Beam-Switching Antenna with a New Reconfigurable Frequency Selective Surface

In this letter, a design of a beam-sweeping antenna using a new active frequency selective surface (FSS) is presented. The active FSS is composed of a steerable hybrid element that allows the control of radiation characteristics of the proposed antenna. The design is composed of an active cylindrical FSS structure containing PIN diodes and is divided into 10 equal columns. This design contains a simple dipole that is located in the center and surrounded by a cylindrical active FSS. The beam-sweeping of the antenna is produced by switching the PIN diodes between the on and off states. The antenna operates at 1.8 GHz and covers all azimuth angles in 10 steps with a maximum measured gain of 9.1 dBi. This beam-switching antenna can be used in the base stations of wireless communication systems.