IETE Journal of Research

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On the Design and Analysis of I-Shaped Fractal

Antenna for Emergency Management

Sushil Kakkar, T. S. Kamal & A. P. Singh

To cite this article: Sushil Kakkar, T. S. Kamal & A. P. Singh (2018): On the Design and Analysis
of I-Shaped Fractal Antenna for Emergency Management, IETE Journal of Research, DOI:
10.1080/03772063.2017.1407270

To link to this article: https://doi.org/10.1080/03772063.2017.1407270

Published online: 08 Jan 2018.

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 IETE JOURNAL OF RESEARCH, 2017
https://doi.org/10.1080/03772063.2017.1407270

On the Design and Analysis of I-Shaped Fractal Antenna for Emergency

Management
Sushil Kakkar1, T. S. Kamal2 and A. P. Singh3
1
Department of Electronics Engineering, IKGPTU, Jalandhar, India; 2ECE Department, RIET, Abohar, India; 3ECE Department, SLIET, Longowal
(Deemed University), Sangrur, India

ABSTRACT KEYWORDS
This paper presents an optimal design of an I-shaped fractal antenna for wireless communication Antenna; Fractals; Fractal
devoted to emergency management. The proposed antenna is smaller in size compared to many dimension; Microstrip
of the traditional antennas known so far and with further implementation of third iterative fractal
geometry on the patch, the size has been reduced by 12.47% in terms of resonating frequency and
Downloaded by [University of New England] at 07:40 09 January 2018

the patch area has been decreased by 52.8%, which contributes toward the low cost features of the
antenna. The resonating and radiation characteristics of the fractal antenna are investigated
numerically and experimentally to verify the potential of the antenna for the desired application.
The antenna enables multiband connectivity at 5.88, 6.70, and 7.23 GHz. The measured results of
the fabricated antenna are in good agreement with the simulated results and indicate efficient
matching of the designed structure.

1. INTRODUCTION Peano for circularly polarized multiband microstrip

antenna [11], Minkowski dipole for resonant behaviour
Over the last few years, there has been an increasing
analysis [12], hexagonal patch using modified Sierpinski
demand for small size and multi-standard systems
for vehicular communication [13], and Sierpinski gasket
driven by the great expansion of telecommunication sec-
prefractal planar monopole antenna [14]. One of the key
tors such as personal communications or mobile tele-
challenges in designing these fractal antennas is their
phony. The design and development of these systems
tuning as per the user requirement. Over the last decade,
involve the modelling of innovative antenna character-
various techniques like biologically inspired optimiza-
ized by small dimensions and able to manage simulta-
tion techniques, artificial neural network, etc., have been
neously different communication standards [1]. Fractal
explored by antenna design engineers to find an easy
antennas are suitable for both of the mentioned require-
solution to this problem. There are various biologically
ments. A fractal is a recursively produced object with a
inspired optimization techniques like bacterial foraging
fractional dimension. Various objects, including anten-
optimization (BFO), particle swarm optimization (PSO),
nas, may be designed by incorporating the recursive
ant colony optimization (ACO), genetic algorithm (GA),
behaviour of a fractal. A large variety of applications for
bees algorithm, firefly algorithm, etc., that have been
fractals have been found in several branches of engineer-
used in antenna design engineering so far. PSO is one of
ing and sciences after the pioneering work of Mandel-
the most popular techniques among them. The PSO
brot and others [2,3]. A standout amongst the most
algorithm was first described in 1995 by Kennedy and
encouraging ranges of fractal electrodynamics research
Eberhart. It is inspired by the social behaviour of a flock
is in its application to antenna system design and engi-
of birds and insect swarms [15–17]. In [18], Rani and
neering [4–6]. Kim and Jaggard [7] reported the first
Singh have successfully implemented the BFO technique
application of fractals to the field of antenna system the-
to optimize the geometrical parameters of a hybrid frac-
ory. They provide a technique for designing low-side
tal antenna. This technique is based on the group forag-
lobe arrays that is based on the theory of random frac-
ing behaviour of bacteria such as E. coli. In a similar
tals. In the past decade, fractal or prefractal shapes have
attempt, Siakavara [19] used GA to optimize the circular
been introduced in various antenna and array designs
ring Sierpinski carpet fractal array antenna for satellite
[8]. Several of these designs have been extensively stud-
communication. Aelterman et al. in [20] demonstrated
ied for different applications, including Koch curve for
that ACO is a viable method to optimize and manipulate
multiband operation [2,9], monopolar quad-band
the radiation pattern of electronically steerable array
antenna based on Hilbert prefractal curve [10], Giuseppe
© 2017 IETE
 2 S. KAKKAR ET AL.: ON THE DESIGN AND ANALYSIS OF I-SHAPED FRACTAL ANTENNA FOR EMERGENCY MANAGEMENT
radiator antennas. This technique is based on the natural
behaviour and foraging strategies of large groups of ants.
Emergency management is a public authority field, a
group of professionals, and an interdisciplinary research
field that deals with the processes used or protects popu-
lations or organizations from the consequences of disas-
ters, wars, and act of terrorism [21]. Public safety
organizations increasingly rely on wireless communica-
tion technology to provide effective command, control,
and communication during emergencies and disaster
response operations [22].The bands of interest for emer-
gency management are 300–400, 406.1–430, 440–470,
746–806, 806–825, 851–869, 4940–4990, and 5850–
5925 MHz [23].
Downloaded by [University of New England] at 07:40 09 January 2018
In this paper, an attempt has been made here to develop
a fractal patch antenna that can perform effectively and
efficiently in the application of wireless communications
devoted to emergency management. The key contribu-
tion of the paper is the antenna design and impedance
matching between the feed strip and the patch to obtain
the multi- and wide-band operation.
2. ANTENNA DESIGN AND CONFIGURATION
The proposed configuration of fractal patch antenna for
different iterations (first, second, and third) is shown in
Figure 1. The geometry of the presented antenna has
been inspired from Sierpinski carpet fractal structure. In
order to obtain the generator of fractal geometry (first
iteration), if instead of taking out the central square of
Sierpinski carpet, the left and right squares are taken
out, then it will form the shape of “I”. So far in literature,
only a limited number of fractal structures have been
used by antenna design engineers for emergency
Figure 1: Geometry of the proposed fractal antenna (a) first iteration (b) second iteration (c) third iteration
management. In an attempt in [22], the authors have
perturbed the first iteration of the Sierpinski gasket
structure and optimized it for the operation of antenna
for emergency management. In another attempt in [24],
the authors have used the Sierpinski carpet structure as
defects in the ground plane and tuned it to work for
emergency management application. In both of the
mentioned cases, the structure of the antenna is compa-
rably complex and analysed for limited iterations. In the
presented work, the proposed geometry is very simple,
easy to implement, flexible to match, and easy to
fabricate.
This new geometry composed of an “I”-shaped fractal
structure whose first iteration is constructed by taking
out two slots of similar dimensions with length L1 and
width W1 from the centre of the parallel edges of the
rectangular patch. The same procedure is then applied
recursively to obtain the next iterations with a scaling
factor of 1/3. It is printed on an FR4 substrate with com-
pact size of 30.2 mm £ 20 mm (which corresponds to
λ/2 £ λ/3 with λ being the resonant wavelength), thick-
ness 1.57 mm, relative dielectric constant 4.4, and loss
tangent of 0.019. The patch is fed by a 50-ohm micro-
strip line having length Lf and width Wf. The microstrip
feed technique is preferred due to its direct contact
mechanism with the antenna, and most of the feed is iso-
lated from the patch which minimizes spurious radia-
tions. In order to achieve good impedance matching, the
feed position and dimensions of the feed strip are manu-
ally optimized and located at 10.1 mm from the origin of
the patch which corresponds to the centre of the lower
edge of the proposed patch antenna. All the dimensions
of the structure have been tuned to get multi- and wide-
band characteristics for the application of emergency
management. However, the initial dimensions have been
 S. KAKKAR ET AL.: ON THE DESIGN AND ANALYSIS OF I-SHAPED FRACTAL ANTENNA FOR EMERGENCY MANAGEMENT 3

Table 1: Dimensional parameters of the proposed antenna for the proposed fractal antenna are given in Table 2.
Parameters Value
Length of the patch, Lp 30.2 mm
    
a b x e
Width of the patch, Wp 20 mm wðx; yÞ ¼ þ (1)
Length of the feed strip, Lf 5 mm c d y f
Width of the feed strip, Wf 2 mm
Length of similar slots for the first iteration, L1 8.33 mm
Width of similar slots for the first iteration, W1 6.66 mm where a, b, c, d, e, and f are real numbers, such that a, b,
Length of similar slots for the second iteration, L2 2.77 mm c, and d control the rotation and scaling, while e and f
Width of similar slots for the second iteration, W2 2.22 mm
Length of similar slots for the third iteration, L3 0.92 mm control the linear translation [1].
Width of similar slots for the third iteration, W3 0.74 mm

2.2 Fractal Dimension

Table 2: IFS transformation coefficients for the proposed
geometry The similarity dimension can be interpreted as a
W a b C d e f measure of the space-filling property and complexity of
T1 1/3 0 0 1/3 0 0 fractal shape. Mathematically, the fractal geometry is
T2 1/3 0 0 1/3 6.66 0
T3 1/3 0 0 1/3 13.33 0 practically defined by the characteristics of fractal
T4 1/3 0 0 1/3 13.33 8.33 dimension [2]. For the self-similar fractal, the fractal
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T5 1/3 0 0 1/3 0 16.66

T6 1/3 0 0 1/3 6.66
T7 1/3 0 0 1/3 13.33
approximated using the standard equation of c = yl0;
where c is the velocity of light, y is the required fre-
quency, and l0 is the free space wavelength (usually, the
length of the antenna is λ0/3 < L < λ0/2 [25]) and fur-
ther, these initial dimensions of the proposed antenna
have been tuned with performing a number of simula-
tions using electromagnetic simulator. The dimensional
parameters of the proposed structure are detailed in
Table 1.
2.1 Iterated Function System
Iterated function system (IFS) is an algorithm that pro-
vides identical copies of the original geometry at each
successive iteration. It can be applied to generate the suc-
cession of curves that converge to the ideal fractal
shape. It is one of the most common ways of generating
fractals [2,3]. At each iteration, the development of
segments of the self-affine fractal structure is derived
using Equation (1) [1]. IFS transformation coefficients
16.66 dimension (F.D) is given by the expression as under [3]:
16.66
logN log7
F:D ¼ ¼ ¼ 1:77 (2)
log 1s log3
where N is the number of copies of the whole object, and
s is the scale factor for each copy. In the case of the pre-
sented geometry, N = 7 and s = 1/3. The fractal dimen-
sion for the proposed structure is 1.77.
3. NUMERICAL STUDIES FOR PROPOSED
ANTENNA
It is attempted here to obtain a relation between the
antenna characteristics and fractal dimension of the pre-
sented structure. The radiation performance of these
antennas is not expected to vary considerably because
their size is small in terms of operational wavelength.
Hence, only the input characteristics of the antennas are
examined here. The geometry of the proposed antenna
for the second iteration with varying scaling factor is
shown in Figure 2. The fractal dimension of the geome-
try varies from 1.5 to a maximum value of 2, as the

Figure 2: Geometry of the proposed antenna for the second iteration with scaling factor (a) 1/3 (b) 1/4 (c) 1/5 (d) 1/6 (e) 1/7
 4 S. KAKKAR ET AL.: ON THE DESIGN AND ANALYSIS OF I-SHAPED FRACTAL ANTENNA FOR EMERGENCY MANAGEMENT

scaling factor is increased from 1/7 to 1/3. In the study
on the performance of the proposed antenna, it has been
observed that the input characteristics of the antenna
vary significantly by these modifications. The primary
resonating frequency and the input resistance at this res-
onance are directly related to the fractal dimension. The
data available in Table 3 are used to draw a relationship
between change in scaling factor/fractal dimension and
variation in resonant frequency and input resistance.
These results are plotted in Figure 3. The numerical
results of the proposed geometries with different fractal
dimensions illustrate a decrease in resonant frequency
with increase in the fractal dimension or the scaling fac-
tor. This decrease is because of the increase in the electri-
cal length of the proposed fractal antenna with increase
in the fractal dimension. However, it may be noticed
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has been accomplished so far by that particle. This
value of the particle is called personal best (Pb) value.
Another best value called global best (Gb) is the value
gained so far by any other particle in the neighbour of
that particle [15]. Each particle tends to change its
position obtaining the experience of the current veloci-
ties, the current positions, the distance between the
current position and the personal best position, the
distance between the current position and the global
best position. The basic concept of PSO lies in acceler-
ating each particle toward its personal best and global
best locations, with a random weighted acceleration at
each time-step [16]. The particles position can be
adjusted for improvement according to the following
equations [17]:

that there is a sharp decrease in frequency for the SN þ 1 ¼ SN þ VN þ 1 (3)

higher-order iteration as compared to the lower-order
iteration.
VN þ 1 ¼ w VN þ C1 R1 ðPb  SN Þ þ C2 R2 ðGb  SN Þ
The input resistance is a key parameter to define the
input characteristic of the antenna. From the obtained (4)
results, it has been observed that the input resistance at
where VN is the particle velocity, SN is the particle
the resonant frequency changes by modifying the scaling
displacement, Pb is the particle’s best position, Gb is
factor or fractal dimensions of the structure. As the
the global best position, w is the inertial weight; C1
scaling factor or the fractal dimension increases, this
and C2 are the acceleration terms and R1 and R2 are
value shows random behaviour. This is because the
two random numbers between 0 and 1, representing
input impedance of an antenna is a complex function
the individuality and sociality of one particle with
and mostly relies on approximations. For the first
others [3].
iteration of the proposed antenna, the input resistance
reduces significantly in most of the cases while for the sec-
In the presented work, the height of the substrate (h) and
ond and third iterations, it increases at most of the fre-
length of the fractal patch (Lp) have been optimized
quency points.
using PSO. These two parameters play an important role
in defining the resonating frequency of the proposed
antenna. These two parameters were characterized with
4. PSO IMPLEMENTATION
appropriate lower and upper bounds that gave two-
In PSO, every particle is dealt with as a point in an N- dimensional solution spaces for which the PSO searched
dimensional solution space which alters its “flying” as for the optimal parameters of the proposed fractal geom-
per its own particular flying information and in addition etry. The development of the fitness function is the next
the flying information of different particles. Every parti- step after defining the solution space. A fitness function
cle keeps track of its directions in the solution space is that which takes the value of both the parameters and
which are connected with the best possible solution that returns a single value. This function is based on the

Table 3: Input resonating characteristics of the proposed antenna for the first, second, and third iterations
First iteration Second iteration Third iteration
Fractal Resonating Input resistance Resonating Input resistance Resonating Input resistance
Scaling dimension frequency (GHz) (ohms) frequency (GHz) (ohms) frequency (GHz) (ohms)
1/7 (0.142) 1.512 7.131 48.99 7.333 50.17 7.535 51.35
1/6 (0.166) 1.547 7.081 48.71 7.283 51.18 7.485 53.65
1/5 (0.200) 1.594 6.98 46.92 7.131 51.39 7.333 55.86
1/4 (0.250) 1.661 6.879 48.56 6.929 53.14 6.979 57.72
1/3 (0.333) 1.771 6.677 46.62 6.273 50.86 5.969 55.10
 S. KAKKAR ET AL.: ON THE DESIGN AND ANALYSIS OF I-SHAPED FRACTAL ANTENNA FOR EMERGENCY MANAGEMENT 5

Figure 3: Variation in the (a) primary resonant frequency (b) input resistance of the first, second, and third iteration of the proposed
antenna with the variation of fractal dimension
Downloaded by [University of New England] at 07:40 09 January 2018

requirement of the user and represents the goodness of
the geometry. The following fitness function was formed
using least square method to find the geometry of the
proposed fractal structure to work at the required fre-
quency:
Fitness function ¼ ð5:8 f Þ2
The instantaneous frequency ( f ) in Equation (5) was
developed using curve fitting method. The MATLAB
software has been used for this method to form a
relationship between the design parameters. This
technique fits the data using parametric models like
polynomial and determines the goodness of fit. A
total of 49 data-sets were generated using electromag-
netic (EM) simulator by varying the length “Lp” and
height of the antenna “h”, and after applying these
values, the following equation was obtained that rep-
resents the mapping of resonant frequency ( f ) with
these design parameters:
increase in iterations, the resonating frequency shifts
towards the lower-side which satisfies the space-filling
property of the fractals and confirms the miniaturization
of the proposed antenna significantly. Improvements in
terms of the reflection coefficient for primary frequency
are evaluated by comparing the different iterations of
(5) the proposed antenna geometry. The 50-ohm microstrip
feed line provides good impedance matching between
the patch and the feed network. It is also worth mention-
ing here that with the implementation of third-order
fractal geometry on the patch, there is a size reduction of
12.47% in terms of the corresponding wavelength and in
addition, the respective patch area has been reduced by

f ¼ ð0:000952 ðLp Þ2  1:607h2  0:847Lp

þ 3:976h þ 5:404Þ (6)

5. RESULTS AND DISCUSSION

The proposed fractal patch antenna was modelled, simu-
lated, and optimized using IE3D EM solver. For more
accurate results, the meshing frequency (GHz) and cells
per wavelength are both set as 20.The jS11j parameters
of the proposed antenna with all the presented iterations
that are first, second, and third are shown in Figure 4. It Figure 4: jS11j plot of the proposed antenna for the first, second,
may be observed from the obtained results that with and third iteration
 6 S. KAKKAR ET AL.: ON THE DESIGN AND ANALYSIS OF I-SHAPED FRACTAL ANTENNA FOR EMERGENCY MANAGEMENT

Table 4: Resonating characteristics of the proposed antenna

for the first iteration with varying scaling factor
Resonating Reflection Input
frequency coefficient impedance Bandwidth
Scaling (GHz) (dB) (ohms) (GHz) VSWR
1/7 7.131 ¡38.94 48.99 + 1.869 1.023
j0.472
1/6 7.081 ¡32.81 48.71 + 1.717 1.047
j1.853
1/5 6.98 ¡28.26 46.92 + 1.767 1.08
j2.128
1/4 6.879 ¡29.31 48.56 + 1.869 1.071
j3.054
1/3 6.677 ¡25.07 46.62 + j4.21 1.616 1.118
Note: VSWR, voltage standing wave ratio.

scaling factor is varied from 1/7 to 1/3. The plots of the

comparative studies for the reflection coefficient of the
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first and second iterations of the proposed structure are

Figure 5: jS11j plot for the first iterations for all the scaling fac-
tors considered here, that is, 1/3, 1/4, 1/5, 1/6, and 1/7 scaling
factors
52.8% which contributes towards the small size and low
cost features of the presented antenna design.
5.1 Analysis with Different Scaling Factor
In order to investigate the effectiveness of variation in
the scaling factor, a critical analysis has been performed
on the proposed fractal structure. In this sense, the
depicted in Figures 5 and 6, respectively. It may be
noticed from the obtained results that when the scaling
factor increases, the resonating frequency shifts towards
the lower-side along with the degradation of respective
reflection coefficient for both the iterations. However, a
small random behaviour may be observed in the reso-
nating performance for the second iteration. Hence, it
may be argued that the scaling of the antenna can be var-
ied for appropriate positioning of the resonant frequency
of the proposed antenna. A summary of the simulated
results for the analysis of both the iterations is presented
in Tables 4 and 5.
5.2 Optimization and Measurement Results
The main motivation behind the development of the
proposed antenna is the operation of the antenna for
emergency management. To meet this requirement, the
height of the substrate and length of the proposed geom-
etry have been optimized using PSO. This examination
determines the resonant length of the proposed antenna
Lp = λ/2 and height of the substrate 1.57 mm as the

Table 5: Resonating characteristics of the proposed antenna

for the second iteration with varying scaling factor
Resonating Reflection Input
frequency coefficient impedance Bandwidth
Scaling (GHz) (dB) (ohms) (GHz) VSWR
1/7 7.333 ¡44.97 50.17 ¡ 2.17 1.011
j0.53
1/6 7.283 ¡37.48 51.18 ¡ 2.02 1.027
j0.66
1/5 7.131 ¡30.87 51.39 ¡ 1.86 1.059
j2.55
1/4 6.929 ¡26.33 53.14 ¡ 2.12 1.101
Figure 6: jS11j plot for the second iterations for all the scaling j3.86
factors considered here, that is, 1/3, 1/4, 1/5, 1/6, and 1/7 scaling 1/3 6.273 ¡31.33 50.86 ¡ 1.21 1.056
factors j2.59
 S. KAKKAR ET AL.: ON THE DESIGN AND ANALYSIS OF I-SHAPED FRACTAL ANTENNA FOR EMERGENCY MANAGEMENT
Downloaded by [University of New England] at 07:40 09 January 2018
Figure 7: Photograph of the fabricated antenna
Figure 8: Comparison of the measured and simulated jS11j
parameters of the proposed antenna
Figure 9: Radiation patterns of the proposed antenna at 5.88 GHz (a) E-plane (b) H-plane
7
optimum choice. Then, the prototype of the fractal
antenna has been realized by using dimensional parame-
ters obtained from the optimization results. The photo-
graph of the fabricated antenna is shown in Figure 7.
The measured results obtained using R&S ZVM20 Vec-
tor Network Analyser agrees with the EM simulator
results. The measured jS11j shows the marginal right-
shift compared with the simulated prediction which is
due to some degree of deviation during fabrication. It is
apparent from the jS11j plot given in Figure 8 that the
fabricated antenna operates at 5.88 GHz covering the
5.850–5.925 GHz band required for emergency manage-
ment and also at 6.70 GHz (covering 6.51–6.90 GHz)
and 7.23 GHz (covering 7.04–7.55 GHz) for C-band
wireless applications.
5.3 Radiation Patterns
The measurements of the radiation patterns were
obtained in magnitude and phase and completed in
the frequency domain for the proposed antenna in an
anechoic chamber. The appropriate calibration was
done to reduce free-space losses and the trials were
completed in receive mode. The measured radiation
patterns at three stated resonant frequencies of
the proposed antenna are examined and shown in
Figures 9–11. Simulated data are also incorporated
for verification. It may be noticed that the radiation
patterns in the x–z plane (H-plane) are very close to
omnidirectional and the radiation patterns in the y–z
plane (E-plane) are bidirectional and resemble to
figure of eight.
5.4 Gain
The comparative gain results of the proposed antenna
have been plotted and shown in Figure 12. Examining
the details of this comparison, it is evident that the
 8 S. KAKKAR ET AL.: ON THE DESIGN AND ANALYSIS OF I-SHAPED FRACTAL ANTENNA FOR EMERGENCY MANAGEMENT

Figure 10: Radiation patterns of the proposed antenna at 6.70 GHz (a) E-plane (b) H-plane
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Figure 11: Radiation patterns of the proposed antenna at 7.23 GHz (a) E-plane (b) H-plane

measured gain of the antenna at resonating frequency

5.88, 6.70, and 7.23 GHz is 2.65, 3.21, and 4.51 dBi,
respectively.

5.5 Current Distribution

Figure 12: Simulated and measured gain vs. frequency plot of
the proposed antenna
The simulated surface current distributions of the pro-
posed antenna for different resonating frequencies are
shown in Figure 13. The simulation study of the surface
current distributions has been performed using IE3D
EM solver. It may be noticed that in all the three cases,
current density is high in the area of structure closer to
the edges compared to the central portion of the
antenna. The current density closer to the edges plays an
important role in the mutual capacitance and mutual
inductance of the proposed antenna.
 S. KAKKAR ET AL.: ON THE DESIGN AND ANALYSIS OF I-SHAPED FRACTAL ANTENNA FOR EMERGENCY MANAGEMENT
Figure 13: Current distributions of the proposed antenna at (a) 5.88 GHz, (b) 6.70 GHz, and (c) 7.23 GHz
6. CONCLUSION
Downloaded by [University of New England] at 07:40 09 January 2018
An optimal design of I-shaped fractal antenna is presented
in this paper. The proposed antenna has been designed
and optimized to work for emergency management. A
critical analysis by varying the scaling factor has been per-
formed on the proposed structure to observe the relation-
ship between the resonating characteristics and fractal
dimensions of the antenna. The introduction of fractal
geometry leads to the size reduction and low cost features
of the antenna. The proposed antenna exhibits wider
bandwidth and good impedance matching at resonant fre-
quencies of 5.88, 6.70, and 7.23 GHz, making it feasible for
emergency management and C-band wireless applications.
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
The authors would like to thank IKG Punjab Technical Uni-
versity, Jalandhar, Punjab, India for permitting to carry-out
this work and the ECE Department, SLIET Longwal, Sangrur,
Punjab, India for providing valuable support and guidance.
DISCLOSURE STATEMENT
No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.
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Authors
Sushil Kakkar has received his BTech
and MTech degrees from Punjab Techni-
cal University (PTU), Jalandhar. At pres-
ent, he is pursuing his PhD degree in the
field of microstrip patch antennas from
IKG PTU, Jalandhar. He has in his credit
five best paper awards in five different
international and national conferences.
He has published more than 40 research
papers in various national and international journals/confer-
ences. Besides being the convener of an international confer-
ence (ICAET-2017, held at BGIET, Sangrur), he has been the
active organizing member of various FDP’s, workshops, and
conferences. His biography has been published in the 32nd
Edition of Who’s Who in the World, 2015 by MARQUIS,
New York. His research interests include microstrip antennas
and biologically inspired computational techniques.
Corresponding author. E-mail: kakkar778@gmail.com
Dr. T. S. Kamal is a renowned interna-
tional figure in the field of technical edu-
cation. Currently, Prof. T. S. Kamal is
the professor and director of RIET, Abo-
har, Punjab. He also happens to be a pre-
mier academician, having coveted
degrees, of BE and ME in ECE from Uni-
versity of Roorkee (presently IIT Roor-
kee) and PhD from Punjab University,
Chandigarh. He is regarded as multi-farious genius in his field
and has vast experience of around 40 years, on different capac-
ities, in the field of teaching, research, industry, academics, and
20. J. Aelterman, R. Goossens, F. Declercq, and H. Rogier,
“Ant colony optimisation-based radiation pattern manipu-
lation algorithm for electronically steerable array radiator
antennas,” IET Sci. Meas. Tech., Vol. 3, no. 4, pp. 302–11,
Jul. 2009.
21. A. Baroni, P. Nepa, and H. Rogier, “Wearable self-tuning
antenna for emergency rescue operations,” IET Micr. Ant.
Prop., Vol. 10, no. 2, pp. 173–83, Jan. 2016.
22. A. Lizzi, R. Azaro, G. Oliveri, and A. Massa, “Multiband
fractal antenna for wireless communication systems for
emergency management,” J. Elect. Wav. App., Vol. 26,
no. 1, pp. 1–11, Apr. 2012.
23. S. Kakkar, T. S. Kamal, and A. P. Singh, “Small patch
antenna with DGS for emergency management,” MATEC
Web. Conf. J., Vol. 57, no. 1, pp. 1–3, May 2016.
24. S. Kakkar and S. Rani, “A novel antenna design with DGS
for emergency management,” Int. J. App. Elect. Mech.,
Vol. 42, no. 4, pp. 629–37, Jun. 2013.
25. C. A. Balanis, Antenna Theory. Singapore: JohnWiley &
Sons Inc., 1997.
administration. He has a special flair for research activities and
has guided 19 research scholars for PhD degree. Moreover, his
around 300 international/national publications are a rare
achievement in itself. Recently, he has been bestowed with the
recognition of international prof. by the Govt. of Australia.
His contribution towards engineering as the vice president of
the Institute of Engineering-India is widely acclaimed.
E-mail: tsk1005@gmail.com
Dr. A. P. Singh 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 of ECE as well as part-time
chief vigilance officer (appointed by the
Govt. of India) at SLIET, Longowal. Dr
Singh is credited with a professional experience of more than
24 years. He has guided seven PhD theses and six more stu-
dents are pursuing their PhD degrees under his supervision.
He has published more than 170 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 Antia
Award in 2009, Sir Thomas Ward for the year 2010, and again
KF Antia Award in 2014 by the Institution of Engineers
(India).
E-mail: amarpartapsingh@yahoo.com