Metamaterial antennas with defects

Abstract

In this dissertation, we propose a design of a reconfigurable metamaterial antenna. For this purpose, in order to ensure the reconfigurability, we design an agile metamaterial unit cell which has two different operating states. The agile metamaterial unit cell consists of a cross type conductor printed on a dielectric substrate. Each branch of the conductor cross is ended by a switch. If the switches are in ON state, we obtain a connected cross type unit cell which operates in the state one (ON state), otherwise (switches in Off state) we obtain a disconnected cross type unit cell which operates in the second operating state (Off Stat). In ON state, the obtained metamaterial behaves as a conductor while in Off state the metamaterial behaves as an insulator. In our reconfigurable antenna design we use the connected and disconnected cross type metamaterial to replace conducting surfaces and non-conducting surfaces, respectively, of a conventional antenna used as a reference. The reference is chosen from the literature to compare its experimental results to our simulation. This has enabled us to validate our design prototype. As a reference antenna, we use that proposed in ‘a planar dual band antenna for ISM/wearable applications’. This antenna is designed for ISM/ Wearable applications. It consists on a rectangular patch loaded with several slots with specific dimensions to achieve a dual-band propriety in ‘a planar dual band antenna for ISM/wearable applications. The simulation results agree well with experimental measurements of the reference antenna. This study will allow us to advance in our research and make a step forward in the realization phase of a smart antenna otherwise at least an agile one.