Hardware Toolkit for Rapid Prototyping of Antenna Tuning Systems

A hardware toolkit for rapid prototyping of antenna tuning systems utilizing an inverted-F antenna (IFA), short, feed and SPST-based (Single-pole Single throw) aperture tuning network is demonstrated. The aperture tuning network comprises an RF high voltage switch including a voltage detector with low harmonic feedback and a parallel inductor. The IC was fabricated in Infineon 130 nm bulk-CMOS RF switch technology. The hardware toolkit enables the measurements of the impedance at the feed, harmonics, RF voltage along the radiating element and impedance at aperture tuning port. The latter provides a mechanism for optimisation of load impedance at out-of-band frequencies which allows minimization of harmonic content generated by the tuning IC.