Reliability studies of microstrip antennas using Monte Carlo simulation

Microstrip antennas (MSA) have several advantages, such as, light weight, small volume, low profile, etc. However, the main disadvantage is the limited bandwidth of the order of 1 to 10%. When these antennas go through extreme temperature variation, their resonance frequency changes due to the expansion/contraction of the metal and also due to the change in the dielectric constant of the substrate. Since the bandwidth is small, it is likely that the antenna may become inoperative at the desired frequency. Hence, reliability of the MSA is very important in these adverse conditions. In this paper, reliability studies of MSA using Monte Carlo simulation technique are carried out. An analysis is carried out for MSA printed on three different commercially available copper clad substrates. MSA fabricated on a substrate with a lower dielectric constant that has a smaller thermal coefficient is less sensitive to temperature variation and more reliable over a wide temperature range and bandwidth.