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I. INTRODUCTION
In the past several decades, much work has been done to develop wideband and UWB antennas for applications such as:
high-resolution microwave imaging, short-range wireless communication systems, wireless body area network (WBAN), and
electromagnetic compatibility measurements [2][5]. However,
noise and interference issues along with large relative formfactor, limit the utility of wideband/UWB antennas for the multiradio communication purposes [1]. As another potential solution, multiband antennas, which can simultaneously cover some
preselected and distinct bands [6][8], also suffer from noise
and interference issues [1]. Additionally, when a desired operating frequency is relatively low [e.g., in the ultra-high-frequency (UHF) or very-high-frequency (VHF) regions], keeping
the form-factor small becomes a challenge. In contrast, reconfigurable antennas are capable of addressing many of these limitations [1], [9][17]. A reconfigurable antenna can electronically or mechanically switch among different configurations
to provide for a set of desired characteristics (e.g., matching
over a range of frequency, pattern, and polarization). In comparison with wideband antennas, reconfigurable antennas offer
advantages such as: compact size, similar gain and radiation pattern for the preselected desired frequency bands, efficient use of
electromagnetic spectrum, frequency selectivity useful for noise
and interference reduction and polarization diversity [1], [14].
Despite these advantages, the topic of reconfigurable antennas
is relatively new, and there is not a general, robust and methodical design procedure for such antennas [15]. Moreover, to our
knowledge, there are not many compact planar reconfigurable
antennas which can cover preselected frequency bands in a relatively wide bandwidth.
To this end, here we introduce a methodical approach for
designing a reconfigurable antenna operating at several preselected frequency bands. Then, based on this design approach,
the implementation of a novel coplanar waveguide (CPW)-fed
reconfigurable antenna is given. The designed antenna covers
four distinct preselected bands in the VHF/UHF regions. To add
reconfigurablility to the antenna, optimally designed slots which
are loaded with electronically controllable PIN diodes are used.
Moreover, to extend the frequency of operation to below 100
MHz while keeping the form-factor of the antenna as small as
possible, capacitor-loaded meandered slot lines and a reconfigurable matching network are used. The overall size of the anwhere
is corresponding wavetenna is
length to the lowest operating frequency by the antenna (i.e.,
equivalent to
). Consequently,
this design offers a significant improvement in comparison with
other works (e.g., reported work in [18]) for miniaturization purposes in VHF band. Moreover, the covered distinct bands are
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IEEE TRANSACTIONS ON ANTENNAS AND PROPAGATION, VOL. 62, NO. 12, DECEMBER 2014
It should be possible to switch between characteristics of Antenna 1 and characteristics of any other interim antenna such
as Antenna
by a few short or open circuits. These
shorts and opens can be electronically/mechanically realized on
Antenna 1 using switches. After adding actual switches to Antenna 1 (i.e., Step
), the antenna is called reconfigdifurable antenna because one single antenna provides
ferent configurations and at each of these configurations it
mimics the characteristics of corresponding antenna (e.g., Configuration
mimics Antenna
). Also, it is important to
design and implement an appropriate biasing circuitry for the
switches. The entire proposed design procedure is summarized
in the flow-chart shown in Fig. 1 which was followed for designing a prototype reconfigurable multiband antenna.
III. NOVEL CPW-FED RECONFIGURABLE ANTENNA COVERING
FOUR BANDS IN VHF/UHF REGIONS
To address some of the mentioned emerging demands
in multiradio wireless communication systems (e.g., small
form-factor, wide range of operation, dynamic band selection)
an antenna is proposed in here. This antenna is capable of
operating (i.e.,
) in four bands in the VHF/UHF
frequency regions. Since this prototype antenna is primarily
intended to demonstrate the possibility of achieving a compact reconfigurable antenna operating at several preselected
frequency bands distributed over an ultra-wide range of frequencies while the overall size is kept as small as possible,
FALLAHPOUR et al.: MINIATURIZED RECONFIGURABLE MULTIBAND ANTENNA FOR MULTIRADIO WIRELESS COMMUNICATION
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TABLE I
OPTIMALLY CALCULATED DIMENSIONS OF THE PROPOSED ANTENNA
Fig. 3. Simulated
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Fig. 5. Simulated
FALLAHPOUR et al.: MINIATURIZED RECONFIGURABLE MULTIBAND ANTENNA FOR MULTIRADIO WIRELESS COMMUNICATION
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Fig. 7. Simulated
Step 4: In some applications, it is desired to reduce the frequency of operation into VHF band to benefit advantages such
as the higher ability of the wave to penetrate inside the material (this may be useful for wireless communication in urban
areas, through-wall imaging, ground penetrating radars, etc.).
Therefore, in a continuing effort to lower the operating frequency, it was attempted to add another band to Antenna 2.
This would be the lowest possible frequency band attainable
with this antenna. A comprehensive study was then conducted
to achieve this goal. Given the relatively low frequency range
for this lowest band (i.e., below 100 MHz), initially, two meandered slot lines were added to the ground plane of the antenna. The meandering idea enables efficient use of space and
increases the traveling time of the propagating wave comparing
with a straight line with the same start and ending points. On the
other hand, to increase the electrical length of the arms without
changing the physical length, the lines are loaded with capac-
itors (similar to the slow-wave structure and loaded transmission line concepts [25], [26]). The final shape for the meandered
lines which was achieved after extensive simulations is shown
in Fig. 8 (addition of PIN diodes, switches, and biasing circuitry
which are shown in the figure will be discussed in Step 5). It was
noticed that the input impedance of the antenna (Antenna 1), can
be tuned to be
where
at (or
in the vicinity of) a resonant frequency below 100 MHz. Then,
if the imaginary part of the input impedance can be cancelled,
a good impedance matching is achieved (i.e.,
. As
a solution, a lumped element (i.e., an inductor) which provides
at (or in the vicinity of) the resonance frequency may be
used in series with the CPW feed line (similar to the matching
network idea used in [25]). By considering this simple matching
network in the design procedure, a design and optimization procedure can be performed to calculate the meandering line parameters, width of the slot line, value of the series inductor,
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IEEE TRANSACTIONS ON ANTENNAS AND PROPAGATION, VOL. 62, NO. 12, DECEMBER 2014
TABLE II
OPTIMALLY CALCULATED DIMENSIONS OF MEANDERED ARMS
Fig. 9. Simulated
FALLAHPOUR et al.: MINIATURIZED RECONFIGURABLE MULTIBAND ANTENNA FOR MULTIRADIO WIRELESS COMMUNICATION
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TABLE III
FOUR DIFFERENT CONFIGURATIONS (MODES OF OPERATIONS) GENERATED BY
TURNING ON/OFF (O/F) PIN DIODES AND REED SWITCHES (RS)
Fig. 11. Fabricated reconfigurable antenna (PIN diodes and biasing networks
are not depicted).
the requirements. The shift is about 40 MHz which is acceptable in the current design. Nevertheless, if it is required to keep
the lower and higher ends of the highest band as they were specified, further optimization should be used (this is not a case in
here). In fact, this is only a prototype antenna which is designed
to prove the possibility of achieving a miniaturized compact reconfigurable antenna operating at several preselected frequency
bands distributed over an ultra-wide range of frequencies (i.e.,
four octaves) using the proposed design method.
B. Fabrication, Test, and Measurement
The antenna was subsequently manufactured using single
side PCB with FR4 substrate with a thickness of 62 mil
(1.6 mm) where an SMA connector was used to feed the antenna (Fig. 11). To attach the SMA connector to the CPW feed
line, it was necessary to taper the CPW feed line. Although
this tapering is shown in Fig. 8(a), but the tapering and SMA
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IEEE TRANSACTIONS ON ANTENNAS AND PROPAGATION, VOL. 62, NO. 12, DECEMBER 2014
Fig. 12. Reflection coefficient for reconfigurable antenna operating at Configuration 1: measurement versus simulations with CST Microwave Studio and
HFSS.
Fig. 13. Reflection coefficient for reconfigurable antenna operating at Configuration 2: measurement versus simulation.
Fig. 14. Reflection coefficient for reconfigurable antenna operating at Configuration 3: measurement versus simulation.
Fig. 15. Reflection coefficient for reconfigurable antenna operating at Configuration 4: measurement versus simulations (without SMA and tapered transition,
with SMA and tapered transition).
For Configuration 3, based on the measured reflection coefficient (Fig. 14), a good impedance matching is achieved from
430496 MHz. CST Microwave Studio simulation results are
also shown in this figure for comparison. There is a reasonable
agreement between the simulation and the measurement results.
For Configuration 4, the measured reflection coefficient is
shown in Fig. 15 which shows that the operating frequency
range is from 792950 MHz. CST Microwave Studio simulation results are also shown in this figure for comparison. It
is clear that both simulation and measurement results are in
FALLAHPOUR et al.: MINIATURIZED RECONFIGURABLE MULTIBAND ANTENNA FOR MULTIRADIO WIRELESS COMMUNICATION
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good agreement until below 800 MHz. However, as the frequency increases, the simulated and measured frequency responses begin to differ. Upon further investigation, it was concluded that not including the SMA connector model and the tapered transition from SMA connector to the CPW line in the
simulations caused this discrepancy. Consequently, a new simulation was performed while these two were included. These
simulations results are in good agreement with the measurement
results (Fig. 15). At low frequencies incorporating the SMA
model and the tapered transition did not have significant impact
on the simulation results.
On the other hand, the measured reflection coefficient, shows
a multiband behavior and it covers two extra bands from
12541309 MHz and 14001451 MHz. As it was mentioned
before, this multiband behavior, if it is included in the design
procedure, can help to extend the operating frequency range
of the antenna to L-band, otherwise may contribute to having
extra noise and signal-to-noise ratio degradation.
C. Measured Gain Pattern
The pattern and gain [19] of the reconfigurable antenna were
measured inside an anechoic chamber at Electromagnetic Compatibility (EMC) Laboratory at Missouri University of Science
and Technology. The coordinate system definition shown in
Fig. 2 is used. For each configuration (mode of operation), one
frequency is selected and the gain pattern is measured for that
frequency. The selected frequencies are: 59.5, 350, 460, and
860 MHz for Configuration 1, 2, 3, and 4, respectively. To
improve the accuracy of the simulations, the tapered transition
and SMA model have been included in all of the simulations.
The measured XY-plane
gain patterns are shown
in Fig. 16(a) and (d). CST Microwave Studio simulated gain
patterns for the corresponding frequencies are also added for the
comparison. At 59.5 MHz, the simulated and measured gain patterns are almost omnidirectional. However, the simulated maximum gain is about 38 dB while the measured maximum gain
is 23 dB. As it was mentioned earlier, the resonance frequency
of the designed antenna shifted from 48.5 MHz in the simulation
to 59.5 MHz in the measurement. Then, the calculated gain pattern of the antenna using CST Microwave Studio at 48.5 MHz
is also plotted in Fig. 16(a) which shows a maximum value of
22.5 dB which is very close to the measured value. It worth
mentioning that the anechoic chamber used here was not designed for frequencies below 600 MHz (utilized absorbers are
not efficient below 600 MHz and the anechoic chamber did not
have any absorber on the floor). These could have contributed to
the discrepancies between the shape of the simulated and measured patterns.
The radiation efficiency of the antenna calculated from the
simulation is 1.5%. The achieved gain of 23 dB and radiation efficiency of 1.5% may seem rather low. However, This
is a direct result of the well-known fundamental tradeoff between size reduction and antenna radiation efficiency and gain
degradation (initially studied and formulated by Wheeler and
Chu [31], [32]). Considering this fact that the antenna is very
small (i.e.,
where
is corresponding to
), this low value for the gain, and efficiency
was expected (similar to the work reported in [25]).
Fig. 16. Measured and simulated XY-plane gain pattern of reconfigurable antenna (dB scale) versus angle in degree: (a) Configuration 1 at 48.5, 59.5 MHz
(b) Configuration 2 at 350 MHz, (c) Configuration 3 at 460 MHz, and (d) Configuration 4 at 860 MHz.
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Fig. 17. Measured and simulated XZ-plane gain pattern of reconfigurable antenna (dB scale) versus angle in degree: (a) Configuration 1 at 48.5, 59.5 MHz
(b) Configuration 2 at 350 MHz, (c) Configuration 3 at 460 MHz, and (d) Configuration 4 at 860 MHz.
XZ-plane pattern measurements, the antenna was placed horizontal (parallel to the floor). Considering the fact that the floor of
the chamber was not equipped with any absorber, this could increase the measurement errors. The maximum measured gain at
59.5 MHz is 24 dB while the maximum gain from simulation
is 2.5 dB and 38.8 dB at 48.5 MHz and 59.5 MHz, respectively. The radiation efficiency of the antenna calculated from
the simulation is 1.3% which may seem rather low. However,
as mentioned before, this low radiation efficiency is a direct result of the fundamental tradeoff between size reduction and the
antenna radiation efficiency and gain degradation.
Next, for 350 MHz, the measurement and simulation results
are compared in Fig. 17(b). The shape of the patterns follows
each other but the existing nulls in simulation results do not
appear in the measurement results (as it was mentioned, the
chamber is not designed for frequencies below 600 MHz). The
maximum measured gain at 350 MHz is 8.6 dB while the maximum gain from simulation is 2 dB and the radiation efficiency
is 83.2%. Also, the measured gain pattern and simulated gain
pattern at 460 MHz are shown in Fig. 17(c) which are in reasonable agreement. The maximum measured gain at 460 MHz
is 7.7 dB while the maximum gain from simulation is 3.5 dB
and the radiation efficiency is 91.2%. Finally, the measurement
and simulation results are compared at 860 MHz [Fig. 17(d)].
There is a good agreement between measurement and simulation results. The maximum measured gain at 860 MHz is 0 dB
while the maximum gain from simulation is 3 dB and the radiation efficiency is 88%.
IV. CONCLUSION
A methodical procedure for designing frequency reconfigurable antennas was introduced. In term of a design example, the
application of the introduced algorithm was explained. As a result, a novel reconfigurable CPW-fed slot antenna was designed,
simulated, and tested. In the designing procedure, PIN-diode
loaded slots were used to incorporate the reconfigurablility. As
another important point, to keep the form-factor of the antenna
as small as possible while reducing the operating frequency
to below 100 MHz, some sophisticated miniaturization ideas
were applied. Capacitor-loaded meandered slot lines along with
a series reconfigurable matching network were used to realize
this ultra-miniaturized antenna with a size of
[where
is corresponding with the lowest covered frequency
by the antenna (i.e., 59.5 MHz)]. The measurement results as
well as simulation results show that the final implemented reconfigurable antenna can cover four distinct bands from 59.5
MHz to 1000 MHz which is about four octaves of bandwidth.
The pattern in XY-plane is almost omnidirectional and the measured gain satisfies the expectations. As an interesting point, the
multiband behavior of the antenna which was observed for some
of the configurations helped to extend the frequency range of the
antenna to above 1000 MHz. In future and by considering this
observation, the same antenna with slight modification may be
used to cover preselected bands distributed over VHF/UHF/L
regions.
ACKNOWLEDGMENT
The authors would like to acknowledge crews of the Electromagnetic Compatibility Laboratory at Missouri University
of Science and Technology for providing them with the opportunity to use their anechoic chamber. They would also like to
thank A. Hashemi, A. Foudazi, and A. Talebzadeh for assisting
in performing part of the gain pattern measurements.
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imaging, signal integrity, array antennas, optimization techniques, and miniaturized wideband reconfigurable antennas.
Dr. Fallahpour is a member of Eta Kappa Nu and he was honored with the
American Society for Nondestructive Testing Graduate Fellowship Award
(2009). He has also been recognized as outstanding reviewer by IEEE
TRANSACTIONS ON INSTRUMENTATION AND MEASUREMENTS (2013).