Design and analysis of a frequency reconfigurable microstrip patch antenna switching between four frequency bands

Abstract

An effective design of a novel, compact, single feed, dual patch frequency reconfigurable Microstrip Patch Antenna (MPA) for wireless communication systems is proposed and studied in this paper. Fundamental structure of the antenna consists of a rectangular patch and a U-shaped patch. This antenna occupies a compact volume of 86.3mm × 50 mm × 1.5875 mm (6850.6 mm3) including ground plane. Switching among four different frequencies is obtained by varying effective length of antenna. Effective length is changed by placing three PIN diodes at different positions in the slot present between two patches of the antenna. Variations in effective length perturb the surface current paths and hence change current density on the conducting patches. By changing states of PIN diodes, the proposed antenna could be switched to 1.87 GHz, 3.55 GHz, 3.67 GHz and 5.6 GHz frequencies. Antenna is simulated in High Frequency Structure Simulator (HFSS) Version 13.0, and a prototype of the simulated antenna with DC biasing circuit is fabricated on a flame retardant (FR-4) Epoxy substrate. The antenna is fed by an inset microstrip line which provides impedance matching. The prototype is tested for its performance analysis. A good agreement is obtained between measured and simulated results. Simulated and measured results show that the antenna provides return loss less than −10 dB assuring good match in absence of any matching network at all frequencies. Effect of changing the position of PIN diodes on resonance frequencies is also studied. The proposed antenna provides benefits such as multifunction operation and symmetry of radiation pattern upon switching between different frequencies.