Fluid-Controlled Frequency and Pattern Reconfigurable Antenna for the S-Band Applications

In this paper, a fluid-controlled frequency and radiation pattern reconfigurable antenna is presented for the S-band applications. The antenna is designed on a 0.508 mm thick Rogers RT5880 lossy substrate. Initially, a partial ground-based monopole antenna is designed and optimized for the 2.4 GHz frequency band with an omnidirectional radiation pattern. Subsequently, two water-based fluid channels are designed on the ground plane. By controlling fluid in these channels, the frequency and pattern reconfigurability is achieved. Using the proposed method the operating frequency can be reconfigurable between 2 GHz and 2.52 GHz, while the direction of the radiation can also be controlled. The designed antenna offers a peak gain of more than 2.68 dBi for all the reconfigurable cases with a radiation efficiency of more than 70%. The overall performance of the presented antenna makes it a viable candidate for S-band applications with both frequency and pattern reconfigurability.