Tunable loop-loaded printed dipole antenna design

Compact multi-function antennas play a major role in today´s communication systems where size, weight, power consumption and cost are the main limiting factors in designing integrated transmitter/receiver circuitry. In this view, electronically reconfigurable printed antennas were previously considered to achieve multi-band applications [1–4]. In particular, printed dipole elements have been preferred in conformal arrays due to their low-profile and easy fabrication. Specifically, loaded dipole elements have recently been introduced for dual-frequency applications [4–6]. In this paper, a new loop-loaded printed dipole (LLPD) antenna design is proposed for a tunable (3 GHz or 5.2 GHz) array application. The tunable-LLPD (TLLPD) design consists of a printed dipole element and a pair of loop elements with extensions employed for tuning purposes via on/off switches in a practical realization.