Abstract
This paper describes the design of a planar antenna array system with pattern reconfiguration in the azimuthal plane. The antenna array system is designed based on four antenna units where each unit is composed of two printed Yagi-Uda elements that radiate in directional beams over a dedicated sector, thus ensuring maximum isolation with neighboring units. The various units are fed on demand through a reconfigurable structure that is composed of four reconfigurable feeding networks and a one-to-four power divider. The feeding structure distributes the required power to the various radiating units through the activation of the two integrated PIN diodes along each of the four reconfigurable feeding networks. Such activation results in 15 reconfigurable radiation patterns that cover four orthogonal sectors over a fixed operating frequency, at 5.8 GHz. Each antenna unit is designed to exhibit a gain of 9 dBi with a half-power beamwidth of 44° and a sidelobe level of -16 dB. The antenna array is fabricated and tested, where the measured results validate the predicted simulated data.
Highlights
A reconfigurable antenna alters its operating behavior whether through frequency reconfiguration, radiation pattern agility, or polarization diversity in order to adapt to different deployment environments and applications [1]
The antenna operation is versatile and can meet the application needs of both, terrestrial and space communication systems. This antenna can be implemented in applications that vary from the Internet of Things, where the multi-beam antenna can serve as a better candidate for spatial multiplexing or decreased packet collision [3], or cognitive radio for selective communication links accompanied with spatial filtering through directional beams [4]
The work presented in this paper develops a novel reconfigurable feeding network that ensures the simultaneous activation of four radiating elements to result in 15 possible radiation patterns at the same operating frequency of 5.8 GHz
Summary
A reconfigurable antenna alters its operating behavior whether through frequency reconfiguration, radiation pattern agility, or polarization diversity in order to adapt to different deployment environments and applications [1]. Other reconfiguration techniques employ radio frequency switches to connect and disconnect microstrip lines to active antenna elements as discussed in [13,14,15,16] This technique enables agile antenna structure integration by relying on dynamic reconfiguration mechanisms through the rerouting and intentional alteration of the antenna surface currents. Another approach presented in [17], [18] enables multiple radiating elements to be instantaneously activated through the implementation of dynamic matching sections.
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