A wideband switched beam antenna for full 360 coverage

In this paper, a wideband switched beam antenna for full 360°coverage is proposed and demonstrated, by using double-layer U slot microstrip patch antennas, RF circuits and controlling circuits. All the antennas and circuits are designed and fabricated on single RF4 substrate. The proposed switched beam antenna (SBA) can cover 360 ° area by using four two-element antenna array whose 3dB beamwidth is about 90° pointing at four different directions. Each antenna array can be chosen to connect with the receiver by using a single point four throw (SP4T) switch driven by a control circuit. A 15dB coupler is used to gather the RF signal for amplifying and detecting. The controlling circuits are used to sample and compare the received signal from each antenna and to choose the maximum one adaptively. All of the study is verified experimentally and the measured results have suggested that the proposed SBA is suitable for the wireless indoor communication.