Switchless Reconfigurable Antenna with 360° Steering

A novel reconfigurable antenna capable of rotating a bi-directional pattern by 360° in azimuth is proposed. The antenna has two ports, no aperture switching components and offers a more compact solution than an array. It provides a reconfigurable pattern in the band 2.525 to 2.595 GHz and a fixed omnidirectional pattern from 2.235 to 2.725 GHz. The measured gains for four investigated configurations are between 2.1 dBi and 3.1 dBi with total efficiencies between 80% and 89%.
The antenna is intended to operate with software defined radio (digital beamforming or MIMO), where the potential of pattern generation using the dual-port antenna can be fully exploited. It offers multi-user pattern reconfiguration at low-cost within a limited volume.