Design and implementation of compact reconfigurable antennas for UWB and WLAN applications

WLAN;Compact antenna;UWB;Reconfigurable

Nikolaou, Symeon ; Electrical and Computer Engineering

University:Georgia Institute of Technology

Department:Electrical and Computer Engineering

关键词: WLAN;    Compact antenna;    UWB;    Reconfigurable;   

Others  :  https://smartech.gatech.edu/bitstream/1853/24802/1/nikolaou_symeon_200708_phd.pdf

美国|英语

来源: SMARTech Repository

【 摘 要 】

The objective of this research is to realize compact and reconfigurable antennas for next generation Ultra Wide Band (UWB) and Wireless Local Area Network (WLAN) applications. The contributions of this research are, a methodology for designing compact UWB antennas, a compact WLAN prototype antenna with reconfigurable characteristics in both radiation pattern and frequency of operation, and compact UWB antennas with reconfigurable WLAN band rejection characteristics. For the completion of this dissertation, five research projects have been studied. First, a double exponentially tapered slot antenna with conformal shape, high gain, and consistent radiation patterns is implemented. The radiation pattern consistency results in minimum distortion for any transmitted pulse.The second and third projects involve an elliptical slot with a tuning uneven U-shaped stub and two cactus-shaped monopoles. The elliptical slot demonstrates omni-directional radiation patterns and compact size. As an improved iteration of the elliptical slot antenna, two cactus-shaped monopoles are implemented. The two prototypes occupy only 60% and 40%, respectively, of the area that the original elliptical slot occupies resulting in a significant size reduction, while maintaining omni-directional radiation patterns. Through the cactus-shaped monopoles some general design methodologies for UWB antennas are introduced and successfully applied. The fourth research topic introduced, concerns the study of compact elliptical UWB monopoles. Several prototypes of different geometrical characteristics were designed and tested. Broadband matching techniques and the integration of reconfigurable features on the elliptical radiator are investigated. For the reconfigurable UWB antenna, resonating elements are used to create a rejection band in the frequency range that is occupied by WLAN applications. The performance of several of the introduced slot and monopole antennas are tested when the antennas under detection are mounted and operate on non-planar surfaces.Finally, a reconfigurable annular slot antenna operating at the wireless local area network (WLAN) band is implemented. The proposed antenna demonstrates reconfigurable characteristics in both radiation pattern and return loss.All of the UWB antennas are fabricated on liquid crystal polymer (LCP) and can be easily integrated with active components on the same module using system on package (SoP) technology.