Performance Enhancement of Microstrip Patch

Antenna by Incorporating Exponential-Square Patch

Model
Y. S. Amrullah, A. A. Fathnan, F. Oktafiani, Y. Taryana, Y. Wahyu
Research Center for Electronics and Telecommunication of the Indonesian Institute of Sciences (RCET-LIPI)
Jl. Sangkuriang, Cisitu, Bandung 40135 INDONESIA
yahya.syukri@gmail.com

Abstract— A microstrip exponential-square patch antenna have
been proposed and simulated in this paper. It consists of an
exponential-square patch, a substrate, a square ground plane and
probe feed. The exponential-square patch shape is modified from
conventional square geometry with two parallel side replaced by
two exponential curve. From simulation results, it is shown that
microstrip exponential-square patch antenna has wider
bandwidth, lower return loss, higher gain, within same radiation
pattern and same beam width compared to conventional
microstrip square patch antenna. The proposed antenna is
designed and simulated at 3 GHz frequency operation suitable for
S-Band radar application.
Keywords—Exponential-square; square; microstrip antenna
I. INTRODUCTION
With the rapid development of wireless communication
system, microstrip patch antennas are widely used in many
applications such as radar, satellite and mobile communication.
Microstrip antenna technology began its development in the
late 1970s and has been largely studied due to their advantages
over the radiating system, which include: light weightiness,
reduced size, low cost, conformability and the ease of
integration with active device [1]. A microstrip patch antenna
consists of a radiating patch on one side of a dielectric
substrate which has a ground plane on the other side. The patch
is generally made of conducting material such as copper or
gold [2] and can be made by some shape such as rectangular,
square, circular or triangular.
One of the challenges in designing microstrip patch
antenna is their relatively narrow bandwidth, which further
limit their use in specific systems [3]. In order to enhance the
bandwidth of microstrip patch antennas some technique can be
used [1] such as by increasing the substrate thickness,
optimizing the impedance matching, reducing the substrate
effective permittivity, or incorporating multiple resonances.
Furthermore, other approach related to the antenna geometry
modification can be used such as by using shorting posts or
shorting pins or modifying the basic patch shape [4].
Recently, improving impedance bandwidth of microstrip
antenna using novel patch shape such as E-shaped has been
explored in some studies. In [5], an E-shaped patch antenna
feed by a folded L-shaped probe with unequal arms provides
an impedance bandwidth of 19.8%. A modified E-shaped patch
antennas with unequal resonance arms for producing different
resonances have also been introduced [6].
In this paper, we proposed a new type of microstrip patch
antenna with specific modification on the patch shape model.
Rather than using conventional shape model such as
rectangular, square, or its derivation like E-shape, we use an
exponential-square patch model to enhance basic antenna
parameters such as bandwidth and efficiency. The exponential-
square shape is made by modifying two parallel side of square
shape with two exponential curves.
The proposed antenna structure shows better antenna
parameters performance compared to conventional square
microstrip patch antenna. With center frequency of 3 GHz and
bandwidth of more than 100 MHz, fabricated in low cost
substrate material of FR-4, the proposed antenna will be an
interesting choice for S-Band radar application. The
configuration of our proposed antenna will be described in
section II and the discussion to simulation results and
enhancement methods will be provided in section III. The
paper is then concluded in section IV.
II. STRUCTURE OF ANTENNA
The proposed microstrip exponential-square patch antenna
structure is shown in Fig. 1. Main components of microstrip
exponential-square patch antenna are exponential-square patch,
square substrate, and square ground plane. Construction
components of this antenna follows microstrip square patch
antenna’s formula. In the formation of exponential-square
patch we need two exponential curves, which is obtained by
exponential equation as follows:
𝑦 = 𝑐! 𝑒 !" + 𝑐! (1)
where
!! !!!
𝑐! = (2)
! !"! !! !"!
!! ! !"! !!! ! !"!
𝑐! = (3)
! !"! !! !!!

978-1-4673-9424-6/15/$31.00 ©2015 IEEE

 TABLE I. MICROSTRIP EXPONENTIAL-SQUARE PATCH ANTENNA PARAMETERS
DESIGN
Parameters Value
𝐿!" 24 mm
𝑊!" 24 mm
𝐿 33.6 mm
𝑊 33.6 mm
ℎ 1.6 mm
𝜀! 4.3
𝑓 3 GHz
𝑥!! , 𝑥!! -12 mm
𝑥!! , 𝑥!! 12 mm
𝑦!! , 𝑦!! 12 mm
𝑦!! , 𝑦!! -12 mm
𝑅! 7
𝑅! -7
𝑥!"# 6 mm
𝑦!"# 6 mm
Fig. 1. Structure of microstrip exponential-square patch antenna
To see microstrip exponential-square antenna performance
𝑐! , 𝑐! are constants and 𝑅 is the bend former factor [7]. Points at its frequency operation, we use microstrip square antenna
(𝑥! , 𝑦! ) and (𝑥! , 𝑦! ) are defined by its length (𝐿!" ) and width that operate in the same frequency. Parameters design for
(𝑊!" ) of patch in which microstrip square patch follows formula that mentioned above.
For defining width of square patch (𝑊! ) and length of square
𝐿!" = 𝑥! − 𝑥! (4) patch (𝐿! ) value, we use (6), where 𝐿! = 𝑊! . For substrate and
ground plane has same dimension on length (𝐿) and width
and (𝑊), where 𝐿 = 𝑊. To define value of 𝐿, we use (7). Material
of patch and ground plane of microstrip square patch antenna
𝑊!" = 𝑦! − 𝑦! (5) is copper with 0.036 mm in thickness. While substrate material
uses FR-4 with 1.6 mm in thickness and 4.3 is its relative
For defining 𝑊!" and 𝐿!" value, we use the following permittivity. For feeding, we use probe feed that located at
formula [2] (𝑥!" , 𝑦!" ) from center shape of antenna patch. Point (𝑥!" , 𝑦!" )
was determined by (8) and (9). Structure of microstrip square
!! !!
< 𝐿!" < (6) patch antenna is shown in Fig. 2. Table II shows the detail of
! !
microstrip square patch antenna parameters design.
where 𝐿!" = 𝑊!" , 𝜆! is free space wavelength. For substrate
and ground plane, they have same dimensions on length (𝐿)
and width (𝑊), where 𝐿 = 𝑊. To define value of 𝐿, we use the
formula of

𝐿 = 6ℎ + 𝐿!" (7)

following microstrip ground plane design in general, where ℎ

is substrate thickness [2]. Material of patch and ground plane is
copper with 0.036 mm in thickness. While substrate material
uses FR-4 with 1.6 mm in thickness and 4.3 is its relative
permittivity (𝜀! ). For feeding, we use probe feed that located at
(𝑥!"# , 𝑦!"# ) from center shape of antenna patch, where

!!"
𝑥!"# = (8)
!

!!"
𝑥!"# = (9)
!
Fig. 2. Structure of microstrip square patch antenna
Table I shows the detail of microstrip exponential-square patch
antenna parameters design.
 TABLE II. MICROSTRIP SQUARE PATCH ANTENNA PARAMETRS DESIGN
Radiation Pattern
Parameters Value
𝐿!" 23.7 mm 4
𝑊!" 23.7 mm
𝐿 33.3 mm 2
𝑊 33.3 mm
theta (deg)
ℎ 1.6 mm 0
0 30 60 90 120 150 180 210 240 270 300 330 360
𝜀! 4.3
𝑓 3 GHz -2
𝑥!" 5.925 mm

Gain (dB)
𝑦!" 5.925 mm -4

III. RESULT AND DISCUSSION -6

From the designed parameters mentioned before, we can
obtain some results, such as s-parameter curve and radiation
pattern curve for each antenna type.
Fig. 3 consists of two return loss curves, return loss curve of
microstrip exponential-square patch antenna and return loss
curve of microstrip square patch antenna. From that return loss
curve, two parameters value can be obtained, namely
bandwidth and return loss at frequency operation. From S11
exponential-square patch curve, its bandwidth is 104 MHz and
its return loss at frequency operation is -21.98 dB. While from
S11 exponential-square patch curve, its bandwidth is 100 MHz
and its return loss at operational frequency is -16.94 dB.
Fig. 4 consists of two radiation pattern curves, namely
radiation pattern of microstrip exponential-square patch antenna
and radiation pattern of microstrip square patch antenna. Three
parameters value are obtained from that radiation pattern curve,
namely radiation pattern type, gain and half power beam width.
From radiation pattern exponential-square patch curve, it is
shown that its radiation pattern is directional, its realized gain is
2.53 dB and its half power beam width is 100 degrees. While
from radiation pattern square patch curve, it is shown that its
radiation pattern is directional, its realized gain is 2.39 dB and
its half power beam width is 100 degrees.
S-Parameter
frequency (GHz)
0
2,5 2,6 2,7 2,8 2,9 3 3,1 3,2 3,3 3,4 3,5
-5
-10
S11 (dB)
Radiation Pattern
Exponential-
-8
Square Patch
Radiation Pattern
-10 Square Patch
Fig. 4. Radiation pattern vs. theta of microstrip exponential-square patch
antenna and microstrip square patch antenna
From the antenna structure dimensions, it is shown that at
same frequency operation, microstrip square patch antenna
dimension has shorter 0.3 mm in length and 0.3 mm in width
than microstrip exponential-square patch antenna dimension.
From patch model and size of antenna, microstrip square patch
antenna is smaller and more easily to made than microstrip
exponential-square patch antenna.
A lower minimum return loss value is obtained from
microstrip exponential-square patch antenna compared to the
conventional one. That cause its bandwidth to become 4 MHz
wider than microstrip square patch antenna. Furthermore, that
indicates microstrip exponential-square patch antenna has fewer
minimum loss than microstrip square patch antenna.
From radiation pattern curves, it is shown that microstrip
exponential-square patch antenna has similar curve with
microstrip square patch antenna. More details at theta 0 degree,
both of them have peak gain and at theta 180 degree their
backlobe gain is lower than its gain at half power beam width
angle. That indicates both of them have same radiation pattern,
namely directional radiation pattern. However, microstrip
exponential-square patch antenna has higher gain than
micsrostrip square patch antenna, namely 0.14 dB. For beam
width parameter, both have same value, namely 100 degrees.
IV. CONCLUSION
In conclusion, we have provided a better performance of

microstrip patch antenna by incorporating exponential-square

patch model. Specifically, we have proposed exponential-
-15 square patch microstrip antenna that has wider bandwidth of 4
MHz, lower return loss of 5.04 dB at frequency operation,
higher gain of 0.14 dB, and same radiation pattern and beam
-20 width. The proposed microstrip exponential-square patch
S11 Exponential-Square
Patch antenna is a new model in microstrip antenna family, which can
S11 Square Patch be fabricated in low-cost substrate and suitable for
-25 implementation of S-band radar.

Fig. 3. S-Parameter vs. frequency of microstrip exponential-square patch

antenna and microstrip square patch antenna
 ACKNOWLEDGMENT
This research activity was conducted as part of the research
project “Development of Phase Array Antenna for
Beamforming Control in Radar Application,” funded by the
Indonesian Institute of Sciences (LIPI), Indonesia.
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