A novel low reflection-loss MEMS reconfigurable patch antenna

This paper discusses the design of a novel reconfigurable patch antenna loaded by RF Micro Electro-Mechanical Systems (MEMS) switches. Thanks to the particular disposition of the switches, the antenna maintains a very good matching, independently of the MEMS up/down states. The continuous coverage of a 1.5 GHz band centered around 20 GHz is obtained, using only five different combinations of the MEMS states, which give rise to five contiguous operating bands. The optimization of the patch layout relies on a fast and accurate new design technique, which avoids repeated time-consuming 3-D full-wave electromagnetic analyses.