• The Journal of Korean Institute of Electromagnetic Engineering and Science
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• v.20 no.10
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• pp.1031-1041
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• 2009

A small microstrip monopole antenna for macro-micro frequency tuning over multiple bands is presented. The meander-shape antenna is fabricated on a conventional printed circuit board(FR-4, $\varepsilon_r=4.4$ and tan $\delta=0.02$). The antenna operates over WiBro(2.3~2.4 GHz) and WLAN a/b(2.4~2.5 GHz/5.15~5.35 GHz) service bands with an essentially constant antenna gain within each service band. Two diodes, a PIN diode and a varactor, are embedded into the antenna for frequency reconfiguration. The PIN diode is used for frequency switching(macro-tuning) between 2 GHz and 5 GHz bands while the varactor is used for frequency tuning(micro-tuning) within the service bands, 2.3~2.5 GHz and 5.15~5.35 GHz. Unwanted resonances between the two frequency bands(2 GHz and 5 GHz) are suppressed by filling up the gaps between the meander lines. The antenna gain is essentially constant and higher than 2 dBi within each service band. The measured performance of the proposed antenna system suggests the macro-micro frequency tuning techniques be useful in reconfigurable wireless communication systems.