Abstract
A simple and compact antenna with a switchable beam for millimeter-wave communication is proposed in this paper. The antenna has a planar structure, and the design evolution is discussed. The beam switching functionality was achieved by incorporating two PIN diodes in the ground plane of the antenna. By switching ON either of the PIN diodes, the inverted L-shaped stub becomes connected to the ground plane and behaves as a cavity, which causes the dispersion of the radiation pattern. Therefore, a wide-angle (±18∘) beam-switching property can be achieved using a simple and low-cost technique, without the necessity to implement additional conventional circuits. The proposed antenna is characterized by a good performance in terms of return loss, bandwidth, measured gain up to 7.95 dB, and radiation efficiency up to 84%, making it a proper candidate for IoT technology and millimeter-wave 5G devices.
Highlights
Among various types of multifunctional antennas, reconfigurable antennas are more preferable due to the fact that they allow the user of multiple radio access networks to integrate them as a single platform [1,2]
The presented work is a low-cost planar antenna with the functionality of reconfigurability using PIN diodes in the 5G mm-wave band; The proposed antenna realizes pattern reconfiguration without adding additional circuits; it is characterized by a compact size, making it a proper candidate for future 5G miniaturized smart devices and the Internet of Things (IoT); The proposed antenna presents good radiation characteristics along with a high gain and broad bandwidth to cover the complete 28 GHz band spectrum (i.e., 26–29.5 GHz), along with a beam tilting of (±18◦ )
This paper presented a millimeter-wave monopole antenna, with a beam-switching functionality, capable of switching the antenna beam towards different directions using two PIN diodes introduced into the ground plane
Summary
Publisher’s Note: MDPI stays neutral with regard to jurisdictional claims in published maps and institutional affiliations. In the case of phased-array antennas, multiple unit elements are fed using a single power divider, where the phasetunable antenna elements are utilized to achieve beam switching, tilting, and scanning [8] These array antennas offer a higher gain and broader bandwidth at the cost of bulky and complex structures. The presented work is a low-cost planar antenna with the functionality of reconfigurability using PIN diodes in the 5G mm-wave band; The proposed antenna realizes pattern reconfiguration without adding additional circuits; it is characterized by a compact size, making it a proper candidate for future 5G miniaturized smart devices and the IoT; The proposed antenna presents good radiation characteristics along with a high gain (up to 8 dB) and broad bandwidth to cover the complete 28 GHz band spectrum (i.e., 26–29.5 GHz), along with a beam tilting of (±18◦ )
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