In this paper, a simple pattern reconfigurable antenna with broadband circular polarization is proposed. The proposed antenna consists of four rectangular loops, a feeding network and four reflectors. Circular polarization is achieved by cutting two slots on opposite sides of the loops. By controlling the states of the four PIN diodes present in the feeding network, the proposed antenna can achieve four different pattern modes at the same frequency. Experiments show that the antenna has a bandwidth of 47.6% covering 1.73-2.81GHz for reflection coefficient (|S11|)<-10dB and a bandwidth of 55% covering 1.62-2.85GHz for axial ratio <3dB. The average gain is 8.5dBi and the radiation patterns are stable.

We propose a new configuration for phased array antennas. The proposal uses radiation pattern reconfigurable antennas as the antenna element to improve the gain on the scanning angle and to suppress the grating lobes of sparse phased array antennas. This configuration can reduce the element number because the desired gain of the total array can be achieved by using fewer elements. We demonstrate the concept by designing a radiation pattern reconfigurable Yagi-Uda antenna. PIN diode switches are added to the parasitic elements to change director and reflector. The switches of multiple array elements are concurrently controlled by just a single one-pair line. This control structure is simple and can be applied to large-scale arrays. The proposed antenna yields an element gain that almost matches the theoretical limit across about half the coverage, even if the element spacing is enlarged to 1λ. If the switch states are interchanged, the gain in the mirror direction can be increased. We design a 48-element array and compare its gain against those of normal dipole antennas. We also fabricate the proposed antenna and demonstrate radiation pattern switching.

This paper presents a pattern reconfigurable Yagi-Uda antenna on an FR-4 printed circuit board (PCB) for 2.435-2.465GHz-frequency short-range radiocommunication devices. To realize the antenna, pin diodes are attached onto the antenna's driven elements and parasitic elements. The direction of the beam is shifted by alternating the pin diodes status between ON and OFF to induce a quad-directional operation so that E-plane maximum beams are formed in the directions of 135°, 45°, 310° and 225° (i.e. regions 1, 2, 3, 4), respectively. A series of simulations are performed on four parameters: microstrip-to-CPS (coplanar stripline), inter-parasitic spacing, parasitic length, and modes of parasitic elements (i.e. director/reflector) to determine the optimal antenna design. A prototype is fabricated based on the optimal simulation results. The experiments showed very good agreement between the simulation and measured results with regard to the reflection coefficients, radiation patterns and gains for all four beams.