A Radiation Pattern Reconfigurable Fabry–Pérot Antenna Based on Liquid Metal
Xu Yang, Ying Liu, Haoyu Lei, Yongtao Jia, Peisheng Zhu, Zhipeng Zhou
Abstract
A new beam controllable Fabry-Pérot (FP) antenna utilizing a liquid-metal partially reflective surface (PRS) is investigated. The proposed PRS can be divided into three different liquid-metal-filled areas. By injecting the liquid metal into specific zones, the antenna beam direction and 3 dB beamwidth can be controlled separately, providing an easy control method for the radiation pattern reconfigurable FP antenna. The experimental results demonstrate that the proposed antenna works at 5.1 GHz. Five beam directions in the elevation plane (φ = 90°) and four antenna horizontal beam widths can be obtained. The FP antenna is simple in design and is easily fabricated as well. It will be a good candidate antenna for future wireless communication systems.