Enhancement of Quasi Yagi Antenna Design for

Ka-Band Application
Yahya Syukri Amrullah, Yusuf Nur Wijayanto, Arie Setiawan, Yuyu Wahyu
Research Center for Electronics and Telecommunication
Indonesian Institute of Sciences (PPET-LIPI)
Bandung, Indonesia
yahya.syukri@gmail.com

Abstract—A quasi-yagi antenna Ka-band frequency range has II. ANTENNA DESIGN AND SIMULATION
been proposed and simulated. It consists of three directors, a
driver, a stripline feed, a substrate and a ground plane. As explained in Introduction that the designed quasi yagi
Optimasion is obtained by modifying components design antenna will operate in 28 GHz. So, first step that should do is
parameters' value. From simulation results, the designed quasi- to obtain length resonant of driver element. Length resonant of
yagi antenna has small and compact size and works well on Ka- driver element (Ldri) follows (1)
band, mainly at 28 GHz. At 28 GHz, its return loss, gain and
beamwidth are -18 dB, 8.12 dB and 57.2 degree, respectively. 0.45λeff ≤ Ldri ≤ 0.49λeff (1)
Based on its performance at 28 GHz, the designed antenna can be
implemented for 5G application. where,
Keywords—quasi yagi antenna; Ka-band; 5G application λeff : effective wavelength in the substrate environment
I. INTRODUCTION The λeff value can be obtained by (2)
Yagi-Uda antenna was proposed first time by S. Uda in a
λeff = λ0 / √εeff (2)
journal that was published by Japan IEE [1], then that journal
was translated to English by Uda’s partner, Professor Yagi [2].
That journal explained design and operating principle of Yagi- where,
Uda antenna. Conventional Yagi-Uda antenna, commonly, is λ0 : wavelength in free space
implemented from aluminum rod. The implemented antenna
usually operates for radio application [3]. But wireless εeff : effective dielectric permittivity
communication needs is always increased time by time. The εeff value depends on relative dielectric permittivity value,
To fulfill that needs, then the higher frequency ranges are εr, that follows (3)
utilized, such as X-band, Ku-band, K-band, etc. In those
frequency ranges, the design of Yagi-Uda antenna is become εeff = (εr + 1) / 2 + (1 + 12h/W)-1/2(εr - 1) / 2 (3)
smaller than before. This conditions requires a new technique
to implement Yagi-Uda antenna in those higher frequency where,
ranges. The new method that had been succeed implementing
Yagi-Uda antenna in X-band frequency range, for example, is h : substrate thickness
to print Yagi-Uda antenna design on PCB. This method results
a new type of Yagi-Uda antenna named quasi yagi antenna [4]. W : feeding width
Generally, design of quasi yagi antenna places a driver and
Meanwhile, the length of directors (Ldir) must be shorter
directors elements on one side of PCB and places a reflector on
than driver length. Usually, directors length follows (4)
the reverse side. A driver is utilized for radiating
electromagnetic wave whilst directors and a reflector are
utilized to focus the electromagnetic wave radiation from its 0.40λeff ≤ Ldir ≤ 0.45λeff (4)
driver. But, design of quasi yagi antenna will be more
challenging if it is being conducted in higher frequency range At least, total director implemented in quasi yagi antenna is
as implemented for Ka-band. one. But, if total implemented director is more than one it will
increase its gain and make its beam being sharper. One and the
Besides more challenging, the antenna designed in Ka-band other directors have same length and separated in the same
is also being most applicable for 5G application. Such as space. Length of quasi yagi antenna reflector (Lref) follows (5)
research had been conducted in [5]. Those mentioned 5G will
operate at 28 GHz. This paper proposed a quasi yagi antenna Lref > 0.5λeff (5)
design that operates in Ka-band frequency range, mainly
operates at 28 GHz.
whilst separation between driver and reflector (Sdr) follows [6] TABLE I. QUASI YAGI ANTENNA PARAMETERS DESIGN
(6) Parameters Design Value

Sdr = 0.25λeff (6) Lf 1.547 mm

Lf2 0.773 mm
The design of proposed quasi yagi antenna is shown in Fig.
1. It is composed by three directors, a driver, a stripline for Ll 1.550 mm
feeding and a reflector. Those are made from copper whose
thickness 0.035 mm and electric conductivity 5.8 x 107 Lr 2.323 mm
Siemens/m. Reflector and the others elements is separated by a Ls 0.800 mm
dielectric that made from Rogers RO3003 material. Its
thickness is 0.75 mm its εr is 3. Based on (3) and (2), its εeff and Ls2 1.247 mm
λeff are 2 and 6.186 mm, respectively. The value of Ldri, Ldir and
Lref can be chosen freely but they should fulfill (1), (4) and (5), Ls3 1.547 mm
respectively. In order to match antenna impedance with another Ldri 2.907 mm
impedance device, the designed quasi yagi antenna impedance
was designed in 50 Ohm. To fulfill that value, its feeding width Ldir 2.660 mm
was set to be 1.87 mm. Detail of the quasi yagi antenna design
whose the best performance is shown in Table I. Lref 6.186 mm
Wf 1.870 mm
Wf2 0.935 mm
Ws 0.300 mm
Ws2 0.300 mm
Ws3 0.150 mm
Wdri 0.300 mm
Wdir 0.300 mm
Sdr 1.547 mm
g 0.100 mm
(a) Front view

III. RESULTS AND DISCUSSIONS

The design parameters listed in Table I shows the best
performance. The length, width and thickness of designed
quasi yagi antenna are 12.25 mm, 6.19 mm and 0.82 mm,
respectively. From that dimension, it has small size. It also has
compact characteristic because it is implemented using PCB. If
it is produced, it will consume high cost because its material
substrate price is still expensive.
Fig. 2 shows return loss obtained from simulation. From
Fig. 2, the designed antenna has bandwidth 11.37 GHz, namely
it works from 26.2 GHz to 37.57 GHz. It almost fulfills Ka-
band frequency range that works in 26.5 – 40 GHz. It also can
(b) Back view
be applied for 5G application because it gives good return loss
value at 28 GHz. But, the best return loss value can be obtained
Fig. 1. Quasi Yagi antenna design at 32. 58 GHz, that is about -37.8 dB.
Fig. 3 show radiation pattern obtained from designed quasi
yagi antenna simulation. It has unidirectional radiation pattern
in which its main lobe is at 342 degree. At its main lobe, the
gain is 8.12 dB. Its beamwidth is 57.2 degree which its half
power beamwidth occurred at -26.44 degree and 30.7 degree.
To obtain higher gain and sharper beamwidth, this antenna
design can be evolved using array technique.
 26.2 GHz 32.58 GHz 37.57 GHz IV. CONCLUSION
0
25 28 31 34,015 37,03 Quasi yagi antenna has been designed and simulated. It has
small and compact design and works well in Ka-band,
-10 especially at 28 GHz. At 28 GHz, its return loss, gain and
beamwidth are -18 dB, 8.12 dB and 57.2 degree, respectively.
So this design can be another choice to be implemented in 5G.
-20 -18.0 dB ACKNOWLEDGMENT
This research activity was conducted as part of the research
-30
project in Antenna System Research Group and fully funded by
Indonesian Institute of Sciences (LIPI), Indonesia
-37.8 dB
Return Loss
REFERENCES
-40
[1] S. Uda, "High angle radiation of short electric waves," Proc. IRE, vol.
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16, pp. 715-741, June 1982.
[3] G. Sato. A secret story about the Yagi antenna. IEEE Antennas and
Propagation Magazine; Jun. 1991,vol. 33, pp. 7-18.
[4] N. Kaneda, W. R. Deal, Y. Qian, R. Waterhouse, and T. Itoh, “A
broadband planar Quasi-Yagi antenna,” IEEE Trans. Antennas Propag.,
0 vol. 50, no. 8, pp. 1158–1160, Aug. 2002.
360
350 10 10
340 20 [5] Naser Ojaroudiparchin, Ming Shen, and Gert Frolund Pedersen, “A 28
330 30
GHz FR-4 Compatible Phased Array Antenna for 5G Mobile Phone
320 5 40 Applications,” 2015 International Symposium Antennas and Propagation
310 50 (ISAP), pp. 1–4, Nov. 2015.
0 [6] Rainee N. Simons, Richard Q. Lee, “On-wafer Characterization of
300 60 Millimeter-Wave Antennas for Wireless Applications,” IEEE Trans. On
290 -5 70
Microwave Theo. And Tech., Vol. 47, Jan 1999.

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Radiation Pattern

Fig. 3. Radiation pattern at 28 GHz