A Microstrip Antenna Slot Effect Study (MASES)

O projektu / Introduction

U modernim bežičnim komunikacijama, minijaturne antene su neizbježna komponenta sustava. Da bi se omogućilo rad komunikacijskih uređaja s raznim današnjim protokolima (npr. GSM 900, GMS 1800, Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, LTE) pomoću samo jedne antene (radi uštede fizičkoga prostora koji bi inače trebao kada bi se koristilo po jednu antenu za svaki protokol), moderne antene moraju biti sposobne raditi na više frekvencija, budući da su razni protokoli smješteni na različitim frekvencijama. Da bi se postigli takvi ciljevi, današnji dizajni antene uključuju proreze unutar površine antene, često i uz uporabu elektroničkih sklopki postavljenih preko proreza, ne bi li se postigla ili povećala frekvencija rekonfigurabilnost antene, uz što se još ponegdje kombiniraju i kratkospojne premosnice i sl. Kako rješenja koja se danas primjenjuju ne postoje u udžbenicima odnosno nisu kanonski slučajevi, praktički jedini način dizajniranja jest ekstenzivnom uporabom numeričkih metoda i softverskih alata kojima se zamišljenu strukturu dizajnira i simulira njen rad. Da bi se što prije došlo do uspješnoga prototipa, tipični postupak dizajna se sastoji od: izrade strukture u CAD alatu, simulacija, optimizacija pojedinih parametara dok se rezultati ne prilagode zacrtanim ciljevima, izrada prototipa, mjerenje i, kada se pokaže dovoljna podudarnost rezultata simulacija i mjerenja - publikacija. Koliko god je takva procedura vremenski učinkovita i vodi do uspješnih dizajna i rezultata, javno znanje se svodi na kolekciju specijalnih slučajeva, a bez nastojanja da se detaljnije prouči ponašanje rezonantnih frekvencija pod utjecajem parametara proreza i dođe do određenih zakonitosti u tome, što bi nam omogućilo ne samo bolje razumijevanje ponašanja rezonantnih frekvencija pod promjenom pojedinih parametara proreza, nego i moguće predviđanje rezultata uz manju ovisnost o računalnim alatima.

Cilj ovoga istraživanja jest da proučavanjem utjecaja pojedinih parametara proreza u dizajnu dođemo do detaljnjijih saznanja koliko je pojedina rezonantna frekvencija antene osjetljiva na promjenu pojedinoga parametra proreza i da se dođe do heurističkih formula kojima bi se rezonantne frekvencije mogle predviđati i bez ekstenzivne uporabe računala.

In modern wireless communications, miniature antennas are inevitable component of a system. To enable the operation of communication devices with different protocols today (e.g. GSM 900, GSM 1800, Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, LTE) using only one antenna (to save a physical space that would otherwise be needed if one antenna were used for a single protocol), modern antennas must be capable of multi-frequency operation, given the fact that various protocols are present at different frequencies. To meet such requests, antenna designs nowadays include slots within antenna surface, often with the help of electronics switches placed over the slots in order to achieve or improve frequency reconfigurability of an antenna, sometimes also combining with vias etc. Given the fact that solutions that are implemented nowadays do not exist in textbooks, for not being canonical cases, the only practical means to design them is by an extensive use of numerical methods and software tools that design the envisioned structure and simulated its operation. To reach a successful prototype in a shortest possible time, typical design procedure comprises: structure modeling in a CAD tool, simulation, optimization of particular parameters until the results meet the desired goals, prototype fabrication, measurement and, when there is a sufficient agreement between the simulation and the measurements - publication. As much as such a procedure time efficient and leads to successful design and results, public knowledge comes down to a collection of special cases, without an effort to provide a more detailed insight into the behavior of resonant frequencies under the effect of slot parameters, offering certain laws in that, which would enable us not only a better understanding of the resonant frequencies behavior with respect to the changes of certain parameters, but also a possible prediction of the results with lesser dependence on computer tools.

The objective of this research is to study the impact of specific slot parameters in the antenna design in order to come up with more detailed understanding on how much a particular resonant frequency of the antenna is sensitive to a variation of the particular slot parameter and to possibly come up with heuristic formulas that would be capable of predicting the resonant frequencies even without the extensive use of computers.

Publikacije / Publications

  • Joler, Miroslav; Hodanić, Dora "Interpolative Computation of Two Slot Dimensions in a Rectangular Microstrip Antenna Given the Mode Number and the Resonant Frequency," Conference Proceedings of 2016 SoftCOM, Split, Croatia, Sep. 22-24, 2016. pp. 1-5.

  • Joler, Miroslav; Hodanić, Dora; Šegon, Gordan "A MATLAB Algorithm for Evaluation of a Rectangular Microstrip Antenna Slot Dimensions Given the Resonant Frequency," 2015 ICEAA - IEEE APWC, Torino, Italy, September 7-11, 2015, pp. 1243 - 1246, DOI: 10.1109/APWC.2015.7300203.

  • Joler, Miroslav; Kučan, Joško “Impact of Slot Parameters on the Three Resonant Frequencies of a Rectangular Microstrip Antenna: Study of the impact of the slot length, width, and position," IEEE Antennas and Propagation Magazine, vol. 57, issue 4, August 2015, pp. 48-63, DOI: 10.1109/MAP.2015.2453888.

  • Kučan, Joško; Joler, Miroslav "Impact of slot dimensions on the resonant frequencies of rectangular microstrip antennas," 21st International Conference on Applied Electromagnetics (ICECom) 2013, Dubrovnik Croatia, 14-16 October 2013, pp. 1-5, DOI: 10.1109/ICECom.2013.6684758.