A Novel Frequency and Pattern Composite Reconfigurable Antenna Based on Compliant Mechanisms

ABSTRACT

Most traditional reconfigurable antennas use electronic switch components to achieve reconfiguration characteristics, requiring complex feeding networks that are susceptible to electromagnetic interference and insertion losses. And reconfiguration is discrete and has a limited range. In response to these issues, a design scheme for frequency and pattern composite reconfigurable antennas based on compliant mechanisms is proposed in this paper. The influence of the decisive parameters in the scheme on the antenna reconfiguration characteristics is analyzed, and a novel composite reconfigurable antenna is designed based on this scheme. The performance of the antenna is measured using a vector analyzer and an OTA darkroom and compared with simulation analysis. It is proved that the antenna has low loss, large bandwidth, high gain, and wide range continuous reconfiguration performance, verifying the feasibility of the proposed composite reconfigurable antenna design scheme in this paper.