CHAPTER 3

FREQUENCY RECONFIGURABLE ANTENNA

With the advancement of technology single-antenna structures operating over

a defined bandwidth are losing interest. So there is need of an antenna that can be
reconfigured. In this chapter frequency reconfigurable metamaterial inspired high gain
antenna and frequency tunable planar patch antenna loaded with split ring resonator with
rotated inner ring are presented.

3.1 INTRODUCTION

Reconfigurable antenna has become a striking topic in the modern wireless

communication system because it enables single antenna to be used for multiple systems.
Reconfigurability of an antenna means to achieve modification in antenna’s operating
frequency, polarisation or radiation characteristics dynamically. This modification in
characteristics of an antenna is achieved by redistribution of current in antenna. There are
many techniques by which the antenna current can be redistributed, either by altering the
antenna geometry or by changing the electrical properties of antenna. For this RF
switches, varactors, or tunable materials can be used. These concepts of reconfigurability
can significantly decrease the complexity of hardware by reducing the number of
components.

The first patent on reconfigurable antennas appeared in 1983 by Schaubert

[93]. While designing reconfigurable antennas, three questions must be answered:

i. Which reconfigurable property (frequency, radiation pattern, or

polarization) is to be achieved?

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Chapter-3 Frequency Reconfigurable Antenna

ii. How the different radiating elements of the antenna structure are
reconfigured to achieve the required property?

iii. Which reconfigurable technique minimizes negative effects on the

antenna radiation / impedance characteristics?

There are different techniques to achieved reconfigurable aspect of the

antenna structure; for example,

• By varying the physical structure of an antenna,

• shifting the feeding point,
• implement antenna arrays, etc.

It is essential to note that while changing one parameter in the antenna

characteristics then it can affect the other parameters. Therefore, during the designing of
antenna all the antenna characteristics should be analyzed simultaneously in order to
achieve the required reconfigurability.

Reconfigurability can be achieved in frequency, gain and polarisation.

According to these properties reconfigurable antennas are grouped in mainly four
different categories:

• A reconfigurable radiation pattern antenna [94-98].

• A reconfigurable polarization antenna [99-101].
• A frequency reconfigurable antenna [102-105].
• Combinations of the above stated categories [106-116].

Reconfigurable Radiation Pattern Antenna:

In radiation pattern reconfigurability, the antenna beam is shifted from one
direction to another. Thus by using pattern reconfiguration the antenna signal in desired
direction can be reinforced. For this category, the antenna radiation pattern is changed in
terms of shape, direction , or gain.

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Chapter-3 Frequency Reconfigurable Antenna

Reconfigurable Polarisation Antenna:

In wireless communication systems applications, circular polarization
antenna systems play important roles. In satellite communication systems, they are very
suitable because of their insensitivity to transmitter and receiver orientations. They are
also utilized to realize frequency reuse for doubling the system capability. In polarization
diversity, circular polarizations can be used to avoid the detrimental fading loss caused
by multi-path effects. In microwave tagging systems, it is used as a modulation scheme
such as the circular polarization modulation.

Frequency Reconfigurable Antenna:

With the development of wireless industry, it is required that a single antenna
can be used for multifunctional operations that operates at different frequencies. Number
of single frequency operating antennas can be replaced by a single reconfigurable
antenna. Thereby reducing the overall size, cost, and complexity of a system. Although
the reconfigurable antenna cannot cover all the frequency bands at the same time but it
can be configured to different frequencies according to the need. This is achieved by
producing some tuning or notch in the antenna reflection coefficient. Sometimes
reconfigurability is achieved by using switches. There are many design approaches for
achieving antenna frequency reconfigurability, which are as follows:

• Antennas integrated with electronic switches (PIN diodes / Varactor Diodes)

• Switching with the help of RF MEMS switches
• Tunable materials for substrate (changing permittivity /height of substrate)

Antennas integrated with electronic switches (PIN diodes / Varactor Diodes)

Until the development of semiconductor switches reconfigurable antenna
were fabricated by using mechanical switches. But with the development of technologies
reconfigurable antenna can be fabricated by using semiconductor switches. PIN diode
and Varactor diodes are most commonly used as a switching device to switch the
frequency bands. PIN diode has many advantages such as low insertion loss, high
switching speed, small size and low cost. The operation of PIN diode requires a dc bias
voltage.

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Chapter-3 Frequency Reconfigurable Antenna

Switching with the help of RF MEMS switches

The performance of reconfigurable antenna depends on the performance of
the diodes and switches. Electronic reconfigurability is often attained using lumped
components such as PIN diodes, FET transistors or RF MEMS switches [117-119]. In
recent years, micro-electrical-mechanical systems (MEMS) fabricated with
semiconductor process technology has gained significant attention for wireless
communication applications due to their small size and superior performances. MEMS
switches have better performance in terms of isolation, insertion loss, power
consumption and linearity as compared to PIN diodes and FET transistors.

Tunable materials for substrate (changing permittivity /height of substrate)

Antennas are also made reconfigurable through a change in the substrate
characteristics by using materials such as liquid crystals or ferrites. The change in the
material is achieved by a change in the relative electric permittivity or magnetic
permeability. A liquid crystal is a nonlinear material whose dielectric constant can be
changed under different voltage levels. For ferrite material, a static applied electric /
magnetic field can change the relative material permittivity / permeability [120-122].

Some of the advantages of using reconfigurable antennas are:

1. Reconfigurable antennas support more than one wireless standard. This

reduces the overall cost and volume requirement.
2. Reconfigurable antennas have multifunctional capabilities as it can act as
a single element or as an array. It can provide narrow band or wideband
operation.

Metamaterials gains tremendous attraction since its inception. Metamaterial

antennas are antennas which use metamaterials (which are materials engineered with
novel, microscopic structure to produce unusual physical properties) to increase the
performance of antenna . Antenna designs that use metamaterials can be considered as to
step up radiating power of antenna. The size of metamaterial antenna is much smaller
than its operating wavelength. These metamaterial antennas have applications in wireless
communication, space communication, GPS, satellites [123-125].
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Chapter-3 Frequency Reconfigurable Antenna

In the next two sections design of frequency reconfigurable antennas are

presented. In first design frequency reconfigurable antennas inspired by an equilateral
triangular shaped split ring resonator (ETSRR) metamaterial with rotated outer and inner
rings and in second design frequency tunable planar microstrip patch antenna loaded with
split ring resonator with rotated inner ring are presented. In the first case one split is
made in each arm of inner and outer ring with RF MEMS switches within them and in
second case one split is made in each arm of inner ring with RF MEMS switches within
them. By making RF MEMS switches ON/OFF the position of splits can be varied. By
this the resonant frequency gets shifted and thus getting tunability.

3.2 FREQUENCY RECONFIGURABLE METAMATERIAL INSPIRED

HIGH GAIN ANTENNA

In this section the design of frequency reconfigurable metamaterial

inspired high gain antenna based on an equilateral triangular shaped split ring resonator
with rotated inner and outer rings is presented. The rotation of rings is achieved by
putting splits in each arm of rings with RF MEMS switches within them. The splits can
be made to be present or absent in a particular arm by making RF MEMS switches OFF
or ON respectively and this can be considered as rotation of rings.

3.2.1 Design Parameters

Figure 3.1 shows the proposed structure of frequency reconfigurable

high gain antenna inspired by metamaterial. Physical parameters of proposed antenna
are: Rogers RT/duriod5880 (Relative permittivity =2.2) is used as substrate with a
thickness of 0.8 mm.

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Chapter-3 Frequency Reconfigurable Antenna

Figure 3.1 (a): Microstrip ETSRR antenna.

Base length of outer ring of ETSRR is take as 22.52 mm and the height of
outer ring is 19.5 mm; for inner ring of ETSRR these are 8.66 and 7.52 mm, respectively.
The separation between outer and inner ETSRR from vertex of outer ETSRR to base of
inner ETSRR is 9.5 mm. The width of each strip is 0.5 mm. The split gap in each ETSRR
ring is 1.0 mm. At each arm of inner and outer ETSRR splits are made along with RF
MEMS switches placed in each split. In inner ETSRR switches S1, S2, S3 are placed and
in outer ETSRR switches S4, S5, S6 are placed.
Basic Configuration of
ETSRR

Simulation and Analyze the

Result

Rotate the inner ring

towards Left / Right

Simulation and Analyze the

Result

Rotate the Outer ring

towards Left / Right

Simulation and Analyze the

Result
Figure 3.1 (b): Flow Chart of Methodology

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Chapter-3 Frequency Reconfigurable Antenna

Figure 3.2 shows the structure of RF MEMS shunt switch consist of thin gold
metal membrane bridge suspended over the central conductor of coplanar waveguide
(CPW) and fixed on the ground conductor. The length of the bridge is 200 µm, the width
of the bridge is 90 µm and the thickness of the bridge is 2 µm. For dielectric silicon
nitrate having relative permittivity 7 is used having a thickness of 0.2 µm, the air gap
between lower conductor and upper conductor is 0.9 µm.

Figure 3.2: The structure of RF MEMS shunt switch.

In a particular arm when a switch is in ON position, the signal pass through

the switch that means there is no split in that particular arm; whereas, when the switch is
in OFF position, then the signal does not pass through it that means a split is presents in
that arm. The rings of ETSRR are coaxial probe fed. Ansoft HFSS simulator, finite
element based electro-magnetic mode solver is used for designing and simulation of the
structure. Effective parameter retrieval method [82] is used to extract the value of
effective permeability of the designed structure by using S parameters.

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Chapter-3 Frequency Reconfigurable Antenna

3.2.2 Results and Discussion

First basic configuration of ETSRR is considered with the switch S4 is OFF

in outer ETSRR and switch S1 is OFF in inner ETSRR, while rest of switches are ON.
The ETSRR structure exhibiting NRIM property in the frequency regime 2.7–4.7 GHz
and 5.5–8.6 GHz (Figure 3.3). Also the structure behaves as an antenna with a resonating
frequency of 8.07 GHz (Figure 3.4) and with a gain of 3.91 dB (Figure 3.5). The
structure has the metamaterial properties as well as behaves as an antenna so called
metamaterial antenna. Also because the antenna resonant at frequency that lies in
frequency regime in which the structure has metamaterial properties the antenna has high
gain.

0
n

-1

-2

-3
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10
Frequency [GHz]

Figure 3.3: Real value of refractive index of basic configuration of ETSRR.

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Chapter-3 Frequency Reconfigurable Antenna

-5

-10

Magnitude of S
-15

-20

-25

-30

-35
7.5 7.6 7.7 7.8 7.9 8 8.1 8.2 8.3 8.4 8.5
Frequency [GHz]

Figure 3.4: Return Loss of basic configuration of ETSRR.

Figure 3.5: Gain of basic configuration of ETSRR.

Now by making switch S3 and S4 OFF and rest of switches in ON position

the inner ring of ETSRR is rotated towards left; the resonating frequency of antenna
switched from 8.07 GHz to 8.05 GHz (Figure 3.6 Red curve) with a gain of 3.99 dB
(Figure 3.7a). While by making switch S2 and S4 OFF and rest of switches in ON
position the inner ring of ETSRR is rotated towards right; the resonating frequency of
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Chapter-3 Frequency Reconfigurable Antenna

antenna switched from 8.07 GHz to 8.05 GHz (Figure 3.6 Green curve) with a gain of
3.94 dB (Figure 3.7b).

-5

-10
Magnitude of S

-15

-20

-25
S1 & S4 OFF
S3 & S4 OFF
-30 S2 & S4 OFF

7.5 7.6 7.7 7.8 7.9 8 8.1 8.2 8.3 8.4 8.5
Frequency [GHz]

Figure 3.6: Return Loss of antenna when inner ring of ETSRR is rotated either left or
right.

(a)

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Chapter-3 Frequency Reconfigurable Antenna

(b)

Figure 3.7: Gain of antenna when inner ring of ETSRR is rotated (a) left, (b) right.

In case of outer ring, by making switch S1 and S6 OFF and rest of switches in
ON position the outer ring of ETSRR is rotated towards left; the resonating frequency of
antenna switched from 8.07 GHz to 8.04 GHz (Figure 3.8 Red curve) with a gain of 3.99
dB (Figure 3.9a); while by making switch S1 and S5 OFF and rest of switches in ON
position the outer ring of ETSRR is rotated towards right; the resonating frequency of
antenna switched from 8.07 GHz to 8.08 GHz (Figure 3.8 Green curve) with a gain of
3.89 dB (Figure 3.9b).

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Chapter-3 Frequency Reconfigurable Antenna

-5

-10
Magnitude of S

-15

-20

-25

S1 & S4
-30
S1 & S6
S1 & S5
-35
7.5 7.6 7.7 7.8 7.9 8 8.1 8.2 8.3 8.4 8.5
Frequency [GHz]

Figure 3.8: Return Loss of antenna when outer ring of ETSRR is rotated either left
or right.

(a)

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Chapter-3 Frequency Reconfigurable Antenna

(b)

Figure 3.9: Gain of antenna when outer ring of ETSRR is rotated (a) left, (b) right.

Thus with the help of RF MEMS switches the rings of ETSRR can be rotated
by shifting the splits in the arms of the inner and outer rings and shifting the resonant
frequency of antenna. Thus we get tunability.

3.3 FREQUENCY TUNABLE PLANAR PATCH ANTENNA LOADED

WITH SPLIT RING RESONATOR WITH ROTATED INNER RING

In this section, a frequency tunable planar patch antenna loaded with

metamaterial is presented. Square shaped split ring resonator with rotated inner ring is
used. Here one split is made in each arm of inner ring with RF MEMS switches within
them. By making RF MEMS switches ON/OFF the position of splits can be varied and
considered as rotation of inner ring. By this the resonant frequency gets shifted and thus
getting frequency reconfigurability.

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Chapter-3 Frequency Reconfigurable Antenna

3.3.1 Design Parameters

In this design, the rectangular patch antenna is loaded with planar square
shaped split ring resonator with rotated inner ring, as shown in figure 3.10 ( a, b). FR-4
having relative permittivity εr = 4.4 and thickness 1.57 mm is used as substrate. The
length and the width of rectangular patch antenna are 4.0 cm and 1.0 cm respectively.
Coaxial feeding is used to excite the patch antenna. The length of square split ring
resonator structure is Lsrr = 4.0 cm, width of each ring is 0.2 cm, the separation between
outer and inner rings is 0.4 cm, width of splits in each ring is 0.45 cm. Each arm of
inner ring of SRR has splits of width 0.45 cm along with RF MEMS switches S1, S2, S3,
S4 that are placed in each split. The distance between the square split ring resonator and
patch antenna is d = 0.3 cm.

(a)

(b)

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Chapter-3 Frequency Reconfigurable Antenna

Loaded Patch Antenna with

Basic Configuration of SRR

Simulation and Analyze the

Result

Rotate the inner ring by π/2

Simulation and Analyze the

Result

Rotate the inner ring further

by π/2
(Total Rotation π)

Simulation and Analyze the

Result

Rotate the inner ring further

by π/2
(Total Rotation 3π/2)

Simulation and Analyze the

Result

(c)

Figure 3.10: (a) Structure of loaded rectangular patch antenna with planar SRR with
rotated Inner Ring (b) Fabricated antenna (c) Flow chart of Methodology

The RF MEMS switches are implemented by absence and presence of metal

strip. The ON position of RF MEMS switch is implemented by presence of metal strip,
whereas OFF position of RF MEMS switch is implemented by absence of metal strip.
The structure is designed and simulated by using Ansoft HFSS simulator, finite element
based electro- magnetic mode solver.

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Chapter-3 Frequency Reconfigurable Antenna

3.3.2 Results and Discussion

The patch antenna is loaded with basic configuration of square SRR (where
split in inner ring and outer ring is opposite to each other). In this situation, the switch S1
is placed in OFF position while the switches S2, S3, S4 are placed in ON position. The
resonant frequency of loaded antenna structure is 5.52 GHz with a -10 dB bandwidth of
240 MHz and a gain of 30.85 dBm (figure 3.11 a, b).

(a)

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Chapter-3 Frequency Reconfigurable Antenna

(b)
Figure 3.11: (a) simulated and measured return loss (S11), (b) gain in (dBm) ; of
loaded patch antenna with SRR in its original configuration.

Now as inner ring of SRR is rotated through π/2 by making switches S2 OFF
while rest of other switches placed ON, the loaded antenna structure resonates at
frequency 5.50 GHz with a -10 dB bandwidth of 220 MHz and a gain of 30.20 dBm
(figure 3.12 a, b) respectively.

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Chapter-3 Frequency Reconfigurable Antenna

(a)

(b)
Figure 3.12: (a) simulated and measured return loss (S11), (b) gain in (dBm) ; of
loaded patch antenna when inner ring is rotated by π/2.

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Chapter-3 Frequency Reconfigurable Antenna

Now as inner ring of SRR is further rotated through π/2 (total π) by making
switches S3 OFF while rest of other switches ON the loaded antenna structure resonates
at frequency 5.44 GHz with a -10 dB bandwidth of 220 MHz and a gain of 31.92 dBm
(figure 3.13 a, b) respectively.

(a)

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Chapter-3 Frequency Reconfigurable Antenna

(b)
Figure 3.13: (a) simulated and measured return loss (S11), (b) gain in (dBm) ; of
loaded patch antenna when inner ring is rotated by π.

(a)

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Chapter-3 Frequency Reconfigurable Antenna

(b)
Figure 3.14: (a) simulated and measured return loss (S11), (b) gain in (dBm) ; of
loaded patch antenna when inner ring is rotated by 3π/2.

By rotating the inner ring further by π/2 (total 3π/2) by making switches S4 OFF
while rest of other switches ON the loaded antenna resonates at frequency 5.42 GHz with
a -10 dB bandwidth of 220 MHz and a gain of 31.15 dBm (figure 3.14 a, b). Thus by
rotating the inner ring of SRR frequency tunability is obtained.

3.4 CONCLUSION

In section 3.2, author has presented a frequency reconfigurable antenna inspired by

metamaterial. In this by rotating the inner and outer ring of ETSRR frequency
reconfigurability is achieved. The rings are rotated with the help of RF MEMS switches.
By rotation of inner ring towards left or right the resonant frequency is switched from
8.07 GHz to 8.05 GHz; whereas by rotating the outer ring either towards left or right, the
resonant frequency is shifted from 8.07 GHz to 8.04 GHz and from 8.07 GHz to 8.08
GHz, respectively. Whereas in [14] when the switch is ON the antenna resonant
frequency shifts from 5.012 GHz to 4.986 GHz and the switch is OFF the antenna
resonant frequency shifts to 4.784 GHz with gain of 4 dB and 2.8 dB respectively.

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Chapter-3 Frequency Reconfigurable Antenna

In section 3.3, planar patch antenna loaded with square shaped split ring
resonator metamaterial with inner ring rotation is presented. By rotating the inner ring
using RF MEMS switches frequency tunability has been achieved. The results show that
the loaded antenna resonating frequency get shifted from 5.52 GHz to 5.50 GHz as SRR
is rotated by π/2, to 5.44 GHz as SRR is rotated further by π/2 (total π rotation) and 5.42
GHz as SRR is rotated further by π/2 (total rotation 3π/2). Thus frequency tunability is
obtained. Whereas in [14] when the switch is ON the antenna resonant frequency shifts
from 5.012 GHz to 4.986 GHz and the switch is OFF the antenna resonant frequency
shifts to 4.784 GHz with gain of 4 dB and 2.8 dB respectively.

So by rotating the inner or outer ring frequency tenability is achieved.

The proposed antenna finds its application in multi-band mobile communication,
handheld devices, body area network (BAN) due to its better return loss and high gain.

72