Emerging techniques for printed reconfigurable antenna: A review

This paper presents a review of emerging techniques for printed reconfigurable antennas. The need of change in radiation parameters of an antenna like frequency, polarization, radiation pattern or combination of these parameters, on board had given rise to design reconfigurable antennas. This reconfiguration on antenna is achieved by switching feed location of an antenna or switching ground or switching the radiating path of an antenna which brings change in the effective resonating length. The switching can be done by using PIN diodes, varactor diodes, optical switches and MEMS to connect/disconnect different parts on an antenna. Due to this the total antenna volume of printed reconfigurable antenna can be reused to achieve different antenna modes. Thus, printed reconfigurable antenna integrates functional diversities to accommodate the increasing demands of modern wireless applications like software defined radio, cognitive radio, fading, noise interference, MIMO with a small form factor.