Development of a Modified Hilbert Curve Fractal Antenna for Multiband Applications

Abstract

This paper presents the development of a Modified Hilbert Curve Fractal (MHCF) antenna with parasitic patches for multiband applications. The fractal antenna has been designed on a dual-layer substrate having a dimension of 50 × 60 × 3 mm simultaneously fed by a modified coplanar waveguide (CPW) feed. The geometry of the step feed has been optimized using swarm intelligence-based Dragonfly Optimization (DO) technique to enhance the bandwidth. The antenna offers multiband resonating characteristics with a bandwidth of 0.315 GHz (0.68–0.99 GHz), 3.220 GHz (3.98–7.20 GHz), 2.955 GHz (8.043–10.998 GHz) and 1.94 GHz (12.7–14.64 GHz). The proposed antenna indicates a higher degree of impedance matching with a stable omnidirectional radiation pattern at all resonating frequencies. The reported antenna has been fabricated and tested for the validation of resonating and radiation characteristics. Simulated and measured results are found in good agreement with each other. The fractal antenna is useful for radiolocation in Ultra High Frequency (UHF) band and for aeronautical radionavigation service (ARNS) in C-band, X-band and Ku-band as defined by International Telecommunication Union (ITU).

Keywords:

• Aeronautical radionavigation
• Dragonfly optimization
• Modified Hilbert curve fractal
• Multiband
• Parasitic patch
• Step feed

ACKNOWLEDGEMENT

The authors are immensely thankful to the Department of Electronics and Communication Engineering of Sant Longowal Institute of Engineering and Technology, Longowal, for providing research assistance and excellent laboratory facilities.

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Ashwini Kumar

Ashwini Kumar received his BTech degree From Kurukshetra University, Kurukshetra and MTech degree from Guru Jambheshwar University of Science and Technology, Hisar. At present, he is pursuing his PhD degree in the field of RF and microwave antennas from Sant Longowal Institute of Engineering and Technology, Longowal, Sangrur, Punjab, India. His research includes microstrip patch antennas and fractal antennas design.

Amar Partap Singh Pharwaha

Dr. Amar Partap Singh Pharwaha was born in Sangrur, Punjab in 1967 and received his BTech degree in ECE from GNDU, Amritsar in 1990. He received his MTech degree from REC, Kurukshetra in 1994 and PhD degree in 2005. Presently, he is a professor in ECE at SLIET, Longowal. Dr Singh is credited with a professional experience of more than 25 years. He has guided seven PhD theses and six more students are pursuing their PhDdegrees under his supervision. He has published more than 180 research papers in various national and international journals/conferences and received various awards including IETE Students' Journal Award-2006 by IETE, New Delhi; Certificate of Merit in 2006; KF Anita Award in 2009; Sir ThomasWard Award for the year 2010, and again KF Anita Award in 2014 by the Institution of Engineers (India). E-mail: [email protected]