
CSRR based antenna Directivity of optimized antenna
-35
Directivity of CSRR based antenna
4
20 22 24 26 28 30 32 20 22 24 26 28 30
Frequency (GHz)
Frequency (GHz)
Figure 3: Gain and directivity versus frequency of
Figure 2: Return loss versus frequency of CSRR based
CSRR based and optimized antenna.
and optimized antenna.
 1.00

0.95

Value x100= efficiency (%) 0.90

0.85

0.80 Radiation efficiency of optimized antenna

Radiation efficiency of CSRR based antenna
Antenna efficiency of optimized antenna
Antenna efficiency of CSRR based antenna
0.75

20 22 24 26 28 30
Freuency(GHz)

Figure 4: Radiation and Antenna Efficiency versus Frequency of CSRR

based and optimized antenna.

In Figure. 7.2, it is observed that antenna design A is resonating at 27.67 GHz with a return loss of -35.04dB. To
improve the performance at the desired frequency within resonance frequency, the proposed antenna is loaded
with CSRR i.e., Antenna design B as shown in Figure 7.1 (b). All the performance parameters of antenna design
A and antenna design B are listed in Table 7.2, where it is clear from Table 7.2, that antenna design A is resonating
at 27.67 GHz, covering effective bandwidth of 1750MHz to achieve 5G wireless standards, but having a low value
of reflection coefficient, gain, radiation efficiency, and antenna efficiency.

Table 2: Calculated output parameter of proposed antenna.

Performance Parameters Antenna Design A Antenna Design B

Maximum Return loss -34.04dB -27.15dB

Gain 6.1dB 8.5dB

Directivity 7.2dB 8.8dB

Antenna efficiency 85% 94.07%

Radiation efficiency 86.7% 94.07%

Furthermore, to improve the performance of antenna design A is converted into antenna design B, which is loaded
with CSRR as demonstrated in Figure 7.1 (b). As per the standard, the return loss should be less than -10dB for
desired resonating frequency. It is also noted that the proposed antenna design B has a resonating frequency of
27.81 GHz with a return loss of -30.51 dB. Apart from the bandwidth of 40.70%. within the respective resonating
bands, the VSWR for resonating bands is less than 2, which indicates the proper utilization of input power. So,
the antenna design B is efficiently covering 28 GHz for future wireless applications. In Figure 7.3 and Figure 7.4,
the realized gain, efficiency, and directivity is plotted against the frequency for patch antenna design A and B.
The gain and directivity of Antenna design A are 6.91 dB and 7.21 dB at 28 GHz frequency, which is enhanced
to 8.45dB and 8.81dB respectively by achieving proper impedance matching between the input and output source
and by loading the antenna design with CSRR. The impedance for the resonating frequency band is close to 50
Ohm, which indicates the efficient transmission of radiations from patch antenna. The efficiency is another
concern for the patch antenna performance.

The radiation and antenna efficiency of the proposed patch antennas is plotted in Figure 7.4. The radiation and
antenna efficiency of the optimized patch antenna is 94.07% and 93.81% at 28 GHz respectively, which is highly
desirable for millimeter-wave applications. When the CSRR unit is placed then there is very small decrease in the
efficiency of CSRR based patch antenna at 28GHz frequency. The CSRR has improved the performance of
antenna design B. From Table 7.2, it is observed that CSRR based antenna has higher values of gain and
directivity without increasing the size, cost, and complexity. The reflection coefficient and efficiency of CSRR
based antenna are lower to very small extent due to copper and coupling losses. In Figure 7.5, the radiation pattern
of E-plane and H-plane is measured at the resonating frequency 28GHz for antenna designs A and B respectively
which has shown the effective transmission of radiations in all directions. Furthermore, to analyse the impact of
radiation on the human head a human head phantom is modelled in CST as discussed in the next section.

0
330 30 E-Plane
10 H-Plane
0
300 60
-10
-20
Gain (dB)

-30
270 90
-30
-20
-10
240 120
0
10
210 150
180
(a)
0
330 30 E-Plane
10 H-Plane
0
300 60
-10
-20
Gain (dB)

-30
270 90
-30
-20
-10
240 120
0
10
210 150
180

(b)
Figure 5: Measured radiation pattern (a) Radiation pattern for E and H-Plane of Antenna design A at
28 GHz (b) Radiation pattern for E and H-Plane of Antenna design B at 28 GHz.
1.4 Modelling of Human Head Phantom with Millimeter-Wave Antenna
With the rise in biotechnology uses, the phantoms of the human body continue to be designed to assess the effect
of radiation on body tissues. In this work, in the CST microwave studio suite, a human brain phantom model is
constructed [196]. It consists predominantly of four layers: skin, fat, brain, and bone. It is a rectangular geometry
that models all the Phantom Layers.

Table 3: Dielectric Properties of different layers of human head phantom.

Layers of human Conductivity Relative Permittivity Mass density
head (Kg/m3)
Skin 25.82 16.55 1109
Fat 5.04 6.09 911
Bone 5.23 5.69 1590
Brain 33.6 27.43 1090

(a) (b)

Figure 6: Modelling of human head phantom (a) Different layers of human head (b) Layers of
human head phantom modelled in CST software.

It is essential to define the dielectric properties of the tissues (conductivity, relative permittivity) while studying
the millimeter-wave propagation function as listed in Table 7.3. The reflection, transmission, and attenuation of
electromagnetic fields in the body are regulated by these properties and depend strongly on the form of tissue and
the frequency of interest. There are significant variations in the electrical properties of biomaterials. In table 7.3,
the various dielectric properties of human head phantom layer are listed at 28 GHz frequency. Figure 7.6 shows
the schematic representation of human head by using a cylindrical equivalent phantom, and single- and three-
layer phantoms can be seen. The tissue model shows dielectric characteristics in the same way as that of a human
body, thereby, named a human equivalent model. To quantify energy absorption inside the human body,
simulation is an effective technique. In this study, a tissue model in a rectangular shape phantom form is used
with dimensions (250×150) mm2 and thickness of 7 mm, 5.5 mm spacing is set between antenna and tissue models.
The FDTD grid sizes used in the computation are 1.00 mm at 28 GHz, respectively. In Table 7.3 the electrical
properties of different tissues used in head models at 28 GHz are mentioned.

1.5 Measurement and Minimization of SAR of Proposed Antenna

The millimeter-wave antenna is installed near the human head phantom, and the SAR analysis is done by using
the CST microwave studio. In Figure. 7.7, the real-life scenario is modeled, in which the antenna is encapsulated
with low conducting materials, and the front screen of the mobile is modeled within the antenna.

Here, first the SAR of proposed antenna design A is measured at 28 GHz frequency without using any type of
encapsulations and CSRR within a human head phantom as shown in Figure 7.8 (a) and noted that the proposed
antenna is transmitting radiation and it has an impact on the human head phantom. The measured value of SAR
is 2.33 W/Kg, which is not acceptable for the safe usage of mobile phones.

(a) (b)

Figure 8: SAR measurement of millimeter wave antenna structure (a) SAR of antenna without Si
encapsulation (b) SAR of millimeter wave patch antenna with Si encapsulation.

So, to analyze the impact of encapsulated material the proposed antenna design A is encapsulated using Si
material and noted from Figure 7.8 (b) that such low conducting material will absorb some radiations towards the
head side and minimize the SAR to value of 2.11 W/Kg. The low conducting material has minimized the SAR of
antenna design A to some extent, but it needs further to be minimized. Furthermore, to diminish such radiations
towards the head, the proposed antenna is loaded with CSRR units having resonance character at 28 GHz i.e
antenna design B.
 (a)
(b)

Figure 9: SAR of CSRR based millimeter wave patch antenna structure (a) SAR of CSRR based
millimeter wave patch antenna without Si encapsulation (b) SAR of CSRR based millimeter wave patch
antenna with Si encapsulation.

1.6 Conclusion
In this Chapter, new techniques are discussed to minimize the SAR of millimeter-wave antenna. Two
methodologies are applied to minimize the SAR of the millimeter-wave antenna. First, a patch antenna is
developed for 28 GHz frequency, then the performance of such antenna is demonstrated in terms of gain, reflection
coefficient, and efficiency. To investigate the impact of SAR on human head, a rectangular shape human head
phantom is developed in CST microwave studio and a real-life scene is simulated. The SAR for proposed antenna
is measured and it has value of 2.33 W/Kg, which has been lowered to 2.11 W/kg by encapsulating the antenna
within the low conducting material. Furthermore, the proposed antenna is loaded with CSRR structures, which
has increased the performance of antenna in terms of gain and directivity and minimizes the SAR to a value of
1.47 W/Kg. In the last, The CSRR based patch antenna is encapsulated by using the Si material and it has further
lowered the SAR value up to 1.18 W/kg. So, by using such techniques the SAR of millimeter-wave antenna is
minimized.

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