Broadband switched parasitic arrays for portable DVB-T receiver applications in the VHF/UHF bands

A new technique for the design of broadband circular switched parasitic arrays (SPAs) for portable DVB-T receiver applications in the VHF/UHF bands is presented in this paper. Two switched parasitic arrays are presented, consisting of an active central element and a uniform ring of five parasitic elements. At any given time slot, only one parasitic element is open- circuited, while the rest remain short-circuited. By properly selecting the open-circuited element, the array is able of selecting among five horizontal radiation patterns. These cover the horizontal plane in a uniform manner, thus achieving effective beam steering in order to maximize and minimize the received power and bit error rate, respectively. Measurement results for both arrays and for a single switching state are presented, and excellent agreement with design considerations and numerical results is demonstrated.