Microstrip and Printed Antenna Design

This book is meant for a person relatively new to microstrip antenna design.
It should not be reviewed against books with which it was not meant to compete.

Many other books present sketches of the moment method, finite element, finite
difference time domain and other analysis methods, but very little useful detail
on implementation. I only discuss the popular methods that exist in section 1.2 and
do not pad the book with a lukewarm explanation of these methods. Such summaries
are of little use to commercial wireless antenna designers without months to master and implement
such methods.

I'm not sure what the reviewer is discussing when he mentions meanderline antennas
which are electrically small as "slow-wave structures." Electrically small antennas
(ESA) meanderline antennas
are more like RLC type
circuits (like a PIFA and as discussed by Wheeler). Slow wave structures are electrically large.
ESA meanderline antennas do not have reliable analysis equations thus far, and
are therefore developed
experimentally. The meanderline antenna was used to illustrate the Chu ESA Limits.

The FL reviewer complains the Chu limits are not presented in enough depth. I must
point out they are not even covered in other microstrip antenna monographs. Many
engineers I've worked with are not even aware of fundamental limits of
small antennas because so few textbooks have even included them.

When the FL reviewer asserts that my book somehow essentially ends at 1995, he is simply
not correct. A quick count reveals that about 44 references are after 1995.
Section 2.5 presents a quarter-wave by quarter-wave antenna which
did not appear in the literature until 2002. I present design details on
rectangular and elliptical CP antennas which produce close designs when
other methods presented by others previously are barely a good
starting point. The cavity model equations (2.60) and (2.61) for the axial ratio
and impedance bandwidth of a rectangular patch were only published in 2002. The
origin of cross-polarization due to higher order mode excitation was only discussed
in the year 2000. The work of Hosung Choo using genetic algorithms to produce a patch
which is almost exactly at the theoretical matching limit of Bode-Fano was only done in
2000. The single feed dual band patch (1996) and a simple diplexer circuit (2003) are
also fairly new albeit very simple when understood. The final chapter has a microstrip
omni-directional antenna design(s) which were only published this year (2004) and
allow one to control sidelobes. Even the broadband microstrip printed dipole with
a ladder balun does not appear not to have been discussed in the literature prior to this book.
July 14, 2004

The theoretical coverage, especially, should have been beefed up considerably. The coverage on Meanderline antennas is particularly weak. The Chu-Harrington limit of the minimum size for a given antenna element is covered obliquely, but without really expressing it directly and providing any significant insight. The importance of slow-wave structures in terms of realizing Meanderline antennas and other reduced size antennas is entirely missing from this antenna design book.

The little typos, too, are especially egregious. The editing is noticeably non-uniform, getting progressively poorer the closer to the appendices one reads.

Despite the many shortcomings, this book does have considerable merit, though, as a thought-provoking quick read into vintage 1980-1995 type antennas. Wong's recent books, and even Gardiol's book on broadband patches from circa 1995 are both noticeably better, though, from both a theoretical and as a thought-provoking source of information on designing modern antennas. Even Chatterjee's classic book, available in a much cheaper paperbook, is much stronger for both provoking ideas, and for remaining technically accurate.

Overall, I rate this book as just 2 stars. It has value, but more for providing a source of antenna design ideas than as serving as a practical antenna design guide. The price is low enough that it is still a good value despite its shortcomings.
June 15, 2004