CHAPTER 2

LITERATURE REVIEW

2.1 Introduction

Fractal geometries have been applied in several science and technologies such

as antennas and radiators. The term fractal was coined by French mathematician

Benoit Mandelbrot in 1975 [89] after his rigorous research on various naturally

occurring irregular and fractal structures. The term has its roots in the Latin word

fractus meaning broken, fractional and fragmented. Generally there are no ground

rules that describe what geometric shapes constitute fractal structure. But, there are a

number of geometric properties that are used to define fractals. One of them is the

characteristic of self-similarity, in which small regions of the geometry is the reduced

size copy of the whole geometric shape [12]. The property of self-affinity is another

characteristic, in which small regions of the fractal geometry is not identical to the

whole geometry, but is skewed with different scaling factors [21].

In recent years, the interest in fractals has increased tremendously. The study

of fractal structures is proving to be an exciting field of research. Fractal shapes have

been used to illustrate several aspects of nature. The influence of irregular protein

surfaces on molecular interactions have been investigated with fractals by various

biochemists [5]. Fractal geometries have also been used by various mathematicians to

simulate the effect of shoreline decay on fisheries. The fractal structures are also very

useful for fluid turbulence and bone structure. Climate and other apparently chaotic

systems can be modeled and predicted with fractal methods. Fractal shape has
15
provided the computer graphics artist with an inspiring new palette of exciting

surfaces and shapes.

Though fractal shapes has been studied in mathematics for many years but

fractal antenna engineering is a relatively very recent development [6]. Ever since the

fractal theory has been introduced in electromagnetics, a lot of research work has been

enforced in the application of fractal geometries to electromagnetic problems.

Generally the utilization of fractal geometry in antennas tends to reduce their physical

sizes and generate multiband response in their radiation properties [8]. Since fractal

geometries have a repetitive structure, they can produce long paths in a limited

volume [111]. Fractals possess a class of geometry with exclusive properties that can

be attractive for antenna design engineers. The space-filling property of fractals

makes these structures electrically large that can be packed efficiently into small areas

[48]. Because the electrical lengths play very important role in antenna design, this

efficient packing can be used as a workable miniaturization technique. It has been

found that fractal shapes radiates electromagnetic energy efficiently and possess

several properties that are advantageous over conventional antennas. These are

compact antennas because they can occupy a portion of space more efficiently than

other antenna types. Another desirable property is that they can be used as multi-band

antennas, which can radiate signals at multiple frequency bands. The self-similarity

property of fractal antennas is responsible for their multiband behavior [49]. Other

applications included Fractal miniaturization of passive networks and components,

fractal filters and resonators. This chapter gives a detail review of the theory of fractal

geometries and their application in electromagnetics.

16
2.2 Iterated Function Systems for Fractal Geometries

Various useful fractal structures can be generated by Iterated Function

Systems (IFS). An IFS algorithm can be applied to generate the succession of curves

that converge to the ideal fractal shape. IFS follows a general approach of altering a

geometric object in an exact way, leaving various smaller objects each of this is

similar to the original, and then replicating the procedure on each of those smaller

objects to create even smaller parts [18]. An IFS works by applying a series of affine

transformations to an elementary shape. The self-affine transformation w(x, y)

comprising of scaling, rotation and translation, is given by [158]:

a b x e
w( x, y ) Ax t (2.1)
c d y f

Matrix A can be written as:

r cos r sin
A (2.2)
r sin r cos

where a, b, c, d, e, and f are real numbers. The real numbers a, b, c, and d control rotation

and scaling r, whereas e and f control linear translation. The new geometry is produced by

applying the set of transformations to the original geometry, A and it is represented by:

N
W( A ) wn ( A ) w1( A ) w2 ( A ) w3( A ) wN ( A ) (2.3)
1

where W is called as the Hutchinson operator. Then the fractal geometry can be generated by

applying operator W to the previous geometry for m iterations. Thus,

A1 = W(A0), A2 = W(A1), , Ak+1 = W(Am) (2.4)

17
2.3 Applications of Fractals in Antenna Design

The antenna design engineers explore the useful properties of fractal

geometries since 1996. During last decade, many fractal structures have been

proposed for designing dual frequency, multi frequency and wideband antennas. The

actual advantages of using fractals geometries in antennas are widely debated as yet.

It remains a fact that ordered nature of fractals can be explore in the design and

modeling of various such antennas [60]. Some of the common fractal structures that

have been found to be useful in developing novel and innovative designs for antennas

are detailed below:

2.3.1 Sierpinski Carpet Fractal Geometry

Sierpinski carpet fractal geometry is very well known fractal structure.

Sierpinski carpet have been investigated for monopole, dipole and microstrip patch

antenna configurations extensively.

2.3.1.1 IFS for Sierpinski Carpet

The Sierpinski Carpet fractal geometry is a well-known fractal shape, which

consists of repeated application of a series of IFS affine transformations as given from

Equation 2.5 to Equation 2.12. Figure 2.1 shows the first three iterations of the

Sierpinski carpet fractal geometry. To form the first iteration, original unit square

initiator is scaled by 1/3 in both of x and y directions to make w1 affine transformation

and then necessary translations are implemented in both directions to arrange the eight

squares with eight self-affine transformations in the first iteration of carpet [161]. This

procedure is repeated to generate carpets of different iterations.

18
 Initiator Iteration 1 Iteration 2 Iteration 3

Figure 2.1 First three iterations of Sierpinski carpet fractal obtained after a set of
affine transformations [161]

1
0
3 x 0 (2.5)
w1
1 y 0
0
3

1
0 0 (2.6)
3 x
w2 1
1 y
0 3
3

1
0 0 (2.7)
3 x
w3 2
1 y
0 3
3
1 1
0
3 x 3 (2.8)
w4
1 y 2
0
3 3

1 2
0
3 x 3 (2.9)
w5
1 y 2
0
3 3

1
0 0
4 x (2.10)
w6 2
1 y
0 4
4
1
0 2
3 x
w7 3 (2.11)
1 y
0 0
3
19
 1
0 1
3 x
w8 3 (2.12)
1 y
0 0
3

2.3.1.2 Fractal Dimension of Sierpinski Carpet

The fractal geometry is mathematically defined by the characteristic of fractal

dimension [141]. Fractal dimension is an important characteristic of fractal structure.

The similarity dimension can be interpreted as a measure of the space filling

properties and complexity of the fractal shape [7]. There are eight similar copies of

the original structure scaled down by a fraction of three, so the fractal dimension D of

the carpet is [157]:

log( n ) log( 8 ) (2.13)

D 1.892
log( 1 / r ) log( 3 )

2.3.1.3 Sierpinski Carpet Fractal Geometry for Antenna Applications

Sierpinski carpet fractal structure has been used for several antenna

applications. A Sierpinski carpet monopole was analyzed [142] to achieve wide

bandwidth with better impedance matching. Planar and printed antenna versions of

this structure had studied for multiband operation and bandwidth widening [54],

[165]. Some of the antennas in this category are shown in Figure 2.2. Chen and Wang

in 2008 described an edge-fed Sierpinski carpet microstrip antennas of dierent

iteration orders with 1/3 iteration factor that is designed for same frequency, the size

of the patch has been reduced to about 33.9% of its conventional counterpart without

decreasing the antenna performances, such as the radiation patterns and return loss

[32]. The significance of this size reduction technique is loading capacitive elements

20
inside the patch, and to achieve a more reduction in antenna size. This size reduction

technique can be used simultaneously with other antenna miniaturization techniques.

(a) (b)

(c)

Figure 2.2 Sierpinski carpet fractal geometries in antenna applications (a) Carpet
monopole [142] (b) Carpet microstrip patch [54] (c) Sierpinski carpet microstrip patch
[32]

2.3.2 Koch Fractal

The Koch fractal curve is other very well-known fractal geometry. The Koch

fractal is used as space filling structure that can include more electrical length inside a

fixed physical space.

2.3.2.1 IFS for Koch Fractal Geometry

Koch fractal comprises of repeated application of series of affine

transformations to a linear initiator. First four iterations of the Koch curve fractal are

shown in Figure 2.3. The formation of the first iteration, the first affine transform, w1

scales a unit straight line initiator to one third of its actual length [7]. The second

affine transform, w2 scales to one-third and rotates by 60, the third affine transform,

21
w3 is similar to w2 but rotates by -60. Finally, the fourth affine transform, w4 is

simply another scaling to one-third and a translation. After generating the four affine

transformations for Koch fractal curve, Iteration 1 Koch curve is obtained by using

Equation 2.3 and 2.4 [157], [8]. All four self-affine transformations with scale,

rotation and translation matrix are given from Equation 2.14 to Equation 2.17. Infinite

iterations of Koch structures can be produced using Equations 2.3 and 2.4.

Initiator Iteration 1 Iteration 2 Iteration 3 Iteration 4

1 Figure 2.3 The first four iterations of standard Koch curve obtained after a set of
affine transformations [157]

1
0
3 x
w1 (2.14)
1 y
0
3

1 1
cos 600 sin 600 1
3 3
w2 3 (2.15)
1 1
sin 600 cos 600 0
3 3

22
 1 1 1
cos 600 sin 600
3 3 3
w3 (2.16)
1 1 3
sin 600 cos 600
3 3 2

1
0
3 0
w4 (2.17)
1 2 0
3 3

2.3.2.2 Fractal Dimension of Koch Fractal

There are four copies of the original geometry scaled down by a fraction of

three, so the fractal dimension D for Koch fractal is [158]:

log 4
D 1.26 (2.18)
1
log
3

An important characteristic of the Koch fractal is that the unfolded length of the Koch

curve reaches infinity as the number of iterations approach infinity. However, the area

of the Koch curve remains constant. Therefore this property can be used to minimize

the space used by a simple monopole or dipole antenna [7].

2.3.2.3 Applications of Koch Fractal in Antenna Design

The prominent Koch curve structure has been used in monopole [17], [21],

[23], [25], [120], [175] and dipole [47], [53], [149], [159] configuration. This

structure uses the space filling property of fractal that encloses a long infinite curve in

a finite area. This property has been utilized to realize miniaturized and small

antennas.

The monopole configuration of the Koch curve structure has been studied

broadly as multiband antenna. Development of the structure by changing the

indentation angle has been studied in [158], where a curve-fit expression was

23
developed for the performance and analysis of the antenna at its primary resonance.

Modification of Koch monopole fractal antenna has been detailed and analyzed in

literature [36]. Planar and loop versions of Koch [26], [129], [153] have been used for

mobile terminals and wireless devices due to their small size and space. The

resonance of monopole antennas using Koch fractal geometry has been reported by

Puente et al. in [118]. They have also observed the shift in resonant frequency by

increasing the fractal iteration order. The detailed studies indicated that this reduction

in resonant frequency does not follow the same pace as the increase in length with

each subsequent iteration order. As the fractal iteration is increased the feature length

gets smaller. There must be a limit in the minimum feature length that affects antenna

property [22]. Fractal shaped dipole antennas with Koch curves are generally fed at

the center of the structure. The length of the curve increases by increasing the fractal

iteration which is responsible to reduce the resonant frequency of the antenna [57].

Figure 2.4 shows some of the Koch curve fractal antenna configurations. The

design and analysis of these fractal antennas has been done with the numerical

electromagnetic simulators based on method of moments, finite difference time

domain method etc. Lui et al. in 2007 explained a dual-band bi-directional

reconfigurable antenna based on Koch patch shown in Figure 2.4 (d) [86]. The

authors illustrated that by controlling the switches in the slots etched on the Koch

shaped patch, different far field bi-directional radiation patterns at the dual-band

around 60 GHz/80 GHz could be achieved and azimuthal coverage at this dual-band

is feasible by electronically controlling the switches in the slots of the patch. The

Koch fractal microstrip patches are commonly used due to their attractive properties

such as: small size, a single feeding port is enough and their higher order modes result

in directive radiation patterns.

24
 (a) (b) (c)

(d) (e)

Figure 2.4 Koch fractal geometries in antenna applications (a) Koch monopole [157];
(b) Rectangular monopole [23]; (c) Koch fractal loop [161]; (d) Koch
snowflakes/islands [86]; and (e) Koch microstrip patch [51].

2.3.3 Sierpinski Gasket Fractal

The Sierpinski gasket is the most widely studied fractal structure for antenna

applications. Sierpinski gaskets have been investigated for monopole and dipole

antenna configurations extensively. The self-similar current distribution on these

antennas is expected to be responsible for its multi-band characteristics.

2.3.3.1 IFS for Sierpinski Gasket

The Sierpinski gasket fractal structure can be generated by the IFS method

[117]. As shown in Figure 2.5, a unit equilateral triangular elementary shape initiator

is iteratively scaled by 0.5 in both x and y directions and no translation is given to

form the first self-affine transformation w1, this first scaled copy is translated by 0.5 in

x direction only, to form the second affine transformation w2, and the first scaled copy

25
is translated by 0.25 and 0.433 in x and y direction respectively to form the third

affine transformation w3. After generating the three affine transformations for gasket

fractal, Iteration 1 is obtained using Equation 2.3 and 2.4 [157]. All three affine

transformations with scale and translation matrix are given from Equation 2.19 to

Equation 2.21. The infinite iterations of gasket fractal geometry can be produced

using Equations 2.3 and 2.4 [46]. It is worth noting that after infinite iterations of the

fractal shape, the entire structure has an infinite area but is bounded by a finite

perimeter. It is easy to understand from this definition that the Sierpinski gasket is an

example of self-similar fractal geometry. In Figure 2.5 first two iterations of

Sierpinski gasket is shown, black regions represent metallic conducting part, whereas

the white triangular regions represent areas from where metal has been removed [95].

x' 0. 5 0 x
w1 (2.19)
y' 0 0. 5 y

x' 0.5 0 x 0.5

w2 (2.20)
y' 0 0.5 y 0

x' 0.5 0 x 0.25

w3 (2.21)
y' 0 0.5 y .433

Initiator Iteration 1 Iteration 2

Figure 2.5 First two iterations of Sierpinski Gasket fractal obtained after a set of
affine transformations [161].

26
2.3.3.2 Fractal Dimension of Sierpinski Gasket

There are three copies of the original structure scaled down by a fraction of 2,

so the fractal similarity dimension D for Sierpinski gasket is [161]:

log 3
D 1.58 (2.22)
1
log
2

2.3.3.3 Antenna Applications of Sierpinski Gasket Fractal Geometry

This known structure of Sierpinski gasket has been applied in many

configurations for antenna applications like monopole, dipole, microstrip patch

antenna, and reconfigurable antennas. These antennas possess multi-band

characteristics and self-similar radiation properties because of their fractal behavior

[7]. The classical geometry of Sierpinski gasket monopole has a scaling of r = 0.5 and

its electrical properties translate into a log periodic allocation of frequency bands

where each of these multiple bands has a common nature. It has also been illustrated

that the location of the multiple bands can be controlled by precise adjustment of the

scale factor, used to produce the Sierpinski antenna [116]. The multiband nature of

the antennas and their patterns for scale factors other than 0.5 were observed [24, 130,

141]. Various approximate formulas, for classical and perturbed Sierpinski gaskets

were reported to locate the operational resonant frequencies [95], [139], [157]. The

method developed in another study [140] is applicable for perturbed structures, but

this provides a compromised value for the first band. Some common antenna

configurations of Sierpinski gasket are shown in Figure 2.6. Several EM simulators

based on finite difference time domain method, method of moments, finite element

method etc. has been used for design and analysis of these fractal antennas.

Various antenna configurations have been discussed in the literature using

gasket structure [116], [140]. These configurations consist of patch, monopole, dipole

27
and their several variants [3], [119], [130]. In monopole and dipole configurations, the

characteristics of the antenna have been qualitatively related to geometrical features

of the underlying fractal structures. Such a close relationship is hard to achieve by the

patch configuration, although this being conformal, has several aesthetic advantages

from applications point of view [178]. In the Sierpinski gasket monopole antenna, the

fractal shape is printed on an ungrounded dielectric substrate. This is placed

perpendicular to a ground plane. Generally low dielectric constant substrates like,

Duroid and FR4 are used as the dielectric material, whereas aluminum sheet is

preferred for the ground plane [7].

For dipole configuration, two Sierpinski gaskets are printed on the ungrounded

dielectric substrate so as to face each other at their apex. In this case, the feed is

divided between the two geometries. There is no ground plane present, making the

antenna of low profile. It may be observed that the antenna configuration is very

similar to a printed bow-tie antenna [48, 49]. In the patch configuration, the Sierpinski

gasket geometry is placed parallel to the ground plane, as done in the case of

microstrip patch antennas [104, 155]. A multilayered configuration is used to obtain

good input impedance characteristics often. This is also achieved by spacing the

substrate with an air gap, above the ground plane. A probe feed is convenient if only

one gasket is used. However if two are present either a probe feed, or a microstrip in-

line feed with a balun can be used.

The fractal antennas using Sierpinski gasket have been configured to generate

multiple frequency bands. These antennas resonate at frequencies in a near

logarithmic interval. The individual bands at these resonant frequencies are generally

small. However the relative positions of these antennas can be controlled by

perturbing the fractal geometry of these antennas [95].

28
 (a) (b)

(c) (d)

(e)

Figure 2.6 Some common gasket fractal geometries in antenna applications. (a)
Sierpinski monopole [116], [140], [154], [157]; (b) Sierpinski dipole [48], [49]; (c)
Sierpinski Yagi [116]; (d) Sierpinski patch [104], [155]; (e) Reconfigurable antenna
with bias lines and RF feed line [4]

29
The IFS parameters of the three standard fractal structures detailed above is given in

Table 2.1 that include the scaling, rotation and number of self-similar copies in the

fractal geometries.

Table 2.1 IFS parameters of standard fractal geometries

Fractal Rotation
Scaling Number of self-similar copies
geometries angle 0
Sierpinski
00 3
gasket
Koch 1/3 600 4
Sierpinski
1/3 00 8
carpet

2.3.4 Fractal Tree

As one class of fractal geometries, the fractal tree has already been explored in

antenna designs to achieve miniaturization or to produce multi-band characteristics.

Fractal trees offer a significant variation due to their branching nature and are

expected to introduce some difference in antenna performance. The fractal tree

includes several families such as the binary, three dimensional, ternary, etc. [2], [114].

As illustrated in Figure 2.7, the structure of a canonical binary fractal tree can be

defined by the following parameters: a length of the trunk, branch angle 2 or branch

half angle , scale ratio that is the length ratio between a child branch and its parent

branch as well as between a first level branch and the trunk; the number of iterations

N [168]. The method used for the generation of trees is somewhat different from that

of the conventional fractal shape designs. One starts with a stem and allows one of

its ends to branch off in two directions. In the next stage of the current iteration, each

of these branches is allowed to branch out again, and this process can be continued

infinite times.

30
 Figure 2.7 First three iterations of a binary fractal tree

There are ways to improve antenna miniaturization techniques that employ fractal tree

geometries as end loads by increasing the density of branches [115]. Several

miniaturization schemes for fractal tree antennas are introduced, which are based on

various combinations of different branch lengths or angles. The addition of a center

stub is also considered as a means for improving existing designs for miniature fractal

tree antennas [61], [62], [82].

2.3.4.1 IFS for Fractal Tree

The generation algorithm of this geometry is conveniently expressed in terms

of iterated function system. It is possible to vary the scale factor between the length of

the trunk and branches [157]. The transformation required to obtain the branches of

the geometry in such case may be expressed as follows:

y r cos r sin y' 0

w1
z r sin r cos z' 1
(2.23)

y r cos r sin y' 0

w2 (2.24)
z r sin r cos z' 1

31
2.3.5 Other Fractal Geometries

Besides the fractal shapes described above, several other structures have also

been used for antenna applications. Some of these fractal geometries are listed in

Table 2.2.

Table 2.2 Other fractal structures used for antenna applications

Name of Fractal Structures Applications

Fractal
Pythagoras This paper presented the design of a
tree fractal fractal patch antenna which uses a
antenna unique geometry called Pythagoras
tree with co-planar wave guide
feeding. The antenna has been
designed for dual band operation at the
WLAN/WiMAX (2.4 GHz) and
WiMAX (3.5 GHz) for ultra-wide
bandwidth applications [2].

Sierpinski A fractal folded-slot antenna using

fractal Sierpinski curves has been used to
folded-slot achieve a small size antenna at the
antenna desired frequency [58]. The presented
antenna obtain a return loss of -37.5
dB at the resonant frequency of 9.4
GHz. The geometry of the antenna is
generated by L-system and the
performance of first two iterations has
been discussed in detail.

Printed The antenna geometry is based on

Fractal perturbed planar Sierpinski fractal
Monopole shape which is suitable for long term
evolution (LTE) standard. The
geometry of the antenna has been
optimized using PSO. The optimized
antenna exhibits a good impedance
matching within LTE bands [84].

32
 Hybrid This paper described that, increase of
fractal current path length of classical
cross traveling-wave antennas degrades the
performance of the antenna, especially
the radiation pattern and cross-
polarization characteristics. This
fractal structure of the cross antenna
has been proposed to remove this
problem [29].

Inscribed This UWB fractal with co-planar

triangle waveguide feed has been applied for,
circular military and commercial wideband
fractal applications [77]. The miniaturization
Antenna achieved in the structure is due to
inscribed circular fractal geometry.
The measured results are in good
agreement of simulated results and
presented antenna possess good
impedance matching over the band.

Fractal The application of meander fractal in

split ring complementary split ring resonator
resonator results in significant miniaturization of
the metamaterial unit cell in
comparison with conventional and
equivalent meander geometry [135].

Square This paper presented an antenna design

fractal that was suitable for wireless devices
antenna used in telemedicine. To achieve this
objective, a simpler, lighter, smaller
sized fractal antenna was proposed.
The antenna was designed on FR4
substrate and was co-planar waveguide
fed [146].

33
Quasi- In this paper, a dipole antenna based
fractal on the quasi-fractal binary tree was
binary tree proposed. To achieve broadband
characteristics, the proposed antenna
was optimized in an auto- mated
design, making use of the Genetic
Algorithm (GA) in conjunction with
NEC [168].

Modified The presented appollian fractal

appollian antenna exhibits an ultra-wide
gasket bandwidth beyond FCC band. The
fractal radiation patterns of this antenna are
antenna nearly omni-directional in H-plane and
bidirectional in E-plane in the entire
frequency range of interest. The
backscattering of this antenna reveals
that antenna has a good potential for
military high data rate wireless
communications [75].
Sierpinski It has been shown that the self-
fractal similarity of the Sierpinski tripole
tripole translates into a multi-band behavior of
element a FSS made by arraying a two-iteration
Sierpinski tripole. A parametric study
shown that proposed antenna offers
sufficient degrees of freedom making
it possible to modify the shape in order
to tune the FSS response [56], [96].

Combining A technique to reduce the size of

Koch and microstrip patch antennas is proposed
Sierpinski in this paper. By etching the patch
fractal edges according to Koch curves as
shapes inductive loading, and inserting the
Sierpinski carpets into the patch as slot
loading. The patches derived from this
technique can find applications in
integrated low-profile wireless
communication systems [33].

34
Hexagonal The hexagonal fractal antenna is
fractal observed to possess multiband
multiband behavior similar to the Sierpinski
antenna gasket antenna. This fractal antenna
allows flexibility in matching
multiband operations in which a larger
frequency separation is required [150].

Perturbed This paper described the multiband

Sierpinski behavior of a series of perturbed
multiband fractal Sierpinski gasket antennas.
antenna Sierpinski gaskets, with periodic ratios
of 0.5, 0.65, and 0.75 were fabricated
and tested. Various methods were
presented that improve the inherently
poor input impedance match of the
antenna with a 50 ohm port [139].

2.4 Biologically Inspired Computational Techniques for

Fractal Antenna Geometry

In addition to the use of analytical/numerical methods, biologically inspired

computational techniques have also been used for the design and analysis of fractal

geometries. Although the reported applications of these techniques to fractal

antennas are limited in number, their versatility makes them very attractive and

needs further investigations.

A specially formulated GA has been used to design the optimal layouts of polyfractal

arrays, a subset of fractal random arrays [112], [113]. The actual advantage of

applying GA was the drastically reduced time to effectively design large array

configurations [39], [103]. Several design examples of genetically optimized linear

35
polyfractal arrays with wide bandwidths, improved side lobe suppression and narrow

beam widths have been reported. In [164] GA has also been used in conjunction with

IFS to develop a powerful design optimization tool for Koch curve structure. The

developed optimization tool simultaneously optimizes the location of the loads,

component values of loads, and projected length of the fractal antenna, in addition to

the optimization of fractal antenna geometry, for the geometry to resonate at required

frequencies. Simulation and experimental results of a miniaturized ISM band fractal

antenna optimized using PSO have been reported in [14]. The PSO was used to

simultaneously optimize the fractal shape and the input impedance of the antenna. A

dipole antenna based on the quasi fractal binary tree has been discussed [168] to

achieve broadband characteristic. The proposed antenna is optimized in an automated

design, making use of the Genetic Algorithm (GA) in conjunction with NEC

(Numerical Electromagnetic Codes) and cluster parallel computation. A neural

network trained with the help of GA has been used to generate the driving point

impedance of fractal dipole antennas. The neural network was used to correlate the

IFS parameters with the driving point impedances. The advantage of developing such

IFS-GA-NN approach is that it is more computationally efficient than a direct MoM

technique [93], [94], [99]. A design of multi-slot microstrip patch antenna on a

substrate of 2 mm thickness using ANN and BFO is presented [76]. The calculation of

resonant frequency using these methods was an interesting part of this study, which

reflects the simplicity and accuracy of these techniques [176]. The variations in slot

parameters show their impact on antenna output parameters which were verified using

IE3D simulator. Another study reported in [134] present Bacterial Foraging

Algorithm (BFA) for the design of uniform linear antenna arrays for null steering by

controlling only the element amplitudes. The optimization method is applied to obtain

36
the excitation coefficients for a 10 element linear array at 30dB side lobe level. From

simulation results, it was found that the BFA is capable of steering the array nulls

precisely to the undesired interference directions. An optimization technique for

microstrip patch antenna using PSO with curve fitting is introduced in [59]. An

inverted E-shaped microstrip patch antenna designed for IMT-2000 band was utilized

to demonstrate the optimization technique. The data for curve fitting was obtained

from IE3D software by varying different geometrical parameters of the antenna.

Comparison between conventional antenna and curve fitting based PSO optimized

antenna showed remarkable improvement over bandwidth.

2.5 Fractal Antennas for Telemedicine

The application of microwave technology in the field of biomedical

engineering is increasing day by day. Telemedicine can be defined as the sharing of

medical knowledge and delivery of health care over a distance, using

telecommunication means. The motive behind it is to provide expert-based medical

care to any place where health care is needed. It is an effective solution for providing

specialty health care in the form of improved access and reduced cost to the rural

patients and the reduced professional isolation of the rural doctors. The telemedicine

technology can enable ordinary doctors to accomplish extra-ordinary work [107]. The

self affine fractal antenna designed to operate at MICS band (Medical Implant

Communication Service) for wireless telemedicine application has been studied in

[144], [145]. The proposed antennas can be incorporated in any wireless telemedicine

boards or through handheld devices for monitoring the physiological parameters and

to effectively transmit the collected data. Design and realization of small implantable

antenna for biotelemetry applications has been presented [1] and it is well matched

within the medical implanted communications system band and adequate gain is

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achieved. The miniaturization design of the spiral antenna for wireless capsule

endoscope system has been presented in [177]. Techniques for miniaturization of

antenna mainly comprise a double layer patch, ground plane, lossless high dielectric

substrate shorting pin or wall, and the spiral geometries. Another Study available [10],

[37], [69] described the use of radio-frequency (RF) communication and identification

for biotelemetry applications where the system consists of a transmitter and a receiver

with a transmission link in between. The transmitted data can either be a bio potential

or a nonelectric value like respiration, arterial pressure, body temperature etc. In [31]

Chen and Luo developed a low-profile multi-band mobile antenna for telemedicine

applications. A monopole feeding of the gap associated with coupling energy and

impedance matching to resonate at frequency of about 2000 MHz at UMTS band. By

the coupling of the gap, the parasitic metal arm is designed to resonate at the

frequency of about 2500 MHZ. In [91] Merli et al. investigates the versatility and

tunability of an electrically small implantable antenna for telemedicine. The radiator

shows dual band capability working in both the Medical Device Radio

communication Service (MedRadio, 401-406 MHz) and the Industrial, Scientific and

Medical (ISM, 2.4-2.5 GHz) bands while inserted in a homogenous body phantom.

2.6 Conclusion

A rigorous review of fractal antennas was carried out in this chapter with

special emphasis to the three fractal structures viz. Koch curve, Sierpinski carpet and

fractal tree that have been used in presented work. It has been revealed that various

fractal pattern can be used for the design of antenna to improve various antenna

characteristics that include size reduction, increased gain, power pattern and wideband

or multiband. The iterated function system, a method of producing fractal geometries,

was illustrated in detail. Various new applications of these fractal geometries as

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antennas were studied. Some of the applications that use biologically inspired

optimization techniques were also discussed. Some efforts have also been made to

discuss the utility of fractal antenna designs for telemedicine applications.

The literature survey describe that, many fractal geometries have been analyzed till

date and used for various electromagnetic applications, but as far as their design

procedure is concerned, very few approaches have been made. Aim of this research

work is to find out a technique of designing user defined fractal antennas that is user-

friendly and at the same time cost-effective covering various wireless and

telemedicine applications. However, the validity of the developed formulation has

been tested only for three different fractal structures but it can be easily explored to

other structures also. Before moving towards the actual implementation of the

proposed approach, next chapter illustrates the capabilities and necessities of two

different biologically inspired optimization techniques in antenna systems.

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