Two Element Dielectric Resonator Antenna with Beam Switching

A wideband two element rectangular dielectric resonator antenna (DRA) is proposed in this paper. Each DRA element has two excitation strips and four parasitic patches. A wide impedance bandwidth of more than 37% at the center frequency of 1.6 GHz is achieved. The antenna radiation beam can be switched between two positions in elevation plane, i.e., theta = 45 degrees and theta = -45 degrees. The measured antenna gain is found to be more than 6 dB in the whole frequency band of operation. The matching and the radiation characteristics of the designed switched beam antenna are studied and validated by measurements. A very good agreement between the measured and simulated results is observed.