Active microstrip planar antenna for frequency switching

As a part of research aiming at exploring the generality and flexibility of RF hardware, including its design, we conducted basic studies of a microstrip planar antenna with a frequency switching function, made by including switching semiconductor devices in a microstrip planar antenna. By ON and OFF switching based on the bias voltage of the switching diodes in an antenna patch, the distribution of the RF surface Currents generated in the antenna is controlled so that the frequency switching is made possible. In this paper, the realizability of the design is verified by electromagnetic simulation by the FDTD method and by basic experiments. © 2005 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.