Design and Analysis of 28 GHz Millimeter Wave …...Design and Analysis of 28 GHz Millimeter Wave...

Journal of Science Technology Engineering and Management-Advanced Research & Innovation ISSN 2581-4982

Vol. 1, Issue 3, August 2018

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Design and Analysis of 28 GHz Millimeter Wave

Antenna Array for 5G Communication Systems

Dheeraj Mungur & Shankar Duraikannan

Asia Pacific University, Technology Park Malaysia, Bukit Jalil 5700, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia

[email protected]

Abstract: Microstrip patch antennas with significant attributes such as low cost, light weight, low profile

and compatible with Monolithic Microwave Integrated Circuit are used widely in mobile communication.

This paper presents the design of 28 GHz microstrip patch array antenna. The patch is designed using the

substrate Rogers RT Duroid 5880 with a dielectric constant ɛr = 2.2 and a thickness of 0.254 mm. The

overall dimension of single patch is 14.71 mm x 7.9 mm x 0.254 mm. A quarter-wave transformer is

incorporated and a lumped port is used to excite the antenna having an input characteristic impedance of

50 Ω. And further the design performance of a 2 x 1 and 4 x 1 array is evaluated on Roger Duroid 5880

without and with reflective materials for gain enhancement. The gain of the 2 x 1 array is of 10.20 dB and

the 4 x 1 is 13.55 dB. Furthermore, the proposed design performance is evaluated on different types of

substrate and with varied substrate thickness. The comparative analysis clearly indicates the influence of

the substrate parameters in the antenna performance and gives an appropriate insight into the choice of

substrate for the antenna design.

Keywords: Microstrip Patch Antenna, Patch Array, 28GHz, Millimeter Wave, Array Antenna, 5G.

1. Introduction

Microstrip patch antenna was created in the early 1950s and 20 years later, the research and development

of microstrip antenna grew along with the development of printed circuit board [1]. Due to its low profile

and small size, it found various application in different fields. It is widely used for civilian and military

application. For example, radio frequency identification (RFID), mobile system, surveillance system, vehicle

collision avoidance system, broadcast radio, satellite communications, missile guidance, radar systems and

remote sensing [1][2]. On the other hand, microstrip patch antenna suffers losses such as conductor, dielectric

and radiation which result in narrowing the bandwidth and lowering the gain. Many research were made and it

was seen that when changing the shape of the antenna patch, it improves its bandwidth [3]. Microstrip patch

antenna is a printed antenna consisting of a radiating patch usually on the upper side of the substrate and a

ground plane on the opposite side. The patch is generally made from copper, silver or gold and it can take

different shapes also. This type of antenna has several advantages such as being light weight, low cost, low

volume, low profile, compatible with MMIC designs and fabrication is easy [4][5]. Microstrip patch antennas

contribute to a high antenna quality factor, Q which represents the losses related to the antenna and a large Q

lowers its efficiency and narrows the bandwidth [6]. Microstrip patch antennas contribute to a high antenna

quality factor, Q which represents the losses related to the antenna and a large Q lowers its efficiency and

narrows the bandwidth. Nevertheless, the use of photonic gap can minimize surface waves [7]. Other problems

such as lower power handling capacity and low gain can be overcome by using an array configuration for the

elements. Several microstrip patch array antennas are designed to mitigate the limitations [8]-[14].

Design and Analysis of 28 GHz Millimeter Wave Antenna Array for 5G Communication Systems Dheeraj Mungur & Shankar Duraikannan

2. Design Methodology

The fundamental single patch design is adopted from the research on microstrip patch antenna at 28 GHz.

[15]. The modification that has been done is the transmission line of the patch. It is changed from inset feed to

rectangular feed. This modification was done so that proper impedance matching could be done more easily

with the combination of quarter-wave transformer. The quarter wave transformer will be placed in between the

antenna load and the feed line. This will provide impedance matching thus minimizing the reflection of the

incident power. The characteristic impedance of the quarter-wave transformer is 87.26 Ω. The length of the

transmission line is set to λ/4 also and width to 50 Ω. Figure 1 below shows the antenna combined with the

quarter-wave transformer and also the calculation for the modification done. Secondly

Figure 1: Patch Antenna with Quarter Wave Transformer

The dimensions of the patch remained the same i.e. the length (along x axis) is set to 4.24 mm and the

width (along y axis) is set to 3.47 mm. The microstrip patch antenna has a characteristic impedance of

152.29 Ω (RL) and it has to be connected to the 50 Ω (Z0) transmission line.

3. Construction Details

3.1 Single Patch

The substrate used to make the single microstrip patch antenna is Rogers RT Duroid 5880 having a

dielectric constant of 2.2 and a thickness of 0.254 mm. The copper cladding used is of thickness 17.5 µm.

Figure 2 below shows the dimensions of the modified antenna and Table 1 shows the dimensions of the

patch antenna [15].

Table 1: Dimensions for Single Patch

Parameter Value (mm)

W 4.105

L 3.362

W1 0.304

L1 2.007

W2 0.783

L2 1.958



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Figure 2: Modified Microstrip Patch Antenna

3.2 2 x 1 Array

The proposed array is designed using 2 rectangular patches arranged in 2 x 1 formation. It is linked with a

serial 50 Ω transmission line feed of width 0.783 mm that splits into two 100 Ω line having width of 0.228

mm. The electrical length of the transmission line is λ/4 = 1.958 mm. The separation distance set initially

between the patch is set to λ/2 = 5.357 mm. The 2 x 1 array was optimized for increased bandwidth with the

achieved gain of 10 dB. This was done by modifying the electrical length of the transmission line to 1.842

mm and the separation distance has been increased to 6.242 mm. Figure 3 shows the construction details of

the 2 x 1 rectangular array.

Figure 3: Construction Details of 2 x 1 Array

3.3 4 x 1 Array

The proposed 4 x 1 rectangular array is designed and incorporated with a serial feed. The transmission

feed line is normalized to 50 Ω having a width of 0.783 mm which is then splits to two 100 Ω line of width

0.391 mm. Quarter-wave transformers are used for proper impedance matching to connect the patch to the

transmission line. The separation distance of the patches are set initially to λ/2 = 5.357 mm and the

transmission line to 1.958 mm. The bandwidth of the antenna was optimized further more by adjusting the

electrical length of the transmission line to 1.842 mm and the separation distance to 6.242 mm. The

construction details of the antenna is shown in Figure 4.

Figure 4: Constructional Details of 4 x 1 Array


3.4 Enhancement

By using the concept of reflective materials to enhance the gain, the enhancement of the antenna was

done in a similar way except that the material was coated to its 3 faces of the substrate. There is no

separation plate as the proposed antenna is very small in size. In fabrication method, it can be either

electroplated or getting the material to be rolled onto the substrate. Different material can be used to

perform this enhancement. Below is a Table of comparison that was simulated to see the effect of the

bandwidth of different materials with a thickness of 0.01 mm. Table 2 shows the bandwidth of the antenna.

With the enhancement of the gain the gain increases, the bandwidth will decrease so the tradeoff between

these two parameters should be done carefully. Five different materials such as Aluminum, Copper, Isola

Gigaver, Polyfon Cu and Chromium were tested to see the behavior of the enhancement. The top two

materials that can be used are aluminum and copper. Here, copper will be chosen as it has a wider

bandwidth allowing more connectivity. The results of the enhanced antennas are tabulated and explained in

the next section of simulation results. The proposed design achieves a gain of 13.55 dB and a bandwidth

more than 500 MHz, which still can be enhanced.

Table 2: Materials for Gain Enhancement

Material Aluminium Copper Isola Gigaver Polyfon Cu Chromium

Bandwidth(MHz) 515 516.5 410 502 507

4. Simulation Results

The simulation results are tabulated in Table 3 and the main four parameters namely, reflection

coefficient, gain, radiation efficiency and directivity are explained and analyzed.

Table 3: Simulation of Single 2x1 and 4x1 patch array



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As seen in Table 3, the return loss of the single patches i.e normal and optimized; both of them resonating

at a frequency of 27.92 GHz. Respectively they achieved a reflection coefficient of -12.54 dB and -12.54

dB. The enhanced version of the single patch has a resonating frequency of 27.08 GHz at -11.82 dB. For the

2 x 1 array, the normal and the optimized have the same resonant frequency at 27.93 GHz and the enhanced

is at 27.79 GHz having reflection coefficient of -24.33 dB, -20.31 dB and -23.93 dB. Lastly, the 4 x 1 array

has resonating frequencies at 27.79 GHz, 28.22 GHz and 27.59 GHz for the normal patch, optimized patch

and enhanced patch respectively. Subsequently, the bandwidth of all antennas reached more than 500 MHz

except the optimized single patch which has the low bandwidth of 473.4 MHz as it was optimized gain-

wise. The highest bandwidth of 582 MHz was achieved by the single enhanced and the second highest is

the 4 x 1 optimized array having value of 571.1 MHz as shown in Figure 5.

Figure 5: Bandwidth of Patch Array

As seen in Table 3 and graphically in Figure 6, the single patches, all having a gain above 6.59 and

maximum is reaching 6.7 dB. For the 2 x 1 array, there has been an improvement of gain of 3.59 dB; these

arrays have a minimum gain of 10.06 dB and the highest gain was achieved by the normal 2 x 1 array which

is 10.28 dB. When the number of patch has been increased to four, the gain increased by 3.27 dB. The

proposed 4 x 1 enhanced array achieved a high gain of 13.55 dB. It is clear that as the number of patch

increases, the gain increases as shown in Figure 6. Subsequently making the beam narrow and more

directional with increased radiation efficiency as shown in Figure 7 and 8 respectively.

Figure 6: Gain of the Patch Array


Figure 7: Directivity of Patch Array

Figure 8: Radiation Effeciency of Patch Array

5. Design Analysis

5.1 Type of Substrate

The desing is analysed on two different type of substrates namely Taconic TLC and FR4. The properties

of the two different substrate are tabulated as below in Table 4 along with the Roger Duroid 5880 to get a

clear comparison. The thickness of all the substrate are kept constant in this test. The dimension of the

antenna were re-calculated.

Table 4: Substrate Properties

Substrate Properties RT Duroid 5880 Taconic TLC FR4

Dielectric Constant 2.2 3.2 4.36

Loss Tangent 0.0009 0.002 0.013

Surface Resistivity 2 x 1010Ω 1 x 107Ω 3 x 107Ω



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As seen in Table 5, when using RT Duroid 5880, the center frequency of the antennas are very near to 28

GHz (maximum shift of 0.75% by 4 x 1 array). When using Taconic TLC, the center frequency shifted on

the left hand side making it go further away from the center frequency. The resonant frequency of the single

patch is shifted by 910 MHz, the 2 x 1 array by 490 MHz and the 4 x 1 array by 1070 MHz (maximum shift

of 3.82% by 4 x 1 array). The FR4 substrate caused some shifting also; for the single patch, it decreased by

630 MHz from the frequency which was set to 28 GHz. For the 2 x 1 array, a decrement of 990 MHz is

seen however for the 4 x 1 array, it is very close to the center frequency compared to the other. It shifted

from 28 GHz to 28.07 GHz. All these antennas were successfully simulated with expected results and each

of them resonated under the -10 dB line and the values are tabulated below.

Table 5: Comparison of Array on Different Substrates

The plots of bandwidth on different substrates is shown in Figure 9. For RT Duroid 5880the bandwidths of

the all antennas are above 500 MHz with the highest bandwidth of 582 MHz achieved by the single patch.

It was expected to see the bandwidth when Taconic TLC to be more than the FR4 but it is vice-versa for the

single and 4 x 1 array. The 2 x 1 of Taconic TLC is greater than FR4. The highest bandwidth achieved by

all these antennas is the FR4 single patch with a bandwidth of 735.8 MHz following by the FR4 4 x 1 array

with a bandwidth of 556.2 MHz.

Figure 9: Bandwidth of the Patch Array on Different Substrate

The radiation will have a direct impact on the gain of the antenna. Figure 10 shows the radiation efficiency

of the patch arrays on different substrates. The radiation efficiency of RT Duroid 5880 is above 97% and


the gain are 6.55 dB, 10.2 dB and 13.48 for the single patch, 2 x 1 and 4 x 1 arrays respectively. The

radiation efficiency of Taconic TLC varies from 91.67% to 88.19%. As the number of patch increases the

radiation efficiency decreases. Lastly for FR4 the radiation efficiency is very less compared to the other

materials. For the first patch it is of 66.91%, the 2 x 1 array has an efficiency of 53.34% and the 4 x 1 array

62.54 %. Subsequently these changes will have an impact on the gain of the antennas.

Figure 10: Radiation Effeciency of the Patch Array on Different Substrate

Figure 11 shows the gain of the array on different substrates. The gain of the antenna increases with the

increasing number of patch. The gain of Taconic and FR4 have the same pattern of Duroid 5880. It can be

seen that the magnitude of Taconic is less than Duroid 5880 and the one for FR4 is lesser than Taconic

making the RT Duroid 5880 the most suitable material to be used. It can be concluded that RT Duroid is the

best candidate from these 3 substrates.

Figure 11: Bandwidth of the Patch Array on Different Substrate

5.2 Thickness of Substrate

The minimum thickness of the substrate RT Duroid 5880 that can be used corresponding to the actual

commercial are one is taken into consideration. The thickness of the substrate should be less than 0.345

mm. RT Rogers Duroid 5880 is available as 0.508 mm, 0.254 mm and 0.127 mm. In this case, the test



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subject will be only 0.127 mm due to this limitation. By changing the thickness of the substrate, some

antenna parameters will change also and the results for the single. 2 x 1 and 4 x 1 array are tabulated as

below in Table 6.

Table 6: Patch Array on 0.254mm and 0.127mm Roger Duriod 5880 Substrate

It can be seen that the bandwidth of the antenna decreased tremendously. The highest bandwidth achieved

at thickness of 0.127 mm is 154.5 MHz by the single patch and the lowest by the 4 x 1 array which is 16.5

MHz. The radiation efficiency of the single patch having length 0.254 mm is the highest among the

simulated ones. The radiation efficiency of the substrate at 0.127 mm decreased to a value of 95.63 %. The

4 x 1 array has a decreased efficiency of 84.52 % and leaving the least one achieving an efficiency of 74.32

%. Only the gain of the first patch at 0.127 mm has increased to 6.92 dB but the gain of both arrays have

decreased. This test shows that the substrate thickness of 0.254 mm is the best candidate for the proposed

antenna.

6. Conclusion

The single patch antenna, 2 x 1 array and the 4 x 1 array were designed and simulated. Their resonant

frequencies are 27.87 GHz, 27.91 GHz, and 27.59 GHz respectively which lies in the LMDS band. The

bandwidth of the antennas are above 500 MHz, starting with the single patch having a bandwidth of 582 MHz,

2 x 1 array of 516.6 MHz and the 4 x 1 array achieved a bandwidth of 519 MHz. A gain of 10.07 dB by the 2 x

1 array and 13.55 dB by the 4 x 1 array is achieved. The comparative analysis on different substrate showed a

decrease in gain of 14.83% for Taconic TLC and 30.70 % for FR4 compared to RT Duroid. The results clearly

indicate that the proposed design can be used for designing mm-wave antennas in 28GHz band for several

wireless and mobile applications.

References

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[15]. Dheeraj Mungur & Shankar Duraikannan (2018), ‘Microstrip Patch Antenna at 28 GHz for 5G Applications’, Journal of

Science Technology Engineering and Management – Advanced Research and Innovation, Volume 1, Issue 1, pp 20 – 22.

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Design and Analysis of 28 GHz Millimeter Wave …...Design and Analysis of 28 GHz Millimeter Wave...

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