Progress In Electromagnetics Research B, Vol.

13, 111131, 2009

DESIGN AND ANALYSIS CONSIDERATIONS OF 4 GHz

INTEGRATED ANTENNA WITH NEGATIVE RESIS-
TANCE OSCILLATOR

S. H. Ibrahim
Computer and Electronics Engineering Department
College of Applied Studies & Community Service
King Faisal University
P. O. Box 400, Al-Ahsa, K.S.A.

AbstractThe purpose of this paper is to present a complete design

and analysis of a new integrated balanced transmitter operated at
4 GHz using microstrip technology. It comprises a 4 GHz two-port
negative resistance oscillator and a microstrip-patch antenna resonated
at 4 GHz. Three dierent modules are designed and analyzed. The
rst one used a Lange coupler as a power splitter while the second
and third used a one (two)-section branch coupler. The components
of the three modules are designed using full-scale computer simulation
program named with MSDES, performed by the author, which fully
takes into account all the discontinuities included in the microstrip
lines, while the modules are analyzed and optimized using APLAC
V7.61 software. The design methodologies of the two-port negative
resistance oscillator and microstrip patch antenna are introduced and
explained. The analyses of the designed modules show a better
eciency and good performance. The modules give a transmit-antenna
gain of 15.7 dB with antenna beam widths 91.7 and 18.2 in E-
and H-planes, respectively. The complete schematic diagrams of the
transmitter modules are drawn. These modules can be used in satellite
communications, Doppler and other radars, active and semi-active
seekers, radio altimeters, missile technology, weapon fuzing, manpack
equipments, remote sensing, feed elements in complex antennas,
satellite navigation receivers, and biomedical radiators.

Corresponding author: S. H. Ibrahim ([email protected]).

112 Ibrahim

1. INTRODUCTION

An active antenna integrates an active device (microwave diodes or

transistors) into a printed antenna to improve its performance or
combine functions within the antenna itself. Therefore, complete
transmitter modules can be implemented in a single substrate.
Such modules are of increasing interest, as system designers require
more complex functions to be implemented in a reduced space [1
6]. The microstrip antennas are low prole, conformable to planar
and nonplanar surfaces, simple and inexpensive to manufacture
using modern printed-circuit technology, mechanically robust, and
compatible with MMIC designs. The application of active antennas
comprises active and semi-active seekers, remote sensors, collision
avoidance radars, wireless local-area networks, etc.
The transmitter modules designed and presented in this paper
comprises a negative resistance oscillator operated at a frequency
of 4 GHz, a microstrip patch antenna resonant at 4 GHz, and
Lange/branch coupler as power splitters. The modules are designed
using the microstrip-line technology (relative permittivity r = 2.2,
dielectric thickness H = 0.7874 mm, and conductor thickness t =
0.005 mm) with the aid of the full-scale computer simulation program
named by MSDES, performed by the author [7, 9], and analyzed using
the APLAC V7.61 software.
The MSDES program is a visual user-oriented comprehensive
computational program. The rst published version was written by
FORTRAN language [7] while the modied published version is written
with Visual-basic language [8, 9]. The program can be used for a
wide range of microstrip, coaxial, and waveguide applications. For
microstrip applications it is used for active and passive circuits design
such as microstrip ampliers, oscillators, couplers, mixers and MPA
taking fully into account all the discontinuities the microstrip design
[10, 12]. For waveguide applications, it is used for the design of
rectangular waveguide oscillators and ampliers with post and disc
assembly used for the tuning of the active element (IMPATT or Gunn
diode). For coaxial applications, it is used for the design of coaxial
ampliers and oscillators with the design of the tuning circuit of the
active element.

2. DESIGN OF 4 GHz NEGATIVE RESISTANCE

TRANSISTOR OSCILLATOR

Microwave oscillator is a one-port device whose purpose is to provide

stable sinusoidal signal to the microwave system in which it is
Progress In Electromagnetics Research B, Vol. 13, 2009 113

embedded. The oscillator must have a negative real part of the

equivalent impedance under certain DC biasing [4, 10, 13, 16].
An oscillator consists of two elements: An active element and a
passive element. The active element converts dc power to RF power. It
is a solid-state device, a semiconductor-based transistor, or RF diode.
The passive element serves three purposes: 1) It provides the necessary
dc bias for the device to operate, 2) It presents an electromagnetic
environment at the devices terminals to initiate oscillation, optimizes
the oscillators output power and eciency, and shapes its frequency
spectrum, and 3) It provides a stable thermal environment.
Compared with the one-port oscillator, The two-port (3-terminal)
negative resistance oscillators have the advantages of more ecient,
lower noise gure, and the input and output circuits are inherently
isolated.
When a two-port device such as BJT or FET is used in the
oscillator design, a terminating circuit (single/balanced open/short
stub is loaded to the transistor to achieve the negative resistance at the
desired frequency band. Moreover, a negative feedback stub is added
to the base/gate terminal of the transistor to enhance the transistor
instability through increasing the value of S11 .
Figure 1 shows the equivalent circuit of the negative resistance
oscillator, where Zd (A, ) is the impedance of the active device
including the terminating and feedback circuits, ZL () is the
impedance of the passive load, A is the amplitude of the current in
the loop (I = A ejt ), and is the angular frequency. The circuit in
Figure 1 is then described with:

[Zd (A, ) + ZL ()] I = 0 (1)

The process of the oscillation depends on the active element and the
behavior of the nonlinear parameters of d in addition to the proper
selection of the load termination L [11, 12]. When the oscillations
exist in the circuit, the current cannot be zero (I = 0). As [1] is valid,

Figure 1. The equivalent circuit of a two-port negative resistance

oscillator.
114 Ibrahim

the value of Zd (A, ) + ZL () must equal to zero, which results in:

ZL () = Zd (A) (2)
The design methodology of the two-port negative resistance oscillator
has mainly four steps. The rst step is the selection of the proper active
element (BJT or FET) for the oscillation application. The Common-
base HXTR-4101 BJT is used as an active element with the small-
signal [S] parameters shown in Table 1.

Table 1. Small-signal [S] parameters of HXTR-4101 BJT.

HXTR 4101 S-PARAMETERS: Vc=15 V IC=30mA ta= 25 deg

F S 11 S 21 S 12 S 22
GHz MAG ANG MAG ANG MAG ANG MAG ANG
1.0 0.93 161 1.93 29 0.011 127 1.01 15
1.5 0.94 153 1.92 44 0.023 126 1.04 31
2.0 0.96 144 1.95 59 0.039 120 1.06 45
2.5 0.98 134 1.97 76 0.061 113 1.10 59
3.0 0.99 123 1.96 94 0.086 105 1.12 74
3.5 1.01 115 1.95 144 0.117 93 1.16 91
4.0 1.02 106 1.87 133 0.154 84 1.19 108
4.5 1.01 96 1.79 155 0.186 70 1.20 127
6.0 0.91 74 1.32 144 0.245 35 1.10 176
7.0 0.85 61 1.06 109 0.267 17 0.99 157
8.0 0.78 49 0.87 74 0.298 1 0.89 135
9.0 0.76 44 0.76 60 0.238 10 0.93 131
10.0 0.72 27 0.72 29 0.288 24 0.89 113

The stability of the used transistor at the frequency of 4 GHz is

calculated through calculation of the stability factor, K, and is given
by [10, 15, 17]:

1 |S11 |2 |S22 |2 + ||2

K = (3)
2 |S12 S21 |
= S11 S22 S12 S21 (4)
Using the MSDES full-scale computer simulation program, the BJT
is potentially unstable at the operating frequency of 4 GHz with
K = 0.6546, M AG = 1.039, and AN G = 9.696.
The second step is to calculate the tuning element (open/short
stub) at the base terminal of the active element to get maximum
instability, maximizing S11 , at the desired operating frequency. Using
MSDES design simulation program and the APLAC V7.61 software,
the optimum length and width of the tuning open-circuit single
stub at the base terminal of the active element are 16 mm and
Progress In Electromagnetics Research B, Vol. 13, 2009 115

2.408 mm respectively. Table 2 shows the new [S] parameters of the

active element with the tuning open-circuit stub at its base terminal.
Figures 2 through 5 show S11 , S12 , S21 , S22 , Zd , and d over the range
010 GHz for the active element with tuning stub. It is seen that S11
is increased to 1.25 and the circuit has a negative resistance over the
range 3.354.45 GHz. In this range the values of d are greater than 1.

Table 2. Small-signal [S] parameters of HXTR-4101 BJT with the

tuning open stub at its base terminal.

HXTR 4101 S-PARAMETERS: Vc=15 V IC=30mA ta= 25 deg

F S 11 S 21 S 12 S 22
GHz MAG ANG MAG ANG MAG ANG MAG ANG
1.0 0.27 162.35 1.27 19.75 0.244 7.98 0.76 7.66
1.5 0.34 158.02 1.33 29.31 0.298 13.68 0.73 17.19
2.0 0.42 149.79 1.42 41.68 0.27 21.766 0.76 26.75
2.5 0.54 141.70 1.560 58.19 0.209 29.64 0.86 40.26
3.0 0.76 129.21 1.77 82.33 0.071 33.956 1.005 61.59
3.5 1.110 104.92 1.99 156.05 0.219 91.25 1.134 101.01
4.0 1.25 72.06 1.615 176.64 0.580 54.62 1.068 158.42
4.5 0.965 46.39 0.964 118.47 0.66 23.03 0.69 148.7
6.0 0.52 30.20 0.61 8.53 0.63 10.5 0.42 57.034
7.0 0.42 27.708 0.65 35.734 0.63 25.53 0.496 12.08
8.0 0.20 47.16 0.90 86.90 0.64 44.13 0.73 44.51
9.0 0.627 100.27 1.40 170.5 0.32 86.62 1.26 127.19
10.0 0.84 59.54 1.02 105.731 0.285 15.796 0.96 154.01

OPTIMIZED RESULTS
Aplac 7.61
1.30
0.98
0.65
0.33
0.00
0.000 2.0G 4.0G 6.0G 8.0G 10.0G
f/Hz
Mag(S(1,1)) Mag(S(2,2))

Figure 2. |S11 | and |S22 | versus frequency for the HXTR-4101 BJT
with tuning stub at its base terminal.

The third step is the design and optimization of the oscillator

terminating circuit so as to get negative input impedance at the
desired operating frequency. Using MSDES simulation program and
the APLAC V7.61 software, the optimum length and width of the
terminating circuit at the emitter terminal of the active element
116 Ibrahim

OPTIMIZED RESULTS
Aplac 7.61
2.00
1.50
1.00
0.50
0.00
0.0 2.0G 4.0G 6.0G 8.0G 10.0G
f/Hz
Mag(S(2,1)) Mag(S(1,2))

Figure 3. |S21 | and |S12 | versus frequency for the HXTR-4101 BJT
with tuning stub at its base terminal.

OPTIMIZED RESULTSS
Aplac 7.61
150.00 130.00
116.00 97.50
82.00
65.00
48.00
14.00 32.50
-20.00 0.00
0.0 2.0G 4.0G 6.0G 8.0G 10.0G
f/Hz
Zd_Re Zd_Im

Figure 4. Real and imaginary parts of Zd versus frequency for the

HXTR-4101 BJT with tuning stub at its base terminal.

OPTIMIZED RESULTS
Aplac 7.61
1.50 200.00
150.00
1.00
100.00
0.50
50.00
0.00 0.00
0.0 2.0G 4.0G 6.0G 8.0G 10.0G
f/Hz
gamd_Mag gamd_pha

Figure 5. Magnitude and phase parts of d versus frequency for the

HXTR-4101 BJT with tuning stub at its base terminal.

are 5.018 mm and 2.022 mm respectively. Figure 6 shows the Aplac

conguration of the active element with the tuning and terminating
open stubs at its base and emitter terminals. Figures 7 through 10
show S11 , S12 , S21 , S22 , Zd , and d over the range 010 GHz for the
active element with the tuning and terminating open stubs.
It is seen that the negative resistance at the oscillator output port
Progress In Electromagnetics Research B, Vol. 13, 2009 117

Figure 6. Aplac conguration of the active element with the tuning

and terminating open stubs at its base and emitter terminals.

OPTIMIZED RESULTS
Aplac 7.61
5.00
0.00
-5.00
-10.00
-15.00
0.0 2.0G 4.0G 6.0G 8.0G 10.0G
f/Hz
MagdB(S(1,1)) MagdB(S(2,2))

Figure 7. |S11 | and |S22 | versus frequency for the HXTR-4101 BJT
with tuning and terminating stubs at its base and emitter terminals.

OPTIMIZED RESULTS
Aplac 7.61
9.00
-5.75
-20.50
-35.25
-50.00
0.0 2.0G 4.0G 6.0G 8.0G 10.0G
f/Hz
MagdB(S(2,1)) MagdB(S(1,2))

Figure 8. |S21 | and |S12 | versus frequency for the HXTR-4101 BJT
with tuning and terminating stubs at its base and emitter terminals.
118 Ibrahim

OPTIMIZED RESULTS
Aplac 7.61
200.00 200
50.00 75
-100.00 -50
-250.00 -175
-400.00 -300
0.0 2.0G 4.0G 6.0G 8.0G 10.0G
f/Hz
Zin_Re Zin_Im

Figure 9. Real and imaginary parts of Zd versus frequency for the

HXTR-4101 BJT with tuning and terminating stubs at its base and
emitter terminals.
OPTIMIZED RESULTS
Aplac 7.61
1.50 200

1.00 100
0.0
0.50
-100
0.00 -200
0.0 2.0G 4.0G 6.0G 8.0G 10.0G
f/Hz
gamIn_Mag gamIn_pha

Figure 10. Magnitude and phase parts of d versus frequency for the
HXTR-4101 BJT with tuning and terminating stubs at its base and
emitter terminals.

exists over the bandwidth extends from 3.3 to 4.4 GHz. It is also seen
that d is greater than 1 over this range. The value of device impedance
Zd at the operating frequency is 360 j268.3 .
To achieve a good output power of the oscillator, the negative
resistance looking into the collector is designed to be near three times
that of the resistance looking into the output load, i.e.,
Re[Zd ] 3Re[ZL ] (5)
According to the value of Zd , the optimum value of ZL is selected to
be 120 + j268.3.
The fourth step is to design analytically and optimize the proper
matching circuit at the oscillator output so that a 50 ohm load can be
derived. The oscillator output matching circuit is designed using the
developed simulation program. The parameters of the output matching
circuit are shown in Table 3. Figures 11 and 12 show the Aplac
conguration and the microstrip schematic diagram of the designed
negative resistance oscillator operated at 4 GHz.
Progress In Electromagnetics Research B, Vol. 13, 2009 119

Figure 11. The Aplac conguration of the designed negative

resistance oscillator operated at 4 GHz.

Figure 12. The microstrip schematic diagram of the designed negative

resistance oscillator operated at 4 GHz.

Table 3. Parameters of the matching circuit at the collector terminal

of the active element.

item Length Width

Series microstrip line 14.584 mm 2.408 mm
Open circuit single stub 11.333 mm 2.408 mm

3. DESIGN OF THE MICROSTRIP PATCH ANTENNA

A microstrip patch antenna (MPA) consists of a conducting patch of

any planar geometry on one side of a dielectric substrate backed by
a ground plane on the other side [24, 20]. Such antennas received
considerable attention starting in 1970s [3] and are used now to
120 Ibrahim

implement hybrid MIC and MMIC transceiver modules [5]. There

are numerous substrates that can be used for the design of microstrip
antennas, and their dielectric constants are usually in the range of
(2.2 r 12). The substrates that are most desirables for antenna
performance are thick ones whose dielectric constants are in the lower
end of the range. This provides better eciency, larger bandwidth,
and loosely bound elds for radiation into space, but at the expense of
larger element size. On the other hand, the microwave circuit attached
to the antenna requires thin substrate with high dielectric constant
since this ensures tightly bound elds. Hence the undesired radiation
and coupling can be minimized. In addition the microwave circuit size
can be reduced.
Since microstrip antennas are integrated with the circuit in our
module, a compromise has to be reached between good antenna
performance and circuit design. The microstrip substrate whose
parameters are given in the previous section was found to represent
the optimum compromise.
The negative resistance of the oscillator is tuned to 50 interface
through the oscillator output matching circuit. To enhance the
performance of the inset-fed MPA, the 50 interface of the negative-
resistance oscillator and the hybrids should be matched to the onput
impedance of antenna through the proper values of the inset distance
and width.
A computer program is developed in order to design the MPA and
to calculate its parameters. The equations used in the program are
based on using the transmission-line model for the antenna [2, 2123].
The E- and H-plane patterns are based on using the cavity model [2].
These equations are summarized as follows:
1) The width (w) of the patch antenna is given by:
  1
r + 1 2
w= (6)
2 2
Where: is the free-space wavelength. The width was found to be
26.35 mm.
2) The eective dielectric constant re is given by:
 
r + 1 r 1 h 1/2
re = + 1 + 12 (7)
2 2 w
3) The length of the MPA is given by:
g
L= 2l (8)
2
Progress In Electromagnetics Research B, Vol. 13, 2009 121

Where:
 
(re + 0.3) wh + 0.264
l = 0.412h   (9)
(re 0.258) wh + 0.8

The length was found to be 22.09 mm.

4) If the coordinate system illustrated in Figure 13 is used, the
E-plane radiation pattern is given by [2]:
    
kwVo jkr sin kh 2 sin kLe
E = j e kh
cos sin (10)
r 2 cos
2

and the H-plane radiation pattern is given by:

    kw 
kwVo jkr sin kh
2 sin sin 2 cos
E = j e sin kh kw
(11)
r 2 sin 2 cos

Where: k = 2 , Vo is the amplitude of the applied voltage of the signal,

and Le is the eective length of the antenna given by Le = L + 2l.
5) The radiation resistance (Rr ) is given by:
1
Rr = (12)
2G1
Where:
I1
G1 = (13)
120 2
and

 
2 kw cos
I1 = sin tan2 sin d (14)
2
0

6) The directivity D is given by:

 
2w 2 1
D= (15)
I1
The eective gain is given by:
G = D (16)
Where: is the antenna eciency.
122 Ibrahim

7) The bandwidth is given by:

r 1 h
BW = 3.77 (17)
2r
The computed E- and H-plane patterns are given in Figures 14 and
15, respectively. The computed input resistance is 200 [23]. The
location of the feed is chosen at the middle of the patch side at which
the feed line is connected. The theoretical directivity was 15.69 dB.
The E- and H-plane beamwidths are 91.7 and 18.2 , respectively.

Figure 13. The microstrip-patch antenna and the coordinate system.

Figure 14. The calculated E-plane antenna pattern.

All the four-radiating elements of the antenna are identical and

they are designed based on the rectangular patch antenna with inset
feed. The separation between the adjacent elements is adjusted to the
required E- and H-plane radiation patterns.
In order to improve the noise gure while maintain a good
gain and conjugate match, the input impedance of the inset-fed
MPA (Zin ) is adjusted to match with 50 interface (hybrid output
Progress In Electromagnetics Research B, Vol. 13, 2009 123

Figure 15. The calculated H-plane antenna pattern.

impedance and hence the output impedance of the negative resistance

oscillator). The value of Zin is usually in the range of 100400 .
Since there is no formula to accurately calculate Zin from the antenna
parameters (L, W ) and substrate parameters (r , h, t) at the operating
frequency, the value of Zin at resonance is assumed to be 200 and
in accordance it will be transferred to 50 interface through a set of
g /4 transformers.
The best excitation of the MPA is fed at its line of symmetry.
Since Zin mainly depends on the inset distance (yo ) and gaps between
the fed line of the antenna (g), the values of yo and g is tuned to get
the proper value of Zin (200 ).

4. DESIGN OF LANGE COUPLER

The balanced transmitter with coupled-line hybrid at the output of

the oscillator has mainly two problems. The rst one is that the
required even and odd mode characteristic impedances of the coupler
are beyond the manufacturing capability, even on high permittivity
substrate, because the required spacing between the lines is too small.
The second problem is that the two outputs emerge on opposite sides of
the isolated ports, so a symmetrical circuit layout is dicult to achieve.
Lange coupler can be used to overcome these two problems. The
developed full-scale computer simulation program and Aplac software
are used to design and to optimize the Lange hybrid operated at
central frequency of 4 GHz with four coupled lines (N = 4) and the
coupling factor = 3 dB. Figure 16 shows the Aplac conguration of
4 GHz Lange coupler. As a result of the developed program and Aplac
software, the parameters of the Lange hybrid are: strip separation
124 Ibrahim

Figure 16. The Aplac conguration of the designed Lange coupler

operated at 4 GHz: (1) Input port. (2) Coupled port. (3) Directed
port and (4) Isolated port.

OPTIMIZED RESULTS
Aplac 7.61
0.00
dB
-5.00
-10.00
-15.00
-20.00
2.000G 3.000G 4.000G 5.000G 6.000G
f/Hz
MagdB(S(2,1)) MagdB(S(3,1))
MagdB(S(4,1))

Figure 17. The optimized |S21 |, |S31 |, and |S41 | versus frequency
(GHz) for a Lange coupler operated at 4 GHz.

(S) = 0.1 mm, strip width (W ) = 0.23 mm, even mode impedance
(Zoe ) = 176.4 , odd mode impedance (Zoo ) = 52.5384 , even mode
W/H ratio = 1.1589, odd mode W/H ratio = 7.29, and coupled line
length (L) = 14.362 mm. Figure 17 shows the optimized |S21 |, |S31 |,
and |S41 | versus frequency (GHz) for the Lange coupler operated at
4 GHz. Figure 18 shows optimized phase dierence between coupled
and directed ports of the Lange coupler.

5. DESIGN OF BRANCH COUPLERS

One or two-section branch line couplers can be used to split the

oscillator output. The developed computer simulation program and
Aplac V7.61 software are used for the design and analysis of one (two)-
section branch coupler operated at 4 GHz.
Progress In Electromagnetics Research B, Vol. 13, 2009 125

OPTIMIZED RESULTS
Aplac 7.61
180.00

135.00
phase
90.00
45.00

0.00
2.000G 3.000G 4.000G 5.000G 6.000G
f/Hz
phi

Figure 18. The optimized phase dierence between coupled and

directed ports of the Lange coupler.

5.1. One-section Branch Coupler

Table 4 illustrates the results for one-section branch line couple.
Figure 19 shows the Aplac conguration of the designed one-section
coupler operated at 4 GHz. Figure 20 shows the optimized |S21 |,
|S31 |, and |S41 | versus frequency (GHz) for the one-section branch
coupler operated at 4 GHz. Figure 21 shows optimized phase dierence
between coupled and directed ports of the Lange coupler.

Figure 19. The Aplac conguration of the designed one-section

branch coupler operated at 4 GHz: (1) Input port. (2) Coupled port.
(3) Directed port and (4) Isolated port.

5.2. Two-section Branch Coupler

Table 5 illustrates the results for two-section branch coupler.
Figure 22 shows the Aplac conguration of the designed two-
section coupler operated at 4 GHz. Figure 23 shows the optimized
|S21 |, |S31 |, and |S41 | versus frequency (GHz) for the two-section branch
126 Ibrahim

Optimized result
Aplac 7.61
0.00
-10.25
-20.50
-30.75
-41.00
1.000G 2.250G 3.500G 4.750G 6.000G
f/Hz
|S21| |S31|
|S41|

Figure 20. The optimized |S21 |, |S31 |, and |S41 | versus frequency
(GHz) for the one-section branch coupler operated at 4 GHz.

Optimized result
Aplac 7.61
180.00
dB
135.00
90.00
45.00
0.00
1.000G 2.0 3.0G 4.0G 5.0G 6.0G
f/Hz
phase

Figure 21. The optimized phase dierence between coupled and

directed ports of the one-section branch coupler.

Table 4. One-section branch line coupler.

Series lines Branch lines

Impedance 35.3133 50
Length L1 = 11.41 mm L2 = 12.835 mm
Width W 1 = 3.762 mm W 2 = 2.351 mm

coupler operated at 4 GHz. Figure 24 shows the optimized phase

dierence between coupled and directed ports of the two-section branch
coupler operated at 4 GHz.
Figures 25 through 27 show the complete schematic diagrams of
three 4 GHz transmitter modules using Lange, one-section branch and
two-section branch couplers.
Progress In Electromagnetics Research B, Vol. 13, 2009 127

Table 5. Two-section branch coupler.

Branch (inside) Branch (outside)

Series lines
lines lines
Impedance 35.3 35.3 120.7
Length L1 = 13.51 mm L2 = 13.51 mm L3 = 14.349 mm
Width W 1 = 3.993 mm W 2 = 3.993 mm W 3 = 0.438 mm

Figure 22. The Aplac conguration of the designed two-section

branch coupler operated at 4 GHz: (1) Input port. (2) Coupled port.
(3) Directed port and (4) Isolated port.

Optimized result
Aplac 7.61
0.00
-5.75
-11.50
-17.25
-23.00
1.0G 2.25 3.5G 4.75G 6.0G
|S21| f/Hz
|S31|
|S41|

Figure 23. The optimized |S21 |, |S31 |, and |S41 | versus frequency
(GHz) for the two-section branch coupler operated at 4 GHz.

6. APPPLICATION AND FUTTURE WORKS

The designed integrated antenna modules have many applications

including sensors, pulse Doppler communications, airborne radars,
trac control radars, satellite communications, etc.
128 Ibrahim

Optimized result
Aplac 7.61
180.00

135.00
deg.
90.00

45.00

0.00
1.0G 2.0G 3.0G 4.0G 5.0G 6.0G
phase f/Hz

Figure 24. The optimized phase dierence between coupled and

directed ports of the two-section branch coupler.

Figure 25. The complete schematic diagram of three 4 GHz

transmitter modules using Lange coupler.

Figure 26. The complete schematic diagram of three 4 GHz

transmitter modules using one-section branch coupler.

As a future work, the comparison between the performance of

these modules will be studied with the eect of the bias networks in
addition to a complete circuit simulation of the modules with all thier
parts being connected (MPA, oscillator and coupler) using the most
Progress In Electromagnetics Research B, Vol. 13, 2009 129

Figure 27. The complete schematic diagram of three 4 GHz

transmitter modules using two-section branch coupler.

recent approaches for coupling FDTD with circuit functionality, device

physics (drift-diussion and hydrodynamic particle transportation)
and the thermodynamic eects can be performed.

7. CONCLUSION

Three active integrated transmitter modules are designed and

analyzed. These modules comprise a two-port-negative resistance
oscillator operated at 4 GHz, and a patch antenna resonated at 4 GHz.
The modules used Lange or branch (one or two sections) couplers
to split the oscillator output. The modules are designed using the
microstrip-line technology. The design methodologies of the two-
port negative resistance oscillator and microstrip patch antenna are
introduced and explained. The full scale-simulation program developed
by the author is used for the design of the module elements. This
simulation program fully takes into account all the discontinuities the
microstrip design. The module elements are analyzed using Aplac
V7.61 software. The analyses of the designed modules show a better
eciency and good performances. The modules give a transmit-
antenna gain of 15.7 dB with antenna beam widths 91.7 and 18.2
in E- and H-planes, respectively. The complete schematic diagrams
of the transmitter modules are drawn and the possible applications of
these modules are illustrated.

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