Varactor diode integrated dipole-EBG base-station antenna: Enhancing tilted radiation pattern

Abstract

The new dipole-electromagnetic bandgap subarray antenna with an improved steerable beam is designed for base-station antennas. The proposed antenna consists of four dipole array antenna mounted on the tunable mushroom structure to steer element pattern. Whereas past array antenna utilizes fixed element pattern, beam steering element pattern is used to track the maximum of the array pattern to improve the scan loss of the array pattern. A dipole antenna on 4 x 4 mushroom structure is designed as a compact single element capable of steerable radiation within 0 degrees-27 degrees. The consistent gain around 11.5-12.1 dB is achieved at 3.3 GHz within 0 degrees-27 degrees with the tilted element pattern whereas the gain reduces to 9.4-10.2 dB with fixed element pattern. The antenna radiation pattern is simulated and measured varying capacitances. The measured bandwidth of the antenna covers 3.2-3.55 GHz, which is partial WIMAX band. (c) 2015 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Microwave Opt Technol Lett 57:1794-1799, 2015