An Empirical Approach for Design of Wideband, Probe-Fed, U-Slot Microstrip Patch Antenna on Single-layer, Infinite, Grounded Substrates

Abstract

Wideband microstrip antennas with relatively simple topologies continue to attract attention for design of compact, high-performance communication systems. The coaxially-fed rectangular patch U-slot has recently been investigated numerically and experimentally, and shown to yield 10 return-loss bandwidths in excess of 20%. However, there are no analytical models, nor any systematic design procedures currently available that can aid in realizing these confugurations. To that end, based on extensive CAD simulation results, for a wide range of commercially available microwave substrates (Er=2.94 to 10.2), and empirical design methodology is derived and illustrated by examples. It is shown that the present empirical design technique, with its attendant limitations, generate wideband U-slot designs that are optimzied using CAD tools such as IE3D within a few iterations, resulting in substantially reduced overall process cycles.