Application of EBG and DGS structure on
Antenna Array
Jin Hua-song1, Qiu Dong-dong1, Rao Jia-ren2, Zong Peng2, and Darwin R. Becerra2
1
China Satellite Maritime Tracking and Controlling Department, Jiangyin, 214431 China
2
College of Astronautics, Nanjing University of Aeronautics and Astronautics (NUAA)
29 Yudao Street, Nanjing,210016, China.
Abstract—Electromagnetic Band-Gap (EBG) Structures However, most former researches about EBG
are periodic structures with an obvious frequency band structures and DGS did not focus on antenna array [9].
gap, which can suppress the propagation of surface-wave;
These two structures are often used in microwave
these structures can help to reduce the mutual coupling of
antenna array. As a result, they can be used to optimize circuits, and there are numbers of researches on this
the performance of antenna array. At the same time, the field. Here, this paper focuses on the application of
Defected Ground Structure (DGS), which is developed on Mushroom-like EBG structure and two U-shaped slots
the basis of the EBG structure, is simpler than EBG DGS to two elements microstrip patches antenna array.
structure and also has the ability to decrease the mutual
coupling of antenna array. In this paper, the reflected II. ELECTROMAGNETIC BAND-GAP
phase method and suspended microstrip line method are
used to respectively measure the stop band of EBG The Mushroom-like EBG structure consists of metal
structures and a DGS. Then, two designed EBG structure patch, dielectric slab, metal hole, and ground plate. The
and DGS are applied to antenna arrays with the help of interaction between EBG structures and
the professional software HFSS. The results confirm the electromagnetic wave can induce induced current in the
fact that these two structures can suspend the mutual
metal patches, and then the ends of the neighboring
coupling effectively, as well as optimize the radiation
patterns. metal patches accumulate charges, becoming capacitors.
An inductor is formed from the charge transferring
Keywords—Electromagnetic Band-Gap; Defected Ground between the ground and metal hole, and in this way,
Structure; mutual coupling EBG structures can stop surface current, as well as
suppress the surface wave. Figure 1 shows the
I. INTRODUCTION
equivalent model of EBG structures.
With obvious photonic band-gap, Electromagnetic
Band-Gap (EBG) can suppress electromagnetic wave in
certain frequency bands. So it has drawn wide attention
g
in such fields as optical, electromagnetic, and so on.
With the characteristics of harmonic suppression,
amplifier performance improvement, and gain
enhancement, they can be used in resonators, band-stop
filter, or loaded in microstrip patch antennas. In recent w
years, the electromagnetic property study of
Electromagnetic Band-Gap has been widely established (a)
Metal patch
[1-5]. Some familiar EBG structures are
Mushroom-like EBG [6] and Uniplanar Compact εr h
Photonic Band Gap (UC-PBG) [7], as the surfaces of
these two structures have high impedance characteristic, Ground plate Metal hole dielectric slab
they can be also called high impedance surface (HIS) (b)
structures. w g
ε0 C
Developed from EBG structures, DGS changes the
h εr L
effective dielectric constant of medium by etching some
special structures in ground plate of the antenna array,
(c)
but the structures are not always periodic. Furthermore,
DGS is simpler than EBG structure. The earliest DGS is
Figure 1. Parallel equivalent model of EBG structures. (a)
classical dumbbell-shaped defected ground structure [8], Mushroom-like EBG; (b) side view of EBG; (c) equivalent LC circuit
and many kinds of DGS are put forward.
The equivalent inductance L and capacitance C are By building the EBG structure model in HFSS, the
given by [9]: band-gap of EBG structure can be easily obtained. As
L = µ0 h (1) shown in Figure 2(a), when w increases from 2.5mm to
5.5mm, the curve of reflected phase becomes sharp, the
W ε 0 (1 + ε r ) 2W + g zero phase frequency decreases from 7.6GHz to
C= cosh −1 ( ) (2)
π g 5.12GHz, and the band-gap gets narrow. Let g changes
where µ0 is magnetic permeability in free space, and from 0.3mm to 1.5mm with an interval of 0.3mm,
Figure 2(b) shows that the reflected phase curve can get
ε0 is dielectric constant in free space. slow, the zero phase frequency goes down. Then, h
Then, the resonant frequency of EBG structure is changes from 3mm to 1mm with the interval of 0.5mm,
given by Figure 2(c) shows that the band-gap gets lower and zero
1 phase frequency gets higher during this process. Figures
ω0 = (3) 2(a)-(c) come to a conclusion that the reduction of h
LC and w, as well as the increase of g, can lead to the
When the working frequency is close to this increase of zero phase frequency. Furthermore, the
frequency, the surface impedance can be calculated by increase of g and h, as well as the reduction of w, can
jω0 L lead to a wider bandwidth.
Z= (4)
1 − ω02 LC Take a hypothesis that w=3.3m, g=0.7mm, dielectric
constant of dielectric slab is 9.8, use the reflected phase
So, when working frequency of the EBG structure is
method to extract the band-gap. Figure 2(d) shows the
close to the resonant frequency, the surface impedance
result.
gets very large, and electromagnetic wave propagation
can be suppressed in surface of the EBG structure.
(a) (b)
(c) (d)
Figure 2. Measured reflected phase curve of the EBG
It is shown that the EBG structure has a band-gap this method is time consuming. However, extracting the
from 5.8GHz to 7.55GHz, and its center frequency is equivalent circuit parameters based on the single pole
6.65GHz, this designed EBG structure will be used in low-pass property can help embedding the DGS in
later simulation. circuit analysis software, which can accelerate the
speed of analysis. Here, two U-shaped slots DGS
III. DEFECTED GROUND STRUCTURE models are built in HFSS, Figure 3(a) shows the
Similar to EBG structures, DGS consists of some suspended microstrip line method to measure the
cells, but DGS always has a simpler shape and less cells band-gap of DGS, and the dielectric constant is 10.2.
than EBG structures. DGS has the property of single Figure 3(b) shows the simulated S-parameters for the
pole low-pass, so the equivalent circuit parameters of proposed DGS.
DGS are easier to obtain. As being more exact,
full-wave analysis is often used to analyze DGS, but
DGS
Ground plate
Microstrip line
（a） （b）
Figure 3. Simulation for proposed DGS
The results show that center frequency of the DGS coefficient S11 reaches the minimum value, and mutual
structure is 7.9GHz, and insertion loss is 35db, when coupling coefficient S21 reaches the maximum value of
frequency ranges from 7.3GHz to 8.5GHz. The -16.4db. Figure 4(b) shows that 3 row EBG structures
insertion loss remains greater than 20db, and the were applied to the antenna array, and then the
surface wave can be suppressed while the operating S-parameters were changed, as Figure 4(c) shows. The
frequency of the antenna array is in this frequency mutual coupling coefficient S21 decreases to -27.9db at
range. the frequency of 6.25GHz when operating at 6.2GHz,
and the mutual coupling coefficient S21 decreases to
IV. SIMULATION -31.4db. This means that EBG structures can effectively
An antenna array of two microstrip patches is suspend the mutual coupling. Figures 4(d) and (e) show
designed to operate at 6.25GHz; the designed length the radiation patterns of antenna array with EBG
and width of the patches are 6.1mm and 10.2mm, and structures and antenna array without EBG structures
the distance between the two patches is 40mm. Figure when they were operating at 6.2GHz; it is obvious that
4(a) shows the simulated S-parameters. When the EBG structures can help to reduce the side lobes.
antenna array operates at 6.25GHz, the antenna array
can achieve the best impedance match. The reflection
（a） （b） （c）
（d） （e）
Figure 4. Application of EBG structure to antenna array
According to the band-gap of designed DGS, an operating at 7.55GHz. The mutual coupling coefficient
antenna array is proposed to operate at 7.55GHz, its S21 is -13.3db, and then the DGS is added; it decreases
length is 4.84mm and width is 6.5mm, and the distance to -18.7db, as observed in Figures 5(b) and (c). Figures
between two patches is 17.96mm. Fig 5(a) shows the 5(d) and (e) are the results of patterns. Obviously, DGS
S-parameters of the designed antenna array, when can help to enhance the gain to some extent.
（a） （b） （c）
（d） （e）
Figure 5. Application of DGS to antenna array
V. CONCLUSION [3] F. Yang, and Y. Ramat-Samii. “Reflection phase
characterization of the EBG ground plane for low profile wire
The working principle of EBG structures and DGS antenna applications,” IEEE Trans. Antennas Propag., vol. 51,
were studied, and the equivalent circuit model of no. 10, pp. 2691-2703, Oct. 2003.
Mushroom-like EBG structures was proposed. The [4] B. Kim, and D. -W. Kim. “Bandwidth enhancement for SSN
suppression using a spiral-shaped power island and a modified
relation between some parameters of this structure and EBG structure for aλ/4 open stub,” ETRI J., vol. 31, no. 2, pp.
the band-gap were studied. By designing and adjusting 201-208, Apr. 2009.
these parameters, the intended structures could be [5] J. H. Kwon, S. I. Kwak, D. -U. Sim, and J. G. Yook. “Partial
proposed. EBG structure with decap for ultra-wideband suppression of
simultaneous switching noise in a high speed system,” ETRI J.,
Then, an EBG structure and a DGS were proposed vol. 32, no. 2, pp. 265-272, Apr. 2010.
respectively. By establishing models in HFSS, these [6] D. Sievenpiper. “High-impedance electromagnetic surface,”
two structures were applied to a microstrip patch Ph.D. Dissertation. University of California at Los Angles,
antenna array, and the simulated result proves that EBG 1999.
structure and DGS can suppress mutual coupling [7] F. R. Yang, K. P. Ma, Y. Qian, and T. Itoh. “A uniplanar
compact photonic-bandgap (UC-PBG) structure and its
effectively. Furthermore, they can optimize patterns to applications for microwave circuits,” IEEE Trans. Microwave
some extent, such as reducing the side lobes, enhancing Theory Tech., vol. 47, no. 8, pp. 1509-1514, 1999.
gain. This research lays a good foundation for further [8] C. –S. Kim, J. –S. Park, D. Ahn, and J. –B. Lim. “A novel 1-D
study on the EBG structures and DGS and their periodic defected ground structure for planar circuits,” IEEE
Microwave and Guided Wave Letters, vol. 10, no. 4, pp.
application to antenna array. 131-133, 2000.
[9] F. Yang, and Y. Rahmat-Samii. “Micro-strip antennas
REFERENCES integrated with electromagnetic band gap (EBG) structures: A
[1] D. Sievenpiper, et al. “Antennas on high impedance ground low mutual coupling design for array applications,” IEEE
planes,” IEEE Transactions on Microwave Theory and Transactions on Antennas and Propagation, vol. 51, no. 10, pp.
Techniques Digest (78032513525), pp. 1245-1248, 1999. 2936-2946, Oct 2003.
[2] S. I. Kwak, D. –U. Sim, and J. H. Kwon. “Design of optimized
multilayer PIFA with the EBG structure for SAR reduction in
mobile applications,” IEEE Transactions on Electromagnetic
Compatibility, vol. 53, no. 2, pp. 325-331, May 2011.
