Pixel Reconfigurable Antennas:

Towards Low-Complexity Full Reconfiguration

Daniel Rodrigo1, Jordi Romeu2, Bedri A. Cetiner3, Lluis Jofre2
1
Institute of BioEngineering, École Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne (EPFL), CH-1015 Lausanne, Switzerland
2
Dpt. Signal Theory and Communications, Universitat Politècnica de Catalunya (UPC), 08034 Barcelona, Spain
3
Electrical and Computer Eng. Dep., Utah State University (USU), UT 84322, Logan, USA

Abstract—The explosive growth of wireless communications

has brought new requirements in terms of compactness, mobility
and multi-functionality that make reconfigurable antennas
excellent candidates for future wireless networks. Pixel antennas
are particularly interesting due to their ability to dynamically
reshape its active surface to change their properties. Despite
their outstanding reconfigurability, pixel antennas require a level
of complexity and cost that prevents their implementation in
commercial systems. In this paper we cover the main concepts
for the design and optimization of pixel antennas and propose
novel pixel architectures. These new pixel structures allow us to
reduce the antenna complexity, maximize their reconfigurability
and eventually contribute to the development of pixel antennas
from a conceptual structure to a practical reconfigurable
architecture.
Index Terms— reconfigurable antenna, pixel antenna,
reconfiguration, repeater,

I. INTRODUCTION
The ultimate goal of reconfigurable antennas is to be able
to independently adjust the frequency of operation, the antenna
pattern and the polarization. The simultaneous tuning of
frequency and radiation properties is known as compound
reconfiguration [1]. While single-parameter reconfiguration is
a deeply studied problem, the situation is quite different for
compound reconfiguration [2]. The interdependence between
the different antenna parameters is a great obstacle for multi-
parameter reconfiguration. Some advances have been achieved
by combining in the same structure multiple single-parameter
reconfiguration techniques [3-5], however the reconfiguration
capability is limited by compatibility problems between
different one-dimensional techniques, resulting in a low
number of operation modes and poor versatility. In this paper
we focus on a different strategy that uses geometrical
structures with intrinsically rich reconfigurability: pixel
antennas.
A pixel antenna is a particular type of reconfigurable
antenna composed of a grid of metallic patches interconnected
by RF-switches which can dynamically reshape its active
surface (Fig. 1) [6-9]. This shape-morphing capability provides
pixel antennas with an extreme level of reconfigurability,
much higher than in other architectures. Despite the
outstanding reconfiguration capability of pixel antennas, there
are important practical issues related to the performance-
This work was supported in part by the Spanish CICYT under project
TEC2013-47360-C3-1-P and CONSOLIDER CSD2008-68, by the
”Ministerio de Educación y Ciencia” through FPU fellowship program and by
the U.S. National Inst. of Justice under grant 2009-SQ-B9-K005.
Fig. 1. (a) Conceptual architecture of a reconfigurable pixel antenna. The
antenna is composed of electrically small metallic pixels
interconnected by RF-switches. (b) The shape-morphing capability
of the pixel antenna is illustrated by representing different
configurations. (c) Regular and semi-regular geometries of the pixel
layer.
complexity balance that must be addressed before they can be
implemented in commercial systems. This paper focuses on the
minimization of the pixel antenna complexity while
maximizing its reconfiguration capabilities, contributing to the
development of pixel antennas from a conceptual structure to a
practical reconfigurable antenna architecture. In this
contribution we first discuss general concepts about pixel
antennas followed next by the presentation of novel pixel
antenna architectures.
II. PIXEL ANTENNAS: GENERAL CONCEPTS
A. Pixel geometry
Ideally it would be desired to establish a simple relation
between the pixel geometry and reconfiguration capabilities.
Although this has not been achieved yet, we have obtained the
following rules-of-thumb for the pixel size (LP) and total size
(LT) by numerical simulations and experimentation:
 Fig. 2. Examples of the applicatoin of the multi-size pixel technique to
different antenna architectures: planar monopole, planar dipole and
patch [13]. © 2012 IEEE

LT > Ȝmax/2, LP < Ȝmin/10 (1)

The first rule guarantees that the structure is able to support

resonant paths, while the second rules ensures a fine control
over the synthesized shape. It is worth adding that although the
most conventional pixel geometry is a rectangular grid of
square patches, any plane tessellation can be used, such as
regular (rectangular, triangular and hexagonal) and semiregular
tesselations (Fig.1).

B. Electromagnetic Simulation
The main peculiarity in the electromagnetic simulation of
pixel antennas is the requirement to model a large amount of
switches and calculate the antenna response for thousands of
configurations. The simulation approach where RF-switches
are electromagnetically modeled as impedance surfaces can
only be used for simulating a reduced number of
configurations. Instead, the most efficient simulation approach
in pixel antennas is to replace switches by RF-ports and
simulate the full scattering matrix and the radiation pattern
from each port. Subsequently, the reflection coefficient and
radiation pattern can be calculated for each configuration using
the port-loading method [10], a post-processing step that is
several orders of magnitude faster than a full-wave
electromagnetic simulation.
C. Optimal Switch Configurations
Optimality in pixel antennas is defined in accordance to a
fitness function that measures the performance of the switch
configuration, for instance the antenna return loss or its
realized gain. Due to the huge size of the configuration space
of pixel antennas an efficient strategy is needed to extract the
optimal switch configurations, both at simulation and
experimental levels. The random walk approach consist on
evaluating randomly generated configurations and is a useful
strategy to explore the overall performance of the antenna or as
a preliminary optimization step. Subsequently, further
refinement can be performed using discrete optimization
algorithms such as genetic algorithms, particle swarm
optimization or ant colony optimization [11,12].
III. MULTI-SIZE PIXEL ANTENNAS
The typical geometry of pixel antennas is a uniform grid of
small metallic patches with switches between every pair of
Fig. 3. Picture of the multi-size pixel planar monopole. This pixel
monopole provides simultaneous frequency and radiation pattern
reconfiguration utilizing only 12 strategically-located RF-switches
[13]. © 2012 IEEE
adjacent patches as depicted in Fig. 1. However, this is a
highly complex structure and uniform pixelation is clearly a
suboptimal geometry in terms of complexity because the
contribution of each pixel to the antenna reconfigurability is
not uniform. Pixels and switches located close to the RF-port
have a much stronger influence over the antenna input
impedance than those at further locations. We can reduce the
antenna complexity by introducing multiple-sized pixels [13,
14].
First we divide the antenna area in two different regions:
the region near the RF-port mostly affects the antenna input
impedance while the region far from the RF-port mostly
affects the radiation characteristics. By using small and large
pixels respectively in the regions near and far from the RF-port
we can equalize the contribution of each pixel to the antenna
reconfigurability. Additionally, we can further reduce the
antenna complexity by removing those switches that contribute
less to antenna reconfigurability. For instance, we can optimize
a fully switched antenna to operate in multiple conditions
(resonant frequencies, steering angles..) and replace the
switches with less variable state by wires or gaps depending on
the dominant state. This technique is compatible with many
different antenna architectures and some of them are
represented in Fig. 2.
A fully operational prototype of the multi-size pixel
technique applied to a planar monopole is shown in Fig. 3.
This pixel monopole has been designed to provide frequency
tunability over L, S and C bands, and for every frequency
 Fig. 5. Measured gain of the multi-size pixel monopole for the optimal
configuration at each frequency and angular direction of interest
[13]. © 2012 IEEE

Fig. 4. Measured and simulated radiation patterns of the multi-size pixel

planar monopole for the 5 optimal configurations operating at the
2.45GHz band [13]. © 2012 IEEE

being able to steer its radiation pattern, reaching maximum

pattern reconfigurability at 2.45GHz ISM band. The antenna
consists of a Ȝ0/2 x Ȝ0/2 surface composed of multiple-sized
pixels divided in a driven and a parasitic region. The pixels in
the driven region have dimensions below Ȝ0/20, while the
pixels in the parasitic region have dimensions of Ȝ0/6. A
Fig. 6. Parasitic pixel layers with rectangular, circular and cylindrical
detailed view of the switching circuitry is shown in Fig. 3. The geometry used to provide reconfiguration capabilities to
biasing network actuates over 12 RF-switches (RF-diodes) and unidirectional, bi-directional and omnidirectional driven antennas.
lumped inductors are distributed over the biasing lines to make
them RF-transparent.
The impedance and radiation properties of the multi-size One of the potential applications of this antenna
monopole are measured over all the different configurations reconfigurability consists on combining frequency tunability
(212 = 4096 configurations) to fully characterize its and beam-steering to mitigate interferences [15]. The multi-
reconfiguration capabilities. In Fig. 4 we represent the optimal size pixel monopole is able provide an average interference
radiation patterns at 2.45GHz for five different angular rejection level of 18 dB and 24 dB for in-band and out-band
directions, showing that the multi-size pixel antenna is able to interferences respectively.
successfully steer its radiation pattern. Additionally to the
radiation reconfiguration, the antenna is able to perform multi IV. PARASITIC PIXEL LAYER
parameter reconfiguration. The overall performance of the
In the previous section we broke the traditional uniformity
antenna in reconfiguring simultaneously frequency and
of pixel antennas to minimize their complexity. In this section
radiation pattern is summarized in Fig. 5. In this figure we
the traditional active nature of pixel antennas is abandoned and
represent the maximum antenna gain for each frequency and
a new architecture is proposed where the pixel layer has a
angular direction. We can observe that the antenna is able to
purely parasitic behavior.
provide gains between 4dB and 8dB for frequencies between
This approach takes advantage of an existing non-
2GHz and 4GHz and for angular directions between -80 and
reconfigurable antenna and provides it with reconfiguration
+80 degrees over the XZ plane. It is worth emphasizing that
capabilities by incorporating an external parasitic layer having
while uniform pixel antennas require hundreds of switches,
a pixel geometry [16-18]. The parasitic pixel layer is located in
this carefully optimized multi-size monopole provides rich
the reactive field region of the driven antenna inducing a
reconfiguration capabilities by using only 12 switches.
significant impedance loading that modifies the resonance

Fig. 7. Schematic and picture of the parasitic pixel layer used to
reconfigure the resonance frequency, radiation pattern and
polarization of a patch antenna [17]. © 2014 IEEE
frequency of the driven antenna. On the other hand, the strong
coupling between the driven antenna and the parasitic pixel
surface induces significant currents over the pixel layer,
therefore modifying the antenna radiation pattern and
polarization. As a result, it is possible to simultaneously tune
the antenna resonance frequency, radiation pattern and
polarization by properly selecting the switch configuration.
This approach allows to add reconfiguration capabilities to
existing antennas and has clear advantages from fabrication,
integration and biasing perspectives. Additionally, the
geometry of the parasitic pixel layer can be easily adapted to
match different driven antenna architectures as shown in Fig.
6.
A prototype of a reconfigurable antenna using parasitic
pixel layer to reconfigure a driven patch antenna is shown in
Fig. 7. The prototype uses a patch antenna operating at
2.45GHz combined with a 6x6 parasitic pixel layer located at
the distance d from the patch antenna. The parasitic layer has
an overall size of 0.72Ȝ and an individual pixel size of Ȝ/10. A
Fig. 9. Simultaneous frequency and radiation pattern reconfigurability of the parasitic pixel layer antenna [17]. © 2014 IEEE
Fig. 8. Frequency reconfiguration of the parasitic pixel layer antenna.
The reflection coefficient of the optimal configurations are
represented, showing that the antenna is able to tune its resonance
frequency over a 25% frequency range[17]. © 2014 IEEE
total number of 60 low-cost PIN diodes are located between
pixels and are individually controlled through independent
biasing lines, with an average total DC-power consumption of
0.42W.
The frequency and radiation reconfiguration properties of
the antenna are characterized by analyzing a random statistical
sample composed of 20.000 points of the configuration space.
The frequency reconfiguration capabilities of the antenna are
illustrated in Fig. 8. We observe that the pixel layer is able to
shift the resonance frequency of the patch antenna over a 25%
frequency range without reducing the antenna bandwidth. In
addition to the resonance frequency tuning, the antenna is able
to independently reconfigure its radiation pattern and
polarization. As an example of the compound reconfigurability
of the antenna we show in Fig. 9 the optimal radiation patterns
for each considered frequency (from 2.4GHz to 2.9GHz) and
angular direction of interest (ș=-30°, 0°, +30°). It is also worth
mentioning that the complete analysis of the antenna properties
for different distances d between the patch antenna and the
pixel layer reveal that this distance can be use to balance
frequency and radiation reconfigurability. Low distances
(d<Ȝ/20) maximize the frequency tuning range at the expense
of reducing the average realized gain of the antenna. The
situation is reversed for higher distances (d> Ȝ/20).
 V. PIXEL REPEATERS
The application of pixel layers can be extended to multi-
antenna systems. One interesting case is RF-repeaters, which
are fundamentally composed of a receiving and a transmitting
antennas linked through an amplification link. The maximum
amplification of this active system is limited by stability and is
ultimately set by the isolation level between the two antennas.
A pixel layer can be incorporated between the two antennas to
create a frequency-tunable high-isolation band [19]. The
operating principle consists on selecting switch configurations
in such a way that the field scattered by the pixel layer cancels
the field created by one antenna over the other, resulting in a
reduction of the mutual coupling. The prototype and the Fig. 10. Frequency tunable pixel repeater prototype [19]. © 2014 IEEE
measured coupling coefficient for the optimal configurations
are shown in Fig. 10 and 11. We can observe that the
optimized pixel repeater can tune the operating frequency over
a 40% range, achieving a reliable isolation of 50 dB, which is
35dB higher than the system without pixel layer.

VI. CONCLUSIONS
Pixel antennas are one of the most promising antenna
architectures for the next generation of reconfigurable antennas
where compactness, multi-functionality and multi-parameter
reconfiguration are the main requirements. Pixel antennas
provide a new level of reconfigurability thanks to the huge
flexibility of their switched pixel surface. However, their high
degree of complexity is big barrier to their implementation in
current wireless communication systems. Careful optimization
of the pixel geometry by using multi-size pixels, as well as
using pixel surfaces as parasitic elements, allows us to provide
impressive reconfiguration capabilities with a significantly
reduced level of complexity. The combination of rich multi-
parameter reconfiguration and low-complexity can make pixel
antennas one of the key antenna architectures for future
wireless networks.
REFERENCES
[1] J. T. Bernhard, Reconfigurable Antennas, ser. Synthesis Lectures on
Antennas. Morgan & Claypool Publishers, 2007.
[2] G. H. Huff and J. T. Bernhard, "Reconfigurable antennas," in Modern
Antenna Handbook,C. A. Balanis, Ed. John Wiley & Sons, Inc., 2008,
pp. 369-398
[3] X.-S. Yang, B.-Z. Wang, W. Wu, and S. Xiao, "Yagi patch antenna with
dual-band and pattern recon_gurable characteristics," IEEE Antennas
Wireless Propag. Lett., vol. 6, pp.168-171, 2007.
[4] S. Nikolaou et al., "Pattern and frequency recon_gurable annular slot
antenna using PIN diodes," IEEE Trans. Antennas Propag., vol. 54, no.
2, pp. 439-448, 2006.
[5] J.-S. Row and C.-J. Shih, "Polarization-diversity ring slot antenna with
frequency agility," IEEE Trans. Antennas Propag., vol. 60, no. 8, pp.
3953-3957, 2012.
[6] L. Pringle et al., "A reconfigurable aperture antenna based on switched
links between electrically small metallic patches," IEEE Trans.
Antennas Propag., vol. 52, no. 6, pp. 1434-1445, 2004.
[7] J. Maloney et al., "Switched fragmented aperture antennas," in IEEE
Antennas and Propag. Soc. Int.Symp., pp. 310-313, 2000.
[8] B. Perry, E. Rothwell, and L. Nagy, "Analysis of switch failures in a
self-structuring antenna system," IEEE Antennas Wireless Propag. Lett.,
vol. 4, pp. 68-70, 2005
Fig. 11. Measured coupling coefficient between the transmitting and
receiving antennas of the tunable pixel repeater [19]. © 2014 IEEE
[9] A. Grau, J. Romeu, L. Jofre, and F. De Flaviis, "A software defined
MEMS-reconfigurable PIXEL-antenna for narrowband MIMO
systems," in Adaptive Hardware and Systems, pp.141-146, 2008
[10] J. Perruisseau-Carrier et al. "Contributions to the modeling and design
of reconfigurable ref;ecting cells embedding discrete control elements,"
IEEE Trans. Microw. Theory Tech., vol. 58, pp. 1621-1628, 2010.
[11] C. Coleman, E. Rothwell, and J. Ross, "Investigation of simulated
annealing, ant-colony optimization, and genetic algorithms for self-
structuring antennas," IEEE Trans. Antennas Propag., vol. 52, no. 4, pp.
1007-1014, 2004.
[12] Y. Rahmat-Samii and E. Michielssen, Electromagnetic Optimization by
Genetic Algorithms. New York, USA: John Wiley & Sons, 1999.
[13] D. Rodrigo and L. Jofre, "Frequency and radiation pattern
reconfigurability of a multi-size pixel antenna," IEEE Trans. Antennas
Propag., vol. 60, no. 5, pp. 2219-2225, 2012.
[14] D. Rodrigo and L. Jofre, "MEMS-reconfigurable antenna based on a
multi-size pixelled geometry," Proc. Fourth European Conf. Antennas
and Propagation (EuCAP), 2010
[15] D. Rodrigo, J. Romeu and L. Jofre, "Interference rejection using
frequency and pattern reconfigurable antennas", Int. Symp. Antennas
and Propag. (APSURSI), 2012
[16] D. Rodrigo et al., "Antenna reconfigurability based on a novel parasitic
pixel layer," in Proc. Fifth European Conf. Antennas and Propagation
(EuCAP), pp. 3497-3500, 2011
[17] D. Rodrigo, B. A. Cetiner, and L. Jofre, "Frequency, radiation pattern
and polarization reconfigurable antenna using a parasitic pixel layer,"
IEEE Trans. Antennas Propag, vol. 62, no. 6., pp. 3422-3427, 2014.
[18] X. Yuan et al., "A parasitic layer-based reconfigurable antenna design
by multi-objective optimization", IEEE Trans. Antennas Propag., vol.
60, no. 6, pp. 2690-2701, 2012.
[19] D. Rodrigo, E. Diaz-Tapia and L. Jofre, "Reconfigurable Pixel-Layer
Isolator for Frequency Tunable On-Frequency Repeaters", IEEE
Antennas and Wireless Propag. Lett., vol, 13, pp.475-478, 2014