A Compact CPW-Fed Hexagonal Antenna with a

New Fractal Shaped Slot for UWB Communications

Youcef Braham Chaouche1, Farid Bouttout2, Idris Messaoudene3 1, Lionel Pichon4 , Massinissa Belazzoug1 and
Farouk Chetouah5
1
Laboratoire d’Electronique et des Télécommunications Avancées, Université de Bordj Bou Arréridj, Algérie.
2
LGE Laboratory, M’sila, Department of Electronics, University of Bordj Bou Arréridj, Algeria
3
Ecole Nationale Supérieure d'Informatique (ESI ex. INI), BP 68M, Oued Smar, Algiers, Algeria
4
Group of Electrical Engineering-Paris, Centrale Supelec, Université Paris Sud, Université Pierre et Marie Curie, Gif-sur-Yvette
91192, France
5
Laboratoire d’Instrumentation Scientifique, Département d’électronique, Faculté de Technologie, Université Ferhat Abbas,
19000 Sétif, Algérie.
bcyoucef@gmail.com, y.brahamchaouche@univ-bba.dz, f.bouttout@univ-bba.dz, i-messaoudene@esi.dz,
lionel.pichon@supelec.fr, m.belazzoug@univ-bba.dz, labo12bba@yahoo.fr

Abstract— In the present paper, a simple and compact a
coplanar waveguide (CPW)-Fed hexagonal antenna has been
presented. The proposed antenna is composed of a new fractal
shaped slot with a hexagonal patch fed. The total size of the
presented antenna is 14.5×16.5 mm2, which is designed on Rogers
RO4350B substrate and having dielectric constant ԑr=3.66, a
thickness of h=1.524 and loss tangent of 0.004. The impedance
bandwidth, defined by -10 dB reflection coefficient. Hence, the
simulated results get a proper agreement with an impedance
bandwidth of 2.98 GHz to 11.4 GHz. The investigated antenna is
suitable for UWB applications. The design validation of the
fractal antenna has been achieved by using CST Microwave
studio.
Keywords—Coplanar waveguide feedline; Fractal antenna;
Hexagonal patch; Ultra-Wideband; Computer Simulation
Technology (CST).
I. INTRODUCTION
The Ultra Wideband (UWB) communication system has
been highlighted in recent years (particularly since 2002) [1]
and several areas application of this type of communications
systems are currently being considered.
In brief history, the Ultra Wideband had a first definition
given by Taylor. According to him, the UWB refers to
systems that transmit and receive waves with a fractional
bandwidth of 25% or more [2]. Ultra-Wideband signal has
been specified with a bandwidth of -10 dB at any time
exceeding 500 MHz and 20% of his center frequency.
Therefore, these are the most present challenging among the
antenna designers. To address this problem, one of the most
recent methods to increase the bandwidth is via to use the
fractal geometry [2].
The fractal patch antennas are proven to be good appropriate
candidates for UWB systems [3] [4], which is able to
miniaturized size and multiband performance.
To gratify this need. The Federal Communications
Commission (FCC) adopted in Feb 2002 [1] defined the
frequency range intended for the UWB is between 3.1 GHz to
10.6 GHz. The UWB system is usually required for low cost,
high data transmission capacity and low power wireless
communication applications [5][6]. Recently, in the
commercial domain, many techniques are developed to feed
UWB antennas serving as feeding with a microstrip line and
coplanar waveguide (CPW-Fed) [7].
In this paper, a CPW-Fed Hexagonal UWB based on the
fractal slot is investigated. The proposed antenna comprises of
a fractal slots-cut hexagonal patch which is mounted on a
dielectric layer and the hexagonal is fed by a coplanar
waveguide transmission. The simulated reflection coefficient
S11 and the radiation pattern variation are designed by using
time domain analysis(FIT) based on CST microwave studio
simulator [8].
II. DESIGN OF THE ANTENNA
Figure 1 shows, the geometry of the proposed CPW-Fed
Hexagonal antenna for UWB applications. Two iterations
steps have been used to design the fractal antenna. The fractal
geometry of the presented antenna based on the use of three
beneficial forms which are hexagonal, circle and rectangle,
which the slots elements of the second iteration, scale by a
factor equal 0.5. The fractal iteration used on the antenna will
increase the bandwidth.
Fig 1. Steps to realize CPW-Fed UWB Hexagonal antenna with and without
fractal slot elements.

978-1-5090-4372-9/17/$31.00 ©2017 IEEE 836

 The proposed antenna is constructed on Rogers RO4350B
substrate material with a relative permittivity of 3.66, a
thickness of 1.524mm and loss tangent of 0.004, which has
dimensions of 14.5×16.5 mm2 (i.e Wsub × Lsub). The feed used
in this antenna is a coplanar waveguide (CPW) line, with a
Gap distance of 0.65mm and Wf=1.5mm, which is related to
the 50 Ω impedance. Figure 2 shows the final configuration of
the investigated antenna, and the optimized dimensions of the
structure are illustrated in Table 1.
III. RESULTS AND DISCUSSION
The design of the hexagonal fractal slot antenna and two
iterative were studied and simulated by using the commercial
electromagnetic simulator, CST Microwave studio [12]. In this
part, we discuss some illustrative results simulating.
A. Reflection Coefficient S11 and VSWR
Figure 3, shows the S-parameters versus frequency of the
presented CPW-Fed Hexagonal antenna with and without
fractal slot elements. The optimized parameters are listed in
Table 1. From these results, it can be seen that the impedance
bandwidth of the proposed antenna has an excellent Ultra
Wideband, operates from 2.98 GHz to 11.4 GHz (S11 less
than -10 dB), with two resonant frequencies at 4.8 and 9.7
GHz, with their reflection coefficient -17,2 dB and -24,9 dB,
respectively. By contrasting this result with that of the
hexagonal antenna without the fractal slot, it can be observed
that there is a great amelioration. In fact, using fractal
geometry create spaced resonant frequencies that increase the
bandwidth of the hexagonal antenna. The simulated of VSWR
of the UWB antenna for the frequency band 1-12 GHz, are
presented in Figure 4. It can be seen that the impedance
bandwidth (VSWR < 2) of proposed antenna is 10 GHz.
0

Without Fractal Elements

-5 With Fractal Elements
R eflection C oefficients (dB)

-10

-15

-20

-25

-30
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12
Frequency (GHz)
Fig 3. Simulated return loss S11 versus frequency of the presented CPW-Fed
Hexagonal antenna with and without fractal slot elements.

10

Fig 2. Geometry and configuration of the proposed CPW-Fed Hexagonal-cut

Fractal slot antenna. 8

TABLE I. OPTIMISED DIMENSIONS OF THE PROPOSED ANTENNA.

6
VSW R

Parameter Value (mm) Parameter Value (mm)

A 6 Wsub 14.5 4
B1 3.25 Lsub 16.5
B2 5.8 Lf 4.5 2
hg 3.25 Wf 1.5
h1 1 g 0.65 0
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12
R 2 Wg 0.1 Frequency (GHz)
Fig 4. Simulated VSWR characteristics of the investigated fractal antenna.

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B. Radiation pattern and Gain 6

5
The simulated radiation pattern characteristics of the
proposed antenna have been presented in Figure 5 and Figure 4

6. For H and E-planes patterns, at two selected frequencies. It 3

can correspond to omnidirectional in the H-plane and

G a in (dB )
2
bidirectional in the E-plane. Figure 7, shows the simulated 1
peak gain versus frequency. It can be seen, that the maximum
0
gain of the antenna is 3.78 dB at 8.1 GHz.
-1 Simulated Gain
-2

-3

-4
3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12
Frequency (GHz)
Fig 7. Simulated peak gain of the investigated antenna.

C. The surface current distribution

At two frequencies 4.3 and 9.6 GHz, Figure 8 shows the
(a) surface current distributions on the antenna structure and
ground planes. From Figure 8(a), it can be seen that the
surface current is concentrated on the feeding line and the
lower edges side of the central hexagon of the radiator. But in
Figures 8(b), it can be observed that the electric current
distribution, is mostly localized on the feeding line and fractal
slot elements of the radiator.

(b)
Fig 5. Simulated radiation pattern of the proposed antenna at: 4.8 GHz in
(a) H-plane, (b) E-plane.

(a)

(a)

(b) (b)
Fig 6. Simulated radiation pattern of the proposed antenna at: 9.7 GHz in Fig 8. Distribution of surface current on the antenna structure at: (a) 4.8 GHz,
(a) H-plane, (b) E-plane. (b) 9.7 GHz.

838
 [1] Federal Communication Commission, Washington, DC, USA, “First
order and report: Revision of part 15 of the Commission’s rules
Regarding Ultra Wideband transmission systems”, ET-Docket98-153,
TABLE II. Performance comparison of the investigated CPW-Fed antenna
February, 2002.
with the previous ones.
Substrate Dimension Operating Max [2] Y. Braham Chaouche, F. Bouttout, I. Messaoudene, L. Pichon, M.
material (mm2) Frequencies Gain Belazzoug, F. Chetouah, “ Design of reconfigurable fractal antenna
(Ɛr/h) (GHz) (dB) using pin diode switch for wireless applications ”, 16th Mediterranean
Microwave Symposium (MMS’16), 14-16 November. 2016.
Ref. [5] 3.66/1.524 41×35 3-13.1 6
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Ref. [9] 4.4/1.6 30×32.4 1.6-10.4 - Wideband Fractal Antenna ”, Microwave and Optical Technology letter,
Ref. [10] 3.4-11 34×51 1.5-2 and 3.4-11 - Vol. 49, No. 1, January 2007.
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Technology letter, Vol. 58, No. 7, July 2016.
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The following table, summarized the advantages of the CPW- CPW-FED UWB Hexagonal Shaped Antenna with Additional Fractal
Fed proposed antenna comparing with some of the efficient Elements ”, Microwave and Optical Technology letter, Vol. 58, No. 10,
and related antennas existing in the literature. This is evidence October 2016.
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Ultra-Wideband/Dual-Band Antenna with High Isolation ”,
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Monopole Gasket Fractal For UWB Application ”, International
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