IEEE ANTS 2019 1570567012

1   Design and Implementation of Frequency

2  
3  
4  
Reconfigurable Antenna for Wireless Applications
5  
Meghraj N. Pawar, Deeplaxmi V. Niture, Dr. S. P. Mahajan
6   Dept. of E&TC
7   College of Engineering Pune
8   Pune, India
9  
10  
11   Abstract— Modern communication devices require frequency resources effectively and hence ensure
12   antennas for different applications such as Bluetooth, WiFi, uninterrupted multiple services to the end users. As
13   GPS, WiMAX, WLAN, military applications etc. Conventional compared to conventional antennas, these antennas are
14   devices have separate antennas for these different applications having advantages in terms of gain, pattern, compact size etc.
15   which puts burden on the communication system. To cope up There are three structures which can be used to obtain
16   with this problem a single antenna with frequency frequency reconfigurability these are patch antenna, wire
reconfiguration property is designed which can be antenna and PIFAs. Each of these is having different
17   reconfigured depending upon the required application. The
18   technique to achieve frequency reconfigurability. In patch
antenna designed in this paper is a compact (42*16mm2 )
19   antenna slots are introduced to change the resonant
monopole antenna which can be reconfigured in seven
20   frequency and these slots are connected or disconnected
different bands such as 1.575GHz, 2.4GHz, 3.5GHz, 5GHz,
21   5.5GHz, 6GHz, 9.2GHz. The designed antenna has three using switches. In wire antennas mainly the resonant
switches and the switching is carried out by using PIN diode frequency is dependent upon the length of the wire or
22  
SMP1320-079LF which can operate from 10MHz to 10GHz. perimeter of the wire. Lastly in PIFAs by changing the feed
23   or ground location its mode of operation can be reconfigured
The compact size of the antenna makes it easy to be used in
24   [2]. In [3] a frequency reconfigurable bow-tie antenna for
devices such as tablets, laptops and other devices. The antenna
25   is simulated using CADFEKO 7.0 and the reflection coefficient Bluetooth/WiFi, WiMAX and WLAN applications is
26   obtained in each case is well below -10dB. Because of the proposed, in this design total six pin diodes are used for
27   monopole with DGS structure, the antenna shows an obtaining these three bands, which makes it more complex
28   omnidirectional radiation pattern at frequencies up to 5GHz for biasing. The radiating element is printed on both sides
29   but beyond 5GHz the pattern becomes somewhat directional. and is fed by a microstrip line feed. Addition of U-slot on the
30   patch has given a flat input resistance and linear input
31   Keywords— WiFi, GPS, WiMAX, WLAN, Frequency reactance over a wider bandwidth [4], in this design to attain
reconfiguration, Multiband reconfiguration a variable chip capacitor has been used i.e. to
32  
33   change the frequency of the operation we have to change the
I. INTRODUCTION
34   value of the capacitance. Multiple slots have been added on
Antenna is a crucial element in wireless communication the microstrip patch for getting ultra wide band operation.
35   systems. Every wireless communication device requires The BW obtained is 3.42-11.7GHz [5].In [6] a compact
36   antenna for transmission and reception of the signals. 40*35*1.6 mm3 antenna for three bands in presented. The
37   Devices like mobile phone, tablet use various wireless shape of the antenna is like number 9 and a single switch is
38   applications such as GPS, Bluetooth, WiFi and GSM. These used to reconfigure the antenna but this antenna is not able to
39   applications work on different frequency bands and thus cover the GPS frequency band. In [7], two T-shaped patches
40   require antenna respective to different operating bands are placed back to back and fed by a microstrip line feed.
41   Therefore these devices have more than one antenna inside This antenna has given a dual band of operation, one for
42   them. The number of antennas can be replaced with a single Bluetooth and second for WLAN band. But the size of this
43   reconfigurable antenna. To make the antenna as antenna is large as compared to the antenna proposed here
44   reconfigurable antenna we need to change the radiating and is not able to cover GPS and WiMAX bands. In [8], the
45   properties of the antenna either electrically or mechanically. author has proposed a quad-band antenna for mobile
46   Based on the property reconfigured, the reconfigurable application, it has covered only the GSM and UMTS band
antennas are classified into four different types viz frequency but the modern communication devices require
47  
reconfigurable, pattern reconfigurable and polarization WiFi/Bluetooth, GPS and WiMax bands which have not
48   reconfigurable antenna and compound reconfigurable been achieved in it. The antenna in [8] is having a PIFA
49   antenna. In compound reconfiguration more than two structure and two PIN diodes have been used for switching
50   parameters are reconfigured independently or purpose. In [9] a 7-shaped planar monopole antenna for
51   simultaneously. WiFi, WiMAX and WLAN application is designed. Here the
52   concept of truncated ground plane is used. The substrate used
53   There are four techniques to change the radiation
properties of the antenna: electrical, optical, mechanical and for fabrication of the antenna is FR4 having 1.6 mm
54   thickness. To obtain optimum radiation pattern and radiation
material change [1]. In electrical reconfiguration technique
55   efficiency truncated metallic ground is used. Different
switches such as RF-MEMS, PIN diode and varactors diodes
56   are used to connected and disconnect the radiating elements geometrical shapes have been used to obtain frequency
57   of the antenna. As compared to RF-MEMS the switching reconfigurability in [10]. This antenna has not covered the
60   speed of the PIN diode is about 500-1000 times greater again GPS frequency band and the size is more as compared to
61   PIN diodes are compact in size and have dynamic antenna designed in this paper. Fractal slots can be used to
62   reconfiguration In frequency reconfigurable antenna the obtain frequency reconfiguration. In [11] the author has
63   resonant frequency of the antenna is changed depending proposed the multiband frequency reconfigurable antenna for
upon the desired application. These antennas use the different wireless applications. In [12] a hexa-band
64  
65  

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frequency reconfigurable antenna has been proposed, this
antenna has covered different applications such as UMTS,
WiFi, Bluetooth, WiMAX, WLAN etc. Most of the reference
antennas have not covered GPS application and the sizes of
the antennas are also larger compared to proposed antenna.
In this paper a compact frequency reconfigurable
monopole antenna has been designed and simulated using
CADFEKO 7. The antenna has reconfigured for seven
different bands. The different bands of frequency covered are Where λ is guided wavelength for specified frequency
1.575 GHz, 2.4 GHz, 3.5 GHz, 5 GHz, 5.5 GHz, 6 GHz and and L is the length of the radiating element. For calculating
9.2 GHz. For switching in different states, three Skyworks the guided wavelength for a particular frequency equation 5
SMP1320-079LF PIN diodes have been used in the design. is used.
Design methodology and geometry
(5)
√
In this section the antenna design theory, designed antenna
geometry and the switching technique used have been given. Here C is the velocity of the light and reff is the effective
Total of three switches have been used in the antenna dielectric constant and is given by equation 6 as below.
structure to achieve frequency reconfigurability. In the
simulation the lumped equivalent model of the PIN diode
has been used for ON and OFF conditions. (6)
A. Antenna Geometry
The designed antenna geometry along with it’s
dimensions have been shown in Fig. 1. Table I specifies Where r is the material dielectric constant, h is the thickness
detail dimensions. The antenna is compact in size with of the substrate and W is the width of the radiating element.
overall dimension of 40*16*1.6 mm3 and is suitable for For achieving better radiation efficiency and better reflection
modern communication devices such as mobile phone, coefficient a slot has been cut at the ground plane of the
laptop, tab etc. antenna as shown in fig.1. FR-4 substrate has been used for
the design since it is low cost and easily available. It is
having relative permittivity of 4.4 and loss tangent of 0.02. A
50Ω microstrip line is used for antenna excitation whose
width is calculated using the well-known equation [13].
Table I. Summary of the dimensions of the antenna in
Fig.1

Parameter Values(mm) Parameter Values(mm)

L1 5 L 42

L2 5 W1 2
L3 7 W2 5
L4 4 W3 11
L5 6 Wf 3
Lg 8 Ws 3
Fig.1. Top and bottom view of the designed antenna
Lf 8 W 16
B. Antenna design
To calculate the length of the radiating element of the Ls 5 h 1.6
antenna transmission line model theory has been used [13].
The calculated length of the resonant elements for different
resonant frequencies are approximately equal to quarter C. Switching Technique
wavelength at resonant frequency. Skyworks SMP1320-079LF PIN diode is used for switching
purpose. For ON state an inductance of value 0.15nH in
series with resistance of 4.7Ω and for OFF state a parallel
combination of capacitor of 0.017pF and resistance of
7000Ω with 0.15nH inductance in series. The equivalent
circuit diagrams are shown in Fig.2.

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(a) (b)
Fig.2 PIN diode equivalents for (a) ON and (b) OFF state
II. ANTENNA SIMULATION AND MEASURED RESULTS
The antenna is designed in FEKO 7.0. Different
parameters such as reflection coefficient, VSWR, radiation
pattern, input impedance and polar plots have been analysed
in the simulation. Total three switches have been used for
obtaining frequency reconfigurability. When all the switches
are in OFF state i.e. case 000 the antenna is resonating at
5.05GHz i.e. WLAN band with BW of 950MHz as shown in
fig.3. By observing the figure we can see that by cutting slot
at ground plane the reflection coefficient has improved and
its value is -26.40dB.
Fig.3 Reflection coefficient case 000
In second case i.e. when S1 is ON and S2, S3 are OFF
(case 100) the antenna is resonating at 3.41GHz with BW
446.6MHz and two more extra bands at 5.99GHz and
9.2GHz.The reflection coefficient has improved from -
17.96dB to -40.20dB and this is because of the slot cut at
ground. This 3.2-3.6GHz band is WiMAX band. The
reflection coefficient graph for this case is shown in fig.4.
Fig.4 Reflection coefficient case 100
In third i. e. when S1, S2 are ON and S3 is OFF (case
110), again three bands are obtained first at 2.35GHz, second
at 5.5GHz and third at 9.2GHz which are for the applications
Bluetooth/WiFi, WLAN and cognitive radio respectively.
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The same is shown in fig.5. For WiFi/Bluetooth the band of
operation is from 2.405-2.480GHz which is covered in this
case. In the last case i.e. when all the diodes are in ON state
the effective radiating patch length in this case is maximum
and here the antenna is resonating at 1.58GHz and in this
band 1.575GHz is also covered which can be used for GPS
application, this is a four band case wherein GPS, WiMAX,
WLAN and Cognitive radio applications are covered
simultaneously. The simulated result for case 111 is shown
in Fig.6.
The current distribution for different cases of diodes i.e.
ON/OFF conditions is shown in Fig.8, from the figure we
can conclude that for case 000 i.e. when all diodes are OFF,
the length of the patch which is conducting is less as
compared other cases and hence for this case 000 the first
resonance of antenna will occur at higher frequency as
compared to other three cases.
Fig.5 Reflection coefficient case 110
Fig.6 Reflection coefficient case 111
From table II we can see that in all four cases, case 000 is
having highest resonating frequency. In the same manner
when we make diode 1 ON i.e. case 100 the length of the
patch increases and hence the resonant frequency is reduced
to about 3.5GHz. Here we observe that as the length of the
conducting patch increases, the resonant frequency
decreases. This shows that there is inverse relation between
length and the frequency.
The impedance plot for the cases is shown in Fig. 7. We can
see from the plot that in all the case the impedance is
approximately 50Ω, which shows that there is good
matching at the input. The VSWR obtained in all the cases is
below 1.28 and practically this value should be below 2.
 in case 000 the band of application is WLAN, in case 100 we
have got WiMAX band, in case 110 antenna resonating for
Bluetooth/WiFi and in case 111 GPS application has been
covered.

Fig.7 Current distribution for different cases

Fig.8 Impedance plot for all cases Fig.10 Polar plots for all cases
Far field radiation patterns obtained for the different TABLE II
frequencies are shown in Fig.10. From the figure you can see
the gains obtained are 2.5, 2.5, 0 and 0dBi for cases 000, Parameter Frequency S11 BW Gain
100, 110 and 111 respectively. The radiation pattern in all Case (GHz) (dB) (MHz) (dBi)
the cases is almost omni-directional. For higher frequencies
000 5.05 -26.40 950.3 2.5
the pattern becomes slightly directional.
100 3.41 -40.20 446.6 2.5
110 2.35 -33.72 258.0 0
111 1.58 -18.14 75.47 0

Co and cross polarization are important terms for an

antenna which is linearly polarized, co-polarization is
defined as the polarization the antenna was meant to radiate,
while cross polarization is it’s orthogonal pair.

Fig.9 Far field radiation pattern for all cases

Fig.10. shows the simulated polar patterns for all the four
cases of E-plane and H-plane.
From the polar plots Fig.10 you can see that the antenna
is having figure of ‘8’ shaped radiation plot in E-plane and in
H-plane ac circle i.e. designed antenna is radiating omni-
directionally.
Table II summarizes the overall results of the antenna
with slot addition. The proposed antenna is having seven Fig.11 Co and Cross polarization for all cases
different bands of operation. From the table we can see that

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 A purely polarized antenna will have low cross The measured and simulated results comparison for case
polarization. Antennas must operate in similar polarization 110 is shown in Fig.15 below. As seen from the figure for
for good signal reception. Fig.11 shows the plots for different measured results the resonance is obtained at 2.44GHz with
cases and their co and cross polarization gain values for reflection coefficient of -25.84dB.
different values of ө.
III. ANTENNA MEASURED RESULTS
Antenna is fabricated using EP-42AUTO PCB prototype
machine Fig. 12 shows the fabricated antenna. Because of
the fabrication errors there is slight mismatch between the
simulated and measured results.

Fig.15 Case 110 simulated and measured s11

In last case when all the diodes are ON, the antenna is
resonating at lowest frequency i.e. 1.59GHz with reflection
coefficient of -20.55dB. The BW obtained in this case is
more as compared to the simulated results.

Fig. 12 Fabricated antenna top and bottom side

Antenna’s reflection coefficient parameter i.e. S11 has been

measured by vector network analyzer. Fig.13 shows the
comparison of S11 for case 000.

Fig.16 Case 111 simulated and measured s11

Table III shows the comparison of simulated and
measured results.
Table III- Comparison of simulated and measured results
Case Parameter S11(dB) BW(MHz)
000 Simulated -26.40 950.3
Fig.13 Case 000 simulated and measured s11
Measured -26.96 570
In case 100 the measured result obtained is shown in 100 Simulated -40.20 446.6
Fig.14 below. At 3.6GHz the resonance is obtained with Measured -39.67 460
reflection coefficient of -39.67dB. Measured results are 110 Simulated -33.72 258.0
shifted to right side slightly. Measured -25.841 170
111 Simulated -18.14 75.47
Measured -20.55 180

Fig.14 Case 100 simulated and measured s11
IV. CONCLUSION
In modern communication devices we require antenna
that can support different applications and should be compact
in size. In this paper a compact antenna of dimensions
40*16*1.6 mm3 has been designed and tested. This antenna
can cover six different applications. When all the switches
are in ON state, the antenna gives four band mode of
operation 1.575GHz (GPS), 3.6GHz (WiMAX), 5.5GHz
(WLAN) and 9.2GHz (Cognitive radio). When all switches
are in OFF state, it gives single band mode (5.05GHz
WLAN). When S1, S2 are ON and S3 is OFF, the antenna
operates in three band mode of operation for Wi-

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Fi/Bluetooth at 2.35 GHz, WLAN at 5.6 GHz and 9.1GHz.
And when S1 is ON and S2, S3 are OFF, antenna gives three
bands viz. 3.50 GHz, 5.5GHz and 9.2GHz. The VSWR
obtained is below 1.28 in all the four cases. This antenna can
be used in devices such as tablet, laptop, mobile phone etc.
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