FEKO Student Competition Results for 2011
Current distributions in a fractal-based ground plane (J Gemio Valero)
The 2011 FEKO Student Competition drew entries from all over the world, including Australia, South Korea, Taiwan, Russia, Turkey, Belgium, Spain, South Africa, Argentina and the United States of America. The entries featured topics ranging from antenna design to MRI research. The design, placement and/or human body radiation effects of several types of antennas were considered for a variety of applications, such as RFID tags, mobile devices, GPS and low earth orbit satellite reception, aircraft direction finding systems, tire pressure monitoring systems and body wearable antennas.
Winner
This year's winner is Joan Gemio Valero from the Antenna and Microwave Systems group at the Autonomous University of Barcelona, Spain, for his entry entitled “Multiband antennas for a remote sensor network central unit”. Joan is currently working towards his PhD with Dr Josep Parrón Granados, who receives the supervisor award.
The focus of Joan's entry is on the design of multiband monopole antennas for the central unit of a remote sensors network. He proposes two solutions to obtain the required multiband performance, namely fractal-based ground planes and resonator loaded monopoles. He uses FEKO to investigate the operating principles of the antennas and to adjust their design parameters. In his report he compared simulation results with measurements for several manufactured antennas, including a triangular monopole on a solid ground plane, a triangular monopole on a fractal-based ground plane, a triangular monopole using fractal elements (Sierpinski monopole) on a fractal-based ground plane, symmetric as well as asymmetric loaded monopole antennas and split ring resonator loaded monopole antennas.
|
|
||
|
Sierpinski monopole (top) and SRR loaded monopole (bottom) (Joan Gemio Valero).
|
Current distributions of resonator loaded monopole (Joan Gemio Valero). |
Current distributions in a fractal-based ground plane inspired by Sierpinski gasket (Joan Gemio Valero). |
Honourable Mention
|
|
|
An honourable mention prize is awarded to Miguel Sossouhounto, a Master’s student from the Royal Military Academy in Brussels, Belgium, for the detailed Light Multirole Vehicle (LMV) model used in his entry "Analysis of antenna and vehicle interaction using simulation software FEKO". Miguel investigated which elements in the vehicle model are important for electromagnetic simulation. He considered different frequencies, antenna locations and the importance of specific radiation properties for given applications. |
LMV model (Miguel Sossouhounto). |
Other interesting entries
 |
 |
| The quad ridged horn antenna with elliptically shaped sidewalls designed for radio astronomy applications, presented by Ockert Jacobs from the University of Pretoria, South Africa. The horn is matched over more than a 4:1 bandwidth. | The radiation pattern of a reflectarray antenna presented by Payam Nayeri, who is with the Center of Applied Electromagnetic Systems Research (CAESR), The University of Mississippi, USA. He investigates the design, modelling, and full-wave simulation of reflectarray antennas. |
 |
 |
| The optimum placement of direction finding antennas on aircraft for accurate DOA estimation was investigated by Gangil Byun from Hongik University, South Korea. | The midibus model used by Anil Ozdemirli from Yeditepe University, Turkey, in his study "Tire Pressure Monitoring System Receive Antenna Design for Large Vehicles". |
