Polarization Reconfigurable and Beam-Switchable Array Antenna Using Switchable Feed Network

Chao Liu,Tonghao Liu,Yajuan Han,Yongfeng Li,Shaobo Qu,Jiafu Wang

doi:10.1109/access.2022.3153393

Chao Liu, Tonghao Liu + Show 4 more

Open Access

https://doi.org/10.1109/access.2022.3153393

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Journal: IEEE Access	Publication Date: Jan 1, 2022
Citations: 9	License type: CC BY 4.0

Affiliation: Air Force Engineering University

Abstract

A novel array antenna with reconfigurable polarizations and radiation pattern agility is presented in this paper. The digital-controllable array antenna has the functional capabilities of reconfigurable polarization and switching beam, which consists of cavity-backed antenna element based on substrate integrated waveguide (SIW) technique, parasitic patch array, power dividers and phase shifters. Polarization modes and radiation patterns can be dynamically controlled by means of Microcontroller Unit (MCU) with the different feeding ports and phase difference. To validate this proposal, the performance of the fabricated device was measured at the operating frequency of 5.4 GHz. Measured results indicate that the 10 dB impedance bandwidths and 3 dB axial ratio (AR) bandwidths cover from 5.25 to 5.6 GHz, and the measured gains range from 7.9 to 10.1 dBic. The experimentation and simulation verify that the proposed antenna can achieve two polarization states and five radiation beams of each polarization state, which indicate a good performance of the polarization reconfigurable and beam switching antenna array.

Highlights

The measured 10 dB reflection bandwidths are wider than the simulated result for the left-handed circular polarization (LHCP), right-handed circular polarization (RHCP) modes respectively, which are caused by the small tolerance of the fabrication of process and the modeling residue for the actual capacitances that caused by Surface Mounted Technology
To conclude, a polarization reconfigurable array antenna with radiation pattern agility is proposed, which is combined using annular slot antenna element based on substrate integrated waveguide (SIW) technique in this paper
The radiation patterns and polarization states can be dynamically altered by different coding sequences using Microcontroller Unit (MCU)

Summary

INTRODUCTION

With the development of modern wireless communication, reconfigurable antenna based on electrically tunable techniques with its agility to change the operating frequency [6,16], polarization states [1,3,4], and radiation patterns [2,5] by using PIN diodes [1,4,5], MEMS switches [7] varactors [8,9], dielectric liquid [31] and mechanical rotating [34] have attracted great attentions. [1,25] is to rebuild the feeding network to excite different LP radiation structure, and the antenna can switch its polarization among LP, LHCP and RHCP. In [19], a polarization reconfigurable and pattern switchable antenna was achieved by CMA, and the operating feature can be switched by the feeding network. The antenna element consists of three parts, which include the parasitic patch layer, a square substrate integrated waveguide (SIW) cavity layer and the feeding network layer, and all structures are designed on two 0.508-mm and a 0.762-mm thick RO4350B substrates ( =3.66 and th =0.004 at 5.4 GHz).

Polarization States

CONCLUSION

This work