Size reduction and bandwidth enhancement of snowflake fractal antenna

A new small-size and wideband fractal antenna in the shape of a snowflake is proposed. Various iterations of this fractal antenna with probe feed and capacitively coupled feed are compared and an optimised design is presented. It is shown that, with an air-filled substrate and capacitive feed, an impedance bandwidth >49% and, with a slot-loading technique, a reduction of about 70% in patch surface size compared with an ordinary wideband Koch fractal antenna are achievable. The simulation via a finite-element programme, and measured results on the return loss and the E and H-plane radiation patterns of the proposed antennas are presented and shown to be in good agreement.