Compact Six-Sector Antenna Using Three
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Regular Papers Compact Six-sector Antenna Using Three Intersecting Dual- beam Microstrip Yagi-Uda Arrays with Common Director Naoki Honma†, Tomohiro Seki, Kenjiro Nishikawa, and Shuji Kubota Abstract This paper presents a novel compact planar six-sector antenna suitable for wireless terminals. Our new design yields low-profile and extremely compact multisector antennas because it allows microstrip Yagi- Uda array antennas to share director elements. Two microstrip Yagi-Uda array antennas are combined to form a unit linear array that has a feed element at each end: only one of them is excited at any one time and the other is terminated. A numerical analysis shows that applying a resistive load to the feed port of the terminated element is effective in improving the front-to-back ratio. We investigated the radiation pattern of a six-sector antenna, which uses three intersecting unit linear arrays, and identified the opti- mum termination condition. From the results of measurements at 5 GHz, we verified the basic proper- ties of our antenna. It achieved high gain of at least 10 dBi, even though undesired radiation was sup- pressed. A radiation pattern suitable for a six-sector antenna could be obtained even with a substrate hav- ing a diameter of 1.83 wavelengths, i.e., an area 75% smaller than that of an ordinary antenna with six individual single-beam microstrip Yagi-Uda arrays in a radial configuration. We also fabricated an anten- na for the 25-GHz band and found that it has potential for high antenna performance, such as antenna gain of over 10 dBi even in the quasi-millimeter band. 1. Introduction one way to provide wireless connections with a high data transmission speed because the terminals or Studies on high-speed indoor wireless access sys- access points can switch the beam direction so as to tems, which use the microwave or millimeter bands direct the beam to the desired signal [7]–[11]. are being actively pursued [1], [2]. These systems Mobile terminals usually utilize only one sector of must reduce the effect of multipath fading in order to a multisector antenna at any one moment because maintain high data transmission speeds. Narrow- only one connection to one access point is necessary. beam antennas and adaptive arrays can overcome this This requires the use of a sector switching mecha- problem, and the effects of these antennas in wireless nism. A sector antenna with too few sectors provides communication systems have been studied [3]–[6]. A only a relatively low gain enhancement effect, which narrow-beam antenna is the easiest way to improve may be canceled by the loss that occurs in the sector the data transmission speed because a fixed-beam switching mechanism in the feed circuit. On the other antenna can be used and it achieves a relatively high hand, a sector antenna with many sectors requires a gain. A multisector antenna comprising several nar- complicated multiport sector switching mechanism. row-beam antennas with different beam directions is Therefore, terminals are likely to use four to six sec- tors [7], [10], [11]. Moreover, multisector antennas † NTT Network Innovation Laboratories for mobile terminals must be small and low-profile Yokosuka-shi, 239-0847 Japan because of the recent downsizing of mobile terminals Email: [email protected] for enhanced portability. 72 NTT Technical Review Regular Papers A low profile multisector antenna can be fabricated GHz band. The 25-GHz band is being considered for using radially arranged microstrip Yagi-Uda arrays advanced wireless local area networks (WLANs) [12]. A microstrip Yagi-Uda array comprises an because more frequency channels will be needed in exciting microstrip antenna and several parasitic order to offer high-speed data transmission to many microstrip antennas arranged on the same substrate more users [14]. surface. It offers high gain [13]. Furthermore, this antenna can be fabricated using etching techniques, 2. Dual-beam microstrip Yagi-Uda Array with which enables mass production. However, it usually common parasitic elements requires a large substrate area because each sector requires an individual array antenna. The other prob- 2.1 Basic geometry and mechanism lem with the microstrip Yagi-Uda array is the diffi- First of all, we present the idea and basic properties culty in obtaining a sufficient front-to-back ratio of the dual-beam Yagi-Uda array, which is the unit (F/B). The high level of undesired radiation degrades component of the six-sector antenna. We mainly the data transmission speed [5]. examined the influence of the termination condition In this paper, we describe a new compact planar of the quiescent element and the number of parasitic six-sector antenna based on a microstrip Yagi-Uda elements. array with common director elements that is suitable The geometries of a conventional microstrip Yagi- for mobile terminals. One of the key ideas for reduc- Uda array and a dual-beam microstrip Yagi-Uda ing the antenna size is a dual-beam microstrip Yagi- array, are shown in Figs. 1(a) and (b), respectively. Uda array—a new invention for the terminal sector The microstrip antenna elements are formed on a antenna. In this antenna, the parasitic elements are dielectric substrate, which has ground metallization shared between two opposite-facing microstrip Yagi- on the rear side. These elements are rectangular Uda arrays, enabling the size of the array antenna to patches. Each array antenna has m parasitic elements be reduced to almost half that of two individual aligned on the x-axis. The exciting element with the microstrip Yagi-Uda arrays. Another key idea is fur- feed port at the end of the array is slightly larger than ther element sharing among the multiple linear Yagi- the parasitic elements. Uda arrays because three dual-beam Yagi-Uda arrays In the figure, a and a′ are the lengths of the long and are necessary to obtain six beams. That is, the para- sitic elements are to be shared not only by two beams, but also by all six beams. This is made possible by placing a hexagonal parasitic element at the center of Wx y the linear array, where the three unit linear arrays g g intersect. The optimized termination condition at the a d φ a′ ··· d′ x feed ports of the quiescent exciting elements is used Wy z to improve the effect of the coupling among the inter- m λ Port secting linear arrays. These techniques of element 0/4 sharing and feed port termination yield an extremely (a) compact six-sector antenna. Section 2 briefly describes the basic idea of the Wx dual-beam microstrip Yagi-Uda array antenna, in g g g y which the two exciting elements share parasitic ele- a d d′ φ a′ x ments. Section 3 describes the geometry and mecha- Wy ··· z nism of the six-sector antenna, in which the parasitic λ Port #1 Port #2 λ 0/4 0/4 elements are shared among six beams. Section 4 z m θ shows a numerical analysis of the six-sector antenna. h We investigated the impact of the intersecting linear ··· x arrays on the radiation pattern of a six-sector antenna y εδ, tan under various termination conditions. Section 5 r (b) describes experiments conducted on a fabricated six- Fig. 1. Unit linear array configurations: (a) Top view of sector antenna operating at 5 GHz to confirm the conventional microstrip Yagi-Uda array and (b) top validity of the design. Section 6 describes the results and side views of dual-beam microstrip Yagi-Uda of a trial in which this antenna was applied to the 25- array. Vol. 5 No. 3 Mar. 2007 73 Regular Papers short sides of the exciting element, respectively, d and moments (MoM). In this numerical analysis, only the d′ are the lengths of the long and short sides of each dielectric layer of the substrate was assumed to be an parasitic element, respectively, g is the gap between infinite plane to simplify the analysis. The positions elements, h is the thickness of the substrate, Wx and of the feed ports were optimized to minimize the Wy are the lengths of the long and short sides of the reflection of the incident power in both models. The substrate, and εr and tanδ are defined as the relative impedance of the terminated port #2, ZL (load imped- dielectric constant and the loss tangent of the sub- ance), was set to the characteristic impedance of the strate, respectively. feed line Z0; i.e., ZL = Z0 = 50 Ω. The dimensions and material properties are set to a To evaluate the radiation performance as a planar = 0.34 λ0, a′/a = 0.6, d′/d = 0.5, d/a = 0.92, g = 0.005 sector antenna, we defined F/B and the conical radia- λ0, h = 0.027λ0, εr = 2.2, and tanδ = 0.0008, where λ0 tion pattern. In this paper, F/B is defined as the ratio is the wavelength in vacuum. The length of the short of the directivity of the direction of maximum radia- side of the rectangular substrate is set to Wy = λ0/2, tion to that of the direction of the maximum lobe in and Wx, which is the length of the long side, is set so the range of ±60° from the opposite direction. How- that the distance between the edge of the substrate ever, since the directions of both the mainlobe and the and the center of the end element in the linear array is backlobe are tilted above the ground plane [12]–[13], λ0/4. F/B obtained in the usual way is underestimated.