Author(s)

S. Anand, J. Josephine Pon Gloria

Department of Electronics and Communication Engineering, Mepco Schlenk Engineering College, Sivakasi, India.

Wireless communication systems which require flexibility and reconfigurability in antenna systems faces main problems like antenna performance, size, weight and cost. A wide band Frequency Reconfigurable Rectangular Slotted Self Similar Antenna has been proposed in this paper. The rectangular slotted patch is repeated for two iterations at different scales and is separated by means of Radio Frequency Micro Electro Mechanical Systems (RF MEMS) switches in order to provide reconfigurability. The antenna can operate in three frequency bandsi.e. K-band, Ku-band and Ka-band by altering the states of RF MEMS switches. To avoid fringing effects and to improve antenna performance, quarter wavelength (λ/4) spacing is required between the antenna and the ground plane. However, a Reconfigurable Antenna requires different λ/4 spacing which is difficult to achieve using a common ground plane. So the Frequency Reconfigurable antenna is integrated with high impedance surface (HIS) like Electronic Band Gap (EBG) structures to suppress standing waves and surface waves with a unified profile thickness of 1.75 mm. The overall dimension of the proposed antenna along with RF MEMS Switch, feed element and HIS is about 8 mm × 8 mm × 1.75 mm. The simulated results of the proposed antenna reveal enhancement in antennas performance like Voltage Standing Wave Ratio (VSWR), Front to Back Ratio (FBR) and bandwidth when it is placed over HIS EBG. Also the radiation patterns of the proposed antenna when placed over EBG shows the suppression of side lobe and backward radiation.

Frequency Reconfigurable Antenna, Radio Frequency Micro Electro Mechanical Systems, High Impedance Structure, Self Similar Structures

Anand, S. and Gloria, J. (2016) RF MEMS Based Reconfigurable Rectangular Slotted Self Similar Antenna. Circuits and Systems, 7, 859-876. doi: 10.4236/cs.2016.76074.