A beam reconfigurable array antenna using slot‐coupled microstrip structure

Abstract

A planar low‐profile 4 × 4 beam reconfigurable array antenna using electronically controllable method at X‐band is presented. A novel switchable slot‐coupled microstrip feed structure (SMFS) is employed in the design of the antenna, which can provide a 180° phase difference in a wide frequency band. The antenna element is composed of an SMFS, a 2 × 2 parasitic square metal patch array, and a DC bias circuit. By switching the p‐i‐n diodes on the SMFS for all antenna elements, four radiation patterns of the designed array antenna can be reconfigured. The measurement results indicate that the designed antenna has achieved good impedance matching over a wide overlapped relative bandwidth of 24%. Benefiting from the advantages of wideband operation in four dynamical reconfigurable beams, the proposed array antenna is quite suitable for intelligent spatial perception, multi‐beam, and anti‐interference wireless communication systems.