A Reconfigurable High-Gain Partially Reflecting Surface Antenna

A high-gain partially reflective surface (PRS) antenna with a reconfigurable operating frequency is presented. The operating frequency is electronically tuned by incorporating an array of phase agile reflection cells on a thin substrate above the ground plane of the resonator antenna, where the reflection phase of each cell is controlled by the bias voltage applied to a pair of varactor diodes. The new configuration enables continuous tuning of the antenna from 5.2 GHz to 5.95 GHz using commercially available varactor diodes, thus covering frequencies typically used for WLAN applications. Both the PRS and phase agile cell are analyzed, and theoretical and measured results for gain, tuning range, and radiation patterns of the reconfigurable antenna are described. The effect of the varactor diode series resistance on the performance of the antenna is also reported.