i

DESIGN OF PLANAR ANTENNA FOR OFF GRID WIRELESS

COMMUNICATION SYSTEM

MUHAMMAD KHAIRUL AZRI BIN ZAKARIA

This Report Is Submitted in Partial Fulfilment Of Requirement For The Bachelor

Degree of Electronic Engineering (Telecommunication Electronic)

Fakulti Kejuruteraan Elektronik dan Kejuruteraan Komputer

Universiti Teknikal Malaysia Melaka

June 2017

UNIVERSTI TEKNIKAL MALAYSIA MELAKA FAKUL Tl KEJURUTERAAN ELEKTRONIK DAN KEJURUTERAAN KOMPUTER

BORANG PENGESAHAN STATUS LAPORAN

PROJEK SARJANA MUDA II

Tajuk Projek :DESIGN OF PLANAR ANTENNA FOR OFF GRID WIRELESS

COMMUNICATION SYSTEM

Sesi Pengajian l 1 l 6 l 1 l 1 l 1 I

Saya MUHAMMAD KHAIRUL AZRI BIN ZAKARIA

mengaku membenarkan Laporan Projek Sarjana Muda ini disimpan di Perpustakaan dengan syarat-syarat kegunaan seperti berikut:

1. Laporan adalah hakmilik Universiti Teknikal Malaysia Melaka.

2. Perpustakaan dibenarkan membuat salinan untuk tujuan pengajian sahaja.

3. Perpustakaan dibenarkan membuat salinan laporan ini sebagai bahan pertukaran

antara institusi pengajian tinggi.

4. Sila tandakan ( ,/ ) :

D SULIT*

D TERHAD**

TIDAK TERHAD

(TAN~ANGAN P~NULIS)

. 2'[4;[' 11 Tankh: ... .................. . .... .

*(Mengandungi maklumat yang berdarjah keselamatan atau kepentingan Malaysia seperti yang termaktub di dalam AKTA RAHSIA RASMI 1972)

**(Mengandungi maklumat terhad yang telah ditentukan oleh organisasi/badan di mana penyelidikan dijalankan)

Disahkan oleh:

ii

"I hereby declare that this report is the results of my own except for quotes as cited in

the reference"

Signature

Author

Date

: Muha~Azri Bin Zakaria

: 2nd June 2017

111

"I hereby declare that I have read this report and in my opnion this reports is sufficient

in terms of the scope and quality for the award of Bachelor Degree of Electronic

Engineering (Telecommunication Electronics) with Honours"

Signature

Supervisor' s Name : PM Dr Zahriladha Bin Zakaria

Date J l { / )- <> It

iv

Special dedication to,

My beloved and supportive parents,

My Supervisor,

My family,

And to all my friends

For their encouragements, and best wishes.

v

ACKNOWLEDGEMENT

Alhamdulillah. At last I am able to complete this project and submit the thesis on

time. First of all, I would like by thanking Allah SWT, the most gracious and the

most merciful for blessing us to finish this project. Without His guidance I would

never be able to accomplish anything in my whole life.

I would also like to thank my parents for supporting my education for many

years, and for constant encouragement, advising and guiding me in this life. I also

want to take this opportunity to express the deepest appreciation to my supervisor,

Prof. Madya Dr. Zahriladha bin Zakaria, for his patience guidance, enthusiastic and

encouragement of this project. His willingness to give his time so generously has

been very much appreciated.

Then, greatest gratitude goes to my friends that have been advising me,

helping me in many ways to make sure I will never give up in our life. Without the

co-operation from them, it is difficult for me to complete this project on time.

vi

ABSTRACT

Currently, the wireless coverage for outdoor communication system

depends to the tower antenna to function well. However, most of the remote area

such as hills, jungle or isolated area are not fully covered by any telecommunications

coverage. Hence, it is difficult to interact with outside people. The same thing

happen during natural disaster. Communications cannot be created if the antenna

tower break down during flood or earthquake. Therefore, to solve this problem,

Malaysia Communication And Multimedia Commission have introduced specific

frequency spectrum for Short Range Device. Further to this, a prototype of a planar

antenna which supports wide range of spectrum especially for outdoor application

is the main purpose of this project. So, an antenna with frequency of 915MHz is

designed using Computer Simulation Technology (CST) software. This study also

will propose a planar antenna, comes with compact size but have great performance.

As the end product, the antenna has successfully being used as SRD antenna

application, with gain of 5.704dB and return loss of -14.345dB in the range of 500m.

This study is important for off grid wireless communication system to reconnect the

isolated area and during emergency.

vii

ABSTRAK

Pada masa kini, liputan tanpa wayar untuk sistem komunikasi bagi kegunaan

luar bergantung kepada menara stesen untuk berfungis dengan baik.

Walaubagaimanapun, kebanyakan kawasan terpencil seperti kawasan berbukit, hutan

dan kawasan pedalaman tidak diliputi rangkaian telekomunikasi. Ini menyebabkan

berlakunya kesulitan untuk berinteraksi dengan orang luar. Hal yang sama berlaku

semasa bencana alam melanda. Komunikasi tidak dapat dicipta jika menara stesen

rosak disebabakan banjir atau gempa bumi. Oleh hal yang demikian, untuk

menyelesaikan masalah ini, Suruhanjaya Komunkasi Dan Multimedia Malaysia

(MCMC) telah memperkenalkan spektrum frekuensi yang khusus untuk Alat Jarak

Pendek (SRD). Oleh itu, prototaip mengenai antenna yang menyokong spektum lebar

terutama untuk kegunaan luar telah menjadi tujuan projek ini. Antenna itu akan

dibina menggunakan perisian Computer Simulation Technology (CST). Projek ini

juga akan mengusulkan sebuah antenna planar yang bersaiz kompak tetapi

mempunyai kesan yang baik. Sebagai hasil akhirnya, antenna itu telah berjaya dibina

untuk aplikasi antenna SRD dengan ‘gain’ 5.704dB dan ‘return loss’ -14.345dB

dalam lingkungan 500m. Projek ini penting untuk kegunaan sistem komunikasi tapa

wayar tanpa kuasa untuk menyambung semula orang di kawasan terpencil dan

semasa kecemasan.

viii

TABLE OF CONTENT

CHAPTER TITLE PAGE

PROJECT TITLE i

DECLARATION ii

DEDICATION iv

ACKNOWLEDGEMENT v

ABSTRACT vi

ABSTRAK vii

TABLE OF CONTENT viii

LIST OF TABLE xii

LIST OF FIGURE xiii

ABBREVIATION xiv

1 INTRODUCTION

1.1 Project Briefing 1

1.2 Problem Statement 2

1.3 Objective 4

1.4 Scope of Project 4

1.5 Organization of Thesis 5

2 LITERATURE REVIEW

2.1 Theory 6

2.2 Critical Literature Review 7

2.3 Related Review Antenna Design 12

ix

2.4 Short Range Device (SRD) 15

2.4.1 Technical Requirement For SRD 15

2.5 Basic Antenna Parameter 16

2.5.1 Return Loss 16

2.5.2 Bandwidth 16

2.5.3 Gain 17

2.5.4 Voltage Standing Wave Ratio (VSWR) 17

3 METHODOLOGY

3.1 Introduction 18

3.2 Flow Chart Of Project Methodology 19

3.3 Design And Simulation Of Antenna 25

3.3.1 Design Of Substrate And Patch Of Antenna 25

3.3.2 Design Of Slot of Antenna 27

3.3.3 Feed Technique 28

3.3.4 Simulation Of The Antenna 29

3.4 Antenna Design Parameters 30

3.5 Parametric Study 31

3.5.1 Fabrication 32

3.5.2 Measurement 32

4 RESULTS AND DISCUSSION

4.1 Design Of Antenna 35

4.1.1Return Loss 36

4.1.2 Gain 37

4.1.3 Directivity 38

4.1.4 Effect Of Changing Patch Dimensions 39

4.1.5 Effect Of Varying The Slot Dimensions 41

4.2 Antenna Fabrication And Analysis 42

x

4.2.1 Fabrication Of The Antenna 42

4.2.2 Received Power 44

4.2.3 Return Loss 45

4.2.4 Radiation Pattern 46

4.3 Analysis Of Simulation And Measurement Results 47

4.3.1 Comparison Of Return Loss 47

4.3.2 Comparison Of Gain 48

4.4 Field Test 48

5 CONCLUSION AND RECOMMENDATION

5.1 Conclusion 50

5.2 Recommendations 51

REFERENCES 52

APPENDICES 56

xi

LIST OF TABLE

Table Title Pages

Table 2.1 The review of 19 references used in this project 7

Table 2.2 Technical requirements for Short Range Device 15

Table 3.1 Parameter of the substrate and material used for ground 29

and patch

Table 3.2 Antenna design, before and after optimization 30

Table 3.3 Value of the parameter of the patch 31

Table 4.1 Effect of changing the patch dimensions of antenna 40

Table 4.2 U-Slot length 42

Table 4.3 Comparison between simulated and measurement results 48

xii

LIST OF FIGURES

Figures Title Pages

Figure 1.1 Sky view of the incident flood happen in Kuala Krai 3

Figure 1.2 Earthquake disaster, happen in India 3

Figure 1.3 Normal communications with breakdown base station and 3

proposed communication using SRD antenna

Figure 3.1 Flow chart of the overall project 19

Figure 3.2 The design of proposed antenna in CST 22

Figure 3.3 The fabrication process of antenna 23

Figure 3.4 Laboratory test using Vector Network Analyzer and 23

Anechoic Chamber

Figure 3.5 Process of the field test 24

Figure 3.6 Dimensions of antenna from front view 25

Figure 3.7 Adding slot to the antenna 28

Figure 3.8 Bottom view of feeding probe 28

Figure 3.9 Waveguide port on the back of the coaxial feed 29

Figure 3.10 U-Slot of the patch antenna and its parameter 31

Figure 3.11 Etching machine 32

Figure 3.12 Network analyzer 33

Figure 3.13 Measuring radiation pattern 33

Figure 4.1 Front, right, back and perspective view if 3D view of 36

planar antenna

Figure 4.2 Return loss at frequency 915MHz 37

Figure 4.3 3D gain and polar gain at frequency 915MHz 37

Figure 4.4 3D directivity of antenna at frequency 915MHz and 39

Polar directivity at frequency 915MHz

Figure 4.5 Return loss or S1,1 of the parametric study 40

Figure 4.6 The parametric study of the length of U-slot 41

Figure 4.7 Prototype stacked microstrip antenna 43

xiii

Figure 4.8 Received power for frequency 915MHz 44

Figure 4.9 Equipment for measure cable loss and power receiver 44

Figure 4.10 Vector Network Analyzer (VNA) 45

Figure 4.11 S1,1 plot for measurement results 45

Figure 4.12 E-E and E-H plane for frequency at 915 MHz 46

Figure 4.13 H-E and H-H plane for frequency at 915MHz 46

Figure 4.14 S1,1 plot for simulation and measurement 47

Figure 4.15 Field test 49

Figure 7.1 SRD Modules 56

Figure 7.2 Field test held at Kompleks Sukan 56

Figure 7.3 Field test to test the distance of SRD antenna 57

Figure 7.4 Outside camera of the Anechoic Chamber 57

Figure7.5 Antenna inside the Anechoic Chamber 58

Figure 7.6 Etching process to clean the FR-4 board 58

Figure 7.7 Etching process 59

Figure 7.8 Etching process 59

xiv

ABBREVIATION

SRD Short Range Device

CST Computer Simulation Technology

dB Decibles

MPA Microstrip Patch Antena

RL Return Loss

VSWR Voltage Standing Wave Ratio

MCMC Malaysia Communications And Multimedia Commisions

m Meter

km Kilometer

BW Bandwidth

VNA Vector Network Analyzer

MHz Kilohertz

GHz Gigahertz

1

CHAPTER 1

INTRODUCTION

This chapter discussion about general overview and briefly explain the project by

stating the objectives, problem statement and the scope of projects.

1.1 Project Briefing

Planar antenna is a directional antenna in where all the elements are in one plane.

This project is focusing on the development of planar antenna for off-grid

communication system applications. Currently, the wireless coverage for outdoor

communication system depends to the tower antenna to function well. Hence,

Malaysia Communications and Multimedia Commission (MCMC) have introduced

frequency spectrum for Short Range Device (SRD).

The design of the high gain planar antenna using the technique microstrip patch

which is a planar antenna is expected to compensate the narrow bandwidth

characteristic possessed by the conventional monopole or dipole antenna. It is also

supposed to be an alternative way to communicate, if natural disaster occur that

cause the tower to break down. Further to this, a prototype of a high-gain planar

antenna which supports wide range of spectrum especially for outdoor application

is the main purpose of this project. Shortly, this project will use the technique of

microstrip patch antenna. The design of stacked patch antenna will be completed by

using Computer Simulation Technology (CST) software. Then, the antenna will be

2

connected to Short Range Devices (SRD) in frequency of 915MHz to create the

off-grid wireless communication system in the range of 500m. This devices also is

supposed to reconnect the rural area with the urban area.

1.2 Problem Statement

As we know, isolated and rural area, such as remote areas, jungle, hills and

others are basically not covered with any telecommunication, hence the

communication between the area and outside that area cannot be achieved.

Therefore, make it difficult to communicate, even with basic text, call or GPS

location to that off-grid areas.[1] A phone without network coverage is useless, as

service operators of the telecommunication company mainly serve to urban areas and

have non-existent coverage to the remote areas.[2] [5] Telecommunication company

in our country, such as Celcom, Maxis and DiGi are unable to reach the areas.[3]

When a natural disaster occur, such as flood or earthquake, the current

telecommunication towers have the possibility to be unusable due to the weather

conditions. [1],[2],[4]. Hence, the smartphone will lost its function to communicate

due to break-down tower antenna that cause the communication to be paralyzed.

To help human during the disaster and help people at the remote areas, a

new technology has been proposed by developing a wireless off-grid communication

system, that can be alternative way to communicate in the absence of normal

communication. Malaysia Communications And Multimedia Commission (MCMC)

have introduced specific frequency spectrum for Short range Device (SRD) [3]. SRD

can be used to create off-grid communication to replace the normal communication

in the absence of base station or tower antenna as shown in Figure 3b. SRD that can

operate in the frequency of 915MHz, are able to cover until 500m. [3] therefore, my

study will propose and improve the SRD range, so that I can produce antenna with

higher gain in small size and can cover until 500m.

3

Figure 1.1 : Sky view of the incident flood happen in Kuala Krai, Kelantan [1]

Figure 1.2 : Earthquake disaster, that happen in India [4]

(a) (b)

Figure 1.3 : (a) Normal communication with breakdown base station , (b)

Proposed communication using SRD antenna. [3]

4

1.3 Objective

The objectives of this project are to develop a planar antenna for off-grid wireless

communication system. In order to complete this project, some objectives has been listed

down :

a. To design a planar antenna for off-grid communication system application

(915MHz).[3]

b. To design the antenna for short range device and SRD module based on

microwave circuit-theory approach in order to model an ideal circuit.

c. To analyze the proposed design through the simulation of planar antenna using

the designated circuit and electromagnetic (EM) simulator such as Computer

Simulation Technology (CST).

d. To evaluate and validate the design in laboratory and field test environments.

1.4 Scope of Project

The scope of this project involves Computer Simulation Technology software (CST)

and Short Range Device (SRD). The main objective of this project is to design a planar

antenna for off-grid wireless communication system. The first thing to do is making some

research, either by using journals or from internet. The research is focused on the planar

antenna to study the performance of antenna in term of bandwidth, gain and frequency.

The parameter of antenna also being calculated by using the formulae. Then, the process

of designing the antenna will be working in Computer Simulation Technology (CST)

software. In this step, the substrate, thickness of material used, material used and others

will be deeply investigated, to find the best result. When the expected result is obtained,

the design will be fabricated, followed by laboratory test using Vector Network Analyzer

(VNA). Lastly, field test will be held to validate the functioning of the new technology

between carrier module with SRD antenna. Two laptops, each is connected to carrier

module is used in separate distance to prove that it can achieve the expected range of

communication.

5

1.5 Organisation of Thesis

In chapter 1, a brief overview has been done. It covers the problem statement that

becomes the motivation to do the project, and set some target or objectives to be achieved at

the end of the project. Scope of work also has been state to know what is the software and

process of the study.

In chapter 2, 26 references from journals and websites has been a source to get the

information. Information from websites are more focused to how to solve the problem whereas

the information from journal take pressure to the antenna design. Then, the antenna are study

in term of frequencies, bandwidth, gain, return loss and its size to get the best antenna design.

For chapter 3, a flow chart shows the process of the project, divided to 6 phases, which is

starting from literature review until report writing. The project uses hardware device such as

Vector Network Analyzer (VNA) and software devices such as CST. Design and simulation of

antenna also be explained here especially in designing the substrate and patch and the slot of

antenna. After that simulation of antenna take place and both simulation and measurement

results has been recorded and being compared.

In chapter 4, explain about the design of antenna. The results of the simulation from CST

and result from lab measurement has been compared in term of return loss, gain, frequency,

bandwidth and radiation pattern. From there, the difference between these two results has been

compared and the reasons has been identified. Also, the tuning process which is includes

changing the patch dimensions and varying the u-slot dimensions. Based on the results, the

patch act to shift to lower frequency but u-slot change the return loss of antenna.

For chapter 5, it is about the end product of the project, make a conclusions about it.

Hence, for the future work, the antenna design can be improved in some ways to get better

results and better performance.

6

CHAPTER 2

LITERATURE REVIEW

This chapter review on some of the sources such as paper, previous journals and

websites as references in this project. All references has been cited.

2.1 Theory

Telecommunication technology is changing rapidly, and hence, new communication

methods and sophisticated devices are created [5]. The rising of telecommunication

technology give a lot of advantage to human, especially by creating a foster

community and allow exchange of information. Unfortunately, the rural, remote or

isolated areas such as jungle, hills are not fully covered by the communication.

Therefore, make it difficult to communicate, even with basic text, call or GPS

location to that off-grid areas. A phone without network coverage is useless, as

service operators of the telecommunication company mainly serve to urban areas and

have non-existent coverage to the remote areas. [5] Telecommunication companies in

our country, such as Celcom, Maxis and DiGi are unable to reach the areas. When

natural disasters occur, such as flood or earthquake, the current telecommunication

towers have the possibility to be unusable due to the weather conditions. [1],[2],[4].

Also, the cellular tower can be easily destroyed by these natural phenomena [7].

7

Hence, the smartphone will lose its function to communicate due to break-down

tower antenna that caused the communication to be paralyzed. To solve this problem,

Malaysia Communications And Multimedia Commission (MCMC) have introduced

specific frequency spectrum for Short Range Device (SRD) [3]. SRD is used in this

project to produce bidirectional and unidirectional communication, as it has low

capability to cause interference with other radio equipment.[3] SRD can be used to

create off-grid communication to replace the normal communication in the absence

of base station or tower antenna. SRD that can operate in the frequency of 915MHz,

are able to cover until 500m. [3] Therefore, my study will propose and improve the

SRD range, so that I can produce antenna with higher gain in small size and can

cover until 2km. The new design of my antenna is small in size, but provide higher

gain with wider range. The SRD then will be connected with smartphones as a

solution to the off-grid communication system.

2.2 Critical literature review.

In this project, 19 references are reviewed critically as shown in table 2.1.

Table 2.1 : The review of 19 references used in this project.

Ref.

Title

Remarks

[6]

High Gain

Filtering Antenna

For WCDMA

Application

• The antenna was built with a driven patch and a stacked

patch.

• Exhibits a narrower bandwidth, that is 1.92-2.17GHz

with gain of 9.7dBi.

• The permittivity of substrate is 2.65 for both patch.

• The bandpass filtering response of the antenna is

obtained by the three radiation nulls.

• Good and stable boresight radiation characteristics are

8

achieved across the entire passband.

[8]

High gain planar

antenna using

optimised partially

reflective surfaces

• 13.8-14.8GHz frequency with 22.5dBi gain are used

with 14.275-14.45GHz bandwidth.

• This antenna is complex, need high cost and has low

efficiency.

• This antenna introduces a leaky wave and beamforming

effect when placed in front of a grounded waveguide

aperture.

• Gain and bandwidth depend on the reflection from

partially reflective surface.

• Several elements of geometries such as dipoles, crossed

dipoles, patches, rings and square loops have been used.

• Dipoles were the best element as other element did not

show variation even they were packed closely together.

[9]

Planar

Ultrawideband

Antennas With

Improved

Realized Gain

Performance

• The shape is arc-shaped slot.

• Multimode-resonator filter is combined with slot

modified UWB antenna.

• The frequency is 3.1-10.6GHz, 10GHz bandwidth with

0.22-2.13dBi gain.

• Passband does not completely cover the 10-dB return

loss band.

[10]

The Design of High

Gain Substrate

Integrated

Waveguide

Antennas

• Design of circularly polarized substrate integrated

waveguide antenna.

• Stable gain is obtained, that is 4dBi, by using 10.70 -

12.16GHz frequency.

• The result shown is in E-field pattern, and from the

pattern, no slots the gain is comparatively less. Without

slots, the gains increased by 4.0025.

[11]

High Gain Patch

Antenna for

• The antenna suited for inter-satellite.

• Consists of four patch antenna array.

• The CubeSat is 96mm square antenna substrate, have

good impedance matching at 2.46GHz.

9

CubeSat • Rely on high frequency, to provide high bit rate and use

S-Band.

• Provide gain of 9.6dB to avoid communication

discrepancy during transmission of signals with bore

site direction of 10.06dBi and beam width of 54.8o.

[12]

Design And

Fabrication Of A

Microstrip Printed

T Monopole

Antenna For ISM

Application

• T-shaped printed monopole antenna, fed by 50Ω inset

feed techniques, with FR4 substrate.

• The frequency is 2.4GHz, but 0.2GHz shift occur in the

measurement resonant frequency.

• Conventional cylindrical monopole suffers from low

gain, not compatible for Monolithic MIC’s design.

[13]

A Wideband Planar

Inverted F Antenna

For Wireless

Communication

Devices

• Shows a wide range of frequency, 1.35-2.51GHz with

VSWR<2 and it is achieved with the help of two open

ended slots on the ground.

• The radiation pattern for the proposed antenna is

Omni-directional.

• Average gain is 2.72dBi and is shows that there is

perfect matching between antenna structure and

co-axial feed.

[14]

A Compact

Multiband Partially

Reflective Surface

Antenna For

XBAND And

WLAN

Applications

• The substrate used is RT-Duroid 4003, thickness of

20mm and permittivity of 2.2.

• Operate at 1.8GHz and 5.375GHz for WLAN and GSM

application, and 5.498GHz – 7.535GHz for X-band

application.

• Radiation pattern is Omni-directional radiation pattern.

• Reconfigurable defected microstrip based phase shifters

are use in the feed network.

[15]

Design And

Simulation Of

Patch Antenna For

3.51GHz S-Band

• Works on 3.51GHz, minimum return loss at this

frequency is -19.6 dB and gain is 9.13 dB with 1.2

VSWR.

• Substrate used is FR-4, permittivity is 4.4.

• The patch is in circular shape and gives higher gain,