Broadband Antenna Array with Low Cost PCB

Substrate for 5G Millimeter Wave Applications

Wenyao Zhai, Vahid Miraftab and Morris Repeta
Huawei Technologies Canada Research Center, Ottawa, Ontario, Canada

Abstract — In this paper, a novel broadband antenna array in this work. Similar to other antenna arrays, the design of the
is presented. The radiating element is a unique via-fed U-shaped feed network is one of the most challenging tasks. This has
patch element with a distribution network based on offset
stripline technology. The feed position has been deliberately been achieved using offset stripline technology with a low
designed for optimized matching taking into account the design profile stack up. The antenna array in this paper is optimized to
rules of a low cost PCB mass production technology. The operate from 24-34 GHz and was realized in a mainstream
radiating element has a 3-dB beam-width of ±30 degrees in both printed circuit-board (PCB) process. Designing a broadband
planes making it suitable for beam steering. To show the validity array with more than 35% operating bandwidth is challenging
of the approach, a 2×2 array prototype is presented in this paper.
The antenna array is approximately 12mm×12mm in size realized in the best of time and the PCB’s poor tolerances needed to be
on a Rogers 4350 substrate. The antenna has been optimized for considered throughout the design process.
the 24-34 GHz frequency range. Simulated and measured return In this paper, the design challenge is to have a broadband
loss, radiation pattern and gain over frequency have been antenna array compatible with mass production PCB
presented. This antenna structure is a good candidate for technology and beam scanning potential.
steerable phased arrays in 5G millimeter wave applications.

Index Terms — Antenna arrays, Broadband antennas, LMDS II. ANTENNA ELEMENT DESIGN
band, Millimeter wave, Patch antennas, PCB technology, 5G. The first step in design of the LMDS-band antenna array is
the antenna element. Keeping in mind the need for a wide scan
I. INTRODUCTION angle for beam steering capability over a broad bandwidth, an
The wireless systems for the upcoming 5G cellular network antenna element design with wide beamwidth has been
are increasingly proposing the utilization of the millimeter considered. Low element gain is required to ensure good
wave spectrum due to the availability of large bandwith that steerability. Fig. 1 shows the four metal-layer stackup for the
would allow multi-Gbps throughput. The demand for cellular proposed antenna. Two dielectric layers of Rogers 4350 LoPro
data is growing at an exponential rate. In the context of 5G, on top and bottom have been considered here with a Rogers
some of METIS overall technical goals include 1000 times 4450F bonding layer. These materials have low metallic losses
higher mobile data volume per area and 10 to 100 times higher at mm-Wave due to their low surface roughness and they also
than typical used data rate relative to today [1]. One of the have acceptable loss-tangent.
enabling technologies identified for 5G is mm-Wave [2]. Two
prime candidates to utilize the millimeter-wave spectrum are
the Local Multipoint Distribution Service (LMDS) band at 28-
32 GHz and Broadband Wireless Access (BWA) band at 37-38
GHz. There are many challenges in using mm-Wave
frequencies such as propagation losses and sensitivity to Fig. 1. Antenna element stackup.
blockage. To overcome these challenges, steerable high-gain
antennas are required.
This paper focuses on the design and implementation of a
broadband patch antenna array targeting the 24-34 GHz
spectrum. Microstrip patch antennas have been widely used in
the literature for their low profile, and low cost [3-7], however,
they inherently suffer from a narrow bandwidth. Another
approach is to use Substrate Integrated Waveguide (SIW)
antenna technology [8-9]. However, due to great number of
vias required and inability to implement buried vias in
mainstream PCB technologies, this would often result in
higher costs and performance degradation due to radiation
leakage in the middle layers.
To improve the operating bandwidth, a U-shaped patch
radiation element with a novel feed network has been utilized Fig. 2. Antenna element model.


ª
*&&&
 A general study of U-shaped Microstrip Patch Antenna carefully optimized for best bandwidth. For each antenna there
(MPA) topology has been shown in [10]. In this work, we are is a via pad on the stripline feed for vertical transitions. Fig. 5
using a special feed network and stack up to achieve shows the exploded perspective view of the 2×2 array
broadband performance. The MPA is designed to operate over including the via feed, stripline, power distribution and
24 – 34 GHz, targeting 35% operating bandwidth. As shown in transitions ready for fabrication.
Fig. 2, the inner and outer circumferences of the U-shaped
MPA create two close resonances which enable broadband
operation. Furthermore, a high antenna dielectric layer is
chosen to further enhance bandwidth. The antenna is excited
by a vertical via from a stripline feed. There is a metal pad at
the intersection of the stripline and the via feed to reduce the
parasitic inductance. The feed location, the two circumferences
of the MPA and the height of the dielectric have been
optimized for best match, bandwidth and gain. A better than 10
dB return loss is achieved from 25 to > 40 GHz. The main
challenge of this design is to maintain good boresight gain
over the matching bandwidth. Since this U-shaped patch is not
completely symmetric, the H plane peak gain tends to tilt from
boresight as shown in Fig. 3.

Fig. 5. Exploded perspective view of the 2×2 U-Shaped antenna array

IV. MEASURED AND SIMULATED RESULTS

The 2×2-element U-shaped antenna array has been
fabricated using low cost PCB multilayer technology with
about 0.6 element spacing at 27 GHz. Fig. 6 shows the picture
Fig. 3. Single element simulated return loss and radiation pattern. of the fabricated antenna array. The size of the antenna is
approximately 12mm × 12mm. The thickness of the feed
Fig. 4 shows the simulated gain over frequency of the MPA
substrate layer is 10mils while the radiating layer has thickness
from 20-40 GHz. It is better than 5 dBi over most of the
of 30 mils bonded with an 8mil Prepreg and via diameters of 6
frequency range. One of the design challenges is as the
mils.
frequency increases, the difference between the two resonances
of the U-shaped patch causes mismatch and gain variation over
frequency. All the dimensions of the patch were optimized to
achieve a broadband match and reasonable gain over
frequency.
15

10

5
(a) (b)
Gain [dBi]

0
Fig. 6. Photograph of the fabricated antenna array: a) Front, b) Back.
-5
Fig. 7 shows the measured and simulated return loss
-10 performance of the 2×2 antenna array. The measured return
loss is better than 10 dB over frequency range from 25 GHz to
32 GHz. The results shows great match between simulation
-15
20 22 24 26 28 30 32 34 36 38 40
freq [GHz]

Fig. 4. Boresight gain over frequency for single radiating element. and measurement.
The measured vs. simulated E-plane and H-plane radiation
III. ANTENNA FEED AND ARRAY patterns are shown in Fig. 8. There is a very good match
A 2×2 antenna array has been considered. To characterize between beam patterns confirming the simulated array
the performance of the array, a 1 to 4 stripline corporate feed directivity levels. It is also shown that the tilting effect is
has been designed. The tapering of the corporate feed is reduced when element patterns are combined in an array.
 0
Measured S11 once the receiver local oscillator power is tuned at 27 GHz
Simulated S11
range such that the receiver stays linear.
-5

V. CONCLUSION
-10
S11 [dB]

The paper has presented a broadband and low cost LMDS

-15 antenna array implemented in U-shaped patch technology
using a mainstream PCB process. It uses only four metal layers
-20
and three dielectric layers. The simulated 2×2 antenna array
gain is greater than 10dBi from 24-34GHz. Comparison
-25
20 22 24 26 28 30
Freq [GHz]
32 34 36 38 40 between simulation and measurement has been discussed in
the paper. The measured return loss and radiation patterns
Fig. 7. Measured vs. simulated return loss over frequency.
closely match with the simulated results, while there is some
0 discrepancy between simulated and measured gain which is
-5 attributed to inaccuracy of the measurement setup at some
frequency points. The proposed technique demonstrates the
Relative Amplitude [dB]

-10

-15
feasibility of a low cost, high performance and broadband
-20
LMDS antenna that can be easily integrated in large and
-25
steerable arrays compatible with mass production PCB
process. The novel antenna and feed can possibly be
-30 Measured Radiation Pattern E Plane
Simulated Radiation Pattern E Plane redesigned for higher frequencies. However, meeting the
-35
-90 -80 -60 -40 -20 0
θ [deg]
20 40 60 80 90 design rules for smaller dimensions and dealing with high
0 metallic and dielectric losses will remain a challenge.
-5

VI. ACKNOWLEDGEMENT
Relative Amplitude [dB]

-10

-15
The authors would like to acknowledge the support of
-20 Maxime Thibault for his assistance in measurement of the
-25 radiation patterns in the anechoic chamber at Poly-Grams
-30
Simulated Radiation Pattern H Plane
Research Center Lab in Montreal, QC.
Measured Radiation Pattern H Plane
-35
90 -80 -60 -40 -20 0 20 40 60 80 90
θ [deg] REFERENCES
Fig. 8. Normalized radiation patterns in E and H planes at 30 GHz.
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