Computational modelling and simulation to design 60GHz mmWave antenna

Currently, there is a 7GHz of unlicensed bandwidth in the United State, Europe and Japan. In the United State, this 7GHz of unlicensed bandwidth is from 57GHz to 64GHz. As for Europe and Japan, the unlicensed bandwidth falls in the range from 59GHz to 66GHz. Within this high frequency bandwidth, wireless devices will be operating under the mmWave technology. The mmWave technology offers at least 100 times higher data transfer rate than the current Wi-Fi technology, i.e. uploading a 10GB file in 5 sec using mmWave, but required 10mins when using Wi-Fi. The mmWave technology is very suitable for short-range wireless application hence making it ideally suitable for Personal Area Network (PAN) which covers wireless at offices, conference rooms, HD digital home etc. Application on the mmWave Technology can also be found in integrated devices of RF equipment for measurement (such as mixers, oscillators, amplifiers, communication modules), equipment used for screening detection and suitable for rescue mission in collapsed buildings [1 – 6]. This paper reports the use of computational modelling and electromagnetic simulation to design and predict the performance characteristics of a new 60GHz mmWave antenna. The new antenna design takes the form of multi-layer copper patch immersed within a substrate. Based on the simulation results, the antenna has a S
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of less than −10dB at frequency range from 54GHz to 64GHz, hence offering a bandwidth of 10GHz at 10% return loss. At this bandwidth of 10GHz, the voltage standing wave ratio (VSWR) is less than 1.6. The antenna has a total gain of more than 6dB, with a radiation pattern that is almost omni-directional.