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Challenges and limits of fractal and slot antennas for WLAN, LTE, ISM, and 5G communication: a review paper

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Abstract

Portable communication devices such as WLAN, WiMAX, LTE, ISM, and 5G utilize one or more of the triple bands at (2.3–2.7 GHz, 3.4–3.6 GHz, and 5–6 GHz) and suffer from the effect of multipath problems because they are used in urban regions. To date, no one has performed a review of the antennas used for these types of wireless communications. This study reviewed two types of microstrip antennas (slot and fractal) that have been reported by researchers (as a single element) using a survey that included the evaluation of several important specifications of the antennas in previous research, such as operating bandwidth, gain, efficiency, axial ratio bandwidth (ARBW), and size. The weaknesses in the design of all antennas were carefully identified to determine the most important challenges in the design of these antennas and name the most important limits in the design to be overcome in future research. This study also indicated some antennas that have circular polarization characteristics, the techniques used to generate the circular polarization characteristics, and the challenges. Finally, several suggestions as a guideline for antenna design and future work in designing antennas for Wi-Fi, LTE, and WiMAX communications, according to the market demands, and methods for overcoming the identified limits are presented.

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Acknowledgments

The authors would like to acknowledge Fundamental Research Grant Scheme (FRGS) FRGS/1/2018/TK04/UKM/01/1 for this publication.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Communication Engineering, AL-MAMON University College, 14th Ramadhan street-, Baghdad, Iraq

    Amer T. Abed & Omar Almukhtar Tawfeeq

  2. Department of Electrical, Electronic and System Engineering, Faculty of Engineering and Built Environment Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia, 43600, Bangi, Selangor, Malaysia

    Mandeep S. Jit Singh & Mohammad Tariqul Islam

  3. Asia Pacific University of Technology & Innovation, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia

    Vinesh Thiruchelvam & Shankar Duraikannan

  4. AL-Khwarizmi College of Engineering, University of Baghdad, Baghdad, Iraq

    Bushra A. Tawfeeq

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  1. Amer T. Abed
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  2. Mandeep S. Jit Singh
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  3. Vinesh Thiruchelvam
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  4. Shankar Duraikannan
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Correspondence to Amer T. Abed.

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Abed, A.T., Jit Singh, M.S., Thiruchelvam, V. et al. Challenges and limits of fractal and slot antennas for WLAN, LTE, ISM, and 5G communication: a review paper. Ann. Telecommun. 76, 547–557 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12243-020-00828-6

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s12243-020-00828-6

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