Wirelessly automated reconfigurable antenna with directional selectivity

Abstract

In this paper, a frequency reconfigurable antenna system with a directional selectivity is presented. The reconfiguration of the antenna's radiation characteristics is wirelessly controlled through a mobile phone and a microcontroller. The antenna system is a multi-element radiator composed of four monopoles on top of a hexagonal ground plane, in addition to four rectangular microstrip two-elements antenna arrays. The monopoles and the microstrip arrays are designed to contribute to the communication requirements of the complete system. The position, orientation, and topology of the various antennas are optimized to achieve the required frequency reconfigurability in addition to the variable selective directivity performance. The whole system is fabricated and integrated in a single compact unit controlled by a microcontroller, four servo motors, and a Bluetooth module. The antenna system is tested and the measured results confirm the validity of the proposed design. © 2013 IEEE.