International Journal of Engineering and Technical Research (IJETR)

ISSN: 2321-0869, Volume-2, Issue-5, May 2014

Novel Design of Star-Shaped Fractal Slot Antenna

for WLAN and X-Band Applications
Sakshi Bansal, Devesh Kumar, Arun Kumar Singh

Abstract A wideband triangular microstrip antenna is II. ANTENNA GEOMETRY

proposed for wireless applications. The antenna has been
The basic geometry is the star patch antenna, which is shown
modified into a star-shaped patch whose impedance bandwidth
increases by using the fractal configuration. The design in Fig. 1. The star-shaped patch microstrip antenna which is
procedure is presented and characteristics of the antenna are designed at operating frequency 7.1 GHz, having roger
analyzed. A 50-ohm Microstrip line is used to excite the substrate with height of 3.2 mm, dielectric constant 2.2 is
star-shaped patch. The measured results demonstrate that the presented here. The size of patch is 50mm and the ground
structure exhibits a wide impedance bandwidth of 56.67% plane has dimensions 110x120mm. The antenna has two
ranging from 4.8 GHz to 7.1 GHz, which covers WLAN and layers of substrate both using the same material.
X-band applications. Within the band, stable radiation
characteristics are observed. The designed antenna has a gain
ranging from 6.33dBi to 10.02dBi in impedance bandwidth
range. The antenna has been simulated using HFSS13.

Index Terms WLAN, wideband triangular microstrip

antenna, fractal configuration, X-Band Applications.

I. INTRODUCTION
Microstrip antennas offer the advantages of thin profile, light
weight, low cost, conformability with integrated circuitry
(MMICs) [1]. They are extremely compatible for embedded
antenna in handheld wireless devices such as cellular
phones, pagers, etc. [2]. Over the years, we have seen growth
in wireless communication applications. Multiband and Figure 1: Basic antenna geometry
wideband antennas are compatible for wireless
communication systems. Recent advances in the designing The two iterated fractal geometries are as shown in figure 2
method of multiband antenna are recognized using several and 3. Initially a star-shaped patch having a length of 50 mm
methods. The development of the multiband antenna can be is taken as shown in figure 1 above and microstrip feed has
achieved by using the fractal concepts. Fractal antenna is an been applied to it. Feed point (35, 1.5, 0) is chosen in such a
antenna that uses a fractal, self similar design to maximize way that impedance matching take place. The 1st iteration of
the length that can receive or transmit electromagnetic star-shaped patch has been obtained by adding stars of
radiation within a given total surface area or volume [3]. The reduced length by 50% that are added at the corners of the
fractal geometry is a space-filling curve, since with a larger patch. Hence self-similar shape as shown in figure 2 has been
iteration depth, it tries to fill the area [4-5]. Iteration depth obtained.
refers to the number of iterations that should be carried out to
get the higher order structure. The self-similarity properties
of certain fractals result in a multiband behaviour.
In this paper we present a gain enhancement for a multi band
fractal antenna. A triangular patch is modified as a
star-shaped patch and fractal configuration is applied to it.
The patch is fed using 50 Microstrip line. The antenna has
been simulated using HFSS13 and antenna performance is
studied for 1 iteration of patch.

Manuscript received May 05, 2014.

Sakshi Bansal, PG Student AMITY University, Noida (INDIA)
Devesh Kumar, Assistant Professor, AMITY University (ECE
Deppt.),Noida (INDIA)
Arun Kumar Singh, Ph.D Student, AMITY University, Noida (INDIA) Figure 2: Ist iteration of patch

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 Novel Design of Star-Shaped Fractal Slot Antenna for WLAN and X-Band Applications

III. PARAMETRIC STUDY AND RESULT DISCUSSION XY Plot 18 HFSSDesign1 ANSOFT

35.00 Curve Info

To access the best performance of the proposed antenna, it dB(VSWR(1))

Setup1 : Sweep
was simulated using Ansoft HFSS (ver. 13). To analyze the 30.00

antenna bandwidth coverage, the effect of adjusting the

25.00
antenna parameters are investigated. The analysis of the
antenna for different parameter values has been carried out

dB(VSWR(1))
20.00
by changing one of the parameters without modifying others.
The nal optimal values of the parameters of the antenna are 15.00
depicted in Table I.
Table 1 10.00
Description Optimal value(mm)
Length of substrate 120 5.00

Width of substrate 110

0.00
Height of substrate 3.2 1.00 2.00 3.00 4.00 5.00 6.00 7.00 8.00
Freq [GHz]
Dielectric constant of 2.2
Figure 6: VSWR for zeroth iteration
substrate
Length of ground 120
B. First iteration
Width of ground 110
Feed location 35x1.5x3.2 The first iteration of the star-shaped patch antenna is
Length of feed 20 performed and its simulated results of gain, return loss and
Width of feed 3 VSWR are shown in figure 7, 8 and 9. After first iteration,
the proposed antenna resonates at frequencies namely 4.8
A. Zeroth iteration GHz and 6.3 GHz, with a return loss of -20.0711 dB and
-23.4379dB respectively. The gain of antenna has improved
Figure 1 shows the basic geometry of star-shaped patch to 10.02 dB. The corresponding VSWRs at frequency 4.8
antenna. The simulated results of gain, return loss and GHz is 1.7 and at 6.3 GHz is 1.1. This antenna utilizes the
VWSR for zeroth iteration are shown in figures 4, 5 and 6. application of both WLAN and X-band simulataneously.
Tha gain of antenna is 6.33 dB with the return loss of XY Plot 4 HFSSDesign1 ANSOFT
12.50
-39.5372 dB at center frequency 7.1 GHz. The impedance Curve Info
dB(GainTotal)
bandwidth at this frequency is 390 MHz. VSWR Setup1 : LastAdaptive
Freq='4GHz' Phi='0deg'
corresponding to 7.1 GHz is 1.12. At this frequency, stable dB(GainTotal)
Setup1 : LastAdaptive
6.25
radiation pattern results. Freq='4GHz' Phi='10deg'
dB(GainTotal)
Setup1 : LastAdaptive
Freq='4GHz' Phi='20deg'
XY Plot 1
dB(GainTotal)

HFSSDesign1 ANSOFT dB(GainTotal)

7.50 Curve Info Setup1 : LastAdaptive
dB(GainTotal) 0.00 Freq='4GHz' Phi='30deg'
Setup1 : LastAdaptive dB(GainTotal)
5.00 Freq='4GHz' Phi='0deg' Setup1 : LastAdaptive
dB(GainTotal) Freq='4GHz' Phi='40deg'
Setup1 : LastAdaptive
2.50 Freq='4GHz' Phi='10deg' dB(GainTotal)
Setup1 : LastAdaptive
dB(GainTotal) Freq='4GHz' Phi='50deg'
Setup1 : LastAdaptive -6.25
0.00 Freq='4GHz' Phi='20deg' dB(GainTotal)
dB(GainTotal)

dB(GainTotal) Setup1 : LastAdaptive

Setup1 : LastAdaptive
-2.50 Freq='4GHz' Phi='30deg'
dB(GainTotal)
Setup1 : LastAdaptive
-5.00 Freq='4GHz' Phi='40deg' -12.50
dB(GainTotal) -80.00 -60.00 -40.00 -20.00 0.00 20.00 40.00 60.00 80.00
Setup1 : LastAdaptive Theta [deg]
Freq='4GHz' Phi='50deg'
-7.50
dB(GainTotal)
Setup1 : LastAdaptive
Figure 7: Gain for first iteration
-10.00

XY Plot 2 HFSSDesign1 ANSOFT

-12.50 5.00 Curve Info

-80.00 -60.00 -40.00 -20.00 0.00 20.00 40.00 60.00 80.00
Theta [deg] dB(S(1,1))
Setup1 : Sweep
Figure 4: Gain for zeroth iteration
-0.00
XY Plot 2 HFSSDesign1 ANSOFT
0.00 Curve Info
dB(S(1,1))
Setup1 : Sw eep
-5.00
-5.00

-10.00
dB(S(1,1))

-10.00
-15.00
dB(S(1,1))

-20.00
-15.00
-25.00

-30.00 -20.00

-35.00

-25.00
-40.00
1.00 2.00 3.00 4.00 5.00 6.00 7.00 8.00 1.00 2.00 3.00 4.00 5.00 6.00 7.00 8.00
Freq [GHz] Freq [GHz]

Figure 5: Return loss for zeroth iteration Figure 8: Return loss for first iteration

59 www.erpublication.org
 International Journal of Engineering and Technical Research (IJETR)
ISSN: 2321-0869, Volume-2, Issue-5, May 2014
XY Plot 3 HFSSDesign1 ANSOFT
35.00 Curve Info
dB(VSWR(1))
Setup1 : Sw eep
30.00

25.00
dB(VSWR(1))

20.00

15.00

10.00

5.00

0.00
1.00 2.00 3.00 4.00 5.00 6.00 7.00 8.00
Freq [GHz]

Figure 9: VSWR for first iteration

The Characteristics of the proposed antenna is summarized

in the Table 2. It reveals that the antenna behaves with good
multiband characteristics after 1st iteration.

Table 2
Iterati Frequency Return VSWR Bandwidth Gain
on (GHz) loss(dB) (MHz) (dB)
0th 7.1 -31.61 1.3 390 6.12
1st 4.8 -20.07 1.7 370 10.02
6.3 -23.43 1.1 700

IV. CONCLUSION
The fractal geometry effect on star-shaped patch antenna has
been analyzed. This antenna is a good example of the
properties of fractal boundary patch antennas. As the fractal
iteration increases, perimeter of patch increases and effective
area of antenna decreases [6]. The gain of the final antenna is
10.02 dB with the antenna covering the WLAN as well as
X-band applications. The radiator is now resonant at more
frequencies. It gives multiband properties to fractal geometry
antenna with increased gain. The designed antenna used for
Navigation & Collision Avoidance, Acquisition & Tracking,
Missile and Radar Navigation as well as for WiFi
application. This behaviour is obtained with a simple feeding
scheme which keeps the antenna geometry planar. So, fractal
boundary patch antennas are an interesting replacement in
the multiband antenna. This geometry offers numerous
variations in dimension and design, hence gives wide scope
for various commercial applications.

REFRENCES

[1] Girish Kumar, K. P. Ray, Broadband Microstrip Antennas, (Artech House

Inc., 2003), pp. 1-21.
[2] Balanis, C.A., Antenna Theory: Analysis and Design, Chapter- Microstrip
Antennas, John Wiley and Sons, INC, Singapore,2002
[3] Anessh Kumar, A Modified Fractal Antenna for Multiband Applications,
IEEE International Conference on Communication Control and
Computing Technologies, pp. 47-51, Oct. 2010.
[4] Chakkrit Kamtongdee and Nantakan Wongkasem (2009),A Novel Design
of Compact 2.4 GHz Microstrip Antennas, IEEE Trans. Antennas Propag,
vol. 56, no. 12.
[5] Abd M.F, Jaafar A.S. & Abdul Aziz M.Z.A (2007), Sierpinski Carpet
Fractal Antenna, Proceedings of the 2007 Asia-Pacific conference on
applied electromagnetic, Melaka.
[6] WaelShalan, and Kuldip Pahwa (2011), Multi-Band Microstrip
Rectangular Fractal Antenna for Wireless Applications, International
Journal of Electronics Engineering, pp. 103 106.

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