Miniaturized 3‐bit frequency‐reconfigurable monopole antenna with a meander line

Abstract

Abstract A novel 3‐bit frequency‐reconfigurable antenna (FRA) with miniaturized dimensions is realized with a meander line. The frequency reconfiguration of the antenna is achieved by introducing N Radio Frequency (RF) PIN diodes into the meander line. The related parts of the meander line with different lengths are bypassed or included into the antenna by switching on or off the diodes, resulting in 2N switchable size lengths of the antenna and equally spaced operating frequencies. A 3‐bit reconfigurable meander‐line antenna (N = 3) is designed, and the simulated and measured results agree well. The antenna provides 8 (23) independent and switchable states, with the operating frequencies covering a wide switchable frequency range from 1.04 to 1.51 GHz and the working bandwidths varying from 80 to 150 MHz. The number of working bandwidth states is maximized, considering the number of switches used. Moreover, the results reveal an acceptable peak gain of 1.59 dBi in terms of the miniaturized total dimension of 0.17 λg × 0.07 λg (λg is the guided wavelength at the lowest working frequency), which is more compact than several published FRAs.

Keywords

• microstrip antennas
• reconfigurable architectures