Proceedings of the 5th European Conference on Antennas and Propagation (EUCAP)

A Broadband Antenna for GSM1800 and UMTS BTS Applications

S.K. Ibrakee and J. M. Rigelsford,
Department of Electronic & Electrical Engineering, The University of Sheffield, Sheffield, S1 3JD, UK j.m.rigelsford@sheffield.ac.uk
Abstract This paper presents an antenna element suitable for use in dual-polarized GSM1800 and UMTS broadband cellular BTS applications. The proposed design consists of a pair of stepped dipoles for each polarization. To provide improved impedance matching and a balanced feed, each dipole contains an integrated balun.

combiner design using a two-step transformer to improve the operational bandwidth of the design [10, 11].
GROUND PLANE

I.

INTRODUCTION

Demands on mobile cellular networks due to increasing numbers of users and the necessity of higher data rates has led to the wider adoption of efficient broadband antennas. Such antennas are capable of operating over two or more adjacent frequency bands [1-8]. The costs associated with establishing new base transceiver stations (BTS) and for obtaining antenna approval, makes broadband antennas an attractive solution. Furthermore, this can lead to reduced costs for the network operator since fewer antennas are installed at the mast head [9] and the number of feeder cables can be reduced as one input port can be used for both frequency bands [3]. Such designs should possess high impedance matching performance and isolation between the two feeding ports, as well as consistent azimuth beamwidths over their operating frequency range. II. ANTENNA OVERIVEW This paper presents an antenna element suitable for use in GSM1800 and UMTS broadband cellular BTS applications as illustrated in Fig. 1. The design is suitable for applications operating between 1710MHz and 2170MHz and requiring polarization diversity providing E-fields at 45. For clarity the excitation ports of the dipoles are shown for only one polarization. Each polarization is achieved using two dipoles combined in phase and requires an input impedance of 50. The dipoles each have an integrated balun to provide improved impedance matching and to ensure a balanced feed. The stepped structure of the dipole design was derived using a Smith chart. The two dipole pairs were manufactured from a single 0.5mm thick brass sheet. The integrated balun is a quarter-wavelength slot in the dipole support, as shown below in Fig. 2. The dipole pairs are combined using a microstrip corporate feed network (Fig. 3) printed on 1.55mm thick substrate Taconic TLC32 substrate (r=3.2, tan=0.0030). The corporate feed network comprises, a short length of 100 transmission line from the dipole, a section of 50 line, and a

DIPOLE WITH INTEGRATED BALUN

Fig. 1: Model of broadband GSM1800/UMTS antenna

FEED POINT STEPPED DIPOLE BALUN

Fig.2: Stepped dipole with integrated balun.

511

A voltage standing wave ratio (VSWR) of 1.3:1 is commonly required for BTS antennas [2] and isolation between the two ports should ideally be in the region of -30dB [5]. For BTS applications requiring coverage over 3 sectors, the antenna should have a -3dB azimuth beamwidth of 65. The beamwidth requirement is achieved by adding right angles to the ground plane and inclining the dipoles at 45 to the ground plane. When combined into an array (as illustrated in Fig. 1), it is envisaged that the folded edges of the ground plane would form the long sides of the array.

Simulated and measured +45 E-field azimuth radiation patterns from the output of a combined dipole pair are presented in Fig.5. The desired -3dB beamwidth was approximately 65 and it can be seen that the measured beamwidth results are very stable as a function of frequency, varying from 67 at 1700 MHz to 61 at 2200 MHz. Elevation patterns are not presented here as factors including inter-element spacing, and amplitude/phase weighting will have significant effects on the overall radiation pattern when the single element is integrated into a full BTS array.
12 1710 MHz 6 1795 MHz 1880 MHz 1900 MHz 2035 MHz 2170 MHz

Directivity (dBi)

-6

-12

-18

Fig. 3: Corporate feed network for each pair of dipoles. a)

-180

-120

-60
0

60

120

180

Angle (degrees)
1700 MHz -5 1850 MHz 1950 MHz 2050 MHz 2200 MHz -15

III. RESULTS A prototype of the broadband antenna was manufactured for testing and the results compared to those predicted by simulations. The simulations presented in this paper were performed using the time-domain solver in CST Microwave Studio. Impedance matching calculations were performed using transmission line software written by the authors. Radiation patterns and S-parameters of the antenna were measured using an Agilent 8720D Vector Network Analyser. Measurements have been taken for both a single dipole and the combined output of the dipole pair. Fig. 4 shows the simulated return loss for the dipole and the combined result.
0
Dipole

Relative power (dB)

-10

-20

-25

-30

-35 -180 -120 -60 0 60 120 180

b)

Angle (degrees)

Fig. 5: +45 E-field radiation patterns from the output of a combined dipole pair using a) simulated and b) measured data.

-5

Combined VSWR 1.3:1

-10

-15

-20

-25 1700 1780 1860 1940 2020 2100 2180

Frequency (MHz)

Fig. 4: A comparison between the return loss of a single dipole and the combined output of the dipole pair.

Results are shown in Fig. 6 for the measured return loss (S11) of the combined dipole pair and isolation (S21) between the two dipoles pairs. For clarity, vertical lines have been placed at the band edges (1710MHz and 2170MHz ). The measured return loss of the dipole pair is in good agreement with that predicted by simulation (see Fig. 4). However the measured isolation between the two combined dipole pairs is significantly worse than the desired value of -30dB for an entire array. This would indicate that the E-fields polarization diversity at 45 is not being met. Conversely, when co-polar and cross-polar radiation patterns were measured for each dipole pair, a difference in peak radiated power in excess of 15dB was observed.

Return loss (dB)

512

[3]
0

[4]
-5

-10

[5]
-15

[6]
-20

-25 S11 S21 -35 1600 1700 1800 1900 2000 2100 2200 2300

[7]

-30

[8]

Frequency (MHz)
Fig. 6: Measured return loss (S11) and isolation (S21) of the combined dipole pair.

[9]

[10] [11]

A. A. Serra, P. Nepa, G. Manara, G. Tribellini, S. Cioci, A wide-band dual-polarized stacked patch antenna, IEEE Antennas and Wireless Propagation Letters, Volume 6, 2007. S.I. Al-Mously, A.Z. Abdalla, M.M. Abousetta, Design Of a Broadband Stacked Rectangular MPA with Shorting pins for GSMFamily and Other Cellular Applications IEEE Telecommunication in Modern Satellite, cable and broadcasting service. 05 November 2007. Yong-Xin Guo, Kwai-Man Luk, and Kai-Fong Lee Broadband Dual Polarization Patch Element for Cellular-Phone Base Stations IEEE Trans. Antennas & Propag. Vol. 50, No. 2, Feb 2002. S. Seong-Youp, A. E. Waltho, V. K. Nair, W. L. Stutzman, W. A. Davis, Evolution of broadband antenna from monopole disc to dualpolarized antenna, IEEE Antennas and Propagation Society International Symposium, 2006. G. Perikos and J.M. Rigelsford An 8 element broadband antenna for AMPS+GSM applications Proc. of the 4rd European Conference on Antennas and Propagation, Barcelona, 2010. K.Y. Hui and K.M. Luk, Design of Wideband Base Station Antenna for CDMA 800 and GSM 900 Systems, Microwave and Optical Technology Letters, Vol. 39, pp. 406-409, 2003. S. Hunziker, W. Baechtold, Cellular Remote Antenna Feeding: Optical Fiber or Coaxial Cable, IEEE, Electronic Letters, Vol.28, No.1, 1998. T. Edwards, Foundations for Microstrip Circuit Design, 2nd ed., Chichester, England: John Wiley & Sons Ltd, 1992. pp. 145-149. H.J. Visser, Array & Phased Array Antenna Basics, Chichester, England: John Wiley & Sons Ltd, 1992. pp. 163-175.

dB

IV. CONCLUSIONS This paper has presented an antenna element which is suitable for broadband GSM1800 and UMTS cellular BTS applications. The proposed design comprises a combined pair of stepped dipoles with integrated baluns. The design incorporates a dual feed to utilize polarization diversity with E-fields at 45. Measured radiation patterns are in good agreement with those predicted by simulation, with the measured -3dB beamwidths varying from 67 at 1700 MHz to 61 at 2200 MHz. Return loss (S11) measurements of the dipole pair is in good agreement with that predicted by theory; however the measured isolation between the two combined dipole pairs is significantly worse than the desired value of -30dB which would be required for an entire array. A difference in peak radiated power in excess of 15dB was observed between measured co-polar and cross-polar radiation patterns for each dipole pair. The poor isolation performance will be the subject of further investigation. The integration of the broadband element into a full BTS array will also be considered. V. ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS This work was undertaken as a part requirement for the degree of M.Sc. in Data Communications as the University of Sheffield under the supervision of Dr Rigelsford. REFERENCES
[1] G. Perikos, J. M. Riglesford, A broadband antenna for AMPS+GSM applications Proc. of the 3rd European Conference on Antennas and Propagation, Berlin, 2009. B. Lindmark, A dual polarized dual-band microstrip antenna for wireless communications, IEEE Aerospace Conference Proceedings, Volume 3, 1998.

[2]

513