Design and Development of Broadband Inverted E-shaped Patch Microstrip Array Antenna For 3G Wireless Network

Microstrip patch antenna has been received tremendous attention since the last two decades and now it becomes a major component in the development of Smart Antenna System for Third-Generation Wireless Network proposed by the ITU-R under the banner of IMT-2000. Smart antenna consists of an array of antennas associated with it a base-band hardware and control unit (inclusive of the software algorithm) that have the capability to change its radiation pattern according to the direction of the user. This paper describes the design and development of broadband Inverted E-shaped patch microstrip array antennas for 3G wireless network. The antenna was designed for the IMT-2000 operating frequency range of 1.885-2.200GHz and was built as an array of 4x4 inverted E-shaped patches. The beamforming feed network comprises of commercial variable attenuators (KAT1D04SA002), variable phase shifters (KPH35OSC000), and the corporate 16-ways Wilkinson power divider which was developed in-house. The antenna successfully achieves the bandwidth of 16.14% (at VSWR: 1.5) with respect to the center frequency of 2.045 GHz. The antenna is capable of scanning with the maximum scanning angle of ±30º and ±25º in azimuth and elevation respectively.