A COMPACT CIRCULARLY POLARIZED

FRACTAL BASED ANTENNA FOR

NAVIGATION APPLICATIONS
A project report submitted to
JAWAHARLAL NEHRU TECHNOLOGICAL UNIVERSITY ANANTAPUR,
ANANTAPURAMU
in partial fulfillment of the requirements
for the award of degree of
BACHELOR OF TECHNOLOGY
in
ELECTRONICS AND COMMUNICATION ENGINEERING
Submitted by
Batch ID:22C14
S. CHAITANYA GURUSAI - 18121A04J9
P. RUSHEEL - 18121A04H0
P. ANIL - 18121A04H4
P. SAI VYSHNAVI - 18121A04H7
Under the Guidance of
Ms. H.D. Praveena, M.Tech., (Ph. D).,
Assistant Professor, Dept. of ECE.

Department of Electronics and Communication Engineering

(AUTONOMOUS)
Sree Sainath Nagar, A. Rangampet, Tirupathi - 517102.
(2018-2022)

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 (AUTONOMOUS)
Sree Sainath Nagar, A. Rangampet - 517 102
VISION
To be one of the Nation’s premier Engineering Colleges by achieving the
highest order of excellence in Teaching and Research.
MISSION
 To foster intellectual curiosity, pursuit and dissemination of knowledge.
 To explore students’ potential through academic freedom and integrity.
 To promote technical mastery and nurture skilled professionals to face competition in
ever increasing complex world.

QUALITY POLICY
Sree Vidyanikethan Engineering College strives to establish a system of Quality
Assurance to continuously address, monitor and evaluate the quality of education offered
to students, thus promoting effective teaching processes for the benefit of students and
making the College a Centre of Excellence for Engineering and Technological studies.

DEPARTMENT OF ELECTRONICS AND COMMUNICATION ENGINEERING

Vision
To be a center of excellence in Electronics and Communication Engineering through
teaching and research producing high quality engineering professionals with values and
ethics to meet local and global demands.
Mission
o The Department of Electronics and Communication Engineering is
established with the cause of creating competent professionals to work in
multicultural and multidisciplinary environments.
o Imparting knowledge through contemporary curriculum and striving for
development of students with diverse background.
o Inspiring students and faculty members for innovative research through
constant interaction with research organizations and industry to meet
societal needs.
o Developing skills for enhancing employability of students through
comprehensive training process.
o Imbibing ethics and values in students for effective engineering practice.

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 B. Tech. (Electronics and Communication Engineering)

Program Educational Objectives

After few years of graduation, the graduates of B.Tech (ECE) will be:

PEO1. Enrolled or completed higher education in the core or allied areas of electronics and
communication engineering or management.
PEO2. Successful entrepreneurial or technical career in the core or allied areas of electronics
and communication engineering.
PEO3. Continued to learn and to adapt to the world of constantly evolving technologies
in the core or allied areas of electronics and communication engineering.
Program Outcomes
On successful completion of the Program, the graduates of B.Tech. (ECE) Program will be
able to:
PO1 Engineering knowledge: Apply the knowledge of mathematics, science, engineering
fundamentals, and an engineering specialization to the solution of complex engineering
problems.
PO2 Problem analysis: Identify, formulate, research literature, and analyze complex
engineering problems reaching substantiated conclusions using first principles of
mathematics, natural sciences, and engineering sciences.
PO3 Design/development of solutions: Design solutions for complex engineering problems and
design system components or processes that meet the specified needs with appropriate
consideration for the public health and safety, and the cultural,
societal, and environmental considerations.
PO4 Conduct investigations of complex problems: Use research-based knowledge and research
methods including design of experiments, analysis and interpretation of data,
and synthesis of the information to provide valid conclusions.
PO5 Modern tool usage: Create, select, and apply appropriate techniques, resources, and modern
engineering and IT tools including prediction and modeling to complex
engineering activities with an understanding of the limitations.
PO6 The engineer and society: Apply reasoning informed by the contextual knowledge to
assess societal, health, safety, legal and cultural issues and the consequent responsibilities
relevant to the professional engineering practice.
PO7 Environment and sustainability: Understand the impact of the professional engineering
solutions in societal and environmental contexts, and demonstrate the
knowledge of, and need for sustainable development.
PO8 Ethics: Apply ethical principles and commit to professional ethics and responsibilities
and norms of the engineering practice.
PO9 Individual and team work: Function effectively as an individual, and as a member or leader
in diverse teams, and in multidisciplinary settings.
PO10 Communication: Communicate effectively on complex engineering activities with the
engineering community and with society at large, such as, being able to comprehend and
write effective reports and design documentation, make effective presentations,
and give and receive clear instructions.
PO11 Project management and finance: Demonstrate knowledge and understanding of the
engineering and management principles and apply these to one’s own work, as a
member and leader in a team, to manage projects and in multidisciplinary environments.

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PO12 Lifelong learning: Recognize the need for, and have the preparation and ability to
engage in independent and life-long learning in the broadest context of technological change.

Program Specific Outcomes

On successful completion of the Program, the graduates of B. Tech. (ECE) will be able to

PSO1. Apply the knowledge of Electronics, Signal Processing, Communications, and VLSI &
Embedded Systems to the solutions of real-world problems.
PSO2. Analyze, Design and Develop solutions in real time in the domains of Electronics,
Signal Processing, Communications, and VLSI & Embedded Systems.
PSO3. Conduct investigations and address complex engineering problems in the domains of
Electronics, Signal Processing, Communications, and VLSI & Embedded Systems.
PSO4. Apply appropriate techniques, resources, and modern tools to complex
engineering systems and processes in the domains of Electronics, Signal Processing,
Communications, and VLSI & Embedded Systems.

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 Department of Electronics and Communication Engineering

(AUTONOMOUS)
Sree Sainath Nagar, A. Rangampet, Tirupati - 517102.

Certificate
This is to certify that the project report entitled
A Compact Circularly Polarized Fractal based antenna
for Navigation Applications
is the bonafide work done and submitted by
S. CHAITANYA GURUSAI - 18121A04J9
P. RUSHEEL - 18121A04H0
P. ANIL - 18121A04H4
P. SAI VYSHNAVI - 18121A04H7

in the Department of Electronics and Communication Engineering, Sree Vidyanikethan

Engineering College, A.Rangampet, affiliated to Jawaharlal Nehru Technological
University Anantapur, Anantapuramu in partial fulfillment of the requirements for
the award of the degree of Bachelor of Technology in Electronics and
Communication Engineering during 2018-2022.
GUIDE HOD

MS. H.D. PRAVEENA, M.Tech., (Ph.D), Dr. N. GIREESH, M.Tech., Ph.D.

Assistant Professor, Dept. of ECE. Professor & Head, Dept. of ECE.

INTERNAL EXAMINER EXTERNAL EXAMINER

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 ACKNOWLEDGMENT

First of all, we are indebted to the GOD ALMIGHTY for giving us an opportunity to excel in
our efforts to complete this project on time.
We are deeply indebted to our project guide Ms. H.D. Praveena, M.Tech, (Ph.D).,
Assistant Professor, Department of Electronics and Communication for her valuable guidance,
constant encouragement, constructive criticism and keen interest evinced throughout the course of
our project work. We are really fortunate to associate ourselves with such an advising and helping
guide in every possible way, at all stages, for the successful completion of this project work.
We express our deep sense of gratitude to Dr. N. GIREESH, M.Tech, Ph.D., Professor
and Head, Department of Electronics and Communication Engineering for their valuable guidance
and constant encouragement given to us during this project course.
We express gratitude to our principal Dr. B. M. SATISH, M.E., Ph.D., for supporting us
in completion of our project work successfully by providing the facilities. We are pleased to
express our heart full thanks to our faculty in Department of ECE of Sree Vidyanikethan
Engineering College for their moral support and good wishes.
Finally, we have a notation to express our sincere thanks to friends and all those who
guided, inspired and helped us in the completion of our project work.

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 DECLARATION
We hereby declare that project report entitled “A COMPACT CIRCULARLY POLARIZED
FRACTAL BASED ANTENNA FOR NAVIGATION APLLICATIONS” being submitted by
us for award of degree of Bachelor of Technology in Electronics and Communication Engineering,
Jawaharlal Nehru Technological University Anantapur, Anantapuramu is a bonafide record of
and has not been submitted to any other courses
or university for award of any degree.

PROJECT MEMBERS

S. CHAITANYA GURUSAI - 18121A04J9

P. RUSHEEL - 18121A04H0
P. ANIL - 18121A04H4
P. SAI VYSHNAVI - 18121A04H7

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 ABSTRACT
A compact circularly polarized fractal-based antenna for navigation application is proposed in
this work. Microstrip antennas have become the best choice for antenna designs as it has easy
fabrication process and low cost. Miniaturization of the microstrip antenna is achieved by fractal
method in various shapes viz. Sierpinski gasket,Koch snowflakes, minkowski, Hilbert curves etc.
By using fractal shapes electrically larger dimensions can be accommodated into smaller physical
areas. So that antenna miniaturization is achieved. Also, the antenna offers right-hand circular
polarization at two resonating frequency bands. The proposed antenna is compact and exhibits
circular polarization with axial ratio less than 3dB. The antenna radiation pattern is spherical in
nature with broad beam width for good sky visibility. Antenna should have reasonably good gain.
Compared to the most of the previously reported multi band CP antenna structure, the proposed
antenna is compact in size, and can be fabricated easily on the single-layer PCB. Various
parameters of the antenna like return loss, radiation pattern, VSWR, bandwidth, Axial ratio, gain
etc., are going to be measured using HFSS software.

viii
 CONTENTS
Title Page No.
Acknowledgement vi
Declaration vii
Abstract viii
List of Figures xii
List of Tables xv

CHAPTER 1 INTRODUCTION 1

1.1 Types of Antennas 2

1.1.1 Reference Antenna 3

1.1.2 Dipole Antenna 3
1.1.3 Monopole Antenna 3
1.1.4 Yagi Antenna 4
1.1.5 Horn Antenna 5
1.1.6 Fractal Antenna 5
1.2 Antenna Parameters 5
1.2.1 VSWR 5
1.2.2 Input Impedance 6
1.2.3 Gain 7
1.2.4 Directive Gain 8
1.2.5 Directivity 8
1.2.6 Efficiency 8
1.2.7 Radiation Pattern 9
1.2.8 Radiation Intensity 11
1.2.9 Effective Area 11
1.2.10 Bandwidth 11
1.2.11 Beamwidth 12
1.2.12 Beam Efficiency 12

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 1.2.13 Polarization 12
1.2.14 Front to Back Ratio 13
1.3 Design Factors 14
1.4 Motivation 14
1.5 Overview 15
1.6 Thesis Outline 15
CHAPTER 2 LITERATURE SURVEY 16
CHAPTER 3 MICROSTRIP PATCH ANTENNA 20
3.1 Introduction 20
3.2 Methods of Analysis 21
3.2.1 Transmission Line Model 21
3.3 Feeding Techniques 23
3.3.1 Coaxial Feed 23
3.3.2 Micro strip Line Feed 23
3.3.3 Aperture Coupled Feed 24
3.3.4 Proximity Coupled Feed 25
3.4 Advantages and Disadvantages 26
3.5 Applications 27
CHAPTER 4 FRACTAL ANTENNA 29
4.1 Introduction to Fractal shapes 30
4.2 Types of Fractal Antenna 33
4.3 Advantages of Fractal antenna 39
4.4 Disadvantages of Fractal antenna 39
4.5 Applications of Fractal antenna 40
CHAPTER 5 APOLLONIAN GASKET MULTIBAND FRACTAL 41
ANTENNA

5.1 Introduction 41
5.2 Antenna design 42
5.3 Parametric Analysis 43

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CHAPTER 6 SIMULATION RESULTS 51

6.1 Introduction to HFSS 51

6.2 HFSS window 52
6.3 Project manager 53
6.4 Results 54

PROJECT AND FINANCE MANAGEMENT 49

CONCLUSION 59
FUTURE SCOPE 60
REFERENCES 61
BIO – DATA 64

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 LIST OF FIGURES
Figure Page
Title
No. No.

Fig. 1.1 Radio (or wireless) communication link with transmitting and 1
receiving antenna
Fig. 1.2 Electromagnetic wave 2

Fig. 1.3 Resonant antenna (wirelength λ/2) 3

Fig. 1.4 Monopole above a Ground plane, showing the “Mirror” 4

Antenna
Fig. 1.5 Yagi Uda Antenna 4

Fig. 1.6 Horn Antenna 5

Fig. 1.7 VSWR Plot 6

Fig. 1.8 Basic Radiation Patterns with Major and Minor Lobes 10

Fig. 3.1 Basic Patch Antenna Construction 20

Fig. 3.2 Common shapes of Microstrip patch elements 21

Fig. 3.3 Microstrip Antenna 22

Fig. 3.4 Microstrip feed 23

Fig. 3.5 Coaxial feed 24

Fig. 3.6 Aperture coupled feed 25

Fig. 3.7 Proximity coupled feed 26

Fig. 4.1 Fractals in nature 29

Fig. 4.2 Fractal antenna 30

xii
 Figure Page
Title
No. No.

Fig. 4.3 Koch Curve Fractal as an iterated function system 33

Fig. 4.4 Koch curve constructions 34

Fig. 4.5 Koch Snowflake Fractal 35

Fig. 4.6 Sierpinski triangle 35

Fig. 4.7 Sierpinski Carpet 36

Fig. 4.8 Dragon structure 36

Fig. 4.9 Tree structure 37

Fig. 4.10 Pythagore tree 37

Fig. 4.11 Apollonius circle 38

Fig. 4.12 Cantor set structure 38

Fig. 4.13 Hilbert structure 39

Fig. 4.14 Minowski loop 39

Fig. 5.1 Schematic structure of apollonian gasket fractal antenna 43

Fig. 5.2 Coaxial cable 43

Fig. 5.3 Parametric analysis for substrate 44

Fig. 5.4 Parametric analysis for ground 45

Fig. 5.5 Parametric analysis for feed position 46

Fig. 5.6 Parametric analysis for patch 46

Fig. 5.7 Cost vs evaluation plot 48

Fig. 6.1 Process in HFSS 52

xiii
 Figure Page
Title
No. No.

Fig. 6.2 Ansoft HFSS window 53

Fig. 6.3 Project window 53
Fig. 6.4 Return loss plot 54

Fig. 6.5 Axial ratio plot 55

Fig. 6.6 Radiation pattern 56

Fig. 6.7 E-plane radiation pattern 56

Fig. 6.8 H-plane radiation pattern 57

Fig. 6.9 VSWR 57

Fig. 6.10 Gain 58

xiv
 LIST OF TABLES

Table Page
Title
No. No.
Table 3.1 Comparison of different feeding techniques 26

Table 5.1 Dimensions of Apollonian Gasket Fractal Antenna 48

xv
 CHAPTER 1
INTRODUCTION
An antenna is a conductive element which converts electrical energy into an electromagnetic field
(transmit), or converts an electromagnetic field into electrical energy (receive) as shown in figure
1.1. An important feature is the property of reversibility the same antenna can be used with the
same characteristics as a transmitter or as a receive antenna. An antenna is characterized by its
center frequency, bandwidth, polarization, gain, radiation pattern and impedance.

Figure 1.1: Radio (or wireless) communication link with transmitting and receiving antenna
A simple wire in which a current flow generates a magnetic field (H) and an electrical field
(E) as shown in figure 1.2. Both fields are perpendicular between them and also with respect to the
wire. The surface generated by the electrical field (E) gives the reference for the polarization’s
direction. The following figure illustrates a vertical polarization.
Let us consider an alternative current. The antenna, a single wire which is connected on
one side, will behave like impedance. The impedance is a function of various parameters such as
wire length, wire shape, and dielectric constant of the environment. An antenna should be
considered as a passive RLC network. Like any RLC network, its Characteristic impedance value
is directly related to the frequency. Smith’s chart is used to visualize the impedance. Thus, an
antenna is a transition device, or transducer, between a guided wave and a free-space wave, or
vice-versa. The antenna is a device which interfaces a circuit and space.

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 Figure 1.2: Electromagnetic wave
The maximum performance of the antenna requires two conditions:
i) Resonance:
It will be obtained at the centered frequency, when the characteristic Impedance of the antenna is
strictly resistive. The minimum reactive part should be observed at the considered frequency.
ii) Matching:
A proper matching of the antenna to the feed point implies that both impedances are identical. This
condition ensures that all the energy delivered by the feed point is converted in an electromagnetic
field. In case of mismatch, a Standing Wave appears, and part of the energy returns to the
transmitter. The VSWR determines the amount of energy which is not converted by the antenna
into energy. The antenna can either radiate the energy (wanted), or turn it in heat (unwanted).

1.1 Types of Antennas

Basically, an antenna is made out of 2 conductors. One of them is radiating with respect to the
other. Bearing this consideration in mind, different shapes can be used, each of them having their
specific properties. As a general physical rule, an antenna’s efficiency is directly proportional to
its volume. As we will see in the next examples, the size of the antenna is also related to the
wavelength. In other words, a small antenna operating on low frequencies doesn’t have a chance
to be efficient.

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1.1.1 Reference Antenna
Radiation pattern is purely isotropic, which means that it radiates equally in every x, y, and z axis.
As it is considered as the reference for any measurements, the gain is 0 dB This antenna is a purely
theoretical model because an isotropic radiation is not compatible with the electromagnetic
vibration’s nature. However, it is a very useful model because of all the simplifications brought to
the calculations.
1.1.2 Dipole Antenna
An antenna which length is multiple of λ/2 is a resonant antenna. The gain of a dipole is nearly
2.3dB.The current distribution inside a half-wave dipole is as follows in figure 1.3.

Figure 1.3: Resonant antenna (Wire length λ/2)

1.1.3 Monopole Antenna

If one part of a dipole antenna is removed and replaced by an infinite ground plane [2], the
remaining half of the dipole “mirrors” itself in the ground plane as shown in figure 1.4. This ground
plane is sometimes referred to as the counterpoise. For all practical purposes, the monopole
behaves as a “half” dipole. That is, it has the same doughnut shaped radiation pattern, the radiation
resistance is half that of the dipole (37 Ohm), it can be bent or folded like the dipole, and the same
loading and feeding techniques can be applied.
However, one very important difference remains in that the antenna feed point is not
balanced, but single ended. Because of this, and because most RF circuits are of the unbalanced
type, this antenna type is very popular and a lot of variations of the monopole theme exist, most
designed to match 50 Ohms. The monopole is a resonant antenna, the rod functions as an open
resonator for resonator for radio waves oscillating with standing waves of voltage and current
along its length. Therefore, the length of the antenna is determined by wavelength of radio waves
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it is used with. The most common form is the quarter wave monopole in which the antenna is
approximately one quarter of the wavelength of radio waves.

Figure 1.4: Monopole above a Ground Plane, Showing the “Mirror” Antenna
1.1.4 Yagi Antenna
A basic Yagi consists of a certain number of straight elements, each measuring approximately half
wavelength [10]. The driven or active element of a Yagi is the equivalent of a center-fed, half-
wave dipole antenna. Parallel to the driven element, and approximately 0.2 to 0.5 wavelengths on
either side of it, are straight rods or wires called reflectors and directors, or passive elements
altogether.

Fig 1.5 : Yagi Uda Antenna

A reflector is placed behind the driven element and is slightly longer than half wavelength;
a director is placed in front of the driven element and is slightly shorter than half wavelength. A
typical Yagi has one reflector and one or more directors. The antenna propagates electromagnetic
field energy in the direction running from the driven element toward the directors, and is most
sensitive to incoming electromagnetic field energy in this same direction. The more directors a
Yagi has, the greater the gain. As more directors are added to a Yagi,however, it becomes longer.
Following is the figure of a Yagi antenna with 6 directors and one reflector as shown in figure 1.5.
Yagi antennas are used primarily for Point-to-Point links, have a gain from 10 to 20 dB and a
horizontal beam width of 10 to 20 degrees.

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1.1.5 Horn Antenna
The horn antenna derives its name from the characteristic flared appearance. The flared portion
can be square, rectangular, cylindrical or conical. The direction of maximum radiation corresponds
with the axis of the horn. It is easily fed with a waveguide, but can be fed with a coaxial cable and
a proper transition.
Horn antennas are commonly used as the active element in a dish antenna. The horn is
pointed toward the center of the dish reflector as shown in figure 1.6. The use of a horn, rather
than a dipole antenna or any other type of antenna, at the focal point of the dish minimizes loss of
energy around the edges of the dish reflector.

Figure 1.6 : Horn antenna

1.1.6 Fractal Antenna
The fractal is derived from Greek word “Frangere” which means broken or irregular fragments
[15]. It is change into first developed via mathematician Benoit Mandelbrot in 1975.Fractal
antennas are multiband, high gain and low-profile antenna which is used for Wi-Fi package
because of its capabilities and competencies an iterative geometry refers to the technique of
subdividing a shape into smaller copies of it. Traditional antenna operates at single frequency band
in which larger area is required to couple of antenna Fractal geometry has been implemented to
many fields and consequences were observed. Fractal antennas have following properties such as
Self similarity property -Antenna has the identical shape but repeated with reduction in length.

Space filling property –Hilbert curve is used in the miniaturization of antenna element
because of its space filling property. Space filling property are electrically long that are fit into a
compact space and lead to the miniaturization of antenna element. One of the essential properties
of antenna is frequency independent [9]

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1.1 Antenna Parameters
1.2.1 VSWR
Voltage Standing Wave Ratio is the ratio of maximum radio-frequency voltage to minimum
radio-frequency voltage on transmission line. It is given by:
VSWR = Vmax/Vmin………………………………………… (1.1)

Figure 1.7 VSWR Plot

VSWR is a measure of the amount of signal that is reflected from a connector. It is a vector quantity
in that it has both amplitude and a phase component. VSWR plot is as shown in Fig.1.7. This is
important when considering the impact of multiple connectors in a transmission line.
The VSWR can also be calculated from the return loss (S11) which means that it is also an
indicator of antenna efficiency. With the return loss, we can determine the mismatch between the
characteristic impedance of the transmission line and the antennas terminal input impedance.

The VSWR increases with the mismatch between the antenna and the transmission line
and decreases with a good matching. The minimum value of VSWR is 1:1 and most equipment
can handle a VSWR of 2:1. The bandwidth of an antenna can be determined by the VSWR or the
return loss. The best performance of antenna is achieved when the VSWR under 2:1 or the return
loss is 10dB or lower.

1.2.2 Input Impedance

Generally, an antenna is a load to transmission line with certain impedance. This impedance is
known as the input impedance of an antenna. The in- out impedance can be used to determine the
maximum power transfer between the transmission line and the antenna, this will only occur when

6
both impedances are equal. If there is a mismatch between both impedances, power will be
reflected to the transmitter and this might cause damage to the device.
1.2.3 Gain
The term Antenna Gain describes how much power is transmitted in the direction of peak radiation
to that of an isotropic source. Antenna gain is more commonly quoted in a real antenna’s
specification sheet because it takes into account the actual losses that occur.

The gain of antenna is a basic property which is frequently used as figure of merit. Gain is
closely associated with directivity and directivity itself dependent entirely upon the shape of the
radiation pattern of an antenna. The ability of antenna or antenna system to concentrate the radiated
power in a given direction or conversely to absorb effectively the incident power from that
direction is specified by various antenna term as Antenna gain or simply gain or directive gain or
power gain or directivity. Since the passive element thus the gain of an antenna is not same as the
gain of an amplifier in which case it is the ratio of output to input. Therefore, in case of an antenna
gain is a relative term in which actual antenna is compared with reference antenna.

The reference antenna normally used is a hypothetical lossless isotropic radiator or antenna
which radiates uniformly in all directions. Although half wave dipole antenna is also sometimes
used as a reference antenna but isotropic antenna as reference antenna is preferred. If all the
available power is radiated in a desired direction, then naturally there is a gain in that direction.
Thus, gain of antenna may be defined in any way. Gain of an antenna is defined as “the ratio of
maximum radiation intensity in given direction to the maximum radiation intensity from a
reference antenna produced in the same direction with same power input”.

An antenna with a gain of 3 dB means that the power received far from the antenna will be
3 dB higher (twice as much) than what would be received from a lossless isotropic antenna with
the same input power.

Antenna Gain is sometimes discussed as a function of angle, but when a single number is quoted
the gain is the ‘peak gain’ over all directions. Antenna Gain (G) can be related to directivity (D)
by:
G = K*D………………. (1.2)

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 The gain of a real antenna can be as high as 40-50 dB for very large dish antennas (although
this is rare). Directivity can be as low as 1.76 dB for a real antenna (example: short dipole antenna),
but can never theoretically be less than 0 dB However, the peak gain of an antenna can be
arbitrarily low because of losses or low efficiency. Electrically small antennas (small relative to
the wavelength of the frequency that the antenna operates at can be very inefficient, with antenna
gains lower than -10 dB (even without accounting for impedance mismatch loss). There are two
types of gain, Absolute gain and relative gain.

1.2.4 Directive Gain

All practical antennas concentrate the radiated energy to more or less extent in certain preferred
directions. The extent to which a practical antenna concentrates its radiated energy relative to that
of some antenna is termed as directive gain. Thus, the directive gain (Gd) in given direction is
defined as “the ratio of the radiation intensity in that direction to the average radiated power”.

The directive gain solely depends on the distribution of radiated power in space. It does
not depend upon the power input to the antenna, antenna losses or the power consumed in a
terminating resistance. Thus, stating in another words the directive gain of an antenna is defined,
in particular direction, “as the ratio of power density in that direction at a given distance, to the
power density that would be radiated at the same distance by an isotropic antenna, radiating the
same total power”
1.2.5 Directivity
This is a fundamental antenna parameter. It is a measure of how ‘directional’ an antenna’s radiation
pattern is. An antenna that radiates equally in all directions would have effectively zero
directionality, and the directivity of this type of antenna would be 1 (or 0 dB). Directivity allow us
to measure the concentration of radiated power in a certain direction.

1.2.6 Efficiency
The efficiency of an antenna relates the power delivered to the antenna and the power radiated or
dissipated within the antenna. A high efficiency antenna has most of the power present at the
antenna’s input radiated away. A low efficiency antenna has most of the power absorbed as losses

within the antenna, or reflected away due to impedance mismatch. The losses associated with in an
antenna are typically the conduction losses (due to finite conductivity of the antenna) and dielectric
losses (due to conduction within a dielectric which may be present within an antenna.
8
 Antenna Efficiency =Radiated Power/Total Input Power…………… (1.3)
Antenna efficiency in terms of radiation resistance is given as Efficiency is ultimately a ratio,
giving a number between 0 and 1. Efficiency is very often quoted in terms of a percentage; for
example, an efficiency of 0.5 is the same as 50%. Antenna efficiency is al so frequently quoted in
decibels (dB), an efficiency of 0.1 is 10% or (-10 dB), and an efficiency of 0.5 or 50% is -3 dB.
The total efficiency of an antenna is the radiation efficiency multiplied by the impedance mismatch
loss of the antenna, when connected to a transmission line or receiver (radio or transmitter).

ƐT=ML.ƐR…………………………………… (1.4)

Where,

ƐT is the antenna’s total efficiency,

ML is the antenna’s loss due to impedance mismatch, ƐR is the antenna’s radiation efficiency.
Since ML is always a number between 0 and 1, the total antenna efficiency is always less
than the antenna’s radiation efficiency. Said another way, the radiation efficiency is the same as
the total antenna efficiency if there was no loss due to impedance mismatch. Impedance matching
can greatly improve the efficiency of an antenna.
1.2.7 Radiation Pattern
A radiation pattern defines the variation of the power radiated by an antenna as a function of the
direction away from the antenna. This power variation as a function of the arrival angle is observed
in the antenna's far field. The radiation pattern is a graphical depiction of the relative field strength
transmitted from or Antenna radiation patterns are taken at one frequency, one polarization, and
one plane cut. The patterns are usually presented in polar or rectilinear form with a dB strength
scale.
In the field of antenna design the term radiation pattern (or antenna pattern or far- field pattern)
refers to the directional (angular) dependence of the strength of the radio waves from the antenna
or other source. For the calculation of field strength, the voltages at two points on electric lines of
force, are taken and then divided by the distance between the points. Hence unit of the radiation
pattern in volt/meter or milli volt/meter. The radiation pattern of an antenna is the most basic
requirement because it determines the distribution of the radiated energy in space. Once the
operating frequency is known, the radiation pattern is the first property of the antenna that is
specified. The basic radiation pattern with major and minor lobes is shown in Fig.1.8. Various

9
radiation patterns are explained below.
a) Isotropic Pattern
An isotropic radiator is defined as a “hypothetical lossless antenna having equal radiation in all
directions”. Although it is ideal and not physically realizable, it is often taken as a reference for
expressing the properties of actual antennas. Although, sometimes a half-wave dipole antenna is
also used as reference antenna but these days use of isotropic antenna as reference antenna is
preferred.
b) Omni Directional Pattern
The radiation pattern which is distributed equally well in all directions is called Omni directional
patterns. The antenna which exhibits such a property is known as Omni directional antenna or non-
directional antenna.
c) Directional Pattern
A directional antenna is one “having the property of radiation or receiving electromagnetic waves
more effectively in some directions than in others is known as directional antennas “. The
directional antennas are the antennas in which maximum directivity is significantly greater than
that of half-wave dipole.
d) Principal Plane Patterns
The performance of the antenna is usually described in terms of its principal E-plane and H- plane
patterns. For a linearly polarized antenna, the E-plane pattern is defined as ‘the plane containing
the electric-field vector and the direction of maximum radiation’ and the H-plane as “the plane
containing the magnetic-field vector and the direction of maximum radiations”.

Figure 1.8 Basic Radiation Patterns with Major and Minor Lobes

10
1.2.8 Radiation Intensity

Radiation intensity is defined as “Power per unit solid angle”. This parameter is used to define
directivity, power gain and antenna gain. In electromagnetism, radiation intensity describes the
power density that an antenna creates in a solid angle. A solid angle is a section of the surface of
the imaginary sphere around the antenna.
Given an antenna's power density P, radiation density is calculated by multiplying it with
the square of the distance (r2) from the antenna to the designated solid angle:
U = Pr2…………………………………..(1.5)
This is so because unlike power density, radiation intensity does not depend on distance: because
radiation intensity is defined as the power through a solid angle, the decreasing power density over
distance (i.e. over r2 of the imaginary sphere around the antenna) due same law. Therefore, power
density can be converted to radiation intensity by multiplying it with r2.
1.2.9 Effective Area
A transmitting antenna transmits electromagnetic waves and a receiving antenna receives a
fraction of the same. The concept of effective area or aperture is best understood by considering
an antenna to have an effective area which it extracts electromagnetic energy from the travelling
electromagnetic waves. Antenna effective aperture is the functionally equivalent area from which
an antenna directed toward the source of the received signal gathers or absorbs the energy of an
incident electromagnetic wave.
Note 1: Antenna effective area is usually expressed in square meters.

Note 2: In the case of parabolic and horn-parabolic antennas, the antenna effective area is about

0.35 to 0.55 of the geometric area of the antenna aperture.

1.2.10 Bandwidth
Bandwidth is another fundamental antenna parameter. Bandwidth describes the range of
frequencies over which the antenna can properly radiate or receive energy. Often, the desired
bandwidth is one of the determining parameters used to decide upon an antenna. For instance,
many antenna types have very narrow bandwidths and cannot be used for wideband operation.
There are also other criteria which may be used to characterize bandwidth. This may be the
polarization over a certain range, for instance, an antenna may be described as having circular

11
polarization with an axial ratio< 4dB (less than 4 dB) . This polarization bandwidth sets the range
over which the antenna's operation is approximately circularly polarized. The bandwidth is often
specified in terms of its Fractional Bandwidth (FBW). The FBW is the ratio of the frequency range
(highest frequency minus lowest frequency) divided by the center frequency. The antenna Q also
relates to bandwidth.
1.2.11 Beam Width
Antenna beam width, also known as the half-power beam width, is the angle of an antenna pattern
or beam over which the relative power is at or above 50% of the peak power. An antenna's beam
width is usually understood to mean the half-power beam width. The peak radiation intensity is
found and then the points on either side of the peak which represent half the power of the peak
intensity are located. The angular distance between the half power points is defined as the half the
power expressed in decibels is - 3dB, so the half power is sometimes referred to as the 3dB as ,
Both horizontal and vertical beam width are usually considered. Assuming that most of the radiated
power is not divided into side lobes, and then the directive gain is inversely proportional to the
beam width, as the beam width decreases, the Directive gain increases.

1.2.12 Beam Efficiency

To judge the quality of transmitting or receiving antenna, we can use parameter called Beam
efficiency. It is the ratio of power transmitted within one angle θ1to the power transmitted by
antenna.

1.2.13 Polarization

Represent the sense and orientation of the electromagnetic waves for from the source. There are
three main types of polarization:

• Elliptical: Elliptical left hand, Elliptical right hand

• Circular: Circular left hand, circular right hand

• Linear: Vertical, Horizontal

The polarization of an antenna is the polarization of the radiated fields produced by an antenna,
evaluated in the far field. Hence, antennas are often classified as "Linearly Polarized" or a "Right
Hand Circularly Polarized Antenna". This simple concept is important for antenna-to-antenna
communication. First, a horizontally polarized antenna will not communicate with a vertically

12
polarized antenna. Due to the reciprocity theorem, antennas transmit and receive in the same
manner. Hence, a vertically polarized antenna transmits and receives vertically polarized fields.
Consequently, if a horizontally polarized antenna is trying to communicate with a vertically
polarized antenna, there will be no reception. In general, for two linearly polarized antennas that
are rotated from each other by an angle Ф, the power loss due to this polarization mismatch will
be described by the Polarization Loss Factor (PLF).

PLF= cos2 ..................................................................................................... (1.6)

Hence, if both antennas have the same polarization, the angle between their radiated E- fields
is zero and there is no power loss due to polarization mismatch. If one antenna is vertically
polarized and the other is horizontally polarized, the angle is 90 degrees and no power will be
transferred. As a side note, this explains why moving the cell phone on your head to a different
angle can sometimes increase reception. Cell phone antennas are often linearly polarized, so
rotating the phone can often match the polarization of the phone and thus increase reception.
Circular polarization is a desirable characteristic for many antennas. Two antennas that are both
circularly polarized do not suffer signal loss due to polarization mismatch. Antennas used in GPS
systems are Circularly Polarized. Suppose now that a linearly polarized antenna is trying to receive
a circularly polarized wave. Equivalently, suppose a circularly polarized antenna is trying to
receive a linearly polarized wave. Recall that circular polarization is really two orthogonal linear
polarized waves 90 degrees out of phase. Hence, a linearly polarized (LP) antenna will have a
polarization mismatch loss of 0.5 (-3dB), no matter what the angle the LP antenna is rotated to.
Therefore,
LF (linear to circular) = 0.5= -3dB…………………………… (1.7)
The Polarization Loss Factor is sometimes referred to as polarization efficiency, antenna mismatch
factor, or antenna receiving factor. All of these names refer to the same concept.
1.2.14 Front to Back Ratio
It is defined as the ratio of the power radiated in desired direction to power the power radiated in
the opposite direction. To overcome misleading aspects of both 180- degree and worst-case front-
to-back ratios, some engineers have adopted the front-to- rear ratio. This ratio is based on averaging
the power gain of the antenna over the rear quadrant and using the resulting figure as the basis for
a ratio with the forward gain. There is no general standard on exactly how many data points to use
or where to locate them. It is useful to know the front-to-back ratio that is the ratio of the maximum
13
directivity of an antenna to its directivity in the rearward direction. For example, when the principal
plane pattern is plotted on a relative dB scale, the front-to-back ratio is the difference in dB between
the level of the maximum radiation, and the level of radiation in a direction 180 degree. FBR
changes if frequency of operation of antenna system shifts.

1.3 Design Factors

Good diversity performance between two antennas depends on several factors.

• The antennas must have some degree of directivity that can be controlled.

• The antennas must have some level of cross-polar discrimination.

• The antenna should have differently-directed spatial radiation patterns.

• Coupling between the antennas must be minimized.

• The multiple antenna system must be as efficient as a single antenna, or the

diversity gain of the system will be squandered.
• The antennas must be electrically small to minimize interaction between them.

• The antennas must have properly matched terminations.

1.4 Motivation
The Micro strip antenna is physically very simple and flat, these are two of the reasons for the great
interest in this type of antenna. Micro strip antennas have several advantages compared to other
bulky type of antennas. Some of the main advantages of the Micro strip antennas are that it has
low fabrication cost, lightweight, low volume, and low-profile configurations that it can be made
conformal, it can be easily mounted on rockets, missiles and satellites without major modifications
and arrays of these antennas can simply be produced. The overall equivalent electric length of
microstrip patch antenna increases because of a combination of Apollonian gasket fractals further
enhancement in equivalent electrical length occur with the increment in iterations of Apollonian
gasket fractals, which leads to maximum size reduction of patch antenna.
Because of increase in electrical length the frequency of the antenna decreases
which helps us to design antenna in low frequency applications like microwave frequency,
navigation and satellite applications and this advantage motivates us to design our proposed fractal
antenna.
14
1.5 Overview
Antenna configuration has traditionally depended on physical parameters like patch length,
substrate thickness to facilitate desired behaviour and achieve a positive trade-off between
performance and added design complexity. Micro strip patch Antenna has been received
tremendous attention since the last two decades. Micro strip antenna is printed type of antenna
consisting of a dielectric substrate sandwiched in between a ground plane and a patch. In this
project, Micro strip antenna technology is used for designing of the antenna because it is most
widely used in the field of antennas technology because of its commercial reality with applications
in wide variety of microwave systems. These are using in Personnel Communication systems
(PCS), mobile satellite communication, wireless local area networks (WLANs) and intelligent
vehicle highway systems (IVHS) etc. These are preferred over other types of radiators because of
the additional lumped inductance introduced by fractals, the phase velocity of the wave is reduced,
resulting in the slow wave effect. The slow wave factor is given by the ratio of β (propagation
constant) and k (free space wave number). The slow wave effect increases the effective electrical
length of the antenna or in other words decreases its resonance frequency leading to a reduction in
antenna size for the frequency of operation.

1.6 Thesis Outline

• In chapter 1, a brief introduction to the basics of Antennas and types of antennas and objective
of this thesis is presented.
• In chapter 2, previous works on Fractal antennas using various circular polarization
techniques are reported and summarized.
• In chapter 3, the methods of analysis of different feeding techniques are discussed.
• In chapter 4, the design of the compact circularly polarized Apollonian gasket Fractal antenna
for L- Band and S- Band applications are reported.
• In chapter 5, Apollonian gasket multiband fractal antenna is designed and paramateric
analysis of various parameters are described.
• In chapter 6, Simulation and results of various parameters like Return loss, Axial ratio,
VSWR, Radiation Pattern etc. of the compact circularly polarized Apollonian gasket ractal
antenna are documented, tabulated.

15
 CHAPTER 2
LITERATURE SURVEY
Micro strip patch antennas are utilized in a variety of applications, including the Direct Broadcast
Satellite (DBS) system, mobile communications, GPS, and different radar systems. Cheap profile,
light weight, low cost, simplicity of manufacture, and integration with RF equipment are some of
its benefits. However, when used in the 2GHz or lower frequency band, they suffer from several
issues like as multipath, interference, and fading.
These numerous phenomena have the potential to drastically limit the performance of
modern satellite communication systems. Several strategies and solutions to improve
communication networks have been developed in recent years. The use of antenna diversity to
overcome performance limits imposed on the system is one of the antenna upgrades. The frequency
band is often believed to be fixed in these techniques, and the objective is to increase overall system
performance for that band by using spatial properties of satellite application environments.
Fractal geometry has a wide range of applications in biology, geography, and engineering.
Fractal geometries have been employed in antenna designs, frequency selective surface designs,
image processing, and biomedical signal processing in the field of engineering. In the subject of
antenna design, the notion of fractal antenna theory is a relatively recent study topic. However,
due to a variety of appealing characteristics, fractal antennas and the accompanying superset fractal
electrodynamics are a prominent focus of contemporary study. Fractal geometries are complex
geometric structures having qualities of self-similarity, self-scaling, and space-filling. These
characteristics make them a good fit for smaller antenna designs. The ability to fill space leads in
electrically massive features. Iteration function systems with similar geometries can benefit from
the self-similar feature. Iteration function systems with self-scaling properties can employ
comparable forms from many scales. These characteristics allow them to be compactly packed and
hence conveniently represented in small spaces.
The antenna shrinking process may be accomplished using the self- scaling, space filling,
and self-resemblance capabilities of fractals, which result in electrically extremely long curves
with a small organized physical space. Self-similarity causes self-interest.

16
Fractal geometries are commonly employed in Fractal antenna designs due to their scaling and
space filling capabilities. When fractal antennas are compared to conventional antennas, it is
discovered that fractal antennas have a substantially higher bandwidth while maintaining a small
antenna size. Multiple resonant frequencies can be created using fractal antennas that are
multiband but not harmonics in nature. As a result, fractal geometries-based antenna designs are
suited for a variety of navigation applications.
Design of a Triangular Fractal Patch Antenna with Slit for IRNSS and GAGAN
Applications: In this paper a triangular fractal patch antenna with slit is designed for IRNSS and
GAGAN applications using ADS software. India is intended to develop a satellite-based
navigation systems known as Indian Regional Navigational Satellite System (IRNSS) for
positioning applications. Design of IRNSS antenna at user sector is indispensable. GPS Aided and
Geo Augmented Navigation (GAGAN), a satellite-based augmentation system for India, erect over
the GPS system is anticipated to provide the flawless navigation support over the Asia-Pacific
regions. The desired antenna has been deliberate on dielectric constant εr = 4.8 and substrate
thickness h = 3.05 mm. The feed location of the antenna has been selected to produce the circular
polarization. The self-similar property in antenna exhibits multi-band resonant frequencies. These
specifications should be satisfied at the frequency L5 (1175 MHz), L1 (1575.42MHz) and S
(2492.08MHz) [1].
Dual-Band RHCP Stacked Microstrip Antenna for IRNSS Receiver: This paper presents the
design aspects and simulation of a right-hand circularly polarized, dual-band, two layer stacked
micro-strip antenna for IRNSS receiver front-end operating at L5 band (1176.45 MHz) and S band
(2492.028 MHz) frequencies. IRNSS satellites transmit navigational signals in L5 (1176.45 MHz)
and S (2492.028 MHz) frequency bands. Dual-band antenna is preferred to mitigate the effect of
Ionosphere on the IRNSS signal. Two layer stacked patch structure is adopted for the proposed
antenna with the bottom patch designed for L5 band and top patch for S band. Right-Hand
Circularly Polarized operation with Axial Ratio less than 2dB is achieved by introducing a pair of
square shaped notches at the diagonally opposite sides of 1 International Journal of Pure and
Applied Mathematics Volume 118 No. 17 2018, 47-59 ISSN: 1311-8080 (printed version);
ISSN1314-3395 (on-line version) url: http://www.ijpam.eu Special Issue ijpam.eu 47 the patches
and a single probe feed along the center of the antenna.

17
The proposed antenna is compact and exhibits dual frequency RHCP operation with axial ratio
less than 2dB. The antenna radiation pattern is hemispherical in nature with broad beam width for
good sky visibility. Antenna has reasonably good gain and cross polarisation isolation.
Improvements: This antenna design is a good candidate for IRNSS receiver applications. However
future research works are planned to introduce the concept of metamaterials using complementary
split ring resonators (CSRR) for miniaturization and planar layout. Such a design would be ideal
for mobile receiver applications [2].
Design of Hybrid Fractal Antenna for Wireless Applications: The advancement in
communication technology over the past decade, there is an increasing demand for miniaturization
and cost. To overcome this problem, we have fractal antenna designs which can support meeting
these requirements. The combination of two different geometries is referred to be as Hybrid Fractal
Antenna. By using a Hybrid Fractal Antenna, we can reduce the size, increase the bandwidth and
it also supports a multiband application. The main objective of this paper is to design a Hybrid
Fractal Antenna (HFA) by using popular fractal curves, Koch and Minkowski. The generator curve
is created by adding the Koch and Minkowski.
The Hybrid generator curve is then superimposed on a hexagonal patch to get the proposed
Hybrid Fractal Antenna. Line feed is used to provide an electrical signal to the patch of the antenna.
FR-4Epoxy substrate is used to design the proposed geometry because it is easily available at a
low price. The dielectric constant of the FR-4 Epoxy substrate is 4.4 with a height of 1.6mm. The
designed antenna parameters are validated using simulation software Ansoft High-Frequency
Structure Simulator (HFSS). The performance parameters like return loss, VSWR, and gain are
observed. The designed antenna is useful for Wireless communication applications [3].
A New Periodic Fractal Parasitic Structure to Design the Circularly Polarized Microstrip
Antenna for the Satellite Navigation System: A novel approach to design the single-feed
circularly polarized (CP) microstrip antenna by the periodic fractal parasitic structure (PFPS). By
adding the PFPS along the radiated patch, a new independent orthogonal mode is generated. When
the magnitudes of these two modes are the same and the time-phase difference between them is
90°, the antenna can realize CP radiation. Parameter studies of the PFPS show how to design the
CP microstrip antenna. The proposed CP microstrip antenna, designed for the satellite navigation
system, has a 30 MHz 10-dB impedance bandwidth and an 8 MHz 3-dB axial ratio bandwidth in
the center frequency of 1.575 GHz. The advantage of this presented CP antenna is that these two

18
modes for realizing the CP radiation are independent of each other. This makes it more convenient
to simplify the designing and debugging of the proposed CP antenna [4].
A Novel Fractal Based Circularly Polarized GPS Antenna: Is designed to meet the bandwidth
requirements of satellite receiver (30 MHz) operating at a frequency of 1.575GHz. To achieve the
circular polarization a truncated corner square patch technique is adopted. A 3-dB axial-ratio of
2.3405dB is obtained at the operating frequency. The gain obtained is 0.3694dB [5].
Comparison of Multi-Fractal Antenna with Star Shaped Fractal Antenna for Wireless
Applications: This paper presents the comparison of two different fractal antennas. Both the
antennas are designed by using FR4 glass epoxy substrate with relative permittivity of 4.4 and
1.6mm thickness. The different parameters such as return loss, VSWR, gain and bandwidth of
existing antenna (multi-fractal antenna) are compared with designed antenna (star shaped fractal
antenna) which shows that the designed antenna have more better results as compared with the
existing antenna. The designed antenna was simulated by using HFSS V13 software and the
antenna can be used for different wireless applications such as WLAN, satellite communication,
long distance radar telecommunication [11].

19
 CHAPTER 3
MICROSTRIP PATCH ANTENNA

3.1 Introduction
Micro strip antennas are widely used as efficient radiator in many communication systems. Micro
strip antennas are attractive due to their low profile and co formality, potential low cost, and the
ease with which they can be integrated with printed feed networks and active circuits. Rapid
development of Micro strip antennas experienced a great gain in popularity.
These antennas are used for application with increasingly higher operating frequencies with
physically thin substrates become thick. Micro strip antenna has inherently narrow bandwidth.
However, these antennas have many design parameters that could be optimized by proper design
methodology. Decamps first proposed the concept of the Micro strip patch antenna in 1953;
however, practical antennas were developed by Munson and Howell in the 1970s. The numerous
advantages of Micro strip patch antenna, such as its low weight, small volume, and ease of
fabrication using printed circuit technology, led to the design of several configurations for various
applications [10].
With increasing requirements for personal and mobile communications, the demand for
smaller and low-profile antennas has brought the Micro strip antenna to the forefront. In its most
basic form, a Micro strip patch antenna consists of a radiating patch on one side of a dielectric
substrate which has a ground plane on the other side as shown in figure 3.1. The patch is generally
made of conducting material such as copper or gold and can take any possible shape. The radiating
patch and the feed lines are usually photo etched on the dielectric substrate [8].

Figure 3.1: Basic patch antenna construction

20
In order to simplify analysis and performance prediction, the patch is generally square,
Rectangular, circular, triangular, elliptical or some other common shape as shown in figure 3.2.
Micro strip patch antennas radiate primarily because of the fringing fields between the patch edge
and the ground plane.
For good antenna performance, a thick dielectric substrate having a low dielectric constant
is desirable since this provides better efficiency, larger bandwidth and better radiation However;
such a configuration leads to a larger antenna size.

Figure 3.2: Common shapes of Micro strip patch elements

In order to design a compact Micro strip patch antenna, higher dielectric constants must be
used which are less efficient and result in narrower bandwidth. Hence a compromise must be
reached between antenna dimensions and antenna performance.

3.2 Methods of Analysis

The most popular models for the analysis of Micro strip patch antennas are the transmission line
model, cavity model, and full wave model (Moment Method/MoM).
• The transmission line model is the simplest of all and it gives good physical insight but it
is less accurate.
• The cavity model is more accurate and gives good physical insight but is complex in nature.
• The full wave models are extremely accurate, versatile and can treat single elements, finite
and infinite arrays, stacked elements, arbitrary shaped elements and coupling.
Of all these methods of analysis, transmission line model is used in this project for designing the
antenna because it is easy to analysis and best method to analyze rectangular patch antennas.

21
3.2.1 Transmission Line Model
The basic structure of the microstrip patch antenna is shown in Figure 3.1. It consists of area of
metallization above a ground plane by a thin dielectric substrate and fed against the ground at an
appropriate location.

Fig :3.3 Microstrip Patch Antenna

3.2.2 Cavity Model
This concept was undeveloped until the revolution in electronic circuit miniaturization and large-
scale integration in 1970. After that many authors have described the radiation from the ground
plane by a dielectric substrate for different configurations. The early work of Munson on micro
strip antennas for use as a low profile flush mounted antennas on rockets and missiles showed that
this was a practical concept for use in many antenna system problems. Various mathematical
models were developed for this antenna and its applications were extended to many other fields.
The number of papers, articles published in the journals for the last ten years, on these antennas
shows the importance gained by them. The microstrip antennas are the present day antenna
designer’s choice.
Low dielectric constant substrates are generally preferred for maximum radiation. The
conducting patch can take any shape but rectangular and circular configurations are the most
commonly used configuration. Other configurations are complex to analyze and require heavy
numerical computations. A microstrip antenna is characterized by its Length, Width, Input
impedance, and Gain and radiation patterns. Various parameters of the microstrip antenna and its
design considerations were discussed in the subsequent chapters. The length of the antenna is
nearly half wavelength in the dielectric; it is a very critical parameter, which governs the resonant
frequency of the antenna.

22
 Microstrip patch antenna used to send onboard parameters of article to the ground while
under operating conditions. The aim of the thesis is to design and fabricate an inset-fed rectangular
Microstrip Patch Antenna and study the effect of antenna dimensions Length (L), Width (W) and
substrate parameters relative Dielectric constant (εr), substrate thickness (t) on the Radiation
parameters of Bandwidth and Beam-width.
3.3 Feeding Techniques:
A feedline is used to excite to radiate by direct or indirect contact. There are many different
methods of feeding and four most popular methods are microstrip line feed, coaxial probe, aperture
coupling and proximity coupling. The shape of the patch can be arbitrary, in practice it can be the
rectangle, the circle, the equi-triangular and the annular-ring. Four feeding Methods are available
and those are mentioned below.
3.3.1 Microstrip Line Feed
In this type of feed technique, a conducting strip is connected directly to the edge of the Microstrip
patch as shown in Figure 2.3. The conducting strip is smaller in width as compared to the patch
and this kind of feed arrangement has the advantage that the feed can be etched on the same
substrate to provide a planar structure.

Fig 3.2: Microstrip Feed

The purpose of the inset cut in the patch is to match the impedance of the feed line to the patch
without the need for any additional matching element. This is achieved by properly controlling the
inset position. Hence this is an easy feeding scheme, since it provides ease of fabrication and
simplicity in modeling as well as impedance matching. However, as the thickness of the dielectric

23
substrate being used, increases, surface waves and spurious feed radiation also increases, which
hampers the bandwidth of the antenna. The feed radiation also leads to undesired cross polarized
radiation.
3.3.2 Coaxial Feed
The Coaxial feed or probe feed is a very common technique used for feeding Microstrip patch
antennas. As seen from Figure 2.4, the inner conductor of the coaxial connector extends through
the dielectric and is soldered to the radiating patch, while the outer conductor is connected to the
ground plane.

Fig 3.3 Coaxial Feed

The main advantage of this type of feeding scheme is that the feed can be placed at any
desired location inside the patch in order to match with its input impedance. This feed method is
easy to fabricate and has low spurious radiation. However, a major disadvantage is that it provides
narrow bandwidth and is difficult to model since a hole has to be drilled in the substrate and the
connector protrudes outside the ground plane. Also, for thicker substrates, the increased probe
length makes the input impedance more inductive, leading to matching problems. It is seen above
that for a thick dielectric substrate, which provides broad bandwidth, the microstrip line feed and
the coaxial feed suffer from numerous disadvantages. The non-contacting feed techniques which
have been discussed below, solve these issues.

24
3.3.3 Aperture Coupled Feed
The aperture coupled microstrip patch antenna feed technique was introduced in 1985 that includes
electrically isolated microstrip transmission lines and patch conductors. These structures are
electromagnetically coupled through a small aperture in the isolating ground plane.

Fig 3.4: Aperture Coupled Feed

In this type of feed technique, the radiating patch and the microstrip feed line are separated by the
ground plane. Coupling between the patch and the feed line is made through a slot or an aperture
in the ground plane and variations in the coupling will depend upon the size i.e. length and width
of the aperture to optimize the result for wider bandwidths and better return losses. The coupling
aperture is usually centered under the patch, leading to lower cross-polarization due to symmetry
of the configuration. Since the ground plane separates the patch and the feed line, spurious
radiation is minimized.
Aperture coupled feeding is attractive because of advantages such as no physical contact
between the feed and radiator, wider bandwidths, and better isolation between antennas and the
feed network. Furthermore, aperture-coupled feeding allows independent optimization of antennas
and feed networks by using substrates of different thickness or permittivity.

25
3.3.4 Proximity Coupled Feed
This type of feed technique is also called as the electromagnetic coupling scheme. Two dielectric
substrates are used such that the feed line is between the two substrates and the radiating patch is
on top of the upper substrate. The main advantage of this feed technique is that it eliminates
spurious feed radiation and provides very high bandwidth (as high as 13%) due to overall increase
in the thickness of the microstrip patch antenna. This scheme also provides choices between two
different dielectric media, one for the patch and one for the feed line to optimize the individual
performances.

Fig 3.5 Proximity Coupled Feed

This method is advantageous to reduce harmonic radiation of microstrip patch antenna
implemented in a multilayer substrate. The goal of the design is the suppression of the resonances
at the 2nd and 3rd harmonic frequencies to reduce spurious radiation due to the corresponding
patch modes to avoid the radiation of harmonic signals generated by non-linear devices at the
amplifying stage. The study shows the possibility of controlling the second harmonic resonance
matching by varying the length of the feeding line. On the other hand, the suppression of the third
harmonic is achieved by using a compact resonator.

Table 3.1: Comparison of different feeding techniques

Micro strip Coaxial Aperture Proximity

Characteristics Line Feed Feed Coupled Coupled Feed
Feed
Spurious
More More Less Minimum
feed radiation
Reliability Poor due
Better Good Good
to soldering
Impedance Matching Easy Easy Easy Easy

26
3.4 Advantages of Microstrip Patch Antennas
The advantages of microstrip patch antennas are:
➢ Low Profile
➢ Planar, which can also be made conformal to a shaped surface
➢ Can be produced by printed circuit technology
➢ Rugged
➢ Can be integrated with circuit elements
➢ Low Radar Cross section.
Because of the advantages listed above, the microstrip patch antenna has become the favorite for
the antenna designers for commercial mobile phones and wireless communication systems. These
advantages make microstrip patch antennas much more suitable for aircrafts, and missiles than
conventional antennas.
3.5 Disadvantages of Microstrip Patch Antennas
The spurious radiation exists in various microstrip based antennas such as microstrip patch
antenna, microstrip slot antenna and printed dipole antenna.

➢ It offers low efficiency due to dielectric losses and conductor losses.

➢ It offers lower gain.
➢ It has higher level of cross polarization radiation.
➢ It has lower power handling capability.
➢ It has inherently lower impedance bandwidth.
➢ The microstrip antenna structure radiates from feeds and other junction points.

3.6 Applications of Microstrip Patch Antenna

a) Radio Frequency Identification (RFID)
RFID uses in different areas like mobile communication, logistics, manufacturing, transportation and
health care. Radio Frequency Identification system generally uses frequencies ranging between 30
Hz and 5.8 GHz depending on its applications.

27
b) Global Positioning System applications
Nowadays microstrip patch antennas with substrate having high permittivity material are used
for global positioning system. These antennas are circularly polarized, very compactable and are
quite expensive, due to its positioning. It is expected that millions of GPS receivers will be used
by the general people for land vehicles and aircraft to find their position accurately.
c) Mobile and satellite communication application
Mobile communication requires small, low-cost, low-profile antennas. Microstrip patch antenna meets
all requirements and various types of microstrip antennas have been also designed for the usage in
mobile communication systems. In case of satellite communication, circularly polarized radiation
patterns are required and can be realized using either square or circular patch with one or two feed.
d) Worldwide Interoperability for Microwave Access (WiMAX)
The IEEE 802.16 standard is known as WiMAX. It can reach up to 30-mile radius theoretically and
data rate up to 70 Mbps. MPA generates three resonant modes at 2.7, 3.3 and 5.3 GHz. Therefore,
it is used in WiMAX compliant communication equipment .
e) Telemedicine Application
In Telemedicine application, Antenna is operating at 2.45 GHz. Wearable microstrip antenna is
used in Wireless Body Area Network (WBAN). An antenna having gain of 6.7 dB, F/B ratio of
11.7 dB and resonates at 2.45GHz is exactly suitable for telemedicine applications.
f) Medical applications
In the treatment of malignant tumors, microwave energy is said to be the most effective way of
inducing hyperthermia. The radiator to be used for this purpose should be light-weight, easy to
handle and rugged. Only a patch radiator fulfils these requirements.
The initial designs of microstrip radiators for inducing hyperthermia were based on printed
dipoles and annular rings that were designed on S-band (2-4 GHz). Later on the design was based
on a circular microstrip disk at L-band (1-2 GHz). Two coupled microstrip lines with a flexible
separation are used to measure temperature inside the human body. Fig. 5 shows a flexible patch
applicator that operates at 430MHz.

28
 CHAPTER 4
FRACTAL ANTENNA
4.1 Introduction to Fractal Antenna
Fractal Antenna (Antenna elements in self-similar shapes) was first invented and made by Nathan
Cohen, professor at Boston University, in the beginning of the year 1988. He is now one of the
world’s most innovative antenna designers, with 26 years of professional experience, and 53 years
of practical experience, Cohens featured a variety of fractal antenna designs, which were first
published in 1995. Studies during the 2000’s showed that the advantages of the fractal element
technology in real-life applications, such as RFID and cell phones.
Fractals have been used commercially in antennas since 2010. Some researchers had
disputed that fractal antennas have superior performance. Steven R Best, in 2003 observed "That
antenna geometry alone, or a fractal, does not uniquely determine the electromagnetic properties
of the small antenna".

Fig 4.1: Fractals in Nature

In 2011, Robert C Hansen and Robert E Collin reviewed many papers on fractal antennas
and concluded that they have no advantage over fat dipoles, loaded dipoles, or simple loops, and
that non-fractals are always better. Balanis studied several fractal antennas and found them
equivalent in performance to the electrically small antennas when they were compared to
Log periodic antenna.

Many fractal element antennas use the fractal structure as a virtual combination of capacitors and
inductors. This gives the antenna many different resonances, this complexity arises because the

29
current in the structure has a complex arrangement caused by inductance and self-capacitance, that
can be selected and adjusted by choosing the appropriate fractal design. Although
their effective electrical length is greater, antennas with fractal elements are generally physically
smaller, again due to this reactive loading.

Fractal Element antennas are therefore slimmer compared to traditional designs and do not
require additional components; the structure has already provided the desired resonant input
impedance.

In general, the fractal dimension of a fractal antenna is a poor indicator of its performance
and application. Not all fractal antennas work well for a given application or set of applications.
Computer search methods and antenna simulations are often used to determine which fractal
antenna designs best meet application needs. Fractal antenna has good multiband performance,
wide bandwidth, and small area.

Fig 4.2: Fractal Antennas

In 1957, VH Rumsey presented the results that angular-defined scaling was one of the
underlying requirements for making antennas invariant (having the same radiation characteristics)
over a number or range of frequencies. In 1948, in Japan, Mushiake showed similar results for
frequency-independent antennas with self-complementarity. It was thought that antennas had to
be defined by angles for this to be true, but in 1999 it was discovered that self-similarity was one
of the underlying requirements for frequency and bandwidth invariance of antennas. Angle-
defined antennas are self-similar, but other self-similar antennas are frequency-independent even
though they are not angle-defined.
The analysis based on Maxwell's equations showed that fractal antennas offer a closed
shape and a unique insight into a key aspect of electromagnetic phenomena, namely: the invariance
30
property of Maxwell's equations. This is now known as the Hohlfeld-Cohen-Rumsey (HCR)
principle. It has been shown that Mushiake's previous work on self-complementation was limited
to impedance smoothness, as expected from Babinet's principle, but not to frequency invariance.
4.1.1 Iterated Function Systems, IFS
The Language of Fractals Iterated function systems (IFS) represent an extremely versatile method
for conveniently generating a wide variety of useful fractal structures [1-7], [12-13]. These iterated
function systems are based on the application of a series of affine transformations, w, defined by

or, equivalently, by

where real number coefficients (a, b, c, d, e, f) are responsible for movement of fractal element in
space: a, d - scaling, b, c – rotation by ϕ1, ϕ2 angles with respect to axis of coordinating system,
and e, f – linear translation by the vector (e, f), respectively, (see below Figure). They
are expressed as:

Now suppose we consider w1, w2, ..., wN as a set of affine linear transformations, and let A be
the initial geometry. Then a new geometry, produced by applying the set of transformations to the
original geometry, A, and collecting the results from w1 (A), w2 (A), …, wN(A), can be
represented by

where W is known as the Hutchinson operator [1], [12]. A fractal geometry can be obtained by
repeatedly applying W to the previous geometry. For example, if the set A0 represents the initial
geometry, then we will have

31
An iterated function system generates a sequence that converges to a final image, A∝, in such a
way that converges to a final image, A∝, in such a way that

This image is called the attractor of the iterated function system, and represents a "fixed point" of
W. For the Koch fractal curve the matrix of affine transformation has following form.

and scaling factor is expressed as

where θqi is the inclination angle of the second subsection with respect to the first, and tqi is an
element displacement on the plane. Figure 4.3 illustrates the iterated function system procedure
for generating the well-known Koch fractal curve. In this case, the initial set, A0, is the line interval
of unit length, i.e.,

32
 Fig.4.3: (a)The fractal Koch curve as an iterated function system, (b) the affine
transformation matrices and, (c) the first stages in the construction.
Next, the results of these four linear transformations are combined together to form the first
iteration of the Koch curve, denoted by A1. The second iteration of the Koch curve, A2, may then
be obtained by applying the same four affine transformations to A1. Higher-order versions of the
Koch curve are generated by simply repeating the iterative process until the desired resolution is
achieved.
4.2 Types of Fractal Antenna
Basically, two types of Fractals are there, Deterministic and Non-Deterministic. Deterministic
Fractals are further classified as Linear and Non-Linear. Deterministic Linear fractals consists of
cantor curve, Koch curve, Minkowski curve, Hilbert curve and Sierpinski Gasket. Deterministic
Non-linear fractals consists of Mandelbrot set, Strange attractors, Bifurcation diagrams and Julia
sets. Non-Deterministic Fractals consists of Fractal Brownian motion and Diffusion limited
aggregation.

33
4.2.1 Koch Structure
In 1906, this structure was invented by the Swedish mathematician Helge Von Koch before the
term "fractal" was coined.

a) Koch Curve

Fig 4.4: Koch Curve construction

As shown in Figure 4.4, this curve is constructed from a segment using the following steps:
➢ The segment is divided into three segments of equal length. An equilateral triangle is
constructed whose base is the middle segment of the first stage.
➢ The segment that was the base of the triangle of the second rung is deleted. After these
three steps, the resulting object has a shape similar to the cross-section of a witch's hat.

34
b) Koch Snowflake
The procedure to build the Koch snowflake is the same as that used for the construction of the
Koch curve except that the base is a triangle, which means that the procedure is repeated three
times for each iteration as shown in the figure 4.5.

Fig 4.5: Koch Snowflake

4.2.2 Sierpinski Structure
This structure was invented by the Polish mathematician SIERPINSKI. There are several
variations on this structure:
a) Sierpinski Triangle
The construction of this triangle starts from a solid equilateral triangle and using the following
steps:
➢ An equilateral triangle is constructed, which is taken as the base.
➢ Divide it into four smaller congruent equilateral triangles and remove the middle one.
➢ Repeat step 2 with each of the remaining smaller triangles.

Fig 4.6: Sierpinski Triangle

35
b) Sierpinski Carpet
The construction of this structure is done starting with a solid square and using the following
steps:

Fig 4.7: Sierpinski Carpet

a) The square is cut into 9 congruent sub-squares in a 3x3 grid.

b) The central sub-square is eliminated.
c) The same procedure (1 and 2) is applied recursively to the remaining 8 sub-squares.

4.2.3. Dragon Structure

The dragon's name comes from the fact that, for high iterations, the shape of the structure is close
to that of the Dragon as shown in the figure 4.8

Fig 4.8: Dragon Structure

36
4.2.4 Tree Structure
This structure has the same shape of a Tree; there are several kinds of this structure:
At each iteration the same shape is generated with a reduction factor as in Figure 4.9.

Fig 4.9: Tree Structure

a) Pythagore Tree
This structure is constructed with squares. It is named “PYTHAGORE” because each triple square
in touch creates a right triangle as shown Figure 4.10.

Fig 4.10: Pythagore Tree

Iteration n in the construction adds 2n squares of area , for a total area of 1. Thus the area of the
tree might seem to grow without bound in the limit as n → ∞. However, some of the squares
overlap starting at the order 5 iteration, and the tree actually has a finite area because it fits inside
a 6×4 box. It can be shown easily that the area A of the Pythagoras tree must be in the range
5 < A < 18, which can be narrowed down further with extra effort. Little seems to be known about
the actual value of A.

37
4.2.5 Circular Structure
a) Apollonius circle

This structure was invented by the Greek mathematician APOLLONIUS of Perga. Apollonius
circles are tangent to one over other as shown Figure 4.11.

Fig 4.11: Apollonius Circle

4.2.6 Cantor Set

CANTOR Set was invented by the German mathematician Georg CANTOR. It is built iteratively
from the segment [0, T] by removing a central portion then the operation is repeated on the
remaining two segments, and so on. Figure 4.12 shows the iterations of the Cantor set structure.

Fig 4.12: Cantor Set Structure

38
4.2.7. Hilbert curve
It is described for the first time by the German mathematician David Hilbert in 1891. The
Hausdorff dimension is 2 and the method of construction is described in Figure 4.13.

Fig4.13: Hilbert Structure

4.2.8 Minkowski loop
This curve was invented by the German mathematician Hermann MINKOWSKI. The generation
of this fractal is described in Figure 4.14.

Figure 4.14: Minkowski Loop

4.3 Advantages of Fractal Antenna
➢ Frequency Independent (Consistent performance over high frequency range).
➢ Miniaturization (small in size).
➢ Better input impedance matching over wideband/multiband (using single antenna instead of
many).
➢ Reduced mutual coupling seen in fractal array antennas.

4.4 Disadvantages of Fractal antenna

➢ Complexity
➢ Gain Loss
➢ Numerical limitations
➢ The benefits begin to diminish after first few iterations

39
4.5 Applications of Fractal Antenna
➢ Telematics communication: Providing navigational services to satellite are done by using
the fractal antenna.
➢ Mobile phones: Fractal antenna allows to use multiple bands like 900MHz, 1800MHz,
1900MHz, and so on in mobile phones.
➢ Automobile vehicles: Sierpinski fractal antennas can be successfully used in automotive
vehicles where transparent antennas are stuck to the front window (or other) and can receive
multiple bands independently.
➢ Military Applications: The need of compact and small size is increasing day by day. They
need wideband frequency for the navigation and targeting aspects. Fractal antenna has multiple
bands and genuine wideband and having low profile, small antenna. Having these advantages,
the fractal antenna is widely used for the military applications.
➢ UWB (Ultra-Wide Band Devices): UWB are ultra-wide band which is required for the
devices that needed ultra-wide band frequency. The ultra-wide band frequency bandwidth is
from 2.25GHz to 15GHz.This characteristic can be achieved using fractal antenna.
➢ Building communication: Fractal provide universal wideband antenna technology that are
ideal or useful for building communications. These operating over 150MHz to 6GHz of
frequency and delivering Omni directional coverage.

40
 CHAPTER 5
APOLLONIAN GASKET MULTI BAND
FRACTAL ANTENNA
5.1 Introduction
The range of frequencies between 3 GHz and 30 GHz is designated as SHF (Super High
Frequency). “Microwave‟ is also another name for the waves carrying such frequencies. Line of
sight communications is what they are mostly used for. Cell phones, WLANs, Radars mostly use
frequencies in this range. A third of its spectrum is anticipated to be used by Wireless USB, a
futuristic proposal. S, C, X, Ku, K, Ka are the various IEEE designations allotted to frequencies
in this band.
SHF is one of its kind frequency ranges, a sweet-spot vying for exploitation. Directing them
in narrow beams even with not very huge antennas is possible such that no interference occurs
with nearby radiators, lowest band of frequency where that’s possible. Also, they don’t get
absorbed by the atmosphere thereby becoming the highest band useful for terrestrial
communication over long distances.

The next design proposed herein, is a fractal antenna with the scope for utilization of the
aforementioned properties. With resonant frequencies occurring at multiple positions over the
SHF, it can be fabricated to utilize the properties of the respective bands.

It’s a CPW fed fractal that’s generated by iteratively carving out circles within squares such
that electrical connectivity always remains, over a dielectric substrate FR4 of dielectric constant
of 4.4 without any ground plane. The resultant antenna radiates at multiple frequencies over the
SHF range thereby rendering it multi-band functionality.

Organization of this chapter is as the previous one. 4.2 deals with the details of the design
and the dimensions are provided in the subsequent chapter. Also attached are the radiation pattern
and gain details at each of the resonant frequencies of the antenna.

41
5.2 Antenna Design
A fractal antenna exhibits multi-band behavior and it is a self-similar design of an antenna shape.
the Apollonian gasket fractal antenna is designed by consecutive iterations of circles, which is
referred as the property. The properties of proposed antenna are far better than conventional
antenna.

Here we use patch in the shape of Apollonian gasket The probe is in the negative X-axis of the
fractal antenna and the corners are truncated as shown in the fig 5.1.
The proposed antenna is designed on a FR4_EPOXY substrate with a relative permittivity
of 4.4, a loss tangent of 0.02 and a thickness of 1.6mm and the ground designed by trimming the
edges of the ground plane. The transmission line has a typical impedance of 50-ohm.
The antenna was designed using commercial finite elements method (FEM) modelling
software. To achieve the appropriate frequency of operations, the patch form is continually
changed. The proposed fractal geometry is etched onto rectangular micro-strip antenna.
This geometry contains number of iterations which consists of self-similar geometry of
primary shape. In 0th iteration, a circle is placed with radius of 12cm. In the 1st iteration, three
circles are placed outside the main circle with the radius of 6.1cm at an angle of 120̊ from the
centre of main circle.Finally In 2nd iteration, three more circles are placed outside the 1st iteration
circles with the radius of 3.19cm at an angle of 120̊ from the centre of 1st iteration circles and the
final structure of the designed antenna would be as shown in fig 5.1.

(a) (b)

42
 (c) (d)
Fig 5.1: schematic structure of Apollonian gasket antenna
(a) Apollonian gasket fractal antenna
(b)0th iteration (c)1st iteration (d) 2nd iteration
Here we use Apollonian gasket fractal antenna shape. The desired frequencies are obtained by
following the above procedure and parameters.

Fig 5.2: coaxial cable

A 50-ohm coaxial feeding is given to the proposed antenna where the inner conductor is extended
to patch and the outer conductor is up to the ground as shown in fig 5.2. The outer conductor is
made up of Teflon and the inner conductor is made of Pec. The main advantage of feeding method
is that the feed may be positioned at any desired location inside the patch to achieve impedance
matching.

43
5.3 Parametric Analysis
With the Presence of original simulated values before optimization it is not possible to attain all
the antenna parameters as desired. So, parametric analysis is applied.
5.3.1 Substrate
Initially the dimensions of the substrate are 85mmx85mm which is not suitable for desired
frequencies and so in optimetrics we applied parametric analysis. On applying parametric analysis
to substrate among various dimensions only one exact value shows the desired frequencies of
1.176GHz and 2.492GHz and those dimensions are 132mmx132mm. The below fig 5.3 depicts
the output of parametric analysis for desired frequencies.

Fig 5.3: Parametric analysis for substrate

5.3.2 Ground
The actual dimensions of the ground were placed as the dimensions of the substrate which is of
85mmx85mm. Inorder to get circular polarization various methods are available and ground
reducing is one of the method. So for the circular polarization for our designed antenna the
ground dimensions are reduced. This reduction of ground dimensions contribute some to the
circular polarization inorder to get circular polarization fully the ground edges some part of them
are trimmed and that is done with the rectangle. Again inorder to aquire our desired frequencies
of 1.176GHz and 2.492GHz parametric analysis is applied for that trimmed part. The output of
this parametric analysis are as shown in fig 5.4.

44
 On applying parametric analysis to trimmed part of the ground one exact value of ground
trimmed is obtained at desired frequencies and that dimension is 14.95mmx15.11mm.

Fig 5.4:Parametric analysis for ground

5.3.3 Feed Position

The dimensions of the feed were placed on the axis of both x and y at first. For sometime the
dimensions of the feed were changed manually from one position to another and from one axis to
another axis. Then inorder to get frequencies of desired then parametric analysis is applied to the
feed and the output is as shown in fig 5.5.
On applying parametric analysis to feed position in both directions at particular value the
desired frquencies are obtained and that values of x and y are 7.36063mm and 0.525036mm.

45
 Fig 5.5: Parametric Analysis for Feed Position

5.3.4 Patch
Initially the scaling factor for the patch is 1. Again at that scaling factor the results are not upto the
mark and so we proceeded to the parametric analysis which will give a exact value for the desired
frequencies.On applying parametric analysis to the scaling factor for the patch changed to 1.98 as
shown in fig 5.6.

Fig 5.6 :Parametric analysis for patch

46
 By the parametric analysis output of patch length the value of all other iterations of circles
radius will be determined easily and again by successive parametric analysis to those lengths in
those iterations can proceed towards the desired frequencies which is suitable for navigation
applications.

Optimization
A process of finding a better or more suitable design instance among the possible design variations
Optimetrics Setup: Optimization Analysis
➢ Identify cost function and optimization goal
➢ Cost function can be based on any solution quantity that HFSS or Designer can calculate –
Field values, S-parameters, and Eigenmode data
➢ Optimetrics changes design parameter values to meet goal
Several analysis parameters must be specified. They are:
➢ Cost function – Optimetrics minimizes the cost function. Define this so that minimum
location is also optimum location. For example, if you desire to maximize transmission
from port 1 to port 2 (S21=>1), define cost function to be -mag (S (Port2, Port1)).
➢ Acceptable Cost –Value of cost function at which optimization stops (may be negative).
➢ Step Size – In order to make the search reasonable, the algorithm limits the minimum and
maximum step limits for individual optimization variables.
The below fig 5.7 depicts the cost vs evaluation plot where the cost almost reaches to its minimum
value by optimization and the optimized dimensions of all parameters for the designed antenna are
listed in the table 5.1.

Fig 5.7: Cost vs Evaluation Plot

47
Table 5.1: Dimensions of Apollonian Gasket Fractal Antenna

Parameter Dimensions (mm) Dimensions (mm) (After

(Before Optimization) Optimization)
Substrate 120 x 120 132 x 132
Ground Plane 120 x 120 69 x 65
Outer Radius 2.05 2.05
Feed
Inner Radius 0.635 0.635
Patch 0th iteration 12 12
th
Patch 1 iteration 6 6.1
nd
Patch 2 iteraton 3 3.19
Truncated Ground - 10.599

48
 PROJECT MANAGEMENT AND FINANCE
FACTORS
Hardware
Since it is a simulation-based project a laptop with the following configuration is used.
Table 1: Laptop Configuration and price
Unit type Unit model Price (Rs.)
CPU Intel Core i5
Clock 1.80 GHz
56,000.00
RAM 8GB
SDD 256GB
HDD 1TB

Software
The software used for this project is Ansoft HFSS, that is a signifier for high frequency structural
simulator, is one in every of the foremost advanced 3D software that's unremarkably utilized in
antenna design.
Time Management
The total duration of the project work is 24 weeks with 32 hours per week. This total duration can
be divided into two phases and each phase lasts twelve weeks. In the phase 1 presentation, a
comprehensive literature review is carried out and study problems are identified. The appropriate
shapes and dimensions of the proposed process are developed and the software tools required to
simulate.
In Phase 2, Introduction, we will go through some documents and reference books to gain
the knowledge about Ansoft HFSS software and some important toolboxes available in the
software. The design of the proposed method is performed and the design is simulated with the
Ansoft HFSS software and the new method is identified through a multi-document study to obtain
the axial relationship. He designed the updated method and successfully simulated the project.

49
Environmental and Social Impact
The radio waves or microwaves currently used are electromagnetic waves (non-ionizing radiation)
which do not have enough energy to ionize atoms from materials. Although some of the
electromagnetic waves, such as ionizing radiation including X-ray and gamma-ray, have high
frequencies and strong energy that ionize the atoms, they are very different from the radio waves
we are dealing with. Studies regarding the effects of radio waves or micro waves on the human
body have been made over the last 50 years on a global scale. based on the scientific knowledge
accumulated on these studies “Radio Radiation Protection Guidelines for Human Exposure to
Electromagnetic fields” taking various safety factors in to consideration. the standard values set
out in these guide lines are on a par with the values released by ICNIRP (International commission
on Non-Ionizing Radiation Protection), these are followed by every country in the world. If these
standard values are satisfied, there is no influence on the human health according to the World
Health Organization (WHO), ICNIRP etc.
The proposed antenna is used in the field of aeronautical radio navigation and radio
location. Radio navigation systems are the basics for landing of the aircraft, regardless of whether
are concerned enroute or terminal. some of these systems perform both the tasks. terminal Radio
Navigation Systems helps the pilot to land the aircraft, while enroute Radio Navigation Systems
determine position of aircraft during the flight. effectively with air traffic control enhance the flow
of aircraft and safety. Antennas are the connecting factor between the aircraft and the
electromagnetic waves to the ground station or other aircraft. A good antenna system is therefore
very important.

50
 CHAPTER 6
SIMULATION RESULTS
High Frequency Electromagnetic Field Simulation ANSYS HFSS software is the industry standard
for simulating 3-D, full-wave, electromagnetic fields. Its gold-standard accuracy, advanced solvers
and high-performance computing technologies make it an essential tool for engineers tasked with
executing accurate and rapid design in high-frequency and high-speed electronic devices and
platforms. HFSS offers state-of the-art solver technologies based on finite element, integral
equation, asymptotic and advanced hybrid methods to solve a wide range of microwave, RF and
high-speed digital applications.

6.1 Introduction to HFSS

HFSS is a commercial finite element method solver for electromagnetic structures from Ansys.
The acronym originally stood for high frequency structural simulator. It is one of several
commercial tools used for antenna design, and the design of complex RF electronic circuit
elements including filters, transmission lines, and packaging. It was originally developed by
Professor Zoltan Cendes and his students at Carnegie Mellon University. Prof. Cendes and his
brother Nicholas Csendes founded Ansoft and sold HFSS stand-alone under a 1989 marketing
relationship with Hewlett- Packard, and bundled into Ansoft products. After various business
relationships over the period 1996-2006, H-P (which became Agilent EEs of EDA division) and
Ansoft went their separate ways Agilent with the critically acclaimed FEM Element and Ansoft
with their HFSS products, respectively. Ansoft was later acquired by Ansys.
By using HFSS you can compute: Basic electromagnetic field quantities and, for open
boundary problems, radiated near and far fields; the eigen modes, or resonances, of a structure;
Port characteristic impedances and propagation constants; Generalized S- parameters and S-
parameters renormalized to specific port impedance.
The six general steps in an HFSS simulation.
They are:
➢ Create model/geometry
➢ Assign boundaries
➢ Assign excitations
➢ Set up the solution

51
➢ Solve
➢ post-process the results
The process of how the Ansoft HFSS software works is explained in the below fig 6.1.

Fig 6.1: Process in HFSS

Ansoft software contains various panels present. They are
➢ Project Manager
➢ Message Manager
➢ Property Window
➢ Progress Window
➢ Act Extensions
➢ Component Libraries
➢ 3D Modeler Window

6.2 HFSS window

➢ From Windows Start menu, open the Control Panel
➢ Select System.
➢ From the left pane, select Advanced system settings
➢ Click Environment Variable
➢ Under User variables, click New
➢ Set the variable LM_LICENSE_FILE and click OK.
➢ When the initial setup is complete, start the tool as shown in fig.6.2

52
 Fig6.2:Ansoft HFSS Window

6.3 Project Manager

In Project Manager Window a lot more tools are available like

.Fig 6.3: Project Window

To check boundaries and excitations of the antenna or to apply optimization and parametric
analysis in optimetrics and to assign radiation to the designed antenna all are available in this
window. The project manager in the Ansys HFSS Software is as shown fig 6.3.
To open of an HFSS Project first, go the HFSS software and click to open. Then go file and click
Open file. And select desired file and open it.

53
6.4 Results
The cost of optimization nearly approaches to zero, then the return loss plot and all the parameters
are listed below.
6.4.1 Return Loss Plot
Return loss is a measure in relative terms of the power of the signal reflected by a discontinuity in
a transmission line or optical fiber. Return loss is related to both standing wave ratio (SWR) and
reflection coefficient (Γ). Increasing return loss corresponds to lower SWR. Return loss is a
measure of how well devices or lines are matched. A match is good if the return loss is high. A
high return loss is desirable and results in a lower insertion loss.

Fig 6.4 Return Loss Plot

After optimization, the desired frequencies are 1.176GHz and 2.492GHz. The substrate measures
132x132mm ground plane measures 65x69mm.The properties of the proposed antenna,
particularly return loss as in fig 6.4 and radiation pattern, are analyzed.
6.4.2 S11
Return loss of any Antenna is less than -10dB. S11 is the return loss, which is a measure of the
difference between forward and reflected power in an RF system. The S11 parameter indicates
how much power is reflected from the antenna. Fig.6.4 shows the findings for the return loss of a
constructed Sierpinski triangular fractal antenna. It demonstrates that the antenna resonates at
frequencies of 1.176GHz and 2.492GHz,with corresponding return losses of-13.62dBand-15.53dB
respectively.

54
6.4.3 Axial Ratio
The Axial Ratio(AR) of an antenna is defined as the ratio between the major and minor axis of a
circularly polarized antenna pattern. If an antenna has perfect circular polarization then this ratio
would be 1 (0 dB). But the ratio <3dB also considered for circular polarization. If the antenna has
an elliptical polarization, then ratio would be greater than 1 (>0 dB). The proposed antenna have
the axial ratios for frequency 1.176-2.3656 and for frequency 2.492-3.9012 as shown in fig 6.5.

Fig 6.5: Axial Ratio Plot

6.4.4 3D Radition Pattern
In the field of Antenna design the term radiation pattern refers to the directional dependence of the
strength of the radio waves from the antenna or other source. The receiving pattern of an antenna
when used for receiver is identical to the radiation pattern of antenna when it is used for transmitter.
It is the fundamental property of antenna. The below figure depicts the 3D Radiation Pattern of the
proposed antenna and so far the radiation pattern is good as shown in fig 6.6.

55
 Fig 6.6: 3D Radition Pattern

6.4.5 Radiation Pattern

The radiation patterns of the proposed antenna in the E and H planes at the resonant frequency are
shown in fig 6.7 and 6.8 respectively. The E plane radiation pattern is observed at 0 deg as shown
in Fig 6.7 and H plane radiation pattern is observed at 10 deg as shown in Fig 6.8.

Fig 6.7: E-Plane Radiation Pattern

56
 Fig 6.8 : H-Plane Radiation Pattern

6.4.6 VSWR
VSWR is a measure of how efficiently radio-frequency power is transmitted from a power source,
through a transmission line, into a load. The voltage standing wave ratio (VSWR) is the ratio of of
maximum to minimum radio frequency voltage. The proposed antenna has a VSWR for 1.176GHz
was 1.9679 and 2.492GHz was 1.6457 and the plot as shown in fig 6.9.

Fig 6.9: VSWR

57
 6.4.7 Gain:
A typical portable mobile antenna has a gain of 0dB (zero dB) also known as Unity Gain.The gain
values at the frequency 1.176GHz is -12.6053dB and at frequency 2.492GHz is -4.9201dB.On
observing, these values we can say that it is not sufficient for an antenna and it is the only
diasdvantage with the proposed antenna and the plot as shown in fig 6.10.

Fig 6.10: Gain

The gain of the antenna can be increased with these three methods:
➢ Decreasing the power lost in the antenna.
➢ Increasing the directivity of the antenna by arraying.
➢ Use near zero epsilon dielectric material.
The gain of the proposed antenna can be improved not only by the proposed these methods but
also with various gain enhancements techniques.

58
 CONCLUSION
A compact circularly polarized fractal based antenna for navigation applications is designed and
simulated using HFSS software. The constructed antennas are small and have achieved good
impedance matching, radiation pattern, return loss and axial ratio. The simulated results show that
the antenna radiates in the L-Band and S-Band. All parameters are almost within the required
satisfactory range. Therefore, the antennas designed are effective and efficient to work in
navigation applications.

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 FUTURE SCOPE
The proposed antenna design can be extended by changing the substrate materials or by using
different shapes for the patch and different techniques for feeding the antenna. In addition to these
methods, we can improve the performance of the proposed antennas with different fractal shapes.
The gain of the designed antenna can be enhanced by gain enhancement techniques.

➢ Metamaterial Structures
➢ Superstate
➢ Shorting Pins
➢ Reflectors

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 REFERENCES
[1] K.Supriya and M.Karthick , “Design of Multiband Fractal Antenna for IRNSS and
GAGAN Applications”, International Conference on Innovations in Information
Embedded and communication Sytems(IEEE),2015.
[2] M.Karthick and K.R.Kashwan, “Design of IRNSS Receiver Antennae for navigational
Applications”,Global conference on communication technologies(IEEE),pp:277-280,
2015.
[3] Praveen Chandran and S.Raghavan , “Dual-Band RHCP Stacked Microstrip Antenna
for IRNSS Receiver” International Journal of Pure and Applied Mathematics,pp:47-
55, 2008.
[4] T. N. Cao and W. J. Krzysztofik, “Hybrid Minkowski fractal island antenna operating
in two bands of GPS satellite system,” 2016 IEEE Antennas Propag. Soc. Int. Symp.
APSURSI 2016 - Proc., no. 1, pp. 211–212, 2016, doi: 10.1109/APS.2016.7695814.
[5] Daneshmandian, P. Dehkhoda, and A. Tavakoli, “A miniaturized circularly polarized
microstrip antenna for GPS applications,” 22nd Iran. Conf. Electr. Eng. ICEE 2014,
vol. 1, no.ICEE, pp. 1653–1656, 2014.
[6] T. N. Cao and W. J. Krzysztofik, “Hybrid Minkowski fractal island antenna operating
in two bands of GPS satellite system,” 2016 IEEE Antennas Propag. Soc. Int. Symp.
APSURSI 2016 - Proc., no. 1, pp. 211–212, 2016.
[7] W. J. Krzysztofik, “Take advantage of fractal geometry in the antenna technology of
Modern Communications,” 2013 11th Int. Conf. Telecommun. Mod. Satell. Cable
Broadcast. Serv. TELSIKS 2013, vol. 2, no. c, pp. 419–428, 2013.
[8] Liu, Z.D., Hall, P.S.,Wake, D.: “Dual frequency planar circularly polarized
antennaat S and L bands”. Proc. of 10th Int. Conf. on Antennas and Propagation
Edinburgh, UK, vol.1, pp. 378–380, 1997
[9] Faiz, M.M., Wahid, P.F.: “A high efficiency L -band microstrip antenna”. Proc. Of
IEEE int. Symp. of Antennas and Propagation Society, Orlando, FL, USA,vol. 1,
pp.272–275, , 1999

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[10] Karmakar, N.C., Bialkowski, M.E.: ‘Circularly polarized aperture-coupled
circular microstrip patch antennas for L-band applications’, IEEE Trans. Antennas
Propag., 47, pp. 933–940, 1999
[11] Biswas, S., Guha, D., Kumar, C.: “Control of higher harmonics and their
radiationin microstrip antennas using compact defected ground structures”, IEEE
Trans.Antennas Propag., 61, pp. 3349–3354 , 2013
[12] P.C.Sharma, K.C.Gupta, “ Analysis and optimized design of single feedcircularly
polarized microstrip antennas”, IEEE Trans. AP, Vol 29,1983, pp 949-955.
[13] Mondal, T., S. Samanta, R. Ghatak, and S. R. Bhadra Chaudari, “A novel tri-band
hexagonal microstrip antenna using modified Sierpinski fractal for vehicular
communication,” Progress in Electromagnetics Research C, Vol. 57, 25-34,2015.
[14] Irteza, S., et al., “Four-element compact planar antenna array for robust satellite
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Propogaation(EuCAP 2013), Gothenburg,Swewden, Apr. 2013.

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 (AUTONOMOUS)
SreeSainath Nagar, A.Rangampet - 517 102
Department of Electronics &Communication Engineering
PROJECT TITLE: A Compact Circularly Polarized Fractal Antenna for Navigation
Applications.
ABSTRACT: A compact circularly polarized fractal-based antenna for navigation application is
proposed in this work. Microstrip antennas have become the best choice for antenna designs as it
has easy fabrication process and low cost. Miniaturization of the microstrip antenna is achieved
by fractal method in various shapes viz. Sierpinski gasket, Koch snowflakes, minowski, Hilbert
curves etc. By using fractal shapes electrically larger dimensions can be accommodated into
smaller physical areas. So that antenna miniaturization is achieved. Also, the antenna offers right-
hand circular polarization at two resonating frequency bands. The proposed antenna is compact
and exhibits circular polarization with axial ratio less than 3dB. Antenna should have reasonably
good gain. Compared to the most of the previously reported multi band CP antenna structure, the
proposed antenna is compact in size, and can be fabricated easily on the single-layer PCB. Various
parameters of the antenna like return loss, radiation pattern, VSWR, bandwidth, Axial ratio, gain
etc., are going to be measured using HFSS software.

PROJECT BATCH: 22C14

S. CHAITANYA GURUSAI - 18121A04J9
P. RUSHEEL - 18121A04H0
P. ANIL - 18121A04H4
P. SAI VYSHNAVI - 18121A04H7
GUIDE: Ms.H.D. Praveena,M.Tech,(Ph.D).,
Assistant Professor, Dept. of ECE.
POs Attained:
Program Specific
Program Outcomes
Outcomes
PO1 PO2 PO3 PO4 PO5 PO6 PO7 PO8 PO9 PO10 PO11 PO12 PSO1 PSO2 PSO3 PSO4
A Compact
Circularly
Polarized
Fractal Antenna
for Navigation
√ √ √ √ √ √ √ √ √ √ √ √ √ √ √
Applications

(Signature of the Guide)

63
 BIO – DATA
Name :S. Chaitanya Guru Sai
Father’s Name :S. Sudhakar
Date of Birth :27/06/2000
Roll Number :18121A04J9
Contact Number :+917702104492
Contact eMail :[email protected]
Address :House no.3-264/1, Ajanta talkies road,
Balaji colony, Piler.
Pincode: 517214

Name :P. Rusheel

Father’s Name :P. Vishwanath
Date of Birth :01/12/2000
Roll Number :18121A04H0
Contact Number :+917032215041
Contact eMail :[email protected]
Address :27/4/139, Balaji Nagar, Nellore.
Pincode: 524002.

Name :P. Anil

Father’s Name :P. Kuppaiah
Date of Birth :25/04/2001
Roll Number :18121A04H4
Contact Number :+919381447321
Contact eMail :[email protected]
Address :26/14/1021, Hebron Church Street,
B.V. Nagar, Nellore,
Pincode:524004

64
Name :P. Sai Vyshnavi
Father’s Name :P. Raghuveera
Date of Birth :02/04/2001
Roll Number :18121A04H7
Contact Number :+919100448385
Contact eMail :[email protected]
Address :Flat no.106, Gayathri Towers, Gayathri Estates,
Kurnool.
Pincode: 518002

65