Design and Analysis of Beam Forming Microstrip-
Fed Antenna for 5G NR Applications
Jayshri Kulkarni
dept. of Electronics & Telecommunication
Vishwakarma Institute of Information Technology
Pune, India
jayah2113@gmail.com
2020 IEEE 17th India Council International Conference (INDICON) | 978-1-7281-6916-3/20/$31.00 ©2020 IEEE | DOI: 10.1109/INDICON49873.2020.9342044
Abstract—The main purpose of this research work is to
present the design and analysis of beam forming microstripfed
antenna for 5G New Radio (NR) applications. The proposed
antenna is composed of circular radiator having 6mm radius
along with feed line of 7.5х1.4mm2 to operate in NR n77/78/79
5G bands. The analysis shows that the proposed antenna
exhibits fractional impedance bandwidth of 44.81% with wide
band of (3.25-5.08 GHz), gain 2.6dBi and radiation efficiency of
around 85% for 5G applications. To validate the suitability of
proposed antenna for 5G applications, a beam forming
capability is also analyzed via CST Microwave Studio (MWS)
software. At resonating frequency of 4 GHz, a gain of 12.45 dBi
and 12.27 dBi at the phase angle of 00 and 300, respectively are
achieved for linear eight phased antenna array pattern. This
demonstrates the applicability of proposed antenna for 5G
applications.
Keywords— 5G applications, 5G NR, beam forming and
microstrip-fed.
I. INTRODUCTION
Today’s mobile users demand faster data speeds and
more reliable service such as high throughput, uninterruptable
video call, access of internet in crowded places like air- port,
hotels and stadium and so on. The fifth generation (5G) of
wireless networks are promising technology to transmit that,
and much more by handling more traffic at larger speeds than
today’s available data rate. As the number of mobile users and
their demand for data rises, 5G technology should be capable
to handle more traffic at much higher speeds than the base
stations of today’s cellular networks. In order to meet this
demand, a beamforming is one of the burgeoning
technologies that will contribute to fulfill the requirement.
Therefore, to transmit a signal in a particular beam instead
of broadcasting it in several directions at once, researchers and
designers have designed many beam forming antenna arrays
for various applications and are discussed in the recent
literature [1-10]. As the beamforming technology contribute
to minimize the user interference, a microstrip antenna for
mobile terminal applications operating in 28GHz and 39 GHz
millimetre wave bands is reported in [1]. An Electronically
Steerable Parasitic Array Radiator (ESPAR) antenna for
wireless sensor Networks (WSN) functioning in 2.4 GHz
wireless band is reported in [2]. An electrically small antennas
for Internet of Things (IOT), medical and sport applications
are also discussed in [3]. A Multiple Input Multiple Output
(MIMO) antenna to operate in 2.4/5.2 GHz Wireless Fidelity
(Wi-Fi) along with 60 GHz wireless Gigabyte (Wi-Gig)
applications is reported in [4]. The reported antenna consists
of dual band planar inverted-F antenna and substrate
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integrated waveguide antenna to function in Wi-Fi and Wi-
Gig bands, respectively. A multiple beam parasitic array
radiator (MBPAR) operating in 2.4 GHz band is also reported
in [5]. The antenna in [6] presents an antenna for WLAN and
WiMAX application for futuristic devices. MIMO antennas
plays a vital role in wireless communication. With the view of
this couple of MIMO antennas for wireless communication
are reported in [7-8]. Apart from above several antenna
integrated devices such as laptop/tablet/notebooks and mobile
handsets are also playing very crucial role in every field by
providing good internet connectivity. Therefore, different
antennas for wireless laptop applications are also reported in
the literature [9-14].
Through the investigation of above literature, it is
understood that none of the reported antenna is covering the
complete 5G NR bands. Therefore, this paper presents a
simple design microstrip fed circular patch antenna with beam
forming feature operating in 5G NR n77 (3.3-4.2 GHz), n78
(3.3-3.8 GHz) and n79 (4.4-5.01 GHz) bands. As the proposed
antenna conforms the bandwidth requirement of 5G NR bands
along with good gain, better efficiency, and beam forming
capability, it is a suitable candidate for upcoming 5G
applications which demands low latency and record-breaking
data rate for a greater number of users simultaneously.
II. PROPOSED ANTENNA LAYOUT
Fig. 1 depicts the designed footprint of proposed antenna
which is patterned on a circular FR-4 substrate having the radius
6mm, thickness ‘h’ 0.8mm, loss tangent 0.025 and relative
permittivity ′ ′ 4.3.
A circular radiator of RCircular is introduced at the
bottom portion of FR-4 substrate and is fed by microstrip
transmission line having length and width of 7.5mm and
1.4mm, respectively. The radius of circular patch, the width
of microstrip fed transmission line contributes to induce the
resonance at 4GHz by introducing proper impedance
matching. The radius of resonating frequency ′ ′ at 4GHz is
calculated by using following equations provided in [15] as
follows:
= (1)
∈ [ . ]
Where,
=
. ×
(2)
. × √∈
 Fig. 2. S11 (dB) characteristics of proposed antenna

Further to comprehend the exact impedance matching

Fig. 1. Designed Footprint of proposed antenna (a) Front View (b) Bottom
View
By using above equations and optimization technique via
CST software, an optimized radius of circular patch is
obtained as 4.8mm. The method applied to introduce the
circular patch is very effective as it helps to achieve the
impedance matching of microstrip feed line. The complete
parameter list and its necessary dimensions are mentioned in
Table 1.
and wide band characteristics of proposed antenna, a vector
current distribution at resonating frequency 4 GHz is depicted
in Fig. 3. From Fig. 3, it is visualized that the densely
populated currents with various magnitude and velocity are
flowing in different directions. This helps in minimizing the
quality factor which further results in widening the bandwidth
and exact impedance matching in operating band of proposed
antenna.
Therefore, the proposed antenna with circular radiating
patch with microstrip fed line induce a resonance at 4GHz
which will cover n77/78 and n79 5G NR bands.

TABLE I. DIMENSIONS OF PROPOSED MICROSTRIP-FED

ANTENNA
Parameters Size(mm)
L1 7.5
r1 6
r2 4.8
W1 1.4
Wg 1.4
Lg 7.5

The resonating mode at 4GHz is supported by circular-

patch, impedance matching between patch and feed line and
the FR-4 substrate between patch and ground. This mode
spans in the frequency range of (3.25-5.08 GHz) and support
the bandwidth requirement of n77/78/79 5G NR bands.
III. RESULTS AND DISCUSSION
In order to analyze the design and to delineate the
concept, Fig. 2 illustrates the return loss S11 (dB)
characteristics of proposed antenna.
From Fig. 2, it is easily observed that the proposed
antenna exhibits a single and wide resonance at 4.1 GHz, with
a peak amplitude of -30dB and simulated 10-dB impedance
bandwidth of 1.86GHz in the frequency range of (3.22-5.08
GHz). Thus, the proposed antenna conforms the bandwidth
requirement of 5G NR bands and is a suitable candidate for
5G applications.
Fig. 3. Vector Current distribution of proposed antenna
To validate the radiation characteristics of proposed
antenna, a simulated two-dimensional (2D) radiation patterns
of proposed antenna in E-plane and H-plane are shown in Fig.
4. From Fig. 4 it is clearly visualized that the Co-polar
patterns of proposed antenna are greater than the cross-polar
radiation patterns in both E -plane and H-Plane. This
indicates that the proposed antenna is purely polarized and
hence is suitable for 5G applications which needs purely
polarized antenna.

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 0o Fig. 6 illustrates he gain and efficiency of proposed
5 antenna. It is seen that the proposed antenna exhibits a stable
-5 gain around 2.5 dBi and efficiency around 85% throughout
-15 the operating bands. This clearly confirms that the proposed
-25
antenna is a good candidate of 5G applications operating in
n77/78 and n79 operating bands.
-35
-45 10 100
270o 90o n77/78 n79
-45 9 90

Radiation Efficiency (%)

-35 8 80
-25 7 70

Gain (dBi)
-15 6 60
-5 Simulated Gain
5 50
Simulated Efficiency
5 4 40
180o
3 30
(a) E-plane
2 20
1 10
0 0
2 3 4 5 6
Frequency (GHz)
0o
5 Fig. 6. Simulated Gain and Efficiency of Proposed Antenna
-5
Further, inorder to comprehend the applicability of
-15 proposed antenna for 5G applications, the beamforming
-25 capability at resonating mode of 4 GHz at phase angle of 00
and 300 are shown in Fig. 7 and Fig. 8, respectively. In this
-35
270o 90o analysis, an eight-element array are placed at uniform distance
-35 along the x-axis without disturbing the impedance matching
and bandwidth. The distance of adjacent antenna element is
-25
3mm which ensures the impedance matching among array
-15 element. From Fig. 7, it is clearly seen that when a phase shift
-5
of 00 is introduced among the antenna array, the main lobe
lies along the y-axis, whereas from Fig. 8, when a phase shift
5
180o of 300 is introduced, main lobe slightly shifts towards left of
y-axis with stable gain of around 13dBi by changing the
(b) H-Plane phase difference among the array elements. With reference to
both Fig. 7 and 8, it is confirmed that a simulated gain of 12.45
Fig. 4. 2D Radiation Pattern of proposed Antenna at 4GHz dBi and 12.27 dBi, respectively is obtained which is
potentially sufficient to support 5G applications functioning
The simulated three-dimensional (3D) radiation patterns in n77/n78/n79 bands.
are also depicted in Fig. 5. It is clearly observed that the 3D
patterns and 2D patterns of proposed antenna are exactly
matching. From Fig. 5, it is clearly seen that the proposed
antenna exhibits nearly omnidirectional radiation
characteristics with good gain of 2.6dBi.

Fig. 7. Beamforming radiation patterns of proposed antenna at phase angle

of 00

Fig. 5. 3D Radiation Pattern of proposed Antenna at 4GHz

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 [9]
[10]
[11]
[12]
[13]
[14]
Fig. 8. Beamforming radiation patterns of proposed antenna at phase angle
of 300
[15]
IV. CONCLUSION
The proposed antenna is designed and verified for
beamforming characteristics successfully. The proposed
antenna has wide bandwidth, is small in size, space efficient,
cost effective, and easy to fabricate. The 10-dB impedance
bandwidth of 1.86 GHz, a stable gain of 2.6 dBi, efficiency
around 85% and beamforming capability with stable gain of
above 12 dBi at different phase angle in the functioning bands
validates that the proposed antenna is suitable candidate for
5G applications operating n77/78 and n79 frequency bands.
Kulkarni J, Kulkarni N, Desai A. (2020) “Development of H-Shaped
monopole antenna for IEEE 802.11a and HIPERLAN 2 applications in
the laptop computer”. Int J RF Microw Comput , Aided Eng., Vol. 30,
No. 7, pp. 1-14
Jayshri Kulkarni and Raju Seenivasan. A Novel, Very Low Profile,
Dual Band, Inverted ‘E’ monopole Antenna for Wireless Application
in Laptop Computer. IEICE Electron Expr. Vol.16, pp. 1-6, 2019.
Kulkarni J, Seenivasan R, “Design and Development of novel
Monopole antenna for WLAN/WiMAX/ MIMO applications in the
Laptop Computers” Circuit World, Vol. 45, No. 4, pp. 257-267, 2019.
Jayshri Kulkarni. Design and Development of Ultra-Thin Monopole
Antenna for WLAN and WiMAX Operations in the Next-Generation
Laptop Computer. 2019 International Conference on Radar, Antenna,
Microwave, Electronics, and Telecommunications (ICRAMET),
pp.79- 83, 2020, Serpong, Indonesia
J. S. Kulkarni, "Multi-Band Printed Monopole Antenna Conforming
Bandwidth Requirement of GSM/WLAN/WiMAX Standards”
Progress In Electromagnetics Research Letters, vol. 91, pp. 59–66,
2020.
Kulkarni, J.S. (2020), "An ultra-thin, dual band, Sub 6 GHz, 5G and
WLAN antenna for next generation laptop computers” Circuit
World, Vol. 45 No. 4, pp. 257-267
C. A Balanis, “Antenna Theory Analysis and Design”, Third Edition,
Wiley Publisher.

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