DESIGN AND ANALYSIS OF SIERPINSKI CARPET MICROSTRIP FRACTAL

ANTENNA FOR MULTIBAND WIRELESS APPLICATIONS

Anieyie Ekoi EDEM

BEng (Hons)(Uyo)
17/PG/EG/EE/010

SEPTEMBER 2018

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 DESIGN AND ANALYSIS OF SIERPINSKI CARPET MICROSTRIP FRACTAL
ANTENNA FOR MULTIBAND WIRELESS APPLICATIONS

Anieyie Ekoi EDEM

BEng (Hons)(Uyo)
17/PG/EG/EE/010

A DISSERTATION IN THE DEPARTMENT OF ELECTRICAL/ELECTRONIC

AND COMPUTER ENGINEERING,
FACULTY OF ENGINEERING

SUBMITTED TO

THE POSTGRADUATE SCHOOL, UNIVERSITY OF UYO, UYO, AKWA IBOM STATE,

NIGERIA, IN PARTIAL FULFILMENT OF THE REQUIREMENTS FOR THE AWARD OF
MASTERS OF ENGINEERING (MEng) DEGREE IN ELECTRICAL/ELECTRONIC
ENGINEERING (ELECTRONIC AND COMMUNICATION ENGINEERING)

SEPTEMBER 2018

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 DECLARATION

I, Anieyie Ekoi EDEM, hereby declare and that this master’s dissertation entitled: “Design and

Analysis of Sierpinski Carpet Microstrip Fractal Antenna for Multiband Wireless Applications”

was written by me and it is the correct record of my research work. It has not been presented for

a degree in another institution. I will not present it, or cause it to be presented, for a degree in

another institution. All sources of information have been appropriately acknowledged using

references and other acceptable methods.

Signed……………….Date……………….
Anieyie Ekoi EDEM

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 CERTIFICATION

This dissertation entitled “Design and Analysis of Sierpinski Carpet Microstrip Fractal

Antenna for Multiband Wireless Applications” by Anieyie Ekoi EDEM (17/PG/EG/EE/010)

meets the regulations governing the award of the degree of Masters of Engineering (MEng) of

the University of Uyo. This work has made original contribution to knowledge. It should be

submitted to postgraduate school for approval.

(a) Supervisor
Signature…………………………………………………… Date…………………
Name: Dr. Akaninyene Obot Rank: Senior Lecturer
Department/Faculty: Electrical/Electronic and Computer Engineering/Engineering
(b) Co-Supervisor
Signature…………………………………………………… Date…………………
Name: Dr. Kufre Udofia Rank: Senior Lecturer
Department/Faculty: Electrical/Electronic and Computer Engineering/Engineering
(c) Internal Examiner
Signature…………………………………………………… Date…………………
Name: Rank: Senior Lecturer
Department/Faculty:
(d) Head of Department and Chief Examiner
Signature…………………………………………………… Date…………………
Name: Dr. Mrs Constance Kalu Rank: Associate Professor
Department/Faculty: Electrical/Electronic and Computer Engineering/Engineering
(e) External Examiner
Signature…………………………………………………… Date…………………
Name: Rank:
Department/Faculty:

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 DEDICATION

This work is dedicated to the Almighty God.

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 ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

I wish to acknowledge in a special way my supervisors, Dr. Akaninyene Obot and co-

supervisor, Dr. Kufre Udofia for their patience, corrections and guide throughout this work. A

special thank you goes to Engr. Jimoh Afolayan, Dr. Kingsley Udofia, Engr Nseobong Okpura,

Engr Bliss Utibe, Engr Ifiok Asuquo, and all the lecturers in the department for their

encouragement throughout the programme. May God reward you all, Amen.

My appreciations also go to Dr. Simeon Ozumba, the Head of Department, Dr. Mrs

Constance Kalu and also my mentor Prof. Linus Asuquo for providing the assistance I needed to

complete this programme, I say thank you.

I thank my wonderful wife, Engr. Mrs Eno Anieyie for her support, advice and

encouragement throughout the programme. May God almighty richly reward you in Jesus name,

Amen. My gratitude also goes to my Pastors, Pastor and Dr. Mrs Ezekiel Atang for their relentless

prayers towards the success of my academics.

Finally, I give all the glory to God for his mercies, provision and sustenance throughout

the programme.

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 ABSTRACT
In modern wireless communication system, there is an increased demand for integrated,
multiband, larger gain and low profile antennas to support a wide range of multiple wireless
applications. This challenge has triggered off antenna researches in diverse directions. One of
such areas is the application of fractal shapes in antenna geometry to develop multiband antennas.
This dissertation presents the design and simulation of Sierpinski carpet fractal antenna (SCFA)
for multiband wireless applications. The proposed antenna is achieved by first designing a
rectangular microstrip antenna (RMSA) with a centre frequency of 2.45 GHz on a Flame retardant
four (FR4) epoxy substrate with dielectric constant of 4.2. The patch dimensions and the feeder
were obtained using the transmission line model. The proposed antenna was fractalized up to the
second iteration by creating slots in the patch using a simulation software. The SCFA was fed
with a quarter wave edge fed microstrip line to achieve a good impedance matching with the
microstrip line feed. The designed antenna was simulated in Computer simulation technology
(CST) microwave software by optimizing the width of the microstrip feed and its location so that
the antenna can operate in multiple bands between 2 to 14 GHz. The results obtained were
compared in terms of return loss, gain, voltage standing wave ratio (VSWR), and directivity. The
simulation results obtained for the designed antenna were 2.45 GHz, 4.29 GHz, 4.85 GHz, 7.31
GHz, 8.63 GHz, 9.98 GHz, 10.71 GHz, 11.36 GHz and 12.07 GHz. All the frequencies were
achieved within the desired bands with return losses less than -10 dB. The simulation results have
proven that the designed antenna can be used for multiband applications such as wireless local
area network (WLAN), S band, C band, X band and Ku band.

[ 291 words]

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 TABLE OF CONTENTS

CHAPTER TITLE PAGE

Front Cover
Cover Page i
Title Page ii
DECLARATION iii
CERTIFICATION iv
DEDICATION v
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS vi
ABSTRACT vii
TABLE OF CONTENTS viii
LIST OF TABLES ix
LIST OF FIGURES x
LIST OF APPENDICES xi
LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS Xii

CHAPTER ONE: INTRODUCTION

1.1 Background of Study 1

1.2 Statement of the Research Problem 3
1.3 Objectives of the Study 3
1.4 Significance of the Study 4
1.5 Scope and Limitations of the Study 4
1.6 Definition of Key Concepts 5
1.7 Organisation of the Dissertation 6

CHAPTER TWO: REVIEW OF RELATED LITERATURE

2.1 Antennas 7
2.1.1 Types of Antenna 8
2.1.1.1 Aperture antennas 8
2.1.1.2 Wire antennas 9
2.1.1.3 Reflector antennas 9
2.2 Antenna Parameters 10
2.2.1 Radiation Pattern 10
2.2.2 Directivity and Gain 11
2.2.3 Return Loss 11
2.2.4 Bandwidth 12
2.2.5 Polarization 12
2.2.6 Antenna Efficiency and Quality Factor 13
2.3 Microstrip Antennas 13
2.3.1 Advantages Patch Antennas 15
2.3.2 Disadvantages of Patch Antennas 15
2.4 Feeding Techniques to Microstrip Antennas 16
2.4.1 The Microstrip Feed line 16
2.4.2 Coaxial line Feed 17
2.4.3 Aperture Coupling 18

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2.4.4 Proximity Coupled Feed 19
2.5 Methods of Analysis of MSA 20
2.5.1 Transmission Line model 20
2.5.2 Cavity Model 24
2.5.3 Full Wave Model 25
2.6 Fractal Antennas 25
2.6.1 Features of Fractal Antennas 26
2.6.2 Classification of Fractal Antennas 27
2.6.3 Types of Fractal Antennas 28
2.6.3.1 Sierpinski carpet 28
2.6.3.2 Sierpinski gasket fractal antenna 28
2.6.3.3 Koch curve 29
2.6.3.4 Minkowski Curve and Minkowski Island 30
2.7 Advantages and disadvantages of Fractal Antennas 32
2.8 Application of Fractal Antenna 32
2.9 Fractal Dimensions 33
2.10 Iterated Function System 34
2.11 Review of Related Works 35
2.11.1 Wideband High Gain Fractal Antenna for Wireless Applications 36
2.11.2 Fractal Antenna Design for Multiple Applications 37
2.11.3 Design and Development of Sierpinski Carpet Microstrip Fractal
Antenna for Multiband Applications 37
2.11.4 Analysis and Design of Triple Band Compact Microstrip Patch
Antenna with Fractal Elements for Wireless Applications 38
2.11.5 Design and Analysis of Minkowski Fractal Antenna using Microstrip
Feed 39

CHAPTER THREE: MATERIALS AND METHODS

3.1 General Procedure for Designing Sierpinski Carpet Fractal Antenna 41
3.2 Design of 2.45 GHz Rectangular Microstrip Antenna 42
3.3 Rectangular Microstrip Antenna Design, Calculations and Results 43
3.4 Design of Sierpinski Carpet Antenna 52
3.5 Computer Simulation Technology 56
3.6 Ethical Issues 58

CHAPTER FOUR: RESULTS AND DISCUSSION

4.1 Results 59
4.1.1 Simulation Results for the designed 2.45 GHz RMSA at 0th Iteration 59
4.1.2 Simulation Results for the Designed SCFA at 1st Iteration 62
4.1.3 Simulation Results for the Designed SCFA at 2nd Iteration 67
4.2 Discussion 76

CHAPTER FIVE: SUMMARY, CONCLUSION AND RECOMMENDATIONS

5.1 Summary 78
5.2 Conclusion 78
5.3 Engineering Implications of Findings 79

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5.4 Contribution to Knowledge 79
5.5 Recommendations 80
5.6 Suggestions for Further Studies 80

REFERENCES 82

APPENDICES 86

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 LIST OF TABLES

Table Title Page

2.1 Features of fractal antennas 27

2.2 Design parameters of microstrip patch antenna 38

2.3 Minkowski antenna result with constant length and variable width 40

2.4 Minkowski antenna result with constant width and variable length 40

3.1 Design dimensions of 2.45 GHz single band edge fed RMSA 51

3.2 Patch dimensions of SCFA for 1st and 2nd iteration 56

4.1 Summary of simulation results for the designed RMSA at 0th

iteration 62

4.2 Radiation performance parameters results for the designed

RMSA at 0th iteration 62

4.3 Summary of simulation results for the designed SCFA at 1st

iteration 62

4.4 Radiation performance parameters results for the designed SCFA

at 1st iteration 63

4.5 Summary of simulation results for the designed SCFA at 2nd

iteration 68

4.6 Radiation performance parameters results for the designed SCFA

at 2nd iteration 68

4.3 Comparison of the designed antennas with some selected

published works 77

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 LIST OF FIGURES

Figure Title Page

2.1 Working principle of an antenna. 7

2.2 Horn antenna 8

2.3 Wire antenna configurations 9

2.4 Reflector Antenna 10

2.5 Radiation pattern of a dipole antenna 11

2.6 MSA configurations with its side view 14

2.7 Different shapes of microstrip antenna 15

2.8 Microstrip line feed 16

2.9 Equivalent circuit of microstrip feed line 17

2.10 Coaxial line feed 17

2.11 Equivalent circuit of coax feed line 18

2.12 Aperture coupled feed 18

2.13 Equivalent circuit of aperture coupled feed 19

2.14 Proximity coupled feed 19

2.15 Equivalent circuit of proximity coupled feed 20

2.16 Microstrip line 21

2.17 Physical and effective lengths of rectangular microstrip patch 21

2.18 Classes of fractals 27

2.19 Iteration of the Sierpinski carpet composed of squares 28

2.20 Sierpinski gasket iterations 29

2.21 Recursive iteration levels of Koch curve 29

2.22 Minkowski curve iterations 31

2.23 Minkowski island iterations 31

2.24 Simulated and measured return loss 36

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2.25 Return loss versus frequency curve for 0th - 2nd iteration of the antenna 39

3.1 Flow chart for research methodology 41

3.2 Patch antenna with a quarter wave matching section 46

3.3 Equivalent circuit of RMS patch transmission line model 47

3.4 Geometry of the designed antenna at zero iteration 51

3.5 Designed antenna at zero iteration using CST 2018 software 52

3.6 Geometry of the designed antenna at first iteration 54

3.7 Designed antenna at first iteration using CST 2018 software 54

3.8 Geometry of the designed antenna at second iteration 55

3.9 Designed antenna at second iteration using CST 2018 software 56

3.10 CST MWS – FIT simulation method 57

3.11 CST MWS transient solver 58

4.1 Return loss plot of antenna at 0th iteration 59

4.2 VSWR at 2.45 GHz for 0th iteration 60

4.3 Directivity plot of designed antenna at 2.45 GHz for 0th iteration
in E plane 61

4.4 Directivity plot of designed antenna at 2.45 GHz for 0th iteration
in H plane 61

4.5 3 D gain of proposed antenna at 2.45 GHz for 0th iteration 62

4.6 Return loss plot of antenna at 1st iteration 63

4.7 VSWR at 2.45 GHz for 1st iteration 64

4.8 Directivity plot of designed antenna at 4.35 GHz for 1st iteration
in E plane 64

4.9 Directivity plot of designed antenna at 4.35 GHz for 1st iteration
in H plane 65

4.10 Directivity plot of designed antenna at 7.793 GHz for 1st iteration
in E plane 65

4.11 Directivity plot of designed antenna at 7.793 GHz for 1st iteration
in H plane 66

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4.12 3 D gain of proposed antenna at 2.45 GHz for 1st iteration 66

4.13 3 D gain of proposed antenna at 4.35 GHz for 1st iteration 67

4.14 3 D gain of proposed antenna at 7.793 GHz for 2nd iteration 67

4.15 Return loss plot of antenna at 2nd iteration 68

4.16 VSWR at 2.45 GHz for 2nd iteration 69

4.17 Directivity plot of designed antenna at 8.634 GHz for 2nd iteration
in E plane 70

4.18 Directivity plot of designed antenna at 8.634 GHz for 2nd iteration
in H plane 70

4.19 Directivity plot of designed antenna at 9.98 GHz for 2nd iteration
in E plane 71

4.20 Directivity plot of designed antenna at 9.98 GHz for 2nd iteration
in H plane 71

4.21 Directivity plot of designed antenna at 10.706 GHz for 2nd iteration
in E plane 72

4.22 Directivity plot of designed antenna at 10.706 GHz for 2nd iteration
in H plane 72

4.23 Directivity plot of designed antenna at 13.341 GHz for 2nd iteration
in E plane 73

4.24 Directivity plot of designed antenna at 13.341 GHz for 2nd iteration
in H plane 73

4.25 3 D gain of proposed antenna at 2.45 GHz for 2nd iteration 74

4.26 3 D gain of proposed antenna at 8.643 GHz for 2nd iteration 74

4.27 3 D gain of proposed antenna at 9.98 GHz for 2nd iteration 75

4.28 3 D gain of proposed antenna at 10.706 GHz for 2nd iteration 75

4.29 3 D gain of proposed antenna at 13.34 GHz for 2nd iteration 75

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 LIST OF APPENDICES
Appendix Title Page

I MATLAB code for Sierpienki carpet antenna design 86

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 LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS

Abbreviation Meaning

CPW Coplanar Wave Guide

CST Computer Simulation Technology

DGS Defected Ground Surface

EM Electromagnetic

GPS Global Positioning System

IFS Iterative Function System

ISM Industrial Scientific and Medical

MSA Microstrip Antenna

PCF-MPA Proximity Coupled Fed Microstrip Patch Antenna

PDA Personal Digital Assistant

RCS Radar Cross Section

RMSA Rectangular Microstrip Antenna

SCFA Sierpinski Carpet Fractal Antenna

TL Transmission Line

VSWR Voltage Standing Wave Ratio

WLAN Wireless Local Area Network

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