An Eight-Element Reconfigurable Diversity Dipole System

In this paper, an antenna system that is composed of eight radiating elements is presented. The eight elements consist of a set of four curved dipoles and another set of four straight dipoles, providing two diversity antenna structures. Each curved and straight dipole is designed to produce a focused gain pattern toward one dedicated quadrant. A parasitic printed reflector is introduced into the center section of the top layer of the proposed antenna to enhance the matching and the gain pattern redirection capabilities of each radiating element. In addition, the printed reflector further enhances the isolation between the various elements. The assessment of the proposed diversity antenna system is performed in a rich multipath environment for various propagation scenarios. A diversity gain between 16.5 and 19.1 dB is attained for a 1% probability level and by assuming a Rayleigh fading channel for both structures. The control of the feeding of the various elements for both diversity structures is achieved through the design and incorporation of four reconfigurable feeding networks within the antenna system. Fabrication and testing of various prototypes display very good agreement between the simulation and measured results, which validate the presented designs.