The Study and Implementation of Electrically Small Printed Antennas for an Integrated Transceiver Design

Abstract

This work focuses on the design and evaluation of the inverted-F, meandering-monopole, and loop antenna geometries. These printed antennas are studied with the goal of identifying which is suitable for use in a miniaturized transceiver design and which has the ability to provide superior performance using minimal Printed Circuit Board (PCB) space. As a result, the main objective is to characterize tradeoffs and identify which antenna provides the best compromise among volume, bandwidth and efficiency. For experimentation purposes, three types of meandering-monopole antenna are examined resulting in five total antennas for the study. The performance of each antenna under study is evaluated based upon return loss, operational bandwidth, and radiation pattern characteristics. For our purposes, return loss is measured using the S11-port reflection coefficient which helps to characterize how well the small antenna is able to be efficiently fed. Operational bandwidth is measured as the frequency range over which the antenna maintains 2:1 Voltage Standing Wave Ratio (VSWR) or equivalently has 10-dB return loss. Ansoft High Frequency Structure Simulator (HFSS) is used to simulate expected resonant frequency, bandwidth, VSWR, and radiation pattern characteristics. Ansoft HFSS simulation is used to provide a good starting point for antenna design before actual prototypemore » are built using an LPKF automated router. Simulated results are compared with actual measurements to highlight any differences and help demonstrate the effects of antenna miniaturization. Radiation characteristics are measured illustrating how each antenna is affected by the influence of a non-ideal ground plane. The antenna with outstanding performance is further evaluated to determine its maximum range of communication. Each designs range performance is evaluated using a pair of transceivers to demonstrate round-trip communication. This research is intended to provide a knowledge base which will help decrease the number of design iterations needed for future implementation of products requiring integration of small printed antennas. In the past, several design iterations have been needed to fine tune antenna dimensions and achieve acceptable levels of performance. This process consumes a large amount of time and material resources leading to costly development of transceiver designs. Typically, this occurs because matching components and antenna geometries are almost never correct on the first design. This work hopes to determine the limitations associated with antenna miniaturization and provide well known antenna examples that can be easily used in future work.« less