Azimuth-Pattern Reconfigurable Antenna Based on Dipoles

An azimuth-pattern reconfigurable antenna (APRA) based on dipoles is proposed in this paper. The antenna consists of four dipoles, two strips, and two square patches. By switching over four PIN diodes, the dipoles can switch between driver and reflectors, resulting in four different operating modes. In each operating mode, the beam direction of the proposed antenna is always opposite to the reflectors and the pattern covers more than a quarter of the azimuth plane. As a result, four steerable beams which are capable of covering the entire azimuth plane can be obtained. Simulated 3 dB beamwidth in the elevation plane is switchable from 138° to 206°. Moreover, due to its compact size, the proposed antenna can be applied to various communication application scenarios, e.g., RFID readers, subway, and railway communications.