A Dual-Port Dual-Beam Pattern-Reconfigurable Antenna With Independent 2-D Beam-Scanning

A novel dual-port dual-beam reconfigurable antenna with independent dual-beam 2-D scanning capability is presented. The antenna consists of two driven ports and a shared beamforming surface consisting of subwavelength reconfigurable metal-lines (RMLs). The two ports can each form a radiation beam that can be independently controlled by changing p-i-n diode switch states on the RML surface. Modeling and analysis of the antenna is performed to provide design guidelines for dual-beam scanning, impedance matching, and mutual coupling. The results from a prototyped dual-port dual-beam reconfigurable antenna operating at 3.6 GHz with over 400-MHz bandwidth and providing 360 degrees scanning in azimuth and 60 degrees in elevation are reported. The measured results demonstrate the antenna's high beamforming capability with the two beams capable of independent 2-D beam-scanning. In addition, the antenna has an average realized gain of 8 dBi, a port isolation exceeding 20 dB, and the total efficiency exceeding 80% across all reconfigurable states. This dual-port dual-beam scanning antenna has potential applications in future wireless communication systems where compact beamforming antennas are becoming important.