Parasitic Layer-Based Radiation Pattern Reconfigurable Antenna for 5G Communications

The design, prototyping, and characterization of a radiation pattern reconfigurable antenna (RA) targeting 5G communications are presented. The RA is based on a reconfigurable parasitic layer technique in which a driven dipole antenna is located along the central axis of a 3-D parasitic layer structure enclosing it. The reconfigurable parasitic structure is similar to a hexagonal prism, where the top/bottom bases are formed by a hexagonal domed structure. The surfaces of the parasitic structure house electrically small metallic pixels with various geometries. The adjacent pixels are connected by PIN diode switches to change the geometry of the parasitic surface, thus providing reconfigurability in the radiation pattern. This RA is designed to operate over a 4.8-5.2 GHz frequency band, producing various radiation patterns with a beam-steering capability in both the azimuth (0 degrees < phi < 360 degrees) and elevation planes (-18 degrees < theta <18 degrees). Small-cell access points equipped with RAs are used to investigate the system level performances for 5G heterogeneous networks. The results show that using distributed mode optimization, RA equipped small-cell systems could provide up to 29% capacity gains and 13% coverage improvements as compared to legacy omnidirectional antenna equipped systems.