Reconfigurable, tri-band RF MEMS PIFA antenna

This paper presents a reconfigurable, tri-band planar inverted F-antenna (PIFA) that employs RF Micro-Electro-Mechanical Systems (RF MEMS) technology together with bandwidth enhancement techniques for the United States (US) Public Safety (PS) bands. The reconfigurability of the antenna is achieved by RF MEMS switches in order to switch between three Public Safety bands, which are centered around 160, 450, and 800 MHz. The broadband operation of the antenna is obtained by employing two bandwidth enhancement techniques, which are patch tapering and the T-shaped ground layer. The measurement results of the antenna show 7%, 11%, and 19% instantaneous impedance bandwidths in the three above mentioned PS bands, respectively, and they show good agreement with the simulations in all three bands.