Design, analysis, and verification of Ka-Band pattern reconfigurable patch antenna using RF MEMS switches

Abstract

This paper proposes a radiating pattern reconfigurable antenna by employing RFMicro-electromechanical Systems (RF MEMS) switches. The antenna has a low profile and small sizeof 4 mm ± 5 mm ± 0.4 mm, and mainly consists of one main patch, two assistant patches, and two RFMEMS switches. By changing the RF MEMS switches operating modes, the proposed antenna canswitch among three radiating patterns (with main lobe directions of approximately -17.0°, 0° and+17.0°) at 35 GHz. The far-field vector addition model is applied to analyse the pattern. Comparingthe measured results with analytical and simulated results, good agreements are obtained.