Paper-based inkjet-printed ultra-wideband fractal antennas

Abstract

For the first time, paper-based inkjet-printed ultra-wideband (UWB) fractal antennas are presented. Two new designs, a miniaturised UWB monopole, which utilises a fractal matching network and is the smallest reported inkjet-printed UWB printed antenna to date, and a fourth-order Koch Snowflake monopole, which utilises a Sierpinski gasket fractal for ink reduction, are demonstrated. It is shown that fractals prove to be a successful method of reducing fabrication costs in inkjet-printed antennas, while retaining or enhancing printed antenna performance. © 2012 The Institution of Engineering and Technology.