Recent developments of reconfigurable antennas for 4G and 5G wireless communications: A survey

YesReconfigurable antennas play important roles in smart and adaptive systems and are the subject of many research studies. They offer several advantages such as multifunctional capabilities, minimized volume requirements, low front-end processing efforts with no need for a filtering element, good isolation, and sufficient out-ofband rejection; these make them well suited for use in wireless applications such as fourth generation (4G) and fifth generation (5G) mobile terminals. With the use of active materials such as microelectromechanical systems (MEMS), varactor or p-i-n (PIN) diodes, an antenna’s characteristics can be changed through altering the current flow on the antenna structure. If an antenna is to be reconfigurable into many different states, it needs to have an adequate number of active elements. However, a large number of high-quality active elements increases cost, and necessitates complex biasing networks and control circuitry. We review some recently proposed reconfigurable antenna designs suitable for use in wireless communications such as cognitiveratio (CR), multiple-input multiple-output (MIMO), ultra-wideband (UWB), and 4G/5G mobile terminals. Several examples of antennas with different reconfigurability functions are analyzed and their performances are compared. Characteristics and fundamental properties of reconfigurable antennas with single and multiple reconfigurability modes are investigated.European Union’s Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme under grant agreement H2020-MSCA-ITN-2016 SECRET-722424

Parasitic Element Based Frequency Reconfigurable Antenna with Dual Wideband Characteristics for Wireless Applications

A Microstrip Frequency Reconfigurable circular patch slot antenna for switchable Bluetooth, WiMAX, WLAN, and satellite communication applications is analyzed and presented in this work. The optimized overall size of 47 mm x40 mmx1.6 mm is utilized in the design, and which can cover wide range of frequencies below 10 GHz. In the initial phase, different monopole antennas are designed with various shapes of same size and later parasitic patch elements has been added to those monopole antennas. The circular monopole driven element and parasitic element are connected with a PIN diode, and which reinforced in achieving frequency reconfigurability. The proposed antenna is resonating at various frequencies of 2.4 GHz, 4 GHz, and 8.4 GHz when the diode in ON condition and resonating at 3 GHz, 5.4 GHz, and 8.4 GHz when the diode is in OFF condition. The performance of the designed antenna prototype is scaled and differentiated with the results of simulation and found good matching with respect to performance characteristics

WIRELESS ANTENNA MULTIPLEXING USING TUNABLE ANTENNA FOR SPACE APPLICATIONS

Recent development in communication technologies shifts the communication paradigm from point to point to multi-user wireless systems. These developments eased the use of mobile telephone, satellite services, 5G cellular, smart application, and the Internet of Things. The proliferation of mobile devices has necessitated an elaborate mechanism to serve multiple users over a shared communication medium, and a multiplexing approach is introduced to serve this purpose. Multiplexing refers to a method that aims at combining multiple signals into one signal such that each user would be able to extract its desired data upon receiving the multiplexed signal. This spectrum sharing allows wireless operators to maximize the use of their spectrum to accommodate a large number of users over fewer channels. In Space applications, where sensors like temperature, attitude, IR, Magnetic, etc. send information using antennas operate at a different frequency, there is a need to collect all or some of these data using a single device. A wideband antenna requires a filtering process in order to remove unwanted signals that lead to a complex circuit design. Furthermore, the use of multiple antennas ends up with a larger size and additional complexity. Therefore, the tunable antenna is an excellent candidate which provides a perfect solution for such scenarios. A tunable antenna whose frequency characteristics shifted by applying tuning action can be used to operate as a multiplexing device that can collect signals from different surrounding antennas; each operates at a fixed frequency. A system architecture for wireless multiplexing using a tunable antenna is proposed in this project. An electronically tunable antenna using varactor diode as a tuning element is used as the multiplexing device that can collect signals from different surrounding antennas. The system consists of an RF front end and a control circuit/system for wireless multiplexing. The RF front end consists of a tunable antenna, tunable phase shifter, tunable bandpass filter, low noise amplifier, mixer, voltage-controlled oscillator, and an intermediate frequency filter. The control unit comprises a microcontroller, DAC, CMOS oscillator, power module, and a USB interface for communication with custom-built software installed on a PC. The device has functions for control, digital signal processing, and de-multiplexing. The device is fed with an input multiplexed signal, and the de-multiplexed output signals are extracted and displayed on the graphical user interface of the software. Due to the reconfigurability and programmability of the device, it presents a flexible, cost-effective solution for a variety of real-world applications

Microstrip Array Antenna using Series-Corporate Feed for Navigation System

In this paper, the proposed antenna consists of a single transmission line for 6-elements microstrip array antenna using Rogers RT5880 substrate material with a dielectric constant (εr) of 2.2 and thickness of 0.787 mm for navigation applications. The array structures of unequal patches placement are proposed with corporate feed line and H-shaped configurations are employed on the substrate and used the microstrip feed line with a corporate feed network excited via 50 Ω with T-junction method to control the feed for each group. 6-elements microstrip array antenna has operated at the resonant frequency of 1.27 GHz was obtained between the frequency from 1.2663 GHz to 1.2734 GHz where the S11-parameters of the structure designed and simulation below than <-10 dB. The analysis shows the antenna gain has increased 72.6% with high directivity as compared to single elements microstrip antenna. The radiation characteristics and other array parameters are evaluated with respect to the application requirements. However, circular polarization has obtained in 6-elements array antenna as the axial ratio is successfully achieved below than -3dB. The antenna efficiency, the current distribution, VSWR, and S11-parameters of the proposed 6-elements CP microstrip array antenna have been presented and discussed in detail. The design methodology and the measurement results have been presented and discussed in this paper

Frequency-reconfigurable antenna using ellipse-shaped patch with defected ground structure

Recently, there has been an increased demand for single systems that can handle different wireless communication applications simultaneously. Often, it is impractical to allocate multiple antennas to the same system, so multifunctional antennas are a critical necessity. Also, most existing frequency-reconfigurable antennas (FRA) are made from non-transparent materials, but a transparent antenna may be useful in scenarios where the antenna should not impair visibility. Furthermore, wideband-to-narrowband reconfigurability has potential for use in future cognitive radio systems. This thesis focuses on FRAs with wideband-tonarrowband reconfigurability that use transparent and non-transparent materials. The ultra-wideband antenna design uses an ellipse-shaped patch, thereby yielding a 7.77 GHz impedance bandwidth from 2.83 GHz to 10.66 GHz. The first FRA is obtained by introducing a pair of annular ring slots defected ground structure (DGS) resonator with metal switches. Its initial wideband operation mode from 3 GHz to 6 GHz can be reconfigured into six additional bandwidth modes with a dual-band operation centred at 3.7 GHz and 5.8 GHz and five single-band modes resonating at 4.2 GHz, 4.58 GHz, 4.86 GHz, 5.7 GHz and 6 GHz. Meanwhile, a FRA for the Wireless Local-Area Network applications is reconfigured from a pair of rectangular DGS resonators integrated with PIN diodes. The antenna is able to switch between a narrowband operation centred at 5.8 GHz and a wideband operation in the range of 3.5 - 5.97 GHz. Finally, a semi-transparent antenna with a wideband-to-narrowband frequency mode is achieved by integrating an E-shaped DGS resonator and PIN diodes to disrupt the current flow. The antenna exhibits an impedance bandwidth from 3 GHz to 6 GHz in the wideband mode and a resonance at 4.75 GHz when operated in the narrowband mode. All prototypes are fabricated and measured to verify the simulated results. The gain of antenna fabricated using the AgHT-4 transparent material is about 59% lower compared to FR-4 due to the electrical loss of the transparent film

2009 Index IEEE Antennas and Wireless Propagation Letters Vol. 8

This index covers all technical items - papers, correspondence, reviews, etc. - that appeared in this periodical during the year, and items from previous years that were commented upon or corrected in this year. Departments and other items may also be covered if they have been judged to have archival value. The Author Index contains the primary entry for each item, listed under the first author\u27s name. The primary entry includes the coauthors\u27 names, the title of the paper or other item, and its location, specified by the publication abbreviation, year, month, and inclusive pagination. The Subject Index contains entries describing the item under all appropriate subject headings, plus the first author\u27s name, the publication abbreviation, month, and year, and inclusive pages. Note that the item title is found only under the primary entry in the Author Index

2008 Index IEEE Transactions on Control Systems Technology Vol. 16

This index covers all technical items - papers, correspondence, reviews, etc. - that appeared in this periodical during the year, and items from previous years that were commented upon or corrected in this year. Departments and other items may also be covered if they have been judged to have archival value. The Author Index contains the primary entry for each item, listed under the first author\u27s name. The primary entry includes the coauthors\u27 names, the title of the paper or other item, and its location, specified by the publication abbreviation, year, month, and inclusive pagination. The Subject Index contains entries describing the item under all appropriate subject headings, plus the first author\u27s name, the publication abbreviation, month, and year, and inclusive pages. Note that the item title is found only under the primary entry in the Author Index