On the Frequency Reconfigurability of a Square Microstrip Patch Antenna With a Fractal Ground Plane

Abstract

In the present work, a compact Square Microstrip Patch Antenna (SMPA) is reconfigured in frequency. The switching element used for antenna reconfiguration is a single PIN diode modeled on High Frequency Structure Simulator (HFSS) software. The ON/OFF switching configurations of the diode make the antenna capable of resonating at three different frequencies in the C-band (4–8 GHz): 5.3 GHz and 7.2 GHz in the OFF state and 6.3 GHz in the ON state. Inclusion of square fractal slots on the ground plane of the SMPA lead to considerable improvement in bandwidth.