Abstract
Antenna array pattern reconfiguration is usually achieved by changing the relative amplitudes and/or phases of the excitation distribution present in the array, at the cost of complex feeding networks. In this work, the mechanical displacement of a parasitic array perpendicular to another array with a single driven element is proposed. Additionally, the antenna is optimized addressing the variation of its response led by changes of the environmental dielectric constant of a surrounding gaseous medium. In such a way, a novel multipurpose antenna of utmost simplicity is obtained. From the computation of the self and mutual impedances, a control of the antenna radiation pattern by means of the induced currents in the parasitic elements is modelled. To illustrate the procedure, the technique will be applied to the variation of the side lobe level of a pencil beam and to obtain a flat-topped broadside beam from the same pencil beam, something with high interest for satellite applications. The proposed methodology represents an advance on the development of multipurpose antennas which resounds in simplicity not only in the reconfiguration of antenna beams, but in applications for the detection of particulate matter and/or measurements of the atmospheric dielectric constant.
Highlights
Reconfigurable antennas are radiating systems capable of modifying their properties dynamically, within a controlled strategy, and allowing reversibility
With the parameters set to a1 = 1, a2 = 0, a3 = 1, a4 = 0, a5 = 0, SLLdesired = −25 dB and Z0 = (50 + j0) Ω the array radiated the pattern of the continuous lines of Figs. 5 to 7, a pencil beam with −21.5 dB of side lobe level (SLL)
This will be the pattern recovered after the addition of different auxiliary arrays when they are displaced sufficiently apart, which will be denoted in the figures as the “primary array” situation
Summary
Reconfigurable antennas are radiating systems capable of modifying their properties dynamically, within a controlled strategy, and allowing reversibility. The modification of the electrical characteristics of the antenna elements results in feeding networks of high complexity [2,3,4,5,6], where adding further controllable elements only worsens the situation. For this reason, the use of arrays of parasitic elements is very common: the currents of these elements are induced by near-field effects without the need of a feeding network of their own, allowing beam pattern reconfigurability with a notably much lower complexity [7,8]. In [7] linear and planar arrays are used toward the same goal by switching on and off some of the elements
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