A Planar Reconfigurable Yagi-Uda Antenna with End-Fire Beam Scan

Huan-Chu Huang 1, 3, and Powen Hsu *2

Graduate Institute of Communication Engineering and 2Department of Electrical Engineering National Taiwan University, Taipei 10617, Taiwan 3 HTC Corporation, Taoyuan 33068, Taiwan 4 Tel: +886-2-33663654, Fax: +886-2-23651744 E-mail: phsu@cc.ee.ntu.edu.tw
Abstract A novel planar reconfigurable antenna on a thin dielectric substrate based on the Yagi-Uda design rationale is proposed. This design not only can provide the end-fire beam scan with high directivities (at least 7.6 dBi) over a 60 coverage but also can operate at a fixed frequency without frequency shift when beam scans. The efficiencies of the antenna in all scanning scenarios are better than 78.5% or 1 dBi in terms of the 3D average gain. Index Terms Reconfigurable antennas, planar antennas, Yagi-Uda antenna, end-fire, beam scan.
1

scans.return loss degradation because L1 of the frequency shift W1 SW1 wh W3 y

W2 L2 x L4 SW3 W5 L3 SW5 SW6 W7 W6 W4 W8

SW4

I. INTRODUCTION Due to the increasing demand for portable devices with GPS functions, the embedded GPS antennas have gained more and more attractiveness. For better communication with GPS satellites, the radiation patterns of the embedded GPS antennas should direct to the sky [1]-[2]. Because of the complex environment and weak GPS signal, reconfigurable patterns with high directivities from the embedded GPS antennas can enhance the GPS communication qualities. Antennas with reconfigurable patterns in the broadside have been well studied [3]-[4]; however, the planar antennas with end-fire reconfigurable patterns will be more suitable to the portable devices because of low profile and better conformability [5]. A new planar reconfigurable Yagi-Uda antenna with end-fire beam scan is hence designed especially for the GPS functions in mobile devices, such as smartphones, GPS navigators, Notebooks, or Ultra-Mobile PCs (UMPCs). In addition, a WLAN access point or a smart antenna system (SAS) with better scanning resolution can also be attained by adequately placing the antennas in a special arrangement, such as a triangle, a square, a pentagon, and so on. II. PRINCIPLES To achieve a highly directive pattern scanning in the endfire direction instead of the broadside one, a Yagi-Uda design is used. In Fig. 1, this planar antenna consists of a driven dipole, a reflector, a director, two floating arms, and six switches. Besides, a phase shifter is designed to maintain the target frequency workable without the significant return loss degradation due to the frequency shift when the beam scans.
SW2 L6 x W16 L9 W12 W13

(a) Top metal layer L5 W10 L8 W15

W11 y

W9 W14

L8

(b) Bottom metal layer Via

z Port x y

Bottom-layer reflector Phase shifter

Driven dipole Bottom-layer side director Front director

Top-layer reflector

Top-layer side director

(c) Tilted view (assuming the dielectric substrate is transparent) Fig. 1.

Geometry of the proposed antenna.

978-1-4244-2802-1/09/$25.00 2009 IEEE

1914

TABLE I ANTENNAS DIMENSIONS

Structure Top-Layer Front Director Top-Layer Side Director Top-Layer Driven Dipole Symbol L1 W1 W2 L2 W3 W4 L3 W5 W6 W7 L4 W8 Value (mm) 33.0 3.0 24.9 65.0 3.0 41.3 38.6 26.0 3.0 3.0 113.5 5.0 Bottom-Layer Front Director Bottom-Layer Side Director Bottom-Layer Driven Dipole Bottom-Layer Reflector L5 W9 W10 L6 W11 W12 L7 W13 W14 L8 L9 W15 W16 33.0 3.0 24.9 65.0 3.0 41.3 38.6 3.0 21.4 3.5 236.0 5.0 55.0

Top-Layer Reflector

In this design, the truncated ground on the bottom metal layer and the two long strips on the top metal layers are connected through the vias with 0.4 mm in radius, which function as the role of the reflector behind the driven dipole. Besides the purpose of electrical connection between top and bottom layers, the vias can also enhance the reflection due to the metal properties and thus improve the directivity and the front-to-back ratio (F/B). Meanwhile, the two floating arms located beside the front director as shown in Fig. 1 act as two additional side directors which will lead to beam scanning as long as the statuses of the two switches, SW1 and SW2, are skillfully controlled. Due to the preliminary study, the on status of a switch is simulated by a shorted metal path, while the off status is done by an open one. To make sure the ability to keep the same target operation frequency, the switches in the phase shifter should be activated according to the statuses of SW1 and SW2. In addition, SW3 and SW4 are designed to operate synchronously, so as SW5 and SW6, because only one feeding path will be activated at one time. In other words, both SW3 and SW4 will be turned off as long as SW1 and SW2 are turned on together. Otherwise, SW5 and SW6 will be cut off to allow the fed signal through the SW3 and SW4. Additionally, to achieve qualified return losses (|S11| 10 dB) when beam scans in different switching scenarios, two notches on the bottom metal layer are made to enable a better impedance match. When the switches SW1 and SW2 are both off, that is, the scenario of three isolated and floating directors in front of the driven dipole, the main beam will direct to the end-fire direction on the plane of = 90. This phenomenon roots from the cancellation of two vector dragging forces from the two side directors, and consequently the net directing effect will lead the main beam to radiate in the end-fire direction. However, when one of SW1 and SW2 is turned on, the corresponding isolated director, in other words, one of the side directors, will connect with the front director and hence form a long metal strip. This long metal strip actually

behaves more like another reflector instead of a director in addition to the original reflector. Therefore, the newly formed reflector will retard the propagation of radiated energy, so the main beam will be guided by the remaining isolated short director and the beam veers. Moreover, when both of the two mentioned switches, SW1 and SW2, are turned on, that is, the scenario of a single longer metal strip existing before the driven dipole, a new longer reflector consequently forms. In such situation, relatively more energy as compared with the previously said scenarios will be retarded by this new and the original reflectors and the main beam will be split into two ones and squeezed toward the directions of = 0 and = 180. As a result, the directivities in these two mentioned orientations will be better than those of the former analyzed cases. III. SIMULATION RESULTS Simulation of the proposed design is performed by the simulator Ansoft HFSS. The substrate used is FR4 with relative dielectric constant of 4.4, loss tangent of 0.02, and thickness of 0.8 mm. Besides, the metals conductivity is set at 5.8107 S/m. The target designed operation frequency is the GPSs frequency, 1575 MHz. Furthermore, based on Fig. 1, the dimensions of this designed geometry are clearly listed in Table I. In Figs. 1 (a) and 1(b), the white part is the FR4 dielectric substrate. The grayish areas represent the top metal layer, and the charcoal gray ones stand for the bottom metal layer. Furthermore, the tilted view of the structure is shown in Fig. 1(c), in which for clearer and more complete sight of the whole metal layout, the FR4 dielectric substrate is set to be transparent. For different switching schemes, the 2D and 3D directivity patterns are correspondingly shown in Fig. 2 to Fig. 5. The antenna characteristics, such as the return loss (or |S11|), bandwidth, main beam angle, directivity, front-to-back ratio, and efficiency are listed in Table II.

1915

TABLE II ANTENNAS PERFORMANCE

SW1 Status off off on on SW2 Status off on off on |S11| @ 1575 MHz -15.7 dB -12.9 dB -24.9 dB -10.2 dB Bandwidth (|S11| -10 dB) 80 MHz 105 MHz 85 MHz 65 MHz Main Beam Angle = 90, = 90 = 90, = 60 = 90, = 120 = 0 & = 180 Directivity 8.6 dBi 7.6 dBi 7.6 dBi 3.7 dBi F/B 13.5 dB 10.8 dB 10.3 dB 1.4 dB Efficiency 79.8% 84.1% 80.5% 78.7%

From Table II, the maximum directivity of 8.6 dBi occurs in the case of three isolated directors, i.e., both SW1 and SW2 are turned off. Moreover, beam scan angles can reach 30 in the end-fire direction with high directivities (at least 7.6 dBi) and acceptable return losses (|S11| 10 dB). The efficiencies in different scenarios are better than 78.5%, i.e., 1 dB in terms of the 3D average gain. In addition, the F/B of the design is defined by the ratio of the directivity of the direction of the maximum radiation to that of the direction of

the maximum lobe in the range of 60 from the opposite direction [6]. Moreover, when SW1 and SW2 are turned on at the same time, from Fig. 5 (c), stronger powers are directed to = 0 and = 180 and hence can enable the better transmitting and receiving quality in the broadside direction compared with previous three cases. In other words, although this scenario cannot provide high directivity, it can offer a broader coverage shown in Fig. 5 (d).

(a) 3D pattern Fig. 2.

(b) = 90

(c) = 0

(d) = 90

Directivity patterns at 1575MHz when SW1 is off and SW2 is off.

(a) 3D pattern Fig. 3.

(b) = 90

(c)

= 0

(d)

= 90

Directivity patterns at 1575MHz when SW1 is off and SW2 is on.

1916

(a) 3D pattern Fig. 4.

(b) = 90

(c) = 0

(d) = 90

Directivity patterns at 1575MHz when SW1 is on and SW2 is off.

(a) 3D pattern Fig. 5.

(b) = 90

(c) = 0

(d) = 90

Directivity patterns at 1575MHz when SW1 is on and SW2 is on.

IV. CONCLUSION The proposed novel planar reconfigurable Yagi-Uda antenna with high directivities when beam scans can achieve more scan angles or finer angular resolutions by employing more side directors. Besides, the size of the antenna can be further reduced by clever transformation of the arms of the driven dipole, such as the meander type. Furthermore, to broaden the scanning coverage, the shape of the ends of the driven arms can be tilted or curved. Last, by employing more such proposed antennas in an appropriate arrangement, a simple smart antenna system (SAS) can be attained. ACKNOWLEDGEMENT The work was support by the National Science Council, Taiwan, under Contract NSC 97-2221-E-002-061-MY3. REFERENCES
[1] M. Sanad, and N. Hassan, Mobile Cellular/ GPS/ Satellite Antennas with Both Single-Band and Dual-Band Feed Points,in Proc. IEEE Antennas & Propag. Society Int. Symp., Jul. 2000, vol. 1, pp. 298-301. K. Yegin, AMPS/ PCS/ GPS Active Antenna for Emergency Call Systems, IEEE Antennas & Wireless Propag. Lett., vol. 6, pp. 255-258, 2007. S. Zhang, G. H. Huff, J. Feng, and J. T. Bernhard, A Pattern Reconfigurable Microstrip Parasitic Array, IEEE Trans. Antennas & Propag., vol. 52, no. 10, pp. 2773-2776, Oct. 2004. M. J. Slater, H. K. Pan, and J. T. Bernhard, Preliminary Results in the Development of a Compound Reconfigurable Antenna, in Proc. IEEE Antennas & Propag. Society Int. Symp., Jul. 2008, pp. 1-4. G. Yao, Z. Xue, and W. Li, and Z. Liu, Multi-Feed Compared with Single-Feed End-Fire Antenna, in Proc. IEEE Antennas, Propag. & EM Theory Int. Symp., Nov. 2008, pp. 240-243,. N. Honma, T. Seki, K. Nishikawa, K. Tsunekawa, and K. Sawaya, Compact Six-Sector Antenna Employing Three Intersecting Dual-Beam Microstrip Yagi-Uda Arrays with Common Director, IEEE Trans. Antennas & Propag., vol. 54, no. 11, pp. 3055-3062, Nov. 2006.

[2] [3] [4]

[5] [6]

1917