Flexible and Compact Spiral-Shaped Frequency Reconfigurable Antenna for Wireless Applications

ABSTRACT

A flexible, spiral-shaped frequency reconfigurable antenna with a compact size (20 × 24  mm²) is presented. The proposed antenna has a low-profile planar structure and is able to operate at five different frequency bands, i.e., 4.19–4.48, 5.98–6.4, 3.42–4.0, 5.4–5.68, and 6.8–7.0 GHz. The multiband operation enables the antenna to cover aeronautical radio navigation, fixed satellite communication, WLAN, and WiMAX standards. A radiating element is backed by Rogers® 5880 substrate with a thickness of 0.508 mm and dielectric constant of 2.2. The spiral shape is achieved by introducing different strips. Frequency reconfiguration is achieved by the incorporation of a lumped element in a strip, so that the antenna can switch between different resonances. To validate the performance of the antenna, the prototype of the design was fabricated and tested. Good acquiescent is seen between simulated and measured results. The proposed antenna operates efficiently with appreciable return loss, directivity, bandwidth, and peak gain.

KEYWORDS:

• AMT fixed services
• Flexible antenna
• Reconfigurable
• Satellite
• WiMAX
• WLAN

Additional information

Funding

This work was financially supported by Vinnova (The Swedish Governmental Agency for Innovation Systems) and University of Engineering and Technology, Taxila, Pakistan through the Vinn Excellence Centers program and ACTSENA research group funding, respectively.

Notes on contributors

Ashfaq Ahmad

Ashfaq Ahmad received his BSc degree in telecommunication engineering from UET Peshawar in 2016. He is doing his MSc in telecommunication engineering from UET Taxila. Currently, he is doing research on reconfigurable antennas. His research interests include planar antenna, millimeter wave antennas, multiband antennas, implanted antennas, specific absorption rate analysis and EBGs.

Farzana Arshad

Farzana Arshad received her BSc and MSc degree in software engineering and telecommunication engineering from UET Taxila, Pakistan in the year 2006 and 2010, respectively. Currently, she is working towards her PhD degree in telecommunication engineering from UET Taxila. She is also a member of ACTSENA, research group. Her current research interests include low-profile multiband and reconfigurable antenna design. Email: [email protected]

Syeda Iffat Naqvi

Syeda Iffat Naqvi received her BSc and MSc degree in computer engineering and telecommunication engineering from UET Taxila, Pakistan in the year 2006 and 2011, respectively. Currently, she is pursuing her degree of PhD in telecommunication engineering from (UET) Taxila. She is also a member of ACTSENA, research group. Her current research interests include RF and microwave antenna designing for cutting-edge wireless technologies. Syeda is a member of IEEE and ACES. Email: [email protected]

Yasar Amin

Yasar Amin is Chairman and Associate Professor of Telecommunication Engineering Department, University of Engineering and Technology Taxila, Pakistan. He is founder of ACTSENA, Research Group at UET Taxila, Pakistan. He has done his BSc in electrical engineering in 2001 with specialization in telecommunication and MSc in electrical engineering in 2003 with specialization in system-on chip design from Royal Institute of Technology (KTH), Sweden. His PhD is in electronic and computer systems from Royal Institute of Technology (KTH), Sweden, with research focus on printable green RFID antennas for embedded sensors, while has MBA in Innovation and Growth from Turku School of Economics, University of Turku, Finland. Email: [email protected]

Hannu Tenhunen

Hannu Tenhunen is Chair Professor of Electronic Systems at Royal Institute of Technology (KTH), Stockholm, Sweden. Tenhunen has held Professor positions as Full Professor, Invited Professor or Visiting, Honorary Professor in Finland (TUT, UTU), Sweden (KTH), USA (Cornel U), France (INPG), China (Fudan and Beijing Jiatong Universities), and Hong Kong (Chinese University of Hong Kong), and has an Honorary Doctorate from Tallinn Technical University. He has been Director of multiple national large scale research programs or being an Initiator and Director of national or European graduate schools. He has actively contributed on VLSI and SoC design in Finland and Sweden via creating new educational programs and research directions, most lately at European level as being the EU-level Education Director of the new European flagship initiative European Institute of Technology and Innovations (EIT), and its Knowledge and Innovation Community EIT ICT Labs. Email: [email protected]

Jonathan Loo

Jonathan Loo received his MSc degree in electronics from the University of Hertfordshire, UK in 1998 and PhD degree in electronics and communications from the same University in 2003. He leads a research team of 8 PhD students in the area of communication and networking. His research interest includes network architecture, communication protocols, network security, embedded systems, video coding and transmission, wireless communications, digital signal processing, and optical networks. He has successfully graduated 13 PhDs as Principle Supervisor and contributed over 150 publications in the aforementioned specialist areas. Email: [email protected]