Dual-band circularly-polarised Spidron fractal patch.

Note that α is the angle of the first right-angled triangle,

fractal microstrip patch antenna for Ku-band
satellite communication applications
T. Nguyen Thi, K.C. Hwang and H.B. Kim
A dual-band circularly-polarised antenna implemented on a single sub-
strate is proposed for Ku-band satellite communication. A microstrip-
fed Spidron fractal patch is utilised to achieve dual-band resonance and
circular polarisation. The proposed antenna, with dimensions of 50 ×
50 × 1.52 mm3, has also been fabricated and tested. The measured
−10 dB reflection bandwidths are 8.7% (11.44–12.48 GHz) and
6.6% (13.47–14.39 GHz), exhibiting a small resonant frequency ratio
of 1.15. The 3 dB axial ratio bandwidths for the lower band and the
upper band are 2.96 and 1.68%, respectively.
while p the is length of the side adjacent to angle α. The constructed
Spidron fractal patch is printed on an upper side of a RF-35 substrate
with a permittivity constant of εr = 3.5 and a thickness of h = 1.52
mm. A 50 Ω microstrip line ( fw × fh) is vertically connected to the
side adjacent to angle α. A square ground plane with dimensions of
gw × gw is located on the bottom side of the substrate. As mentioned
earlier, α and p are critically engaged in the generation of the Spidron
fractal patch. Therefore, we performed the iterative simulations for
various values of α and p to determine the optimised antenna geometry,
which produces a dual-band circularly-polarised characteristic. The
finally derived optimum parameters are as follows: α = 40.43°, p = 15
mm, fw = 3 mm, fh = 17 mm, fs = 18 mm, and gw = 50 mm.
0

Introduction: With the rapid development of printed circuit board

reflection coefficient, dB
(PCB) technology, planar microstrip antennas have been intensively –10
investigated owing to their low profile, conformability to a shaped
surface, and compatibility with other integrated circuitry. In particular,
multiband circularly-polarised microstrip antennas become more attrac- –20

tive in various communication applications given that circular polaris-

ation keeps the signal constant regardless of any polarisation –30
mismatch, thereby enhancing the capability of the system. Therefore, measurement
various antenna configurations have been studied to implement dual- simulation
band circularly-polarised antennas. Single-layered designs with a –40
11 12 13 14 15
coaxial probe feeder have been proposed which utilise dual annular-ring
frequency, GHz
patches [1] and two pairs of arc-shaped slots [2]. Another dual-band cir-
cularly-polarised slot antenna with an L-shaped strip feeder was reported
Fig. 2 Simulated and measured reflection coefficients against frequency
in [3], but it produces a relatively large frequency ratio that exceeds 2:1.
Circularly-polarised, stacked patch antennas incorporating a Wilkinson
power divider [4] and a 3 dB hybrid coupler [5] were also proposed
Table 1: Comparison of frequency ratio among proposed antenna
for dual-band GPS applications. Although the stacked patch techniques
and other studies
are useful for implementing the dual-band resonance, this type of Frequency ratio
fL fH Frequency ratio
stacked configuration can increase the manufacturing cost significantly. Published literature
(MHz) (MHz) (fH/fL)
comparison
In this Letter, a dual-band circularly polarised microstrip antenna is (proposed/literature)
proposed which utilises a Spidron fractal patch. The proposed antenna [1] Bao and Ammann 1224 1480 1.21 95.0%
has only one radiating patch which is fed by a conventional microstrip [2] Hsieh et al. 1561 2335 1.50 76.7%
line with the characteristic impedance of 50 Ω. Therefore, the proposed [3] Tseng and Han 2390 5245 2.19 52.5%
antenna is simple and inexpensive to fabricate. The design of the [4] Pozar and Duffy 1227 1575 1.28 89.8%
antenna was performed using Microwave Studio (MWS) by CST. [5] Sun et al. 1227 1590 1.30 88.5%
Details of the proposed antenna design and measurement results are pre- [6] Cai et al. 2075 2735 1.32 87.1%
sented and discussed in the following Sections.
10 9
gw measurement
8
nine-iterated simulation
Spidron fractal patch 6
z
4
y x 6 axial ratio, dB
2
gain, dBi

gw
α 0
fs p
x fh –2
φ 3
fw –4
y
z
–6
SMA
connector –8
h Taconic RF-35 –10 0
11 12 13 14 15
ground plane
frequency, GHz
a b

Fig. 1 Geometry of proposed Spidron fractal patch antenna
a Top view and side view
b Photograph of fabricated antenna
Antenna design: In an earlier study by one of the present authors [7], a
novel broadband circularly-polarised Spidron fractal slot was proposed.
The Spidron fractal is a plane figure that includes a series of contiguous
right-angled triangles with an identical angular factor (α). A detailed
geometrical sketch of the Spidron fractal patch with the dimensions of
interest is shown in Fig. 1. Within the Figure, the hypotenuse of the
larger right-angled triangle coincides with one base of a smaller, down-
scaled triangle. The down-scaling factor (δ) is defined as
d = 1/(2 cos a)
As shown in Fig. 1, the right-angled triangle was generated nine times in
the direction of increasingly smaller triangles to construct the Spidron
Fig. 3 Simulated and measured axial ratios and RHCP gains of antenna
Measured results: Fig. 2 shows the simulated and measured reflection
coefficients of the proposed antenna with optimised parameters. The
measured result is compared to the simulated result and good agreement
is observed. The measured lower and higher operating bandwidths with
reflection coefficients of less than −10 dB are 8.7% (11.44–12.48 GHz)
and 6.6% (13.47–14.39 GHz), respectively. Table 1 shows a comparison
of the proposed antenna and those presented in earlier works [1–6] in
terms of the operating frequency ratio. A reduction in the frequency
ratio is achieved with the proposed antenna. In addition, it is important
to note that this resonant performance of the antenna covers the satellite
communication band (band R2). Fig. 3 depicts the simulated and
(1) measured axial ratios in the broadside direction (θ = 0°). It was observed
that the axial ratio bandwidths of 3 dB are approximately 360 MHz
(11.98–12.34 GHz) for the lower band and 230 MHz (13.61–13.84
GHz) for the higher band.

ELECTRONICS LETTERS 28th March 2013 Vol. 49 No. 7

 The measured RHCP gain at the broadside direction is also shown in
Fig. 3. The peak gain of the co-polarisation (RHCP) is 3.73 dBi at the
lower band and 3.83 dBi at the higher band. Fig. 4 illustrates the simu-
lated and measured radiation patterns in the x-z and y-z planes at 12 and
13.8 GHz. The measured levels of cross-polarisation (LHCP) at the
broadside direction are less than 15.6 dB lower than those of the
co-polarisation for both of the measured frequencies. The measured
front-to-back ratio (FBR) is higher than 10.7 dB.
Conclusion: A microstrip-fed Spidron fractal patch antenna with a
single-layered substrate is designed and tested. In spite of the application
of a single Spidron fractal patch, a dual-band circularly-polarised
characteristic was achieved. The measured results also demonstrate
that the fabricated antenna exhibits an operating frequency ratio of
1.15. Therefore, the proposed antenna can be feasibly applied for the
implementation of satellite communication types that require a small fre-
quency ratio of the upper TX band to the lower RX band.

Acknowledgment: This research was supported by the Basic Science

measured RHCP Research Program through the National Research Foundation of
measured LHCP Korea (NRF) funded by the Ministry of Education, Science and
φ = 0° simulated RHCP φ = 90° Technology (2012-0003052)
simulated LHCP
0° 10 [dBi] 0° 10 [dBi]
–30° 30° –30° 30°
© The Institution of Engineering and Technology 2013
–60° 60° –60° 60° 20 August 2012
doi: 10.1049/el.2012.2973
One or more of the Figures in this Letter are available in colour online.
–90° 90°–90° 90°
T. Nguyen Thi, K.C. Hwang and H.B. Kim (Division of Electronics and
Electrical Engineering, Dongguk University-Seoul, Seoul 100-715,
–120° 120° –120° 120° Republic of Korea)
150° 150°
E-mail: kchwang@dongguk.edu
–150° –150°
180° 180°
a b References
φ = 0° φ = 90° 1 Bao, X.L., and Ammann, M.J.: ‘Dual-frequency circularly-polarized
0° 10 [dBi] 0° 10 [dBi] patch antenna with compact size and small frequency ratio’, IEEE
–30° 30° –30° 30°
Trans. Antennas Propag., 2007, 55, (7), pp. 2104–2107
2 Hsieh, G.-B., Chen, M.-H., and Wong, K.-L.: ‘Single-feed dual-band cir-
–60° 60° –60° 60°
cularly polarised microstrip antenna’, Electron. Lett., 1998, 34, (12),
pp. 1170–1171
3 Tseng, L.-Y., and Han, T.-Y.: ‘Circular polarization square-slot antenna
90°–90° 90°
–90°
for dual-band operation’, Microw. Opt. Technol. Lett., 2008, 50, (9), pp.
2307–2309
–120° 120° –120° 120°
4 Pozar, D.M., and Duffy, S.M.: ‘A dual-band circularly polarized
aperture-coupled stacked microstrip antenna for global positioning satel-
150° 150°
lite’, IEEE Trans. Antennas Propag., 1997, 45, (11), pp. 1618–1625
–150° –150°
180° 180°
5 Sun, X., Zhang, Z., and Feng, Z.: ‘Dual-band circularly polarized stacked
c d annular-ring patch antenna for GPS application’, IEEE Antennas Wirel.
Propag. Lett., 2011, 10, pp. 49–52
6 Cai, C.-H., Row, J.-S., and Wong, K.-L.: ‘Dual-frequency microstrip
Fig. 4 Simulated and measured radiation patterns antenna with dual circular polarisation’, Electron. Lett., 2006, 42, (22),
a x-z plane at 12 GHz pp. 1261–1262
b y-z plane at 12 GHz 7 Hwang, K.C.: ‘Broadband circularly-polarised Spidron fractal slot
c x-z plane at 13.8 GHz antenna’, Electron. Lett., 2009, 45, (1), pp. 3–4
d y-z plane at 13.8 GHz

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