Pattern Reconfigurable Antenna Applying Spoof Surface Plasmon Polaritons for Wide Angle Beam Steering

Abstract

A pattern reconfigurable antenna based on switchable spoof surface plasmon polaritons (SSPPs) transmission line is experimentally presented. There are two fundamental modes on traditional SSPPs transmission line, the odd mode and the even mode. In this paper, we propose the switching of fundamental modes transmitted on the SSPPs transmission line by controlling the status of three PIN diodes. As a consequence, the proposed antenna can provide a broadside radiation beam (in the even mode) and an endfire radiation beam (in the odd mode). The measured results show that for broadside radiation, the main lobe direction ranges from 56° to 84° within the operating band (IS₁₁I <; -10 dB) of 4.85-5.25 GHz, while for the endfire radiation, the main lobe points almost constantly to x-direction within 4.85-5.25 GHz. By switching the antenna working state, the proposed antenna can realize almost 84° beam switching at 4.85 GHz. The pattern reconfigurability of this antenna with favorable performance characteristics, such as high gain, frequency scanning, low profile, and wide-angle beam switching, makes it an ideal candidate for many WLAN and satellite communication applications.