Fractal Antenna Elements and Arrays

With the advance of wireless communication systems and increasing importance of other wireless applications, wideband and low profile antennas are in great demand for both commercial and military applications. Multi-band and wideband antennas are desirable in personal communication systems, small satellite communication terminals, and other wireless applications. Wideband antennas also find applications in Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAVs), Counter Camouflage, Concealment and Deception (CC&D), Synthetic Aperture Radar (SAR), and Ground Moving Target Indicators (GMTI). Some of these applications also require that an antenna be embedded into the airframe structure Traditionally, a wideband antenna in the low frequency wireless bands can only be achieved with heavily loaded wire antennas, which usually means different antennas are needed for different frequency bands. Recent progress in the study of fractal antennas suggests some attractive solutions for using a single small antenna operating in several frequency bands. The purpose of this article is to introduce the concept of the fractal, review the progress in fractal antenna study and implementation, compare different types of fractal antenna elements and arrays and discuss the challenge and future of this new type of antenna.