Controlling switch-reconfigured antennas using FPGAs

Different types of switches such as RF MEMS [1], p-i-n and Schottky diodes [2] have been used to achieve antenna reconfiguration. This paper proposes the reconfiguration of antennas through the use of p-i-n diodes to connect subsections to a main antenna section. The activation and deactivation of these p-i-n diodes is controlled through a field programmable gate array (FPGA), which manages the overall antenna configuration under software control. The antenna design, structure, tuning and the FPGA programming is investigated in the present paper. This antenna was fabricated, and the FPGA-controlled p-i-n diodes antenna was tested. The measured results show good agreement with the simulated data.