Switchable slot dipole to tapered slot antenna for wideband and multi-band applications with directional beam patterns

ABSTRACT This article presents a slot dipole antenna switchable to tapered slot antenna for multiband and wideband operations. The antenna is designed to provide four modes of operation: namely wideband, single‐band, dual‐band, and triple‐band modes. These are achieved by activating/deactivating parts of the antenna structure by means of PIN diode switches, in order to form either a slot dipole or a tapered slot antenna. To guarantee a directional radiation of the antenna in all modes, V‐shaped slot is introduced and used in all modes. Five PIN diode switches are used. For demonstration purpose the wideband mode is designed around from 1 to 3 GHz. The resonance frequency of single‐band mode is designed at 2.4 GHz, whilst the dual‐band modes are at 2.1 and 3.2 GHz. The low, mid, and high frequencies of the triple‐band modes are at 1.5, 2.5, and 3.3 GHz, respectively. Return loss, radiation pattern, and gain of the fabricated antenna are in good agreement with the simulation results. © 2016 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Microwave Opt Technol Lett 58:1241–1245, 2016