Design of polarization reconfigurable beam-steerable and frequency tunable FPMS based SIW-slot antennas

Abstract

With the rapid evolution of modern and smart communication technologies such as 5th generation of mobile network (5G), (internet of things) IoT, Autonomous Vehicles, Aviation Technology, etc., the need for reconfigurable radio frequency (RF) components cannot be emphasized enough. Thus, the rationale for plethora of research carried out in the design and development of reconfigurable/tunable RF components and devices. This work focuses on the design of a polarization reconfigurable and beam-steerable substrate integrated waveguide-slot (SIW-slot) antenna using a novel technology, field programmable microwave substrate (FPMS). At first, the antenna is optimized to operate at 4 GHz on a Duroid 5880 substrate with six slots rotated at 5° towards the center of the waveguide. This follows the integration of optimized FPMS unit cells on the slot radiators. While varying the capacitance values of the unit cells, close attention is paid to the impedance and radiation performance of the antenna. Initial results presented here show a beam steering of ±40°. In addition, the antenna is also seen to provide gain modulation in maximum steered direction. Interestingly, as the antenna radiation is steered, the polarization of the antenna switches from E (maximum at 0) to Eθ (40). This makes the design an excellent candidate for end-to-end secured communication with minimum interference in applications such as aircraft RADARs. Thus, the antenna performance metrics show the promise of the unique FPMS technology in designing of smart RF components.