A Quad-Band Antenna for Public Safety Applications

The design, fabrication, and characterization of a frequency-reconfigurable antenna for the United States Public Safety (PS) wireless communication applications are presented. This antenna is quad-band operating in the PS bands-220, 470, 800, and 4960 MHz. It is an electrically small antenna with calculated ka ~ 0.55 at 220 MHz. The antenna has two reconfigurable modes of operations. In mode 1, 220-, 470-, and 4960-MHz bands are excited. Mode 2 provides operation over 800- and 4960-MHz bands. This dynamic frequency reconfiguration is accomplished by two radio frequency microelectromechanical systems switches strategically located within the antenna architecture. The measured and simulated results for impedance and radiation characteristics agree well, where ~ 3%, 4%, 21%, and 17% fractional bandwidths have been measured in the four bands, respectively, while maintaining integrity of radiation pattern.