Hindawi Publishing Corporation

International Journal of Antennas and Propagation

Volume 2008, Article ID 389418, 7 pages
doi:10.1155/2008/389418

Research Article
Circular Microstrip Patch Array Antenna for
C-Band Altimeter System
Asghar Keshtkar,1 Ahmad Keshtkar,2 and A. R. Dastkhosh3
1 Computer

and Electrical Engineering Faculty, Tabriz University, Tabriz, Iran

Physics Department, Medical Faculty, Tabriz University of Medical Sciences, Tabriz, Iran
3 Electrical Engineering Department, Sahand University of Technology, Tabriz, Iran
2 Medical

Correspondence should be addressed to Asghar Keshtkar, [email protected]

Received 27 February 2007; Accepted 27 November 2007
Recommended by Levent Sevgi
The purpose of this paper is to discuss the practical and experimental results obtained from the design, construction, and test of
an array of circular microstrip elements. The aim of this antenna construction was to obtain a gain of 12 dB, an acceptable pattern,
and a reasonable value of SWR for altimeter system application. In this paper, the cavity model was applied to analyze the patch
and a proper combination of ordinary formulas; HPHFSS software and Microwave Oce software were used. The array includes
four circular elements with equal sizes and equal spacing and was planed on a substrate. The method of analysis, design, and development of this antenna array is explained completely here. The antenna is simulated and is completely analyzed by commercial
HPHFSS software. Microwave Oce 2006 software has been used to initially simulate and find the optimum design and results.
Comparison between practical results and the results obtained from the simulation shows that we reached our goals by a great
degree of validity.
Copyright 2008 Asghar Keshtkar et al. This is an open access article distributed under the Creative Commons Attribution
License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly
cited.

1.

INTRODUCTION

Microstrip patch antennas are popular, because they have

some advantages due to their conformal and simple planar
structure. They allow all the advantages of printed-circuit
technology. A vast number of papers are available in the literature, investigating various aspects of microstrip antennas [15]. Development of microstrip antennas was initiated
in 1981, where a space-borne, light-weight, and low-profile
planar array was needed for a satellite communication system. Since then, the development of the microstrip antenna
has been expanded into three major program areas: mobile
satellite (MSAT) communication, earth remote sensing, and
deep-space exploration. The space segment of the MSAT system required the development of an ecient, light-weight,
and circularly polarized L-band multiple-beam reflector feed
array. In the ground segment, the MSAT required the development of several low-cost and low-profile car-top-mounted
L-band antennas. In the area of earth remote sensing, several dual-polarized microstrip arrays are needed for a bistatic

radar application, at both the L-band and C-band frequencies, as well as a 1.5-meter-long array at C-band for the aircraft interferometer synthetic aperture radar (SAR) application. In addition, a large Ku-band microstrip planar array (3meter diameter) has been proposed for a scatterometer application.
Finally, a more recent eort calls for the development
of a Ka-band MMIC array, as the reflector feed for a future deep-space exploration communication system, as well
as a Ka-band array for the advanced communication technology satellite (ACTS) experiment, as a mobile terminal antenna. The design and analysis techniques which have been
heavily relied on are the multimode cavity theory and the
conventional array theory. Recently, Luk et al. studied the
characteristics of the rectangular patch antennas mounted
on cylindrical surfaces [6]. Assuming the substrate thickness to be much smaller than wavelength and radius of curvature, they found that the resonant frequencies and the
fields under the patch are not aected by curvature. Usually the radiation pattern of a single element is relatively

International Journal of Antennas and Propagation

2.1.

Theory

In Figure 1, if h  a and h  , the analysis carried out by

Luk et al. [6] showed that, for the rectangular patch, the fields
under the cavity are essentially the same as the planar case. It
is reasonable to expect that this conclusion is independent
of the shape of the patch. For the circular patch, the radial
electrical fields of TM modes are given by [6]

r0
l

 



E = E0 Jn knm l cos n 0 ,
z

Circular patch
r0
x

while Jm (x) is the Bessel function of the first kind of order m;

and knm is the root of Jn  (knm a) = 0 . Also, a that is shown
in Figure 1 is the diameter of each of the circular patches. The
value of 0 is determined by the position of the coaxial feed.
However, the resonant frequency is

fnm =
Ground plane

Feed

Figure 1: Geometry of circular microstrip patch antenna.

(1)

knm ca
,
2ae r

(2)

where c is the speed of light in free space; and ae is the eective radius that is given by


ae = a 1 +
S

0.5

a
2h
ln
+ 1.7726
ar
2h

(3)

Therefore, the resonant frequency of (2) for the dominant

TMz 110 should be expressed as
( fr )110 =
Figure 2: Geometry of the array of circular microstrip patch elements.

wide, and each element provides low values of directivity. In many applications, it is necessary to design antennas with very high-directive characteristics to meet the demands of long-distance communications. This can only be
accomplished by increasing the electrical size of the antenna.
One way to enlarge the dimensions of the antenna without
necessarily increasing the size of the individual elements is
to form a set of the radiating elements in an electrical and
geometrical configuration. This new form of disposing element is designated array. After the rectangular patch, the
next most popular configuration is the circular patch or
disk.
2.

MATERIALS AND METHODS

In this paper, an antenna array consisting of four equal circular elements with equal spacing, placed in the H-plane, has
been examined (Figures 1 and 2).
In Figure 2, the way of arranging circular patches and
feedings is shown (the antenna array is fed from its center).
They have the same phase in their entries considering the
shapes of feed lines for each of the circular patches.

2.2.

1.8412
c.
2ae r

(4)

Design

For patch design, it is assumed that the dielectric constant of

the substrate (r ), the resonant frequency ( fr in Hz), and the
height of the substrate h (in cm) are known.
Design procedure
A first-order approximation to the solution of (3) for a is to
find ae using (4) and to substitute it into (3) for ae and a in
the logarithmic function. This will lead to
a= 

1 + 2h/r F



F


 0.5 ,
ln F/2h + 1.7726

(5)

where
F=

8.791 109
.

fr r

(6)

The design of microstrip antenna is done as follows:

fr = 4.3 GHz,

h = 0.16 cm,

r = 2.33.

(7)

By substituting in (5), a J 1.25 cm.

Richards et al. have reported, calculated, and measured
values of the input impedance of a coaxial-feeding rectangular patch with r J 2.62 and h J 2.62 cm [7]. For a coaxial
feed, matching the antenna impedance to the transmissionline impedance can be accomplished simply by putting the

Asghar Keshtkar et al.

Coupling magnitude (dB)

10

S21 (dB)

3
4
5

15
20
25
30
35
40
45
50

0.4

0.8

1.2
1.6
2
2.4
Separation (wavelengths)

2.8

3.2

7
8

E-plane measured [11]

H-plane measured [11]
4

4.1

4.2

4.3
4.4
Frequency (GHz)

4.5

4.6

E-plane (first 16 modes)

H-plane (first 16 modes)

Figure 4: Dominant mode mutual coupling for the conventional

circular microstrip patch antenna [13].

Figure 3: Reflection coecient as a function of frequency for circular microstrip antenna at 4.3 GHz.

feed at the proper location. In [811], some formulas have

been suggested for computing the input impedance in the
resonance state. Typically with very thin substrates, the feed
resistance is very smaller than resonance resistance, but in
thick substrates, the feed resistance is not negligible and
should be considered in impedance matching determining
the resonance frequency. In general, the input impedance is
complex, and it includes both a resonant part and a nonresonant part which is usually reactive. Both the real and imaginary parts of the impedance vary as a function of frequency.
Ideally, both the resistance and reactance exhibit symmetrically about the resonant frequency, and the reactance at resonance is equal to the average of sum of its maximum value
(which is positive) and its minimum value (which is negative). A formula that has been suggested to approximate the
feed reactance, which does not take into account any images,
is [12]


xf =

this in this paper. In the antenna discussed here, the spacing

between circular patches (s) is 3.8 cm. Considering that the
operating frequency is 4.3 GHz, the wavelength will be 7 cm.
Consequently, the value of s/ is equal to 1.9, and then using
the plot in Figure 4, the value of coupling is about 30 dB,
that is very small and negligible.
3.
3.1.

RESULTS AND DISCUSSION

Numerical results and simulation

The aim of this project is to develop an antenna with a directional pattern and a gain at least equal to 12 dB. An antenna array with equal spacing and uniform excitation was
designed. The circular microstrip antenna was simulated by
Ansoft Ensemble 8 that is based on the method of moment.
For obtaining pattern of this antenna array (N = 4), we have
the following [18]:

kh
kd
ln
+ 0.577 ,
2
4

(8)

where d is the diameter of the feed probe.

Figure 3 shows the reflection coecient as a function of
frequency simulated with HPHFSS 5.4 software. In the resonance state, the input impedance is a real value and has its
maximum quantity. It can be shown that coupling between
two patches, as coupling between two apertures or two wire
antennas, is a function of the position of one element relative
to the other [1317]. For two circular microstrip patches, the
coupling for two side-by-side elements is a function of the
relative alignment (Figure 2). In Figure 4, the coupling value
that is measured for two cases in E-plane and H-plane is plotted. In this figure, the measure of coupling is plotted versus
the distance between centers of two adjacent circular patches.
It can be seen that the coupling in H-plane is very small
in comparison with its value in E-plane. It is better to place
the elements of the antenna array in H-plane and we showed

AF = A0

sin (N/2)
sin (2)
= A0
,
N sin (/2)
4 sin (/2)

= + d sin ()cos(),


d =

(9)
(10)

2
2
(s) =
(3.8) = .

(11)

Here, = 0 is the phase dierence between elements.

Figure 5 shows the array factor. The first null beam width is
[18]


BWFN = 2


2
=2
Nd

2 7 102
= 115 ,
4 3.8 102


7 102
= 2 0.886
= 76 ,
HPBW = 2 0.886
Nd
4 3.8 102
(12)

International Journal of Antennas and Propagation

90 1
120

0.8

0
60

330

30

0.6
150

30

0.4

300

60

0.2

50
90

180

210

40 30
20

270

120

330

240

150

300

240

10

210
180

270
(a)

H-plane
E-plane

Figure 6: Computed (based on moment method and cavity models) E-plane and H-plane patterns of circular microstrip patch antenna: E-plane ( = 0 , 180 ), H-plane ( = 90 , 270 ).
12

D0 (dB)

10

6
(b)

Figure 5: Array factor for 4 linear elements [18]: (a) H-plane cut
and (b) 3D pattern.

where AF in (9) is the array factor and beta = (2pi/lambda),

where lambda is the wavelength. HPBW is the half-powerbeam width, and BWFN is the beam width between first
nulls.
These quantities are used to obtain a whole antenna pattern by considering the pattern of a circular microstrip element. The pattern is almost symmetric (in both E-plane and
H-plane), and side lobes are very small (Figure 6). A plot of
the directivity of the dominant TMz 110 mode as a function of
the radius of the disk is shown in Figure 7. The measurement
of antenna parameters by theoretical calculations is somehow dicult, but we can calculate them easily by softwares,
such as HPHFSS. In general, the dependence of antenna parameters to their physical parameters can be mentioned. The

bandwidth is inversely proportional to r . As we know, the

total directivity is equal to multiplication of patch directivity
and to the array directivity. From the diagrams in Figures 5
and 7, the value of directivity factor of circular microstrip antenna is about 5 dB, and then a directivity of 13 dB at 4.3 GHz

0.1

0.2

0.3

0.4

0.5 0.6
ae /0

0.7

0.8

0.9

Figure 7: Directivity versus eective radius for circular microstrip

patch antenna operating in dominant TMz 110 mode [12].

is achieved with the main lobe in the broadside direction,

with the 50-degree HPBW, and 25 dB SLL below the main
lobe.
The circular microstrip patch array antenna was simulated by Ansoft Ensemble 8 and is shown in Figure 6.
In contribution to our discussion, we consider the results
of the simulation. In the analysis of this antenna by HPHFSS
software, three-dimensional pattern of this antenna is obtained. It is shown in Figure 8, and its pattern in E-plane and
H-plane is also shown in Figure 9.
Considering the obtained value of input impedance by
HPHFSS software, we can obtain the matching impedance by
Microwave Oce software (or analytic methods). Considering the feed lines, the circular patches have the same phase
at their entries, as can be seen in Figure 2, we specify the
impedance in each line by varying the width of lines until

Asghar Keshtkar et al.

5
2.8
2.6
90

2.4

60

120

24

18

12

12

VSWR

150
30

30
0
30

24

18

180

2.2
2
1.8
1.6

330

1.4
210

300
240

4.1

4.2

4.3
4.4
Frequency (GHz)

4.5

4.6

270

Figure 10: VSWR as a function of frequency simulated by Microwave Oce.

(a)

30

60

300
120
150

30

12
18
24

S21 (dB)

330

90

270
240

100

10

15

20

210
(b)

25

Figure 8: Three-dimensional pattern of the array antenna with the

circular microstrip patches simulated with the HPHFSS 5.4: (a) =
0 , (b) = 90 .

4.1

4.2

4.3
4.4
Frequency (GHz)

4.5

4.6

Figure 11: Reflection coecient versus frequency of the array

antenna with the circular microstrip patches simulated with the
HPHFSS 5.4.
0
330

30

300

60
60
40
90

20

we obtain the amount of input impedance equal to 50 .

The value of VSWR for this antenna that is obtained by Microwave Oce software is shown in Figure 10, and the value
of reflection coecient that is obtained by HPHFSS software is shown in Figure 11. Regarding the simulation with
HPHFSS 5.4 software, the input impedance of the antenna is
55 + 25 j, and so we have


 Zl Z0 
 = 0.2362 = 12.5 dB,
|| = 



270

Z l + Z0

VSWR =

240

120

3.2.
150

210
180

H-plane
E-plane

Figure 9: E-plane and H-plane patterns of the array antenna with

the circular microstrip patches simulated with the HPHFSS 5.4.

1 + ||
= 1.6.
1 ||

(13)

Array antenna configuration

The array antenna was constructed as shown in Figure 12.

The dimensions and structural diagram of the antenna are
shown too in this figure. The fabricated patch was designed
to operate at 4.3 GHz. The patch is probe feeding, and the
ground plane is finite for this patch and has the dimensions
m
of 15 = 4 cm. By selecting proper values for microstrip-line
width and length and the position of the feed point, a good

International Journal of Antennas and Propagation

9
W5

W1

8
W6

W3

W4

L1

L2

6
VSWR

W2

Frequency = 4.4 GHz

VSWR = 2.1483

Frequency = 4.3 GHz

VSWR = 1.5433
Frequency = 4.205 GHz
VSWR = 1.2775

Figure 12: Pictures of the fabricated antenna and its geometry. The
feeding line is a standard 50 coaxial probe feed. Other dimensions
are W1 = 0.4 cm, W2 = 0.6 cm, W3 = 0.3 cm, W4 = 0.5 cm, W5 =
0.6 cm, W6 = 0.2 cm, L1 = 3 cm, L2 = 1.9 cm.

3
2
1
3.8

Mstp ant. 01

H-plane & E-plane pattern

90

H-plane

#Date 83/10/22

30

4.2
4.4
Frequency (GHz)

4.6

4.8

Figure 14: VSWR as a function of frequency measured by the AGILENT 8510C network analyzer.

120
60
20
30

150
10

E-plane

180

210

330

300

240
270
4200 MHz
4300 MHz
4400 MHz
K.N Toosi Univ. of Tech. Telecom. Dept.

Prof. Morshed Ant. Lab.

Figure 13: Measured E-plane and H-plane patterns of the array antenna with the circular microstrip patches.

impedance bandwidth can be obtained. An inset feed scheme

is employed to match the patch antenna to a 50 coaxial
probe feed. The dielectric material has a permittivity of 2.33
and a thickness of 0.16 cm. The substrate of this antenna
is made of RT/Duroid 5870, fabricated by Rogers Company
(Mentor, OH, USA).
3.3. Results of the test
In the test process, the antenna pattern and the value of
VSWR were obtained. Antenna radiation performance was
measured and recorded in two orthogonal principal planes
(E-plane and H-plane or vertical and horizontal planes). The
pattern was plotted in the form of polar coordinates. By definition, near-field tests are done by sampling the field very

close to the antenna on a known surface. From the phase and

amplitude data collections, the far-field pattern was computed in the same fashion that theoretical patterns were computed from the theoretical field distributions. The transformation used in the computation depends on the shape of
the surface over which the measurements are taken with the
scanning probe. An antenna range instrumentation must be
designed to operate over a wide range of frequencies, and it
usually can be classified into five categories as follows:
(1)
(2)
(3)
(4)
(5)

source antenna and transmitting system,

receiving system,
positioning system,
recording system,
data-processing system.

This technique involves an antenna under test which is placed

on a rotational positioned and rotated around the azimuth
to generate a two-dimensional polar pattern. This measurement was done for the two principal axes of the antenna to
determine parameters such as antenna beam width in both
the E- and H-planes. The practical results of the test are in
agreement with the desirable results and theoretical analysis. E-plane and H-plane patterns of the antenna are shown
in Figure 13. In the practical test carried out by AGILENT
8510C network analyzer, the value of VSWR in central frequency was 1.5433 that was well in agreement with the theoretical analysis (Figure 14). Variation in the measured performance is mainly due to imprecise fabrication by a milling
machine. It is important to calibrate the network analyzer
before doing VSWR measurement. The network analyzer
should be calibrated for a suitable frequency range containing the band where the antenna will operate. Typical network
analyzers have a cable with SMA connector in the end. Calibration was performed by connecting three known terminations, 50 load, short, and open, to this SMA connector.
After calibration the reference plane will be at the connection
point of the SMA connector. To measure the reflection at the
feed point of the antenna, a semirigid coax cable with SMA
connector in one end can be used.

Asghar Keshtkar et al.

4.

CONCLUSION

A small microstrip patch antenna array has been presented.

The antenna has been designed to be used in altimeter system applications, in the C-band. In fact, this antenna was
designed for 4.3 GHz and 12 dB gain. But as you can see,
4.2 GHz also has good pattern and proper VSWR. The design has been accomplished using commercially available
HPHFSS, Ansoft Ensemble 8, and Microwave Oce 2006
softwares. The designed antenna has shown good performance in terms of return losses and radiation (a prototype has been fabricated and tested). Good agreement has
been obtained between simulation and experimental results,
providing validation of the design procedure. Good performance has been obtained for the envisaged applications.
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