IJECT Vol. 3, Issue 1, Jan.

- March 2012

ISSN : 2230-7109 (Online) | ISSN : 2230-9543 (Print)

A Novel BiQuad Antenna for 2.4GHz Wireless Link

Application : A Proposed Design
1
1

Bhupinder Singh, 2Amandeep Singh

Dept. of ECE, SBBSIET, Jalandhar, Punjab, India

Dept. of ECE, DAVIET, Jalandhar, Punjab, India

Abstract
An ISM Band (2.4GHz) Design for a Biquad Antenna with
Reflector base is presented for satisfying the ISM Band point-topoint link Applications in this paper. This proposed design can be
used for Reception as well as Transmission in Wi-Fis, WLAN,
Bluetooth and even Zigbee links. The proposed antenna consists
of two squares of the same size of 14 wavelength as a radiating
element and a metallic plate or grid as reflector. This antenna has
a beam width of about 70 degrees and a gain in the order of 1012 dBi. A Prototype of this Antenna is designed and constructed.
Parametric study is performed to understand the characterstics of
the proposed antenna. Almost good antenna performances such
as radiation patterns and antenna gains over the operating bands
have been observed and simulated peak gain of the antenna is 10.7
dBi at 2439MHz. The simulated return loss is -35dB, whereas
simulated SWR is 1.036 over the operating bands.
Keywords
Biquad, Bluetooth, Standalone, Feeder, ISM Band, Wi-Fi, WLAN,
Zigbee
I. Introduction
The Biquad antenna is simple to build and offers good directivity
and gain for Point-to-Point communications [1]. It consists of two
squares of the same size of 14 wavelength as a radiating element
and a metallic plate or grid as reflector. This antenna has a beam
width of about 70 degrees and a gain in the order of 10-12 dBi.
It can be used as stand-alone antenna or as feeder for a Parabolic
Dish [2]. The polarization is such that looking at the antenna from
the front, if the squares are placed side by side the polarization is
vertical. The element is made from a length of 2mm thick copper
wire, bent into the appropriate shape. Note that the length of each
side should be close to 31 mm as possible, when measured from
center to center of the wire [4-5]. The Details of the proposed
antenna design are described in the paper, and simulated results
are presented and discussed in the following sections.
II. Proposed Antenna Design
The geometry of the main radiating element is shown in fig. 1.
The proposed antenna elements are made from 2mm thick copper
wire bent into appropriate shape as shown in fig. 1. We used
Single-sided Copper clad Board of 2mm thickness for making the
Reflector Base of my prototype whose size is 12376.8mm. But
FR-4 PCB board will perform better as compared to mine.

Fig. 1: Geometry of Main Radiating Element

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International Journal of Electronics & Communication Technology

We use 4nec2 RF simulation software for modeling and Simulation.

fig. 2, shows the antenna model prepared in 4nec2.

Fig. 2: Wire Frame Model Prepared in 4nec2

We used a threaded female RF Jack that is inserted through a hole
in the exact middle position of copper-clad reflector board from the
rear and bolted. The main central pin of jack is extended to attain
a length of 15.37mm.The main feed point of biquad element [6], is
soldered on it, whereas a stub of same 2mm thickness, 15.37mm
long copper wire is used as return feed. A 50ohm coaxial cable
with male type RF connector on one side can be easily connected
to our prototype by inserting it into female RF jack. Simulation
showed that adding sides to the reflector could significantly reduce
the sidelobes. These sides were slightly higher than the antenna,
when it was mounted to the reflector. This reduction in side-lobe
power produced approximately a 2dBi increase in output power,
when compared to a version with no sides. The sides were tack
soldered in place, and then the corners were seam soldered as
shown in fig. 3. The height of the Biquad element from reflector
surface is kept equal to /8 i.e 15.37mm for achieving nearly
50ohm impedance. This value is optimized by hit & trial method
manually, as 4nec2 does not contain any optimization feature.

Fig. 3: Actual Antenna details

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IJECT Vol. 3, Issue 1, Jan. - March 2012

ISSN : 2230-7109 (Online) | ISSN : 2230-9543 (Print)

III. Simulation and Actual Results

The simulated parametric study results and return losses for the
proposed Biquad antenna are obtained.

Fig. 6: Actual Return Loss of Prototype

Fig. 4: Simulated Current Distribution of Proposed Antenna

The current distribution of the proposed antenna using 4nec2
simulator is shown in fig. 4 and the simulated Radiation Patterns of
the proposed antenna are shown in fig. 5. The Proposed Antenna
has a beamwidth of 70 degree. The simulated return losses and
SWR are presented for the optimized set of antenna parameters.

The snapshots of Prototype from Front and Rear are shown in

fig. 8 & fig. 9, respectively. Actually no side planes were used
in first prototype. They were added later to increase the antenna
gain further [7]. As shown in actual the prototype is compact &
portable. It can be easily connected to the transceivers with any
50 Ohm Coaxial cable. We use female RF Jack and Male RF
Connector which are easily available and economical.

Fig. 7: Actual SWR of Prototype

Fig. 5: Antenna Pattern

The value of simulated Return loss on desired frequency band is
-35dB, whereas SWR is 1.036.
The Following graphs belongs to the tests performed on the actual
prototype. The actual results of Authors Prototype are shown in fig.
6 & fig. 7, that are satisfying. The actual Return Loss of prototype
is found - 41dB, where as SWR is 1.06.
Fig. 8: Front View

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International Journal of Electronics & Communication Technology 175

IJECT Vol. 3, Issue 1, Jan. - March 2012

Fig. 9: Rear View

IV. Conclusion
An ISM band Biquad antenna is proposed. The various parameters
of the Proposed antenna are optimized through simulation.
Prototype of the proposed antenna has been designed, simulated
and fabricated. The BiQuad antenna is probably the best overall
because of its compact size, Simplicity, ease of use and 14dB
gain properties [8]. This antenna would be easily mountable on
the dash board or in the Window of a vehicle. An radome can be
used here to protect the Antenna from Environmental Hazards,
But it should be made from such materials that do not effect
Antenna performances. Also it may be possible to use the same
Antenna for any 2.4GHz Link Applications like WiFi, WLAN and
Bluetooth interception. A 2nd Prototype for 1.2GHz application
is also fabricated & Tested based on similar Design.

ISSN : 2230-7109 (Online) | ISSN : 2230-9543 (Print)

Er. Amandeep Singh, received his

Engineering degree in ECE in the year of
2003 from IEI India, Kolkata University,
Kolkata. He obtained M.Tech., degree
in ECE in the year 2009 from GNDEC,
Ludhiana, India. Now he is pursuing
PhD from Sant Longowal Institute of
Engineering & Technology, Longowal,
Sangrur, in the field of Antenna
Designing & Soft computing. He has
been working as an Assistant Professor in
the department of Electronics and Communication Engineering in
DAV Institute of Engineering And Technology, Jalandhar, Punjab,
India. He has 8 years of teaching experience. He got involved and
worked in various committees in the college.
Er. Bhupinder Singh, received his
Engineering degree in ECE in the
year of 2005 from IITT college of
Engineering, Punjab. He is pursuing
his M.Tech. degree in ECE from DAV
Institute of Engineering And Technology,
Jalandhar, Punjab, India. His research
interest is Antenna Designing. He has
been working as an Assistant Professor
in the department of Electronics and
Communication Engineering in Sant
Baba Bhag Singh Institute of Engineering
and Technology, Jalandhar, Punjab, India. He has 5 years of
teaching experience. He got involved in various technical activities
in the college.

References
[1] H. E. King, I. L. Wong,An Experimental Study of a BalunFed Open-Sleeve Dipole in Front of a Metallic Reflector,
Antennas and Propagation, IEEE Transactions, Vol. 20, pp.
201-204. March 1972.
[2] Kuo, Y.L., Wong, K.L.,Printed double-T monopole antenna
for 2.4/5.2 GHz dual-band WLAN operations, IEEE Trans.
Antennas Propag., 51, (9), pp. 21872192, 2003.
[3] Xiaoqin Liu, Gang Wang, Xin Lai,Double-Sided BowTie Antenna for 2G/3G/WiFi and Mobile WiMAX, 2008
IEEE.
[4] John D. Kraus,Antennas, McGraw-HILL, International
Editions.
[5] C. A. Balanis,Antenna Theory, Analysis and Design, John
Wiley & Sons, New York, 1997.
[6] Stutzmann, Warren L., Thiele, Garry A.,Antenna Theory
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[7] Milligan, T. A.,Modern Antenna Design, John Wiley &
Sons, Hoboken, New Jersey, 2005.
[8] [Online] Available: http://www.martybugs.net/wireless/
biquad/#bg

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