Miniaturized Quad-Polarized Pattern Reconfigurable Antenna for Intelligent IoT Applications

In this article, a novel miniaturized quad-polarized pattern reconfigurable antenna is presented for intelligent Internet of Things (IoT) applications. Different from the conventional linearly polarized (LP) antennas, dual-polarized (dual-LP) or circularly polarized (CP) pattern reconfigurable antennas must manipulate two orthogonal E-field components simultaneously. Therefore, neither the conventional Yagi-Uda method nor the Huygens principle is adequate for this task. Here, a novel hybrid radiation control concept is introduced for the first time by combining the Yagi method with the even-odd mode technique to realize multipolarized pattern switching. Due to the reflection mechanism, the Yagi structure can achieve beam steering in the H-plane. Meanwhile, the E-plane beam can be controlled by using the even-odd mode method. In short, by introducing the hybrid control designs, the radiation patterns of the dual-polarized or CP antennas can be independently switched in the same coverage region. For validation, a metasurface-based multipolarized (dual-polarized and dual-CP) pattern reconfigurable antenna is implemented. The antenna is operated in the 5G-NR band and demonstrates a peak gain of 8.0 dBi/7.5 dBic and a beam-switching range of +/- 35 degrees. This work provides a new multipolarized pattern reconfiguration method. Both the method and the design case are suitable candidates for intelligent IoT communication and perception applications.