A Novel Ancient Coin-Like Fractal Multiband Antenna for Wireless Applications

Abstract

This study proposes a novel square-circle structure fractal multibroadband planar antenna, similar to an ancient Chinese coin-like structure, for second generation (2G), third generation (3G), fourth generation (4G), WLAN, and navigation wireless applications. The device is based on the principles and structural features of conventional monopole antenna elements, combined with the advantages of microstrip antennas and fractal geometry. A fractal method was presented for circular nested square slotted structures, similar to an ancient Chinese copper coin. The proposed antenna adapted five iterations on a fractal structure radiator, which covers more than ten mobile applications in three broad frequency bands with a bandwidth of 70% (1.43–2.97 GHz) for DCS1800, TD-SCDMA, WCDMA, CDMA2000, LTE33-41, Bluetooth, GPS (Global Positioning System), BDS (BeiDou Navigation Satellite System), GLONSS (Global Navigation Satellite System), GALILEO (Galileo Satellite Navigation System), and WLAN frequency bands, 16.32% (3.32–3.91 GHz) for LTE42, LTE43, and WiMAX frequency bands, and 10.92% (4.85–5.41 GHz) for WLAN frequency band. The proposed antenna was fabricated on a 1.6 mm thick G10/FR4 substrate with a dielectric constant of 4.4 and a size of 88.5 × 60 mm2. The measurement results reveal that the omnidirectional radiation patterns achieve a gain of 1.16–3.75 dBi and an efficiency of 40–72%. The good agreement between the measurement results and simulation validates the proposed design approach and satisfies the requirements for various wireless applications.