A Tunable Filtering Antenna Based on Coaxial Cavity Resonators

In this article, a method for designing a tunable coaxial filtering antenna is presented. The proposed filtering antenna has a simple structure, consisting of a standard waveguide and some metal cylinders. Instead of utilizing traditional coupling irises, an all-cylinder coupling structure is employed for flexible tuning. Thus, the center frequency and bandwidth of the coaxial filtering antenna can be conveniently tuned by adjusting the lengths of the cylinders. Theoretical analysis and design process of the filtering antenna are given in detail. A third-order tunable filtering antenna with Chebyshev response is designed to verify this method. The tunable range of the center frequency is from 9.25 to 10.75 GHz, and the tunable range of the fractional bandwidth (FBW) is from 2% to 8%. The measured gain of the antenna is flat and greater than 6.5 dBi along the tuning range. In addition, the antenna maintains good impedance and radiation characteristics throughout the tuning range.