Reconfigurable Microstrip Antennas

Abstract

While reconfigurable antennas have been implemented in various ways over the past 40 years, reconfigurable microstrip antennas, in particular, have existed for almost as long as the microstrip antenna itself, dating back to the early 1980s. The motivation for implementing reconfigurable properties in an antenna in general is straightforward -the acquisition of new capabilities that eliminate the need for multiple antennas and/or that provide additional degrees of operational freedom that expand system performance. Microstrip antennas are particularly good candidates for achieving reconfigurability, since their well-defined ground planes and planar structures present clear opportunities for integration of a number of popular reconfigurable mechanisms (including switches and tunable materials) and their associated control circuitry. Additionally, since most microstrip antennas operate in resonance and their operation is well modeled and well understood, an informed designer can manipulate the antenna structure and composition in different ways to achieve a variety of reconfigurable properties.This chapter addresses recent advances in the development of reconfigurable microstrip antennas, with an emphasis not only on the antennas themselves, but also on the practical issues surrounding their implementation, including control and system-level design and performance. Fundamentally, microstrip antenna behavior is governed by two kinds of properties: substrate properties and conductor properties. Section 6.2 describes the basic concepts behind changes in substrate parameters, including tunable changes in relative permittivity and permeability, as well as some recent examples that produce useful reconfigurability. Section 6.3 addresses changes in the conductive components of microstrip antennas that can lead to a wide variety of reconfigurability. Section 6.4 discusses many of the important issues surrounding the practical Microstrip and Printed Antennas: New Trends, Techniques and ApplicationsEdited by Debatosh Guha and Yahia M.M. Antar

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