Tuning rectangular microstrip antenna through scan and zoom algorithm

Abstract Microstrip antennas have been widely studied and can be applied to a large number of wide frequency domain in wireless communication. Microstrip antennas are featured with light weight, small volume, and low cost advantages. Planar or spatial structures could substantially affect the frequency reliability and sidelobe level of microstrip antennas. Designing high performance microstrip antennas requires the tuning of the length and width of microstrip patch, the equivalent permittivity, the feed position of the coaxial line, and so on. Although electromagnetic theory could provide a solution for antenna design, such solution is probably not optimal solution due to complex environment and the affection of multiple factors. This paper attempts to tuning the design of microstrip antennas by using scan and zoom algorithm. It does not require derivative information of antenna model. This algorithm consists of search space scan and search domain zoom stages. The effectiveness of the scan and zoom algorithm is firstly tested on mathematical functions. The algorithm is then verified on rectangular microstrip antenna design. Compared with theoretical solution, the novel algorithm attains better design solution. The algorithm can also be easily extended to tackle other antenna design problems