A Switched Beam Single Arm Rectangular Spiral Antenna With Hybrid Switch NetworkL

A. Mehta*', D.Mirshekar-Syahkal' and H.Nakano2.

1. Dept of Electronics Systems Eng, University of Essex, Colchester, C04 3SQ, UK 2. Dept of Electronics Informatics, Hosei University, Koganei, 184-8584, Tokyo, Japan ABSTRACT
A single-arm rectangular spiral antenna with a hybrid (short and open) switch network is proposed for switched beam applications. The excitation of switches in the hybrid network introduces variation in the current distribution on the antenna arm, thus causing the beam to steer into various directions. A shorting switch is implemented as an element to short-circuit a point on the spiral arm to the ground conductor and an opening switch is implemented as an element to split open the spiral arm. A hybrid spiral configuration using four switches (two short and two open) is analysed with both single- and multi-point switching. Sixteen possible switching cases are investigated. Using the different switching cases, the beams are obtained in various directions, thus realizing a switched beam antenna. The gain stays uniform within + 1 dB variation around 6.5 dBi and the VSWR remaining within the acceptable limit for majority of the switching cases.

L INTRODUCTION
Smart antenna systems using phased arrays still have limitations for implementation in handsets or small wireless transceivers where stringent requirements for phase shifters, space for multiple antenna elements, signal loss and high cost are difficult to satisfy.

Spiral antenna and its various configurations have been studied and investigated [1-4]. It is very suitable for future wireless communications for its interesting and useful characteristics of broadband, wide beam width, high efficiency, and simultaneous multimode operation. The single arm rectangular spiral antenna in this paper radiates a beam from the square loop active regions of wavelength rings. With its outer square periphery loop length approximately close to the two guide wavelengths (2 X1),, the kg radiation pattern is the vector sum from the first active region (1 kg lop) and second active region (2 kg ',.p), thus yielding a tilted beam (beam cock) [1]. This effect is exploited further here to achieve beam switch-ability. Thus, it is useful in applications pertaining to smart mobile handsets/wireless trans-receivers, aircrafts, roboticsnavigation etc.
In [4], Mehta and Mirshekar- Syahkal proposed a single element spiral antenna, which can provide radiation patterns under electronic control without need of a complex feeding network. The antenna beam direction is controlled through a set of shorting switches, grounding the spiral arm at selected points to the ground plane. In this paper, investigation is performed for the spiral antenna with both shorting and opening circuit switches at different locations, termed as hybrid switch network. Unlike in [4], where

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only sequential one- and two-point grounding are considered, in this paper four switches are employed and are excited at one, two, three and four points, independently or simultaneously, thus producing 16 combinations, as shown in table 1. The switches are located on the spiral arm only after the first wavelength loop (I k, [_p) to ensure that the antenna stays efficient upon excitation of the switches (i.e., low return loss). The simulations are performed using ADS-momentum software [5] and antenna characteristics, including the radiation pattem, gain, and VSWR are obtained.

IL. ANTENNA CONFIGURATION.

Fig. I shows a single arm rectangular spiral antenna with short and open circuit switches. The substrate for the antenna is composed of two dielectric layers, stacked together, with side length L = 51.3 mm. The thickness and dielectric constant for bottom layer are 10.55 mm and 3.4, respectively, and for the top layer they are 1.45 mm and 3.48, respectively Hence, the total substrate thickness h = 12 mm. The total arm length of the spiral conductor is t = 291 mm and its width is w = 1.4 mm. The antenna is fed from bottom by a coaxial with the diameter d = 1.3 mm.

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(a) (b) Fig. I Spiral antenna with four switches (a) top and side view (b) perspective view
The switches (No 2 and 4) cause the shorting of the spiral arm to the ground plane. In simulations, the shorting switches are implemented as perfect conductor vias of diameter 0.8 mm and length 12 mm. When a shorting switch is in contact with the ground plane, the switch state is referred to as I (short), and when not in contact with the ground plane, the switch state is referred to as 0. The opening switches (No I and 3) cause the spiral arm to split open with gap of I mm. The opening circuit switch when split opens the spiral arm has state referred to as I (open), else referred to as 0. Practical implementation of switches can make use of R.F. micro-electro-mechanicalswitches (MEMS) or PIN diodes. 111. RESULTS.

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At a test frequency of 3.3 GHz, the guide wavelength of the current on the spiral arm,

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0.6734koz 61.22 mm, where X, is given approximately by Xo/{(e,,ff+ 1)/2}) X0 is 90.1 mm (free-space wavelength at 3.3 GHz), and the 6 reff is the effective relative permittivity for the two dielectric layers, given approximately by 3.41. Thus,
the spiral arm has an outer square periphery loop length of approximately 2 X,.

Fig. 2 shows the net electric field (E_,) beam direction (Om.x and fmax) for the 16 cases. The maximum variation is approximately 180 and 273 in Omax, and Xma directions respectively. In comparison with deployment of only shorting switches [4], the use of hybrid switch network yields a larger variation in the ma, and offer more optimal usage of the switches. It should be noted that when both open circuit switches are excited together (cases 11, 12, 15 and 16), the average beam position is at 4ma,,x 1800, and for the rest remaining cases the beam average position is at 4pmax =3600. Thus with proper combination of switches in a hybrid network a complete coverage of space in front of antenna could be achieved. For example, case 6 has the beam direction along Oma = 39 and mr = 3510, and for case 11, the beam direction is along Omax = 42 and mac = 1620. Fig. 3 shows the radiation pattems for the cases 6 and 11 depicting the beam switch-ability. It can be inferred in case 11, that due to the simultaneous excitation of both open circuit switches in the presence of unexcited shorting switches, a null in the radiation pattem is obtained in the + z direction.
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TABLE I Sixteen switching cases

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Fig. 3 Radiation pattem of E,, at

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as a function of O (a) case 6 (b) case 11

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Fig. 4 shows the variation in the VSWR (relative to a 50 n feeding line, at 3.3 GHz) and gain for the sixteen switching cases. The VSWRs for the majority of cases are found to be under or around 2. The average gain for all the switching cases (in the direction of maximum radiation) stays at 6.5 dBi with + I dB variation. Generally, linear polarization is observed after the excitation of switches on the spiral arm, but this is not an important issue in many applications.

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IV. CONCLUSION

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Fig. 4 VSWR and gain for the sixteen switching cases

A single arm rectangular spiral antenna with hybrid (short and open) switch network is proposed for switched beam applications. The switches, located after the onewavelength loop on the spiral arm when excited introduce a current variation, and thus controlling the direction of the radiated beam from the antenna. The switches are excited at four different locations on the spiral arm, generating sixteen switching cases. Each switching case steers the beam in a different direction, thus making the antenna beam switch-able. The VSWRs for the majority ofthese cases are found to be under or around 2. The gains in the direction of maximum radiation for all the sixteen cases are found to be staying uniform at 6.5 dBi, within +1 dB variation.

REFERENCES
[1] J. A. Kaiser, "The Archimedean two-wire spiral antenna," IRE TransAntennas Propagat., vol. AP-8, pp. 312-323, May 1960 12] V.H. Rumsey, "Frequency independent antennas", New York Academic Press. 1966. [3] H. Nakano, J. Eto, Y Okabe and J. Yamauchi, "Tilted- And Axial-Beam Formation by a Single-Arm Rectangular Spiral Antenna With Compact Dielectric Substrate and Conducting Plane"., IEEE Trans. Antenna and Prop., vol. 50, Nol, pp 17-23., January 2002. [4] A. Mehta and D.Mirshekar-Syahkal, "Spiral antenna with adaptive radiation pattem under electronic control", IEEE AP-S Int. Symp., Monterey, C.A., U.S.A, June, 2004, pp 843-846. [5] Advance Design System, 2002, Agilent Technologies, 395 Page Mill Road, Palo Alto, CA 94304, U.S.A.

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