A novel compact stair-shaped multiband fractal antenna for wireless communication systems

The growing demand for enhanced capacities, broadband services, and high transmission speeds to accommodate speech, image, multimedia, and data communication simultaneously puts a requirement for antenna to operate in multiple frequency bands. A novel compact fractal antenna based on self-similar stair-shaped fractal geometry is proposed in this paper. The fractal antenna is designed by modifying the patch antenna through the iterative process using stair-shaped fractal geometry. The third iteration results in a tri-band response, and the antenna resonate at 3.65, 4.825, and 6.325 GHz with impedance bandwidths of 75.6, 121.2, and 211.4 MHz, respectively. The antenna is designed in CST Microwave studio, and evaluated for operating bands and radiation characteristics. Prototype for the third iteration of the fractal antenna is fabricated on FR-4 substrate which is further tested for measured operating bands and radiation characteristics. The simulated and measured results show good agreement.