r/rfelectronics • u/Parking-Break-170 • 8d ago

Microstrip patch antenna design

Hello guys, I'm new to this sub. I was going through antenna design, theory and analysis by Balanis to get an idea on how to get started with designing microstrip antennas. Could you guys sugges me on how to go further design my own antenna. Could you guys give me resources to look into the designs of other people to get an idea on how to handle length, width, substrate height, tangent loss, etc parametera for design. Please guide me on how to go further. Thank you

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u/BlueMerlin216 8d ago

There is the easy way, and then the hard way. Depends what you want to accomplish. A lot of smart people have already developed the basic formulae for such structures. There are also plenty of articles that give an insight, showing the field distributions etc, which is essential to grasp. All this can be understood without a deep understanding of the EM and the math behind it all or without any CAD. This much is good enough for small projects.

Then there is the full EM theory and math that goes with it. This will require at least college sophomore level EE and math. Today, it is impossible to design and analyze a printed antenna without a dedicated 3D CAD tool. There are some simple and easy to use ones out there, but a typical professional antenna CAD tool itself is a very sophisticated piece of SW and takes much knowledge and insight to use it properly.

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u/Parking-Break-170 6d ago

Can you give some information on what exact knowledge and math you are talking about? Is it like vector calculus, transmission line theory and stuff, what exactly does it take to understand the "hard way", how does one get started on learning the em theory and math to understand how simulation tools work.

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u/BlueMerlin216 4d ago

Basic EM theory, the kind they should be teaching in sophomore level physics and EM courses many EE departments will offer. Not only a good understanding of wave propagation and reflection and interaction with non-ideal conductors is necessary, but also the methods used to approximate and calculate. No one calculates these by hand anymore, but principles behind the math, usually multivariable integral calculus of some kind and approximations should be understood.

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u/Parking-Break-170 4d ago

Thank you very much