Pattern and frequency reconfigurable antenna for wireless applications

Abstract

In general, equal gain in all direction is needed as the system moves in wireless applications such as body area network. Reconfigurable radiation pattern antennas have contributed a lot in solving this problem due to the potential features offered by these types of antennas. In addition wideband operation to narrow band operation reconfigurable antenna is also needed to provide high antenna efficiency in communication systems. The aim of this project is to design an antenna which quantifies the potential gain of the pattern and frequency control in order to suit the requirement of wireless applications such as body are networks. Therefore a new concept of a pattern and frequency reconfigurable antenna is proposed. The proposed antenna uses two types of feedings (CPW and slotlines) for controlling the radiation pattern and the same time, ring resonators were integrated in order to switch from a wideband operation to a narrow band operation while maintaining the same polarization. The antenna ranges from 3 to 6 GHz for wideband operation and operates at 3.5GHz for a narrowband operation with good radiation pattern reconfigurability. The proposed antenna was designed and simulated in CST microwave studio and printed on a Taconic board and the analysis yielded a well behaved radiation pattern and a good agreement of return loss between measured and simulated results. Hence the proposed antenna is suitable for use in pattern and frequency reconfigurable for wireless applications such as body area network.