Reconfigurable Beam Switching Antenna With Horizontal Parasitic Element Reflector (HPER) for UAV Applications

Abstract

This paper proposes a novel beam reconfigurable antenna for unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV), in which beam is reconfigured by controlling Horizontal Parasitic Element Reflector (HPER) arranged around monopole antenna which operates at unmanned aerial frequency (5030-5150 MHz). The proposed method consists of monopole antenna at axis of circular substrate with distributed HPER in the form of bow-tie with pin diode in between which connects both arms. The pin diode that bonded to the center of the HPER used to control the operation of each HPER according to the ON-state and OFF-state of the pin diode. The antenna has directivity elevation in eight directions of 0 degrees, 45 degrees, 90 degrees, 135 degrees, 180 degrees, 225 degrees, 270 degrees, and 315 degrees through the control of HPER using pin diodes. In this method the antenna gains has 4.9 dBi during ON-state of pin diode with efficiency of 100 % respectively. This designed antenna applied to UAV with features lightweight and weight balance is centered, simple structure without any complicated equipment such as converter, amplifier, phase shifter, etc and detection applications that require radio convergence.