Radiation steering of a low profile street furniture antenna using an active AMC

This paper describes ongoing research into the exploitation of artificial magnetic conductor (AMC) structures to reduce the dimensional profile of street furniture antennas. One antenna of interest is normally mounted on the walls of buildings and is designed to radiate energy as close to endfire as possible. This enables efficient communication with mobile phones along the street, rather than illuminating buildings located opposite the antenna. The paper focuses on detailing the theoretical approach of how one would use a two element antenna array and a split active AMC surface to direct energy away from boresight. This directed energy can be distributed symmetrically or biased towards a given direction by varying the capacitance of the AMC. The integration of an additional phase shifter between the two elements can result in greater control of the radiation pattern and improved network coverage.