Comparative Analysis of Microstrip Antenna Arrays with Diverse Feeding Techniques

Abstract

A robust antenna design and analysis to fit the growing technology trend and give engineers and technicians options is crucial. This is especially true considering the recent rise in wireless smart devices. This paper compares microstrip antenna arrays fed in different ways. This work designed, simulated, and analyzed six antennas: two single-band rectangular microstrip antennas (RMSAs) with quarter wave (QWT) feed and the other with inset feed, one series-fed 1 x 4 RMSA array, two cooperate-fed (1 x 2 and 1 x 4) and a 2 x 2 cooperate-series-fed RMSA array at 2.4 GHz. Simulations showed that single-band antennas achieved 65.3 MHz and 68.3 MHz (2.72% and 2.85%) fractional bandwidths at 2.4 GHz. Series-fed and cooperative-fed 1 x 4 arrays, respectively, achieved bandwidths of 152.07 MHz and 44.33 MHz (6.34 % and 1.85 %) fractional bandwidth. The 1 x 2 cooperate-fed and 2 x 2 cooperate-series-fed array antennas had bandwidths of 33.06 MHz and 50.41 MHz (for 1.38% and 2.26%), respectively. A comparison of antenna gains revealed that the study's goals were met as a result of the realized antenna gain of the 2 x 2 cooperate-series-fed antenna which exceeded all other compared antenna gain. The 1 x 4 RMSA array with series feeding had a significantly higher bandwidth than its studied contemporaries. The achieved antenna's bandwidth qualifies it for application small ISM-band WLAN devices; for less portable devices, 2× 2 hybrid-fed array antenna is a suitable candidate for application.