A cognitive radio reconfigurable “filtenna”

This paper presents a new technique to implement a frequency reconfigurable antenna system. The antenna reconfiguration is based on integrating a tunable band-pass filter within the feeding line of the antenna structure. The combination of the filter and the antenna together in the same substrate constitutes a system called “filtenna”. The tuning of the antenna operating frequency is achieved by changing the operating band of the filter via a varactor. A prototype antenna is fabricated and tested. A good agreement is found between the simulated and the measured data.