Explosive Detection Approach by Printed Antennas

Int. J. Advanced Networking and Applications
Volume: 09 Issue: 06 Pages: 3616-3622 (2018) ISSN: 0975-0290
3616
Explosive Detection Approach by Printed
Antennas
A.Adlin
Department of Electronics and Communication Engineering , PET Engineering College, Anna University, India.
Email: adlin.raj262@gmail.com
Dr.K.Madhan Kumar
Department of Electronics and Communication Engineering, PET Engineering College, Anna University, India.
Email: madhanpetec@petengg.ac.in
----------------------------------------------------------------------ABSTRACT-----------------------------------------------------------
Microstrip patch antennas are recently used in wireless detection applications due to their low power
consumption, low cost, versatility, field excitation, ease of fabrication etc. The microstrip patch antennas are also
called as printed antennas which is suffer with an array elements of antenna and narrow bandwidth. To overcome
the above drawbacks, Flame Retardant Material is used as the substrate. Rectangular shape of microstrip patch
antenna with FR4 material as the substrate which is more suitable for the explosive detection applications. The
proposed printed antenna was designed with the dimension of 60 x 60 mm2
. FR-4 material has a dielectric
constant value of 4.3 with thickness 1.56 mm, length and width 60 mm and 60 mm respectively. One side of the
substrate contains the ground plane of dimensions 60 x60 mm2
made of copper and the other side of the substrate
contains the patch which have dimensions 34 x 29 mm2
and thickness 0.03mm which is also made of copper.
RMPA without slot, Vertical slot RMPA, Double horizontal slot RMPA and Centre slot RMPA structures were
designed and the performance of the antennas were analysed with various parameters such as gain, directivity, E-
field, VSWR and return loss. From the performance analysis, double horizontal slot RMPA antenna provides a
better result and it provides maximum gain (8.61dB) and minimum return loss (-33.918dB). Based on the E-field
excitation value the SEMTEX explosive material is detected and it was simulated using CST software.
Keywords - gain, directivity, return loss, E-field, H-field.
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Date of Submission: April 10, 2018 Date of Acceptance: April 25, 2018
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1. INTRODUCTION
Antennas are the essential component of
wireless communication. An antenna is a transducer that
converts electrical signal into electromagnetic waves and
its radiates into the space[1]. Antenna can be designed to
transmit and receive radio waves in all horizontal
directions equally or preferentially in a particular
direction. There are several types of antennas are available
namely wire antenna, travelling antenna, reflector antenna,
microstrip patch antenna, log periodic antenna, aperture
antenna etc., out of these microstrip patch antennas are
widely used in communication systems because of their
low profile, light weight, low cost, feed-line flexibility,
versatility, ease of fabrication[8]. Basically microstrip
element consists of an area of metallization support above
the ground plane, named as microstrip patch[3]. The
supporting element is called substrate material which is
placed between the patch and the ground plane.
In majority of the cases the performance
characteristics of the antenna depends on the substrate
material and its physical parameters. The slot is loaded
over the patch for improving gain and directivity. So many
advantages and applications can be mentioned for
microstrip patch antennas or the printed antennas over
conventional antennas. There are several undesirable
features we encountered with conventional antennas like
they are bulky, conformability problems and difficult to
perform multiband operations so on[11]. Microstrip patch
antenna is used in the military applications such as
detection of explosive of material in the battle. The
explosive material may be SEMTEX, RDX, TNT which
are produce a dangerous explosion. It can be detected by
using this antennas.
2. LITERATURE SURVEY
Payal Kalra, et al (2017) proposed microstrip
patch antenna for the detection of plastic explosive
SEMTEX. In this paper Fr4 material as substrate of
thickness 1.62 ìm with dielectric constant of 4.4 whereas
the radiating patch and ground plane are made up of
copper material having high conductivity and low
resistivity. The reduced ground plane has been used in
order to acquire the desired resonant frequency. It has
been observed that the proposed antenna has an input
impedance of 49.15 which resonates at 4.32 THz
frequency with return loss of -52.10 dB and with a gain of
5.88 dB and directivity of 5.75 dBi which makes it highly
suitable for detection of plastic explosive SEMTEX. The
reduced ground plane has been used in order to improve
the return loss plot and other antenna parameters like gain,
directivity of an antenna [12]

3617
Payal Kalra, et.al (2017) proposed microstrip
patch antenna using FR4 as substrate for detection of
riboflavin. In this paper the design and analysis of
terahertz microstrip patch antenna employing flame
retardant as substrate material having thickness of 1.6mm
and dielectric constant of 4.4 the patch and ground are
made up of copper material and rectangular slot has been
introduced in patch to improve the antenna parameters
such as return loss, directivity, gain and bandwidth. the
ground has been reduced to increase the bandwidth and
gain of the antenna. The proposed antenna design has been
observed that the designed antenna is resonant at 4.17
THz. The designed antenna has return loss (S11)
magnitude of -39.73dB at resonant frequency of 4.17 THz.
The antenna has gain of 6.8dB and directivity of 6.4dBi at
corresponding resonant frequency of 4.17THz [13]
Simarjit Singh Saini, et.al (2016) [19] proposed
microstrip patch antenna design employing denim
substrate for detection of TNT explosives In this paper, a
textile terahertz reduced ground microstrip patch antenna
for detection of trinitrotoluene (TNT) has been proposed.
The proposed antenna is employing black denim as
substrate having dielectric constant of 1.6. The ground and
patch of the proposed antenna has been designed using
copper of thickness 0.05mm. It has been analyzed that the
proposed antenna has impedance bandwidth of 247 GHz
with an operating frequency range of 8.0481THz to
8.3321THz with resonant frequency of 8.208 THz. It has
been observed that the textile terahertz reduced ground
microstrip patch antenna has gain of 7.359 dB and
directivity of 7.002 dBi. The proposed antenna has
minimal return loss of -65.89 dB at resonant frequency of
8.208 THz [19]
E.M. Cheng, et.al (2014) proposed the microstrip
patch antenna sensing system for salinity and sugar
detection in the water. In this paper describes the design
and development of a microstrip patch antenna for salinity
and sugar detection. This sensor is operating in the
Industrial, Scientific and Medical (ISM) radio band, i.e.
2.45GHz. Dimension and shape of the patch antenna as
well as location of feed point is analyzed. There are three
types of microstrip patch antennas are developed in this
work, i.e. rectangular, circular and square patch microstrip
antennas. These microstrip patch antennas were used to
measure the salt and sugar content in water. In addition,
reflection coefficient and Q-factor were discussed too in
this paper. Different amount of salt or sugar that present in
water will exhibit different dielectric properties, and in
turn change its reflection coefficient and Q-factor [6]
K. RamaDevi, et.al (2012) proposed a pentagon
microstrip antenna for radar altimeter application . In this
paper comparison between triangular patch antenna of
5.88 GHz and annular ring triangular patch antenna is
done. Linearly polarized yagi-array antenna used and
observed response with different sizes and distance
between elements. It is seen that the Return Loss is
increased by 57.4% whereas Gain is improved by 37.09%
after introducing the annular ring in the Triangular Patch
Antenna. Simulated and implemented result is compared
and got 6.94% deviation in frequency for the implemented
antenna. The frequency deviation is due to the deviation
from exact measurement. It is also due to the effect of the
permittivity of the substrate. Array of antennas are used
which is difficult to handle and more complex to
implement and it produced high directivity value [16]
3. PROPOSED METHOD
The proposed Rectangular shape of microstrip patch
antenna designed using a flame retardant material (FR4)
having a dielectric constant of 4.3 and this material is used
as the substrate which is loaded over the ground plane of
copper. The same copper material is used as the patch and
feed of antenna. Figure 3.1 shows the structure of basic
Microstrip Patch Antenna.
Figure 3.1 Basic Microstrip patch antenna
Figure 3.2 Proposed design to detect the SEMTEX materal
3.1 Design of RMPA without slot
Figure 3.3 Design of RMPA without slot
Figure 3.3 shows the Rectangular Microstrip
patch antenna has a substrate made of FR-4 which has a
dielectric constant of 4.3. The ground plane is made up of
copper with pure metal which is placed one side of the
substrate. The other side of the substrate contains the patch
that is made up of copper with pure metal. The proposed
antenna is fed with microstrip line feed. Table 3.1 shows
the specifications of rectangular microstrip patch antenna
without Slot.

3618
Table 3.1 Design specifications of RMPA without Slot
S.No Antenna Specifications Dimension
1. Thickness of the Ground 0.03mm
2. Width of the Ground 60mm
3. Height of the Ground 60mm
4. Thickness of the Substrate 1.56mm
5. Width of the Substrate 60mm
6. Height of the Substrate 60mm
7. Thickness of the Patch 0.03mm
8. Width of the Patch 29.8mm
9. Height of the Patch 38.4mm
10. Thickness of the Feed 0.03mm
11. Width of the Feed 1mm
12. Height of the Feed 15mm
13. Operating frequency 4 to 5 GHz
3.2 Design of single vertical slot RMPA
Figure 3.4 Design of single vertical slot RMPA
Figure 3.4 shows the single vertical slot
Microstrip patch antenna it uses the same Ground,
Substrate, Patch and Feed dimensions of the Microstrip
patch antenna without slot along with single vertical slot is
created. Table 3.2 shows the specifications of single
vertical slot RMPA.
Table 3.2 Design specifications of single vertical slot
RMPA
S.No. Antenna Specifications Dimension
13. Thickness of the Slot 0.03mm
14. Width of the Slot 10mm
15. Height of the slot 2mm
3.3 Design of double horizontal slot RMPA
Figure 3.5 Design of double horizontal slot RMPA
Figure 3.5 shows the double horizontal slot
RMPA it uses the same Ground, Substrate, Patch and Feed
dimensions of the rectangular microstrip patch antenna
without slot along with double horizontal slot is created on
the patch. Table 3.3 shows the specifications of double
horizontal slot RMPA.
Table 3.3 Design specifications of double horizontal slot
RMPA
13. Thickness of the lower Slot 0.03mm
14. Width of the lower Slot 10mm
15. Height of the lower slot 2mm
16. Thickness of the upper slot 0.03mm
17. Width of the upper slot 10mm
18. Height of the upper slot 3mm
3.4 Design of centre slot RMPA
Figure 3.6 Design of center slot RMPA
Figure 3.6 shows the centre slot RMPA it uses
the same Ground, Substrate and Patch of the rectangular
microstrip patch antenna without slot along with single
centre slot is created on the patch. Table 3.4 shows the
specifications of centre slot RMPA.

3619
Table 3.4 Design specifications of centre slot RMPA
13. Thickness of the center slot 0.03mm
14. Width of the center slot 5mm
15. Height of the center slot 5mm
16. Operating frequency 4 to 5
GHz
4. RESULTS AND DISCUSSION
The performance of the different Rectangular
microstrip patch antenna with and without slots are
evaluated by calculating Return loss, VSWR, Directivity,
Gain. The performance of the proposed method is
compared with the existing method. Table 3.1
Performance parameter comparison of RMPA.
Table 4.1 Performance comparison of Microstrip patch
antenna
Antenna Type Retur
n Loss
VSWR
r
MPA
without
slot
-
25.924dB
1.077
Single
vertical
slot
RMPA
-
21.179dB
1.925
Double
horizontal
slot
RMPA
-
33.918dB
1.0451
Centre
slot
RMPA
-
16.364dB
1.3591
Figure 4.1 Return loss of double horizontal slot RMPA
Figure 4.1 shows the return loss (s11) curve of the
proposed antenna obtained by CST simulator. It produce
the return loss value of -33.918 dB resonate at the
frequency of 4.445GHz.
Figure 4.2 VSWR of double horizontal slot RMPA
Figure 4.2 shows the VSWR curve of the
proposed antenna obtained by CST simulator. It produce
the VSWR value of 1.0451 resonate at the frequency of
4.444GHz. From the Table 4.2 Performance comparison
table of Microstrip Patch Antenna, it was observed that the
Double horizontal slot RMPA provides high Gain and
directivity.
Table 4.2 Performance parameter comparison of RMPA
Antenn
a types
Resonant
Frequency
(GHz)
Directivity
(dBi)
Gain
(dB)
E-
Field
(dBV/m)
Rectang
ular
MPA
without slot
4 4.56 1.36 8.73
4.5 8.26 8.55 22.2
5 7.39 6.8 13.5
Single
vertical
slot
RMPA
4 4.82 1.86 9.25
4.5 7.85 8.16 22.2
5 5.96 5.25 14.6
Double
horizontal
slot RMPA
4 6.74 7.3 16.9
4.5 6.48 7.13 18.2
5 5.82 8.61 9.9
Centre
slot
RMPA
4 6.65 8.95 15.6
4.5 5.98 5.75 17.3
5 7.87 8.27 15.3

3620
Figure 4.3 Directivity of double horizontal slot RMPA at
4.5GHz
Figure 4.3 shows the directivity of the proposed
antenna obtained by CST simulator. It produce the
directivity value of 6.48dBi at the frequency of 4.5GHz.
Figure 4.4 Gain of double horizontal slot RMPA at 4.5Hz
Figure 4.4 shows the gain of the proposed
antenna obtained by CST simulator. It produce the gain
value of 7.13dB at the frequency of 4.5GHz.
Figure 4.5 E-field of double horizontal slot RMPA at
4.5GHz
Figure 4.5 shows E-field the of the proposed
antenna obtained by CST simulator. It produce the E-field
of 18.2dBV/m at the frequency of 4.5GHz.
Table 4.3 SEMTEX material size is 5×5cm
Distance
(m)
Resonant
frequency
(GHz)
E-field
(dBV/m)
H-field
(dBA/m)
0.1
4 6.07 -45.4
4.5 12.7 -38.8
5 7.35 -44.2
0.2
4 5.25 -46.3
4.5 12.1 -39.4
5 12.8 -38.8
0.3
4 5.06 -46.5
4.5 12.1 -39.5
5 14.1 -37.4
0.4
4 19.8 -31.8
4.5 17 -34.6
5 16.3 -35.2
0.5
4 6.74 -44.8
4.5 3.94 -47.6
5 15.5 -36
Table 4.3 shows the E-field radiated by the antenna in
presence of SEMTEX material with size 5cm.
Table 4.4 SEMTEX material size is 4×4cm
Distance
(m)
Resonant
frequency
(GHz)
E-field
(dBV/m)
H-field
(dBA/m)
0.1
4 5.71 -45.8
4.5 12.6 -38.9
5 7.38 -44.1
0.2
4 5.32 -46.3
4.5 12 -39.5
5 10.7 -40.8
0.3
4 4.94 -46.6
4.5 12 -39.6
5 11.9 -39.6
0.4
4 5.27 -46.2
4.5 12 -39.5
5 11 -40.5

3621
0.5
4 5.19 -46.3
4.5 12 -39.5
5 11.7 -39.8
presence of SEMTEX material with size 4cm.The E-field
value gets reduced when the SEMTEX material is present
due to the destruction of radiation.
Table 4.5 SEMTEX material size 3×3cm
Distance
(m)
Resonant
frequency
(GHz)
E-field
(dBV/m)
H-field
(dBA/m)
0.1
4 5.5 -44.8
4.5 12.3 -38.3
5 7.28 -43.5
0.2
4 5.35 -45.2
4.5 11.8 -39.3
5 10.5 -41.8
0.3
4 4.74 -46.3
4.5 12 -40.1
5 11.5 -39.3
0.4
4 5.23 -46.2
4.5 11.7 -39.2
5 11.3 -40.5
0.5
4 5.1 -46.1
4.5 11 -39.2
5 11.3 -39.4
presence of SEMTEX material with size 3cm. The E-field
Table 4.6 SEMTEX material size 2×2cm
Distance
(m)
Resonant
frequency
(GHz)
E-field
(dBV/m)
H-field
(dBA/m)
0.1
4 5.53 -43.2
4.5 12 -38.1
5 7.16 -43.2
0.2
4 5.27 -45.4
4.5 11.5 -38.2
5 9.41 -40.2
0.3
4 4.39 -45.2
4.5 11 -38.4
5 11.3 -39.2
0.4
4 5.19 -45.2
4.5 11.2 -39.1
5 11.1 -41.3
0.5
4 4.82 -46
4.5 11 -38.7
5 11.1 -38.2
presence of SEMTEX material with size 2cm. The E-field
5. CONCLUSION
Different Rectangular printed antennas using FR4 material
were designed and performance of those antennas were
analyzed with various parameters such as gain, directivity,
VSWR and return loss. Various structures like RMPA
without slots, vertical slot, double horizontal slot and
centre slot were proposed. From the performance analysis,
Double horizontal slot provides maximum gain (8.61dB),
maximum directivity (5.82dBi), minimum VSWR
(1.0451) and minimum return loss (-33.918dB). Thus the
double horizontal slot antenna produce the better result
than the other antennas. Based on the E-field of RMPA the
SEMTEX explosive material is detected. When the
absence SEMTEX material E-field value is 18.2 dBV/m
which is reduced in presence of SEMTEX material. In
future work, the proposed antenna will be further
developed for the same explosive detection application.
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
At first, I thank Lord Almighty to give knowledge to
complete the survey. I would like to thank my colleagues,
family and friends who encouraged and helped us in
preparing this paper.
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