A compact patch antenna with beam steering based on inductor-loaded I-shaped resonant cell structures

Abstract

A novel low-cost compact patch antenna with capability of beam steering is presented in this paper. The chip inductor-loaded I-shaped resonant cell structure on the non-radiating sides enables the property of beam steering ability and can greatly reduce the cost of a phased array system to meet the requirement of the wireless communications. Parameter extraction for the I-shaped structure is investigated to analyze its effect on the radiation pattern of the antenna. It is shown that the refractive index of the loading part affects the beam direction. Finally, a double I-shaped cell-loaded antenna is fabricated to verify the design. Measured results show that the beam of the proposed antenna can scan from −33° to +36° at the same frequency 1.96 GHz by changing the value of the chip inductor.