International Journal of Application or Innovation in Engineering & Management (IJAIEM)

Web Site: www.ijaiem.org Email: editor@ijaiem.org

Volume 4, Issue 3, March 2015

ISSN 2319 - 4847

Study on FractalMicrostrip Fork Antenna with

Enhanced Directivity
P. Chandrasekhar Member IEEE, P. Gowtham Kumar, K. Santhosh
Assistant professor Dept. of ECE , GITAM University

ABSTRACT
It is necessary in many applications to design an antenna which has high directivity, less VSWR, low return loss and low side
lobe level. Fractal microstrip fork antenna with parasitic elements can be used in various applications like satellite
communications, terrestrial communications, spacecommunications and in radar. The dimensions of the proposed antenna are
40 x 40 x 3.2 mm. Copper (annealed) metal is used as the ground plane and the patch. FR4 (lossy) material is used as the
substrate. The proposed antenna has the return loss, VSWR, directivity, side lobe level of -51.366576dB, 1.0054185, 9.576dBi
and -13.1dBi at an operating frequency of 11.712GHz.

Keywords: - Antenna, fork, fractal,microstrip, return loss, VSWR, directivity and side lobe level.

1.INTRODUCTION
An antenna is an electrical device which is used to transmit and receive electromagnetic waves. There are two types of
antennas transmitting antenna and receiving antenna. As the size of normal antenna is very large, it cannot be used
in mobile andsatellite communications. So, microstripantennas are preferred because of the following advantages like
small size, low weight, low cost and they can be easily fabricated. A microstripantenna has a ground plane, substrate
and a patch. Patch is printed over the substrate of microstip antenna. This patch acts as a radiator and radiates
electromagnetic waves.
In this paper a fractal fork shaped microstrip antenna with parasitic elements has been proposed which has less return
loss and high directivity when compared with normal fork antenna.

2. PROPOSED ANTENNA DESIGN

For a square shaped microstrip antenna if we incorporate two parallel slots, a fork shaped microstrip antenna is
obtained which is shown in fig.1. Copper (annealed) metal is used as ground plane and patch. FR4 (lossy) material
whose dielectric constant value is 4.3 is used as substrate. For a fork shaped microstrip antenna if we incorporate a
number of slots, we obtain a fractal fork shaped microstrip antenna. In order to increase directivity, we are introducing
two parasitic elements and slots are also incorporated in parasitic elements in order to reduce return loss.The fractal
fork shaped microstrip antenna is shown in figure.2.

fig1: Fork shaped microstrip antenna

Thickness of the substrate of fork shaped antenna is 3.28mm.

fig.2: Fractal fork shaped microstrip antenna with parasitic elements

Volume 4, Issue 3, March 2015

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International Journal of Application or Innovation in Engineering & Management (IJAIEM)

Web Site: www.ijaiem.org Email: editor@ijaiem.org
Volume 4, Issue 3, March 2015

ISSN 2319 - 4847

Thickness of substrate in fractal fork shaped microstrip antenna with parasitic elements is 3.2mm. The dimensions of
the antenna are presented in the table.1.
Table.1: dimensions of proposed antenna

3. RETURN LOSS
Return loss is the power reflected by the antenna due to the mismatch of transmission line and antenna. If the return
loss of the antenna is 0dB then the power fed to the antenna is completely reflected back by the antenna and nothing is
radiated. If return loss of antenna is -10dB, then -7dB is the reflected power and 3dB is delivered to the antenna. Lower
the value of return loss, higher is the efficiency of the antenna.
The simulated return loss of fork shaped patch antenna and fractal fork shaped patch antenna with parasitic elements
are shown in fig.3 and fig.4.

fig.3: Return loss of Fork shaped patch antenna at f=11.304GHz

fig.4: Return Loss of fractal fork shaped patch antenna with

Volume 4, Issue 3, March 2015

parasitic elements at f=11.712GHz

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International Journal of Application or Innovation in Engineering & Management (IJAIEM)

Web Site: www.ijaiem.org Email: editor@ijaiem.org
Volume 4, Issue 3, March 2015

ISSN 2319 - 4847

4. VSWR
VSWR stands for voltage standing wave ratio. VSWR is defined as the ratio of the maximum value of standing wave
voltage to its minimum value. VSWR value is always real and positive. If VSWR value is large, the antenna is not
matched with the transmission line and there will be high return loss and vice versa. The minimum value of VSWR is
0ne. The simulated VSWR of fork shaped patch antenna and fractal fork shaped patch antenna with parasitic elements
are shown in fig.5 and fig.6.

fig.5: VSWR of Fork shaped patch antenna at f=11.304GHz

fig.4: VSWR of fractal fork shaped patch antenna with

parasitic elements at f=11.712GHz

5. FAR FIELD PATTERN

3D plots:
The three dimensional far field pattern of fork shaped patch antenna and fractal fork shaped patch antenna with
parasitic elements are shown in fig.5 and fig.6.

fig.5: 3D far field pattern of Fork shaped patch antennaat f=11.304 GHz

fig.6: 3D far field pattern of fractal fork shaped patch antenna with parasitic element at f=11.712GHz

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International Journal of Application or Innovation in Engineering & Management (IJAIEM)

Web Site: www.ijaiem.org Email: editor@ijaiem.org
Volume 4, Issue 3, March 2015

ISSN 2319 - 4847

Polar Plots:
The polar plots of far field pattern of fork shaped patch antenna and fractal fork shaped patch antenna with parasitic
elements are shown in fig.7 and fig.8.

fig.5: Polar plot of Fork shaped patch antenna at f=11.304GHz

fig.4: polar plot of fractal fork shaped patch antenna with

parasitic elements at f=11.712GHz

6. CONCLUSION
Thus the fractal fork shaped microstrip antenna with parasitic elements has been designed which has return loss and
directivity of -51.366576dB and 9.576dBi at the operating frequency of 11.712GHz.The return loss, VSWR, directivity
of the proposed antenna are better when compared with the normal fork shaped antenna. Thus from the simulated
results it can be proven that the proposed antenna is good when compared with fork shaped patch antenna.

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[9] Patil V.P., Kharade A.R., Enhancement of Directivity of Rectangular MicroStrip Antenna Using Multilayer
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