Study of Conformal Switchable Antenna System on Cylindrical Surface for Isotropic Coverage

A conformal switchable antenna system mounted on a cylindrical surface is proposed, simulated, prototyped and measured. The antenna system is composed of several tri-polarization antennas operating at 2.4 GHz band. It is shown that this antenna system realizes a quasi-isotropic pattern without any nulls over a complete spherical surface. Specifically, it is shown that by using three tri-polarization antennas and switching among them, a complete spherical coverage could be achieved without any nulls and with a power gain larger than 2.5 dBi over more than 90 percent of a spherical surface surrounding the antenna system. Furthermore, it is shown that the performance of the antenna system does not deteriorate with the increase in the diameter of the mounting cylinder, thus facilitating the implementation of the proposed design in many applications including telemetry, satellites, and aircraft. Both simulation and experimental results of the radiation patterns are presented in this paper.