Metamaterial-inspired series-fed frequency reconfigurable array with zero-phase CRLH interconnects

Devices with multiband wireless system capabilities have significantly benefited from the introduction of frequency reconfigurable antennas. However, much of the development on frequency reconfigurable antennas has been on single antenna elements. In this letter, a frequency reconfigurable series-fed array is presented that has the benefits of broad-side radiation at two different frequencies. The proposed antenna consists of four reconfigurable dipoles interconnected with reconfigurable zero-phase composite right-/left-handed (CRLH) transmission lines (TLs). PIN diodes are then used to switch between the two measured frequency bands of 2.04–2.18 GHz and 2.44–2.58 GHz. The developed prototype presented here showed a near broadside radiation pattern in both switching bands and a maximum gain of 2.1 dBi was measured in both switching bands. It is shown that instead of meander-line interconnects between the dipole elements, much more compact frequency reconfigurable CRLH-TLs can be used.