University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign

A Reconfigurable Microstrip Antenna with Switchable Circular Polarization Controlled by Piezoelectric Transducers

Comberiate, Thomas M.

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https://hdl.handle.net/2142/42568

Description

Title
A Reconfigurable Microstrip Antenna with Switchable Circular Polarization Controlled by Piezoelectric Transducers
Author(s)
Comberiate, Thomas M.
Contributor(s)
Bernhard, Jennifer T.
Issue Date
2008-05
Keyword(s)
  • reconfigurable antennas
  • microstrip antennas
  • switchable polarization
  • piezoelectric sensors
Abstract
This thesis presents the design and testing of a reconfigurable microstrip antenna with switchable circular polarization. The antenna is designed to resonate at 3.5 GHz, a frequency at which WiMAX (IEEE 802.16) technology operates. This design uses piezoelectric transducers, which do not require complicated biasing circuitry, to raise and lower high dielectric perturbers. A perturber, when placed in direct contact with a section of a microstrip patch changes the radiation pattern of the antenna. When placed over the corner of a nearly square microstrip patch, the perturber changes the antenna polarization to circular. By raising and lowering perturbers on opposite corners of the square patch, the polarization can be switched from right-handed circular to left-handed circular and vice versa. This thesis includes design of a square microstrip patch antenna and optimization of the size of the perturbed corner area of the patch to minimize axial ratio and achieve the best circular polarization performance via simulation. The antenna was then fabricated, tested, and adjusted to prove that an effective design can be made for the desired operating frequency and the results are discussed.
Type of Resource
text
Language
en
Permalink
http://hdl.handle.net/2142/42568

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