Miniaturized conformal wideband fractal antennas on high dielectric substrates and chiral layers

An antenna comprising:

• a substrate having a dielectric constant of at least 10;
• at least one layer of electrically conductive material overlying a surface of said substrate, wherein said layer of electrically conductive material comprises a fractal pattern;
• a sheet of electrically conductive material disposed in relation to said substrate to provide a ground plane;
• means for applying a bias voltage across said substrate to tune said antenna for operation in at least one frequency band;
• and
• a layer of absorbing material overlying an opposed surface of said substrate, wherein said absorbing material layer smoothens the frequency/return loss characteristic of said antenna.

An antenna comprising:

• a substrate having a dielectric constant of at least 10;
• at least one layer of electrically conductive material overlying a surface of said substrate, wherein said layer of electrically conductive material comprises a fractal pattern, wherein said fractal pattern has a plurality of segments arranged in a first configuration;
• at least one switch disposed to change said first configuration to a second configuration;
• a sheet of electrically conductive material disposed in relation to said substrate to provide a ground plane;
• and
• means for applying a bias voltage across said substrate to tune said antenna for operation in at least one frequency band.

An antenna comprising:

• first and second assemblies that each comprise:
• a substrate of dielectric material having a first surface and a second surface;
• and
• at least one layer of electrically conductive material comprising a fractal pattern overlying said first surface of said substrate;
• and
• a layer of absorbing material disposed between the second surfaces of said first and second assemblies;
• and
• a sheet of electrically conductive material disposed in relation to said first and second assemblies so as to serve as a ground plane.

An antenna comprising:

• a substrate that comprises a dielectric material;
• at least one layer of electrically conductive material overlying a surface of said substrate, wherein said layer of electrically conductive material comprises a fractal pattern that has a plurality of segments arranged in a first configuration;
• and
• at least one switch disposed to change said first configuration to a second configuration.

An antenna comprising:

• a substrate having a dielectric constant of at least 10;
• at least one layer of electrically conductive material overlying a surface of said substrate, wherein said layer of electrically conductive material comprises a fractal pattern;
• a sheet of electrically conductive material disposed in relation to said substrate to provide a ground plane;
• means for applying a bias voltage across said substrate to tune said antenna for operation in at least one frequency band, wherein said at least one layer is one of a plurality of layers of electrically conductive material overlying said surface of said substrate, wherein each of said layers of electrically conductive material comprises a fractal pattern;
• and
• a feed network having phase shifting capability to deliver signals to said plurality of layers.

An antenna comprising:

• at least one assembly that comprises:
• a substrate that comprises a dielectric material;
• at least one layer of electrically conductive material overlying a surface of said dielectric substrate, wherein said layer of electrically conductive material comprises a fractal pattern;
• and
• a sheet of electrically conductive material disposed in relation to said dielectric substrate to provide a ground plane;
• and
• means for applying a bias voltage across said substrate to tune said antenna for operation in at least one frequency band, wherein said at least one assembly is one of a plurality of substantially identical assemblies disposed in an array.