A Reconfigurable Dual-Band Shared-Aperture Antenna for Centimeter-Wave/Sub-6 Ghz Communication Applications

This paper introduces a phase reconfigurable shared-aperture antenna for dual-band operation in the sub-6 GHz (2.6 GHz) and centimeter-wave (cm-wave) (10 GHz) bands. The antenna design integrates a sub- 6 GHz perforated square patch with a <tex xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink">$2 \times 2$</tex> array of cm-wave stacked patches. Mounting one pair of PIN diodes on each symmetrical split feeding ring endows each element of both bands with 1-bit phase reconfigurability. Overall, the proposed antenna can achieve 2 reconfigurable patterns with 180 degrees phase difference in the sub-6 GHz band and 6 reconfigurable sum and difference patterns in the cm-wave band. Additionally an electromagnetic bandgap (EBG) structure is also included to mitigate surface waves and reduce mutual coupling in the cm-wave band for extension to a larger array scale. The proposed antenna is fabricated and experimentally validated, demonstrating great potential for the next-generation wireless communication systems.