Controlling switch-reconfigured antennas using FPGAs

The antenna in this paper is reconfigured using p-i-n diodes as switches. The diodes connect and disconnect four different sections to a main patch to achieve resonance tuning. The control of these p-i-n diodes is achieved through an FPGA implementing a TAP controller compliant with the popular JTAG standard. The FPGA controlling board constitutes the lower layer of the antenna system. The antenna with the incorporated diodes was designed, fabricated and measured and the control process was achieved with programmed FPGAs.