Reconfigurable tapered slot antenna for wireless applications

Abstract

A tapered slot antenna with added switched band functionality to operate in a wideband or narrowband mode is proposed for wireless applications. The antenna reconfiguration is realized by inserting one pair of switchable square slots into the structure. For switching purpose, PIN diodes are used. The antenna is designed on FR4 substrate that has dielectric constant of 4.9 and the height of the substrate is 1.6 mm. The size of antenna substrate is 72 mm × 70 mm. The structure is simulated on electromagnetic (EM) simulation software. The designed antenna operates over impedance bandwidth (1.9 to 7.5 GHz) for return loss S ₁₁ <; -10 dB when both diodes are in OFF state and impedance bandwidth (7.0 to 8.5 GHz) for return loss S ₁₁ <; -10 dB when both diodes are in ON state. The wideband to narrowband frequency reconfigurable can be achieved by switching the diodes in OFF and ON conditions. The proposed antenna performance could be a suitable solution for multimode application requiring wideband and frequency reconfigurable antennas, such as in military applications and cognitive radio.