A compact frequency reconfigurable beam-switching antenna based on a single-layer FSS

In this letter, a compact frequency reconfigurable beam-switching antenna based on a single-layer frequency selective face (FSS) is proposed. The proposed antenna consists of a dual-band omnidirectional antenna and a hexagonal single-layer FSS. The dual-band omnidirectional antenna is designed as a radiation source and surrounded by the FSS. Each FSS unit consists of two crossed patches and diodes. Frequency reconfigurable characteristics at 2.4 or 5 GHz are achieved by switching the states of the diodes on the single-layer FSS. With specific combinations of FSS units, the omnidirectional radiation patterns can be transformed into directional ones scanning along the entire azimuth plane. To validate the design, a prototype is fabricated and measured. The results show that the proposed single-layer FSS antenna can perform a 12-step scan along the azimuth plane at 2.4 and 5 GHz, respectively