Wideband Frequency Agile and Polarization Reconfigurable Antenna for Wireless Applications

Abstract

In this article, a polarization reconfigurable concentric circle microstrip antenna with simultaneous frequency agility has presented. The frequency agility and polarization reconfigurability have been controlled by open stub cascaded branch-line coupler (OSCBLC) feed network configuration. The −10 dB tunable impedance bandwidth of 2.0 GHz to 3.0 GHz (40%) is achieved by varying the capacitance of four varactor diodes from 4.15pF (0 V) to 0.84pF (7.5 V). These varactor diodes are fixed between the circular patch and ring. The polarization is reconfigured by directing the input RF through a single pole 4 throw (SP4 T) and routed to a single pole double throw (SPDT) switch in the feed network configuration. The right-hand circular polarization (RHCP) and left-hand circular polarization (LHCP) are realized in the antenna by exciting the feed ports with a time phase difference of ± 90°. Similarly, the vertical linear polarization (V-LP) and horizontal linear polarization (H-LP) are attained in the antenna by excited any one port through the feed network. The impedance bandwidth (1.5 GHz to 3.5 GHz) of OSCBLC feed network configuration is well-matched with the agile wide impedance bandwidth of the designed antenna. The proposed designed antenna shows good agreement between simulated and measurement results for polarization reconfigurability and frequency agility.