Novel shorted Minkowski-based wideband fractal monopole

A novel fractal-based monopole element has been investigated and is described. It is formed by a modified Minkowski fractal design. It is shown that by adding short circuits between the gaps of adjacent patches on the etched metallisation, the antenna configuration performs close to the stacked Sierpinski carpet on a similar ground plane. Similar input return loss is obtained over the same bandwidth, and acceptable patterns are seen over a 3 to 1 frequency range. The significance of this result is that this new shorted Minkowski-based fractal, being only on a single etched layer, will be much easier to manufacture than the conventional stacked versions.