Design, fabrication and measurement of a compact, frequency reconfigurable, modified T-shape planar antenna for portable applications

This paper presents a compact reconfigurable printed monopole antenna, operating in three different frequency bands (2.45 GHz, 3 GHz and 5.2 GHz), depending upon the state of the lumped element switch. The proposed multiband reconfigurable antenna is designed and fabricated on a 1.6 mm thicker FR-4 substrate having a relative permittivity of 4.4. When the switch is turned ON, the antenna operates in a dual band frequency mode, i.e. WiFi at 2.45 GHz (2.06-3.14 GHz) and WLAN at 5.4 GHz (5.11-5.66 GHz). When the switch is turned OFF, it operates only at 3 GHz (2.44-3.66 GHz). The antenna radiates omni-directionally in these bands with an adequate, bandwidth (>10 %), efficiency (>90 %), gain (>1.2 dB), directivity (>1.7 dBi) and VSWR (<2). The fabricated antenna is tested in the laboratory to validate the simulated results. The antenna, due to its reasonably compact size (39 x 37 mm²), can be used in portable devices such as laptops and iPads.