Design and Analysis of a Silicon-Based Pattern Reconfigurable Antenna Employing an Active Element Pattern Method

Ke Han,Xubing Guo,Zhongliang Deng

doi:10.3390/mi8010011

Abstract

In this paper, a silicon-based radio frequency micro-electromechanical systems (RF MEMS) pattern reconfigurable antenna for a Ka-band application was designed, analyzed, fabricated, and measured. The proposed antenna can steer the beam among three radiating patterns (with main lobe directions of −20°, 0°, and +20° approximately) at 35 GHz by switching RF MEMS operating modes. The antenna has a low profile with a small size of 3.7 mm × 4.4 mm × 0.4 mm, and consists of one driven patch, four parasitic patches, two assistant patches, and two RF MEMS switches. The active element pattern method integrated with signal flow diagram was employed to analyze the performances of the proposed antenna. Comparing the measured results with analytical and simulated ones, good agreements are obtained.

Highlights

Pattern reconfigurable antennas received considerable attention owing to its attractive performance, as they can switch radiating patterns while keeping other operating parameters unchanged, such as operating frequency and polarization
Many reconfigurable antennas have been developed by employing micro-electromechanical systems (MEMS) switches [9,10,11,12]
Most of those reconfigurable antennas operate at a low frequency and do not have process consistence, namely, the radio frequency micro-electromechanical systems (RF MEMS) switches were mounted on circuitry after the antenna patch was implemented, instead of the integrated manufacture of the antenna patch and the radio frequency (RF) MEMS switches

Summary

Introduction

Pattern reconfigurable antennas received considerable attention owing to its attractive performance, as they can switch radiating patterns while keeping other operating parameters unchanged, such as operating frequency and polarization. The implementation of a pattern reconfigurable antenna with a low profile can alleviate those constraints. Many pattern reconfigurable antennas [1,2,3,4,5] have been developed, and reconfigurable antennas are commonly implemented using variodes [6,7] and PIN diodes [1,2]. PIN diodes, and other technologies, radio frequency (RF) micro-electromechanical systems (MEMS) switches possess many attractive advantages, such as high linearity, high quality factors, and almost no Please check the sections highlight in yellow in “the whole text” as we have made little modification. With the various superiorities such as a wide bandwidth, a compact device structure, and a high data throughput capacity, devices in a Ka-band have many advantages

Methods

Results

Conclusion