Frequency reconfigurable multiband antenna with embedded biasing network

Abstract

This research presents a frequency reconfigurable antenna scheme for wireless communications [worldwide interoperability for microwave access (WiMAX), mobile WiMAX and wireless local area network], in which a PIN diode is utilised for the discrete tuning and a varactor diode for the subsequent fine-tuning. A microcontroller-controlled embedded biasing network (EBN) is integrated into the antenna to regulate the PIN and varactor diodes for the simultaneous wideband and multiband operations. Specifically, two clusters constitute the proposed antenna scheme: the antenna and EBN clusters. The simulation and experimental results revealed that the antenna scheme could achieve the multiple frequency bands in the range of 2.4-5.8 GHz, with negligible changes in the antenna physical dimensions. Due to its compactness, the antenna scheme is ideal for small modern wireless communications devices.