A Compact Grounded Asymmetric Coplanar Strip-Fed Flexible Multiband Reconfigurable Antenna for Wireless Applications

Abstract

A compact grounded asymmetric coplanar strip (GACS)-fed flexible multiband frequency reconfigurable antenna with two PIN diodes is proposed. The investigated antenna is backed by a flexible polyamide substrate with compact dimensions of 24 mm $\times19$ mm and a thickness of 1.53 mm. The investigated antenna structure contains a monopole patch that facilitates operation for wireless LAN applications, whereas inverted L-shaped and F-shaped monopoles facilitate operation for Bluetooth and 5G NR applications. The investigated antenna operates at 2.4, 3.8, and 5.6 GHz with measured impedance bandwidths of 5.8%, 6.3%, and 6.6%, respectively, over the three frequency bands, thus facilitating coverage for Bluetooth, 5G NR, and WLAN standards. The two PIN diodes are employed to tune the investigated antenna among four modes, including a single band mode (WLAN 5.5 GHz), two dual-band modes (5G NR 3.8/5.6 GHz, and Bluetooth 2.48/5.6 GHz), and one multiband mode with Bluetooth (2.4 GHz), 5G New Radio (NR) N77 band (3.8 GHz), and WLAN (5.6 GHz) modes. The investigated antenna radiates unidirectionally with a peak gain of 3.73 dBi at 5.6 GHz. Measurements are carried out on the human body to investigate the behaviour of the wearable antenna. The simulated SAR values are in a safe limit of 1.6 W/kg for 1 g of tissue, according to the FCC. Moreover, the investigated antenna shows extremely low vulnerability to degradation in performance as a result of bending effects concerning impedance matching with acceptable acquiescence between measurements and simulations.

Keywords

• Flexible
• GACS
• reconfigurable
• multiband
• WLAN