Reconfigurable antennas radiations using plasma Faraday cage

This letter presents a new reconfigurable plasma antenna associated with a Faraday cage. The Faraday cage is realized using a fluorescent lamp. A patch antenna with a broadside radiation pattern or a monopole antenna with an end-fire radiation pattern, operating at 2.45 GHz, is placed inside Faraday cage. The performance of the reconfigurable system is observed in terms of input reflection coefficient, gain and radiation pattern via simulation and measurement. It is shown that by switching ON the fluorescent lamp, the gain of the antenna decreases. This reconfigurable antenna can be used to avoid coupling with other communications or radar systems working in the same frequency band.