A smart mechanically actuated two-layer electromagnetically coupled microstrip antenna with variable frequency, bandwidth, and antenna gain

Author

Bernhard, Jennifer T. ; Kiely, E. ; Washington, Gregory

Author_Institution

Dept. of Electr. & Comput. Eng., New Hampshire Univ., Durham, NH, USA

Volume

49

Issue

4

fYear

2001

fDate

4/1/2001 12:00:00 AM

Firstpage

597

Lastpage

601

Abstract

Experimental results are presented on a tunable mechanically actuated microstrip antenna with a parasitic director. A novel piezoelectric actuation system is used to vary dynamically the mechanical displacement of the parasitic element. The center frequency, bandwidth, and antenna gain change as a function of variable spacing between the driven and parasitic elements. In light of the experimental results, smart antenna tuning methods that use mechanical and electrical methods are compared and directions for future work are discussed

Keywords

adaptive antenna arrays; electromagnetic coupling; intelligent actuators; microstrip antenna arrays; piezoelectric actuators; tuning; EM coupled microstrip antenna; driven element; electrical methods; electromagnetically coupled microstrip antenna; mechanical displacement; mechanical methods; parasitic director; parasitic element; piezoelectric actuation system; smart antenna tuning methods; smart mechanically actuated microstrip antenna; tunable mechanically actuated microstrip antenna; variable antenna gain; variable bandwidth; variable center frequency; Antenna radiation patterns; Bandwidth; Electromagnetic coupling; Intelligent structures; Laboratories; Mechanical engineering; Microstrip antennas; Patch antennas; Resonant frequency; Tuning;

fLanguage

English

Journal_Title

Antennas and Propagation, IEEE Transactions on

Publisher

ieee

ISSN

0018-926X

Type

jour

DOI

10.1109/8.923320

Filename

923320