Performance evaluation of dipole and microstrip antenna for a GSM microcell base station

This paper presents the analysis of two miniature antennas, namely a dipole and microstrip antenna, which can be used in a GSM 900 MHz system. The performance of the antennas, a vertical dipole and microstrip antenna, is evaluated by calculating and measuring the average field strength in the coverage area. The image theory and the two-slope propagation model are used to calculate the field strength. The received average field strength for a vertical dipole prototype and a microstrip prototype is measured as a function of distance to the microcell antenna and position to the walls. It is concluded that the vertical dipole antenna with polarisation parallel to the mounting wall has the best performance to obtain canyon street coverage.