Reconfigurable antenna with parasitic layer containing 8-element dipole array

A pattern reconfigurable antenna with two layers offering successive beam tuning in two planes is proposed. A driven patch antenna is designed on the lower layer that is fed with two coaxial probes asynchronously, whereas the upper layer contains an 8-element dipole array. The electromagnetic wave is coupled from the driven patch to the eight parasitic dipoles, which then control the direction of radiation based on the status of the varactor tuning elements. To that end, eight varactors are placed in slots at the center of the parasitic dipoles to achieve the required pattern reconfigurability from the antenna. By selecting the excitation feeder and adjusting the varactor´s capacitances, the radiation beam can be scanned from ™30° to 30° in planes phi = 90° and phi = 0°. Furthermore, the antenna maintains more than 7 dBi gain in all the operating modes.