A biasing technique for varactor-loaded reconfigurable antennas

In this paper, variations of a simple biasing technique for varactor-loaded frequency-reconfigurable antennas are discussed. The antenna chosen for the study is, without restriction of generality, a quarter-wave microstrip patch loaded with a varactor at the radiating aperture. The technique can be generalized to other antennas in which the aperture impedance is required to be varied. The study also gives a better understanding on the operation mechanism of this type of reconfigurable antennas.Nghia Nguyen-Trong, Leonard Hall and Christophe Fumeau