ISSN: 2278 – 909X

International Journal of Advanced Research in Electronics and Communication Engineering (IJARECE)

Volume 4, Issue 12, December 2015

2x2 Microstrip Antenna Array Design for

Bandwidth Enhancement Using four arm Spiral
Electromagnetic Band Gap (EBG) Structure
Santosh Kumar Prajapati, D. C. Dhubkarya
Abstract- The paper provides a detailed study of In these days there is a large demand of
how to design a microstrip patch antenna array using bandwidth but the disadvantage of microstrip patch
electromagnetic band gap structured substrate. First an antenna is it provides very less bandwidth. It can be
antenna array is designed with conventional ground increased by several methods. Many researchers have
plane. After this a spiral four arm ground plane is
given their attention on this topic. Use of
designed with 6 mm width of strip. For the simulation
work IE3D V12.9 software of ZELAND software Inc. is electromagnetic band gap structure is a widely used
used. And all simulated results are shown by the graph. method for it. The structure having periodic
By using the four arm spiral electromagnetic band gap arrangement of dielectric or magnetic materials is
structure, the bandwidth with respect to conventional called as Electromagnetic band gap (EBG) structure.
patch antenna array is enhanced by approximate 150%. Electromagnetic waves travelling through such
It is 0.67GHz in conventional ground plane and structures experience a periodic variation of dielectric
0.93GHz in four arm spiral EBG structure with the permittivity or magnetic permeability. Surface waves
width of 6mm and practically the bandwidth measured are by-products in many antenna designs. Directing
by antenna array with conventional ground plane is
electromagnetic wave propagation along the ground
0.25 GHz and 2 GHz by antenna array with 6 mm wide
four arm spiral ground plane i.e. the bandwidth plane instead of radiation into free space, the surface
measure is enhanced by 800% by using the spiral waves reduce the antenna efficiency and gain. The
ground plane. diffraction of surface waves increases the back lobe
radiations; the band gap feature of Electromagnetic
Index Terms- Microstrip Patch Antenna, Band Gap (EBG) structures has found useful
Electromagnetic Band gap (EBG) Structure, applications in suppressing the surface waves in
bandwidth, Four Arm Spiral Structure. various antenna designs. Electromagnetic Band gap
(EBG) structures or high impedance ground planes
I. INTRODUCTION AND EBG STRUCTURE
have their interesting electromagnetic properties.
Microstrip Patch Antenna has several These structures can decrease the propagation of
advantages like small size, light-weight, low profile, electromagnetic (EM) energy along their surface over
low fabrication cost and planar configuration. That a frequency band. So electromagnetic interference
properties of microstrip antenna makes it fancy in can be used to reduce in circuits by it or even it can
these days. In spite of these advantages, the reduce radiation in a particular direction when
microstrip Patch Antenna suffers from certain coupled to an antenna.
limitations like low efficiency, high Q, low power In this paper four arm spiral EBG structure is
handling ability, very narrow bandwidth and spurious used. The use of four arm spiral structure is because
feed radiation. The performance of antenna can be of its symmetry if the structure is rotated over 90
improved by various methods. To find ultra degree then there will not be any variation in the
wideband response and minimization of array are results.
important design issue. There has been an effort
II. METHODOLOGY
focused on increasing bandwidth by the using
modified ground plane method. This paper is for the design of microstrip patch
antenna with spiral ground plane. Here four arm
Manuscript received Dec, 2015.
Santosh Kumar Prajapati, Department of Electronics and spiral ground plane is used to enhance the bandwidth
Communication Engineering, Bundelkhand Institute of of the microstrip patch antenna. In first stage a 2X2
Engineering and Technology, Jhansi, India array with conventional ground plane designed and it
is used as a reference antenna after this four arm
D. C. Dhubkarya, Department of Electronics and
Communication, Bundelkhand Institute of Engineering and modified spiral ground plane is used. The width of
Technology, Jhansi, India spiral arm varied and several values and best result
found on the strip width of 6 mm.

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All Rights Reserved © 2015 IJARECE
 ISSN: 2278 – 909X
International Journal of Advanced Research in Electronics and Communication Engineering (IJARECE)
Volume 4, Issue 12, December 2015

All the results simulated on IE3D V12.9

software of ZELAND software Inc. and its
comparison is shown in the graph. It is seen that in
the simulated result, the bandwidth enhanced by
150% using 6 mm wide strip four arm spiral ground Simulated
plane and practically measured result shows that the Practically
measured
bandwidth enhanced by 800%.

III. 2X2 PATCH ANTENNA ARRAY WITH

CONVENTIONAL GROUND PLANE Fig. 2 Return loss of 2X2 array with conventional ground
DESIGN AND RESULTS plane

The 2X2 array is designed with design Fig. 3 shows the Radiation pattern of the
specification as shown in table i and fig. 1 shown the antenna. The operating frequency of the antenna is
designed antenna. 3.25GHz at which the maximum gain has occurred.
The radiation pattern plotted in the fig. 3(a) is the
Table I Design specification of 2X2 array with azimuth pattern at θ= 0o and in fig. 3(b) is the
conventional ground plane elevation pattern at φ=90o.
Single Patch Length Lp 36mm
Single Patch Width Wp 30mm
Patch Separation d 46mm
Feed to patch LfXWf 2mmX18.75mm
Width of power distributer Wd 2.5 mm
Substrate Thickness h 1.6mm
The dimensions of ground 160mm
plane X160mm
Dielectric Constant єr 4.4

(a) (b)

Fig. 3 Radiation Pattern

The antenna is designed on a double sided

printed circuit board on a given specification. The
width of the printed circuit board is 1.6 mm. and it is
shown in fig. 4. Fig. 4 (a) shows the array view or
patch view and fig. 4(b) shows the ground plane of
the array.

Fig. 1. 2x2 Array with Conventional Ground Plane

Fig. 2 shows the return loss comparison of the

simulated and practically measured results. In (a) Array (b) Ground plane
simulation the maximum bandwidth is 0.67GHz Fig. 4. Practically designed 2X2 array with conventional
(2.90GHz-3.57 GHz) and in practically measured ground plane
maximum bandwidth is 0.25 GHz (3GHz-3.5GHz).

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All Rights Reserved © 2015 IJARECE
 ISSN: 2278 – 909X
International Journal of Advanced Research in Electronics and Communication Engineering (IJARECE)
Volume 4, Issue 12, December 2015

IV. 2X2 PATCH ANTENNA ARRAY WITH (simulated) (2.57GHz-3.50GHz) which is enhanced
SPIRAL GROUND PLANE DESIGN AND by approximate 150% in comparison to conational
RESULTS ground plane and 2GHz (practically measured)
(2.75GHz-4.75GHz) which is enhanced by
The ground is modified by 6 mm four arm spiral approximate 800% in comparison to conventional
ground plane and a 2X2 array is designed with design ground plane.
specification as shown in table ii and fig. 5 shown the Fig. 7 shows the Radiation pattern of the antenna.
designed antenna. The operating frequency of the antenna is 3.25GHz at
Table ii Design specification of 2X2 array with spiral which the maximum gain has occurred. The radiation
ground plane pattern plotted in the fig. 7(a) is the azimuth pattern
at θ= 0o and in fig. 7(b) is the elevation pattern at
Single Patch Length Lp 36 mm φ=90o.
Single Patch Width Wp 30 mm
Patch Separation d 46 mm
Feed to patch Lf X Wf 2 mmX18.75 mm
Width of power distributer Wd 2.5 mm
Substrate Thickness h 1.6 mm
The dimensions of ground plane 160 mm X160 mm
Dielectric Constant єr 4.4
Ground plane strip width and 6 mm
gap

(a) (b)

Fig. 7 Radiation Pattern

The antenna is designed on a double sided

printed circuit board on a given specification. The
width of the printed circuit board is 1.6 mm. and it is
shown in fig. 8. Fig. 8 (a) shows the array view or
patches view and fig. 8 (b) shows the ground plane of
the array.
Fig. 5 microstrip patch antenna array with spiral ground
plane

The return loss of the 2X2 microstrip patch antenna

array with 6 mm spiral ground plane is shown in
fig.6.

Fig. 8. Practically designed 2X2 array with conventional

Simulated ground plane
Practically
measured V. CONCLUSION

This paper shows that if an electromagnetic band

gap (EBG) structure is used in proper manner then
the bandwidth of the antenna can be increased. Here
Fig. 6 Return loss of 2X2 array with spiral ground plane the 2 X 2 array increases its bandwidth by
approximate 150% i.e. from 67 MHz to 93 MHz.
It is shown in fig. 6 that the maximum bandwidth
achieve by spiral ground plane antenna 0.93 GHz

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All Rights Reserved © 2015 IJARECE
 ISSN: 2278 – 909X
International Journal of Advanced Research in Electronics and Communication Engineering (IJARECE)
Volume 4, Issue 12, December 2015

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