A 60 GHz Pattern-Reconfigurable Antenna Design Using a Suspended Parasitic Pixel Layer

A 60 GHz multifunctional reconfigurable antenna (MRA) capable of operating in fifteen modes corresponding to fifteen steerable beam directions is presented. The MRA consists of an aperture coupled rectangular patch antenna as the main radiator and a suspended parasitic layer consisting of a thin dielectric support with a grid of 5 x 5 square metallic pixels. Adjacent pixels can be connected or disconnected by means of electronic switches turning the grid into a reconfigurable set of parasitic elements. This in turn controls the current distribution over the extent of the parasitic layer enabling therefore different beam steering directions with minimal impact on the antenna bandwidth and operating frequency. Simulation results show a common impedance bandwidth of about 4.6% at 60 GHz for all fifteen modes of operation with realized gains ranging from 6.82 to 9.47 dBi. Side-lobe levels are well above 8 dB for most modes of operation with half-power beam widths in the range of 49° to 106°.