A Compact CPW-Fed Log-Periodic Antenna for IoT Applications

A miniaturized, planar, microstrip patch antenna, of 20mm×20mm on 1.6mm thick FR4 substrate, is proposed for small and mobile IoT sensor units. The sensor nodes used in IoT environment will require compact, low cost and parameter optimized antennas which could easily connect to existing standard communication protocols. The proposed antenna has a log-periodic antenna structure and is fed by a co-planar waveguide. The simple structure resonated at 3.6GHz giving an impedance bandwidth between 3.5GHz to 3.67GHz with an operating bandwidth of 170MHz. Slots are inserted in the co-planar ground plane after parametrically analysing the optimum length for the slot.This successfully resulted in 2.46GHz resonating frequency of antenna with a bandwidth of 70MHz. The antenna also provides a high gain of 9.36dB at the resonant frequency of 2.46GHz. Miniaturized antenna with good performance parameters is highly desired for IoT applications. The above said antenna with its given characteristics makes it an excellent candidate for IoT sensor units.